NBA's influence on Latin Basketball

BUENOS AIRES (Martín Seldes' Brave New World) - Something more than 11 years ago, an extinct Argentine magazine called Solobasket wrote an article on what was supposed to be the best year for Latins in the NBA. It was in 2000 when this journalist wrote what everyone thought in those days: "Being a foreigner means a great barrier that has to be crossed in order to succeed and make it to the NBA".

Without counting the Canadians, Eduardo Najera, Pepe Sánchez, Rubén Wolkowyski, Lázaro Borrell, Felipe López, Rubén Garcés and Daniel Santiago were the only representatives of a region that was still far away from becoming important. But they opened the road for those who came next. The exception was Najera, who also opened the door for him as he will be playing for Oklahoma in the 2011/2012 season.

This Christmas, when the new NBA begins, Latin America will have 13 players, many of whom will be key for their teams. And we should also add the American-born guys that play for Latin teams such as Renaldo Balkman (Puerto Rico), Charlie Villanueva (Dominican Republic) and Gary Forbes (Panama), just to mention those who played in the last FIBA Americas.

The big question is what has changed in the last 11 years?

First of all we must say this is not a column about the NBA but how the NBA has changed the Latin basketball style and especially how important it is for the region that they finally reached an agreement and the league will start.

It's hard to say if the first one was a political change that included more international players or the international players improved their game that much the league couldn't stop calling them in. The second change was mental. After Carl Herrera succeeded in the 1990s, we thought that was the best we could expect from a Latin. The Venezuelan ended a long career with averages of 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Almost all the present players have better numbers than big Carl and many even reached double digits in their point average. Every Latin player that plays in the NBA feels they can succeed.

The last change was definitely physical. The FIBA Americas tournaments are getting tougher and tougher as the NBA players bring physicality and stamina to the game.

In the 2011 FIBA Americas, 16 NBA players travelled to Mar del Plata: four Argentines, one Brazilian, three Canadians, one Panamanian, three Puerto Ricans, three Dominicans and one Venezuelan. Besides the great level shown by many players from other leagues, such as Marcelinho Huertas, Jack Michael Martínez and Pablo Prigioni, the NBAers were the main attraction for fans.

Manu Ginóbili and José Juan Barea are the only Latins on the league who have already won a title. The Argentine won three to top the ranking but Barea is a reigning champion. In the FIBA Americas, Manu scored a free throw to break the tie and the Puerto Rican had the chance to carry his team to the Olympics when he missed a last-gasp three-pointer by a just few centimeters. Nobody expected less from them.

Special mention: the NBA will miss a great veteran player like Carlos Arroyo, who was signed by Besiktas to replace Deron Williams in the Turkish league. That could be even better for him as he will have more minutes to show his skills and to get ready for the 2012 Olympic Qualifying tournament to be player in Venezuela in July.

Martín Seldes

FIBA

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