Give the NBA this much: it knows how to spot a trend.
That's perhaps the biggest reason why a stunning five of the first 16 selections were foreign born players in last week's annual league choose-em-up. With Pau Gasol (last year's #3 overall) winning rookie of the year, and with the supernova emergence of Dirk Nowitzki in the playoffs, the desire to "go Euro" and go early was impossible suppress.
Last year high schoolers were hot. This year they were as dated as leg warmers and Olivia Newton John. Only one high school player got drafted.
And on a pure talent evaluation scale, the 6-11 Amare Stoudamire slipping to 9th overall may well end up as a mistake. Scouts say he's like Alonzo Mourning on the defensive end (he averaged over 6 swats a game, which was almost two more per game than the 7-5 Yao Ming did last year in the not ready for prime time Chinese league) and has a better all court game.
But then again, he got bounced from state to state and team to team like the ping pong balls that set the order for this thing. When the dust settled he had been to six different "high schools" (some of which were nothing more than a one-classroom front for fielding an all star basketball team) and had five times that many hangers-on trying to cash in on his impending fame.
How Stoudamire will adjust to being a millionaire pro remains one of sports' most unknowable mysteries.
So maybe a fully built out Brazilian by the name of Nay Nay who has already been playing pro ball doesn't look so bad after all.
The headache factor on high schoolers had been a low dull throbbing pain to NBA GM's for years. Aside from Garnett and Kobe who started paying big time dividends by year two, others like Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O'Neal had to waste years and millions on somebody else's bench before showing an ounce of return on investment.
Last year, the headache blossomed in to a full blown migraine. Kwame Brown became the first high schooler to go #1 overall for the Wizards. It was then chronicled by the Washington Post midway through his utterly unproductive year that he a) didn't know how to shop for groceries and ate fast food three meals a day and b) had never heard of a dry cleaner before and was piling his expensive Armani suits on the floor.
Had Brown simply played a consistent 15 minutes a night for the Wizards and shown some promise, Stoudamire would not have slipped past #5 and undrafted high schoolers DeAngelo Collins and Lenny Cooke might have had their phone ring by somebody on draft night.
The European invasion on draft night shouldn't be dismissed entirely as a fad or overzealous copycat-ism by NBA GM's. Most of these guys can play. A few will be all stars in a couple of years.
But you also can't discount that cultural realities weighed in on the decision to shun the typical spoiled American hot shot in favor of a perhaps more grounded kid from ... say ... Slovenia.
William C. Rhoden of the New York Times suggested last Sunday in an essay that this was the league's way of making things "more white" while avoiding charges of racial gerrymandering.
You kind of feel embarrassed for someone like Rhoden for saddling up such an argument for a ride since Pau Gasol jerseys have yet to eclipse the Allen Iverson models at your local Sports Authority. White kids may like Dirk Nowitzki, but only because he's good. Otherwise, Jud Buechler would lead the league in endorsements.
{INSERT_RELATED}It's not that the Euro players are white as much as it is that they are perhaps less caught up in having a dozen tricked out SUV's in their driveway (although fact is, Gasol ain't rollin' in a Honda Civic!) It's that Euro's have less meddlesome posses and are not as pampered from an early age like the American star. They are less likely to question their coach, less likely to be caught on the police blotter at 11 p.m. Less tainted by endless commercial loops of American style superstar marketing.
Our guys are in love with having their own shoe commercial. Their guys are in love with playing well at the highest level.
Compounding this issue, is the utter lack of comparable white American players who can crack the first round. Aside from Mike Dunleavy (the SON of an NBA player and coach) the driveway dreams of my suburban middle class peers have dried up almost entirely.
As I like to joke with friends: "The devastating effects of Woody Harrelson's 'White Men Can't Jump' are now starting reveal themselves." I think there's a pretty funny sequel which could be made called "Black Men Won't Pass" but I doubt it would survive the ravages of the modern P.C. Police.
At the end of the day, the NBA draft is making less sense all the time. If you want the ultimate argument, consider the case of Maryland's Juan Dixon.
Dixon was the all-time leading scorer in the history of Maryland basketball (a program that has produced a bucketful of NBA stars all the way from Lucas, to Elmore, to Francis and more). He was the ACC Player of the Year, and never fouled out in four years of college basketball despite leading his conference in steals for three straight years. He was the heart and soul of his team, and overcame devastating personal tragedy and doubters every step of the way. Last spring, all he did was lead Maryland to a National Championship with a stone cold display of making every big basket for three consecutive NCAA weekends. High character, high ethics, high motivation.
He was taken 17th. And it was considered a reach.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
