I asked Ryan James about some of the foreign sounding names of basketball players in Minnesota. Smith, Jones, Williams, White are one thing. But when you see names like Nzigamasabo, Oturu, and others, those seem to have names with African roots.. This is NOT a racially divisive post but an observation of what could tilt the balance of talent from U.S. players to foreign players in international competition, both in college and in pros.
This has been a long time coming.. WAYYY DIFFERENT than when the 1992 Dream Team played where you had much fewer foreign players in the NBA... You have seen European players, specifically bigs, who have changed the game... Wings and PGs all over Europe and now around the world, joining and STARRING at college programs THEN THE PROS. Now, the rosters of nations other than the U.S. are littered with current and former NBA players. I AM TELLING YOU, THE U.S. MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM MAY BE LUCKY TO JUST GET ANY MEDAL IN THESE OLYMPICS.
Now you are seeing teams like Nigeria, who have players whose parents were Nigerian but moved to the U.S. when the players were in High School.. Many of the Nigerian players were at least D1 players and many were pro players.. Same for France, WHO BEAT US, and Australia.. They go back to their countries with the talent and experience plus a more team ball approach and they are winning.. There is NO INTIMIDATION ANYMORE by the U.S. team because these players with foreign roots have played against U.S. players and succeeded at all levels, starting in high school.
To add to that, there is very little sympathy from the U.S. fans because people are so sick of the prima donna attitudes of the U.S. pro players including politically and behaviorally. Plus basketball fundamentals of US players have gone by the wayside. It has been an interesting phenomena and a change that I have monitored after the 1992 Olympics and how the U.S. team then influenced the foreign countries to develop basketball players. I bring this up because Minnesota has a fair population of foreign players whose parents moved to Minnesota for education, business, or whatever reason. The large Somali population in the Twin Cities was a result of war relief efforts of local Minnesotans working for humanitarian causes during the civil war in Somalia. But there is also a large population of Minnesotans from other areas of Africa that are not Somali.. It shows up every once in awhile in sports, including football and basketball in recruiting. It is an interesting development across the U.S. and Canada and it has effectively lead to a crossroads for U.S. basketball in international competition.
This has been a long time coming.. WAYYY DIFFERENT than when the 1992 Dream Team played where you had much fewer foreign players in the NBA... You have seen European players, specifically bigs, who have changed the game... Wings and PGs all over Europe and now around the world, joining and STARRING at college programs THEN THE PROS. Now, the rosters of nations other than the U.S. are littered with current and former NBA players. I AM TELLING YOU, THE U.S. MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM MAY BE LUCKY TO JUST GET ANY MEDAL IN THESE OLYMPICS.
Now you are seeing teams like Nigeria, who have players whose parents were Nigerian but moved to the U.S. when the players were in High School.. Many of the Nigerian players were at least D1 players and many were pro players.. Same for France, WHO BEAT US, and Australia.. They go back to their countries with the talent and experience plus a more team ball approach and they are winning.. There is NO INTIMIDATION ANYMORE by the U.S. team because these players with foreign roots have played against U.S. players and succeeded at all levels, starting in high school.
To add to that, there is very little sympathy from the U.S. fans because people are so sick of the prima donna attitudes of the U.S. pro players including politically and behaviorally. Plus basketball fundamentals of US players have gone by the wayside. It has been an interesting phenomena and a change that I have monitored after the 1992 Olympics and how the U.S. team then influenced the foreign countries to develop basketball players. I bring this up because Minnesota has a fair population of foreign players whose parents moved to Minnesota for education, business, or whatever reason. The large Somali population in the Twin Cities was a result of war relief efforts of local Minnesotans working for humanitarian causes during the civil war in Somalia. But there is also a large population of Minnesotans from other areas of Africa that are not Somali.. It shows up every once in awhile in sports, including football and basketball in recruiting. It is an interesting development across the U.S. and Canada and it has effectively lead to a crossroads for U.S. basketball in international competition.
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