Taking stock of European players in the NBA, 2012-13

October 30, 2012

Koufos one of four Euronuggets

BallinEurope will be celebrating NBA Opening Day with lots of stuff centered on the big league; firstly, BiE takes stock of Continental ballers in the ‘States.

Taking a look at this year’s roundup, we note that 53 Europeans have been named to NBA clubs’ 15-man roster, just beating the pace of the 52 listed in 2010-11. (BiE didn’t take the tally for last season because, you know, things were kinda confusing during the lockout and all…)

And quite a few teams have seriously European-tinted rosters: Five teams go into the 2012-13 NBA season with four Continental players – and of these 20 players, perhaps only Sasha Pavlovic and Evan Fournier are marginalized at the lower end of the 15-man rosters. If one includes Ty Lawson as an honorary Lithuanian (for at least one more season), the Denver Nuggets could put an all-Euro squad on the floor with Lawson heading up an admittedly odd lineup of Fournier, Danilo Gallinari, Kosta Koufos and Timofey Mozgov.

The team-by-team breakdown goes as follows.

NBA teams with four Europeans listed on the extended roster: Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors.

Three: San Antonio Spurs, with a “Trio Grande” of Tony Parker, Nando de Colo and Boris Diaw.

Two: Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Bobcats, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards.

One: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Utah Jazz.

Zero: Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings.

Returning soon — we can only hope

In terms of national representation, some 21 countries may now boast players in the NBA. Naturally, France and Spain still lead the way with 11 and six players among the league’s 450; Turkey chases them with four and things rapidly even out thereafter as a five nations have produced three players each.

Most interesting may be the case of Serbia: That country’s NBA representatives are a trio of hangers-on, with Pavlovic clinging to the no. 15 spot in Portland, Vladimir Radmanovic somehow getting with Chicago and the inimitable Darko. Could we soon see the first NBA season with a Serbian since the days of Vlade Divac…?

Country-by-country breakdowns follow.

Bosnia & Herzegovina (1) – Mirza Teletovic (Brooklyn Nets)

Britain (3) – Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Ben Gordon (Charlotte Bobcats), Joel Freeland (Portland Trail Blazers)

Czech Republic (1) – Jan Vesely (Washington Wizards)

France (11) – Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers), Rodrigue Beaubois (Dallas Mavericks), Nando de Colo (San Antonio Spurs), Boris Diaw (San Antonio Spurs), Evan Fournier (Denver Nuggets), Ian Mahinmi (Indiana Pacers), Joakim Noah (Chicago Bulls), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Johan Petro (Atlanta Hawks), Kevin Seraphin (Washington Wizards) Ronny Turiaf (Los Angeles Clippers)

Georgia (2) – Zaza Pachulia (Atlanta Hawks), Tornike Shengelia (Brooklyn Nets)

Germany (1) – Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks)

Greece (1) – Kosta Koufos (Denver Nuggets)

Israel (1) – Omri Casspi (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Italy (3) – Andrea Bargnani (Toronto Raptors), Marco Belinelli (Chicago Bulls), Danilo Gallinari (Denver Nuggets)

Latvia (1) – Andris Biedrins (Golden State Warriors)

Darko!

Lithuania (3) – Linas Kleiza (Toronto Raptors), Donatas Motiejunas (Houston Rockets), Jonas Valanciunas (Toronto Raptors)

Montenegro (1) – Nikola Vucevic (Orlando Magic)

Poland (1) – Marcin Gortat (Phoenix Suns)

Russia (3) – Andrei Kirilenko (Minnesota Timberwolves), Timofey Mozgov (Denver Nuggets), Alexey Shved (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Serbia (3) – Darko Milicic (Boston Celtics), Sasha Pavlovic (Portland Trail Blazers), Vladimir Radmanovic (Chicago Bulls)

Slovenia (2) – Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns), Beno Udrih (Milwaukee Bucks)

Spain (6) – Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors), Victor Claver (Portland Trail Blazers), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies), Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers), Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Sweden (2) – Jonas Jerebko (Detroit Pistons), Jeffery Taylor (Charlotte Bobcats)

Switzerland (1) – Thabo Sefolosha (Oklahoma City Thunder)

Turkey (4) – Omer Asik (Houston Rockets), Ersan Ilyasova (Milwaukee Bucks), Enes Kanter (Utah Jazz), Hedo Turkoglu (Orlando Magic)

Ukraine (1) – Viacheslav Kravtsov (Detroit Pistons)

Oct 30, 2012ballineurope

This post was published on October 30, 2012

Comments: 31

Gabe
10 years ago
Omer Asik from Turkey didn’t make the Rocket’s roster? Really?
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vinz
10 years ago
And what about Luol Deng or even Ben Gordon?
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  Yeah I would say maybe the player has to be born and bred in a European country but they have Serge Ibaka listed for Spain. Then how about Chris Kaman??!!
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Os Davis
10 years ago
As i was compiling this list, i went back and forth on the born-and-bred issue and the national-team question — though right from the start, Chris Kaman wasn’t gonna make the list — and Ben Gordon ended up being a refugee in the notes. He’s now included, with his one Team USA appearance and zero games played for Team Britain and all. Deng and Asik were accidental oversights (it’s a one-man-on-a-severely-limited-schedule operation here at BiE) from the “players by national team” list, but were counted among the club-by-club listing. All corrections now made… — Os
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  You’re doing a great job for a one man operation.
  
  One correction though you left out my hometown team, the Knicks. They have zero Europeans.
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AP
10 years ago
“Born and bred” is a RACIST term.
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  How so? Would born and raised be better?
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Rob
10 years ago
Deng is British, he grew up in Britain and he has a British passport, which you can’t get in the same way JR Holden got a Russian one. Gordon? Pssh… you can keep him.
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  I admit he was British but grew up there is fuzzy. He was born in the Sudan then moved to Egypt and then to Britain. He then moved to the US when he was 14 where he has lived ever since.
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vinz
10 years ago
Just put all the players with european passports into the list, as then there is no problem. I mean Kaman played for germany, but even in germany they dont believe that he is a german 😉 also Jeff Taylor is rather an american if you consider the origins of his parents, but well Tony Parker also isnt a ‘French’ as he has american-dutch parents….and then the half french team has some non french origins, so to avoid any problematics, just base your cirtirieas on passports…..because if not Kobe Bryant is Italian 😉
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  Bryant lived in Italy from age 6-13, but come to think about it that’s about how the ages when Deng lived in Great Britain and Noah lived in France.
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mike
10 years ago
Darko! Irony of ironies. What if Celtics win the title and Darko plays a key role in subbing for Garnett during a critical period? Nah.
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Steve J
10 years ago
GOOOO DARKO!!!!!!!!!
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Hartmann
10 years ago
What about Nikola Pekovic, huh?
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- Nico
  10 years ago
  Nikola Pekovic is definitly missing for Montenegro. No question about his nationality, he just has been forgotten I think
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mike
10 years ago
Pek is already a very good center in the NBA. His stock is rising, for sure.
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mike
10 years ago
With Koufos becoming the Nuggets starting center, will the refs rig the games against the Nuggets since Koufos is Greek? Gabe, what do you think?
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Panos
10 years ago
Koufos is 3rd string center of Hellas national team but is starter in NBA. Funny thing since all fans here claims no Greek is good enough to play in NBA and that first two Greek centers Schortsanitis and Bourousis could never even make a roster of NBA.

So funny since 3rd string center of Greek national team is a starter in NBA.
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  So funny that you mention that since Koufas didn’t play this summer on the Greece team that was embarrassed on the world stage when they were eliminated by Nigeria and could not even make the Olympics. So you must be referring to EuroBasket 2011 where Schortsanitis was not even on the team and Koufas was 22.
  
  Maybe if Koufas did play this summer he could have gotten some defensive rebounds in the game against Nigeria, Ioannis “these Africans jump so high it’s not fair” Bourousis sure couldn’t.
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Rob
10 years ago
The thing with Deng is he came to Britain to live, not to play basketball. He made his first steps in the game in London. Nationality is a tricky subject, especially in the truly ‘global’ world we have now. But for instance, Ben Gordon was born in London, Luol Deng was born in South Sudan but I know which one I consider to be British. Bryant was in Italy because his dad played there (I think I am correct there) not because he ever saw himself living there permanently or becoming Italian.
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Erik
10 years ago
Maybe if Koufas did play this summer he could have gotten some defensive rebounds in the game against Nigeria, Ioannis “these Africans jump so high it’s not fair” Bourousis sure couldn’t.

>

Is there a reason why extremely offensive and incredibility RACIST posts like this from Gabe continue to be allowed here?
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  The same reason why your extremely insane and incredibly delusional posts are continued to be allowed here.
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  - Phileus
    10 years ago
    Gabe do you start off every morning by watching the Greece-Nigeria game? It was one game, life goes on, and the best team doesn’t always win in a one-and-done tournament. Can we move on? Your obsession with that game is almost (but not quite) as creepy as the troll’s fanatical obsession with you 😛
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    - Gabe
      10 years ago
      Well I do try to watch it once a week. You can get the whole game on youtube. But I don’t see how that is creepy. Watching child porn? Creepy. Watching a basketball game over and over again? Not so much.
      Reply Cancel
mike
10 years ago
Koufos goes up against my Sixers tonight. He’s lucky that Andrew Bynum is still out again(sigh) with those evil knees plaguing him. Not to worry, though, I have inside sources who say the NBA refs will rig the game, since it is understood that the NBA is anti-Greek.

That’s obvious, right? LOL
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mike
10 years ago
Sixer beat Koufos and the Nuggets. Koufos, 6 points, 9 boards, 1 steal, 1 block. The Sixers Hawes, a 7.0 foot center playing Euro style ball, posted 16 points, 12 boards, 1 steal, and 5 big blocks. My boy, Jrue Holiday, scored 14 points, 11 assists, 6 boards.

It’s early, and we’re playing without Bynum, but take that, Sam!

Also, no rigging was apparent in the game by the NBA refs. LOL
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Gabe IS RACIST
10 years ago
Gabe do you start off every morning by watching the Greece-Nigeria game? It was one game, life goes on, and the best team doesn’t always win in a one-and-done tournament. Can we move on? Your obsession with that game is almost (but not quite) as creepy as the troll’s fanatical obsession with you 😛

The guy is a racist. What would it take for you to grasp that?
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  That’s a lie. I don’t even recognize race. I don’t even see it. In fact the only reason I know I am white is I once went to an Eagles concert.
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Mike
10 years ago
You are a huge racist. In that thread about Joey Dorsey you made numerous extremely racist comments. This site should tell you to stop and if you don’t, you should be banned.
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- Gabe
  10 years ago
  That’s a lie. I don’t even know what race is. I can’t tell if a person is black, white, Asian, purple, etc… I don’t even know my own race. People tell me I am white so I take them for their word but I really can’t be sure since don’t see race at all. I’m totally color blind. Again the only reason I suspect I might be white is I once saw the Eagles in concert. Apart from that I am so color blind I really have no idea what race even I am. So how can I be racist.
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JC
10 years ago
lol at this racist scumbag gabe trying to backtrack on all those racist comments he made. What a joke.
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