Serge Ibaka, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kristaps Porzingis, and the great Yao Ming. The list goes on and on. What all of these players have in common is that they have all come from other countries than the US. The Baltics, and France, have long time been seen as breeding grounds for amazing basketball players. It is embedded into the Baltic culture that basketball is a game of beauty and elegance. That specific mentality is one of the reasons why Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the other countries in the region have produced fantastic basketball players.
How is basketball such an international sport, when a high-level professional league can only be found in North America? Basketball is becoming such an international sport that international camps are being held in America so these players can showcase their skills to NBA and college coaches. Kids internationally dream of playing in the NBA or in college with Coach K or Coach Pitino. They dream of playing with the legends just like we do in the US. Basketball is becoming huge, and it has been exploding since the start of the 21st century. For example, last year, 4 international players were picked in the first round of the NBA draft, and 3 of them were picked in the first 7 picks. That's huge for basketball abroad. It shows that kids coming from impoverished situations internationally can find many heroes in the NBA that they can aspire to be like. The international talent in the past 20 years has been prolific, with many all-stars coming from countries outside of North America. That just proves to show that even in countries where soccer reigns supreme, they can still find solace in basketball.
In the coming weeks, we will see Dragan Bender to likely be taken with the second pick in this year's NBA draft, and he will be another example of a future success story coming out of an impoverished family abroad. He is seen by many to be a more complete Porzingis, which GM's are salivating over. The pick of Bender will prove to be one of the year's highlights for many young basketball players abroad who have dreams of playing in the NBA. Those dreams will just become more of a reality for many other talented players abroad after that one fateful pick.
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