# (Non-U.S.) Nation as NBA Team



## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Is there a (non-U.S.) nation that could field a legitimate NBA team? By "legitimate," I don't mean championship-, playoff- or even necessarily .500-caliber ball, but just a team that could go out on the court 82 times a year and not be humiliated.

*Note:* you may "steal" NBA players to complete your team and players don't have to be NBA-eligible.

My first thought is that Spain could compete.

PG: Jose Calderon, Raoul Lopez, Sergio Rodriguez, Ricky Rubio
SG: Rudy Fernandez, JC Navarro
SF: Jorge Garbajosa, Victor Claver, Alex Mumbru
PF: Pau Gasol, Felipe Reyes, Fran Vasquez
C: Marc Gasol, Roberto Duenas

Not a good team in the NBA, especially in the post. But if it went smaller and ran, this team would not be the worst NBA team ever, and maybe not even the worst in that season. I'd say it's a safe bet to win 15-20 games, and who knows, maybe more. 

Any other nations? Argentina, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Russia...anyone?


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## denis (Jul 3, 2003)

Serbia
PG Marko Jaric
SG Sasha Pavlovic
SF Peja Stojakovic
PF Darko Milicic
C Nenad Krstic

Argentina
PG Pepe Sanchez
SG Manu Ginobilli
SF Carlos Delfino
PF Luis Scola
C Fabrizio Oberto

Serbia with that lineup would win at least 25 games, that's for sure.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

denis said:


> Serbia
> PG Marko Jaric
> SG Sasha Pavlovic
> SF Peja Stojakovic
> ...


But you're not including any depth. No NBA team can survive on five guys. I considered both of those nations, of course.

With Serbia, if you go with guys who could produce the most now, you're probably working with Zarko Cabarkapa, Igor Rakocevic, Kosta Perovic, Milan Gurovic, maybe Dejan Tomasevic...it gets rough. If you look at younger talent and hope it improves, you could try Milenko Tepic, Milos Teodosic, Nikola Pekovic...but it's rough. Either way, I would have said Serbia five to seven years ago, when guys like Milos Vujanic, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Dejan Bodiroga and even Vlade Divac were still options. But now I just don't think they've got enough.

Argentina has a few other high level players (relatively speaking) in Andres Nocioni, Walter Hermann and Federico Kammerichs. But Pablo Prigioni is the only other guard worth much, so you'd be looking at Manu handling a lot of PG minutes. And while they're tough, they're even smaller than Spain.


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## starvydas (Jul 16, 2002)

Lithuania

Starting five

PG - Sarunas Jasikevicius : legitimate NBA talent but he needs to have the ball in his hand to make plays
SG - Arvydas Macijauskas: good shooter but a defensive liability, similar kind of player than J.C. Navarro
SF - Linas Kleiza : would probably be the go-to-player on this team, and I think he could give you 18-20 ppg as a first offensive option
PF - Kzrystof Lavrinovic : solid big man with range, who provides consistent production, interchangeable with twin brother Darius.
C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas : aging but still a low-post threat and a big presence on the boards

Bench

PG - ?? They have no pure PG who could efficiently replace Jasikevicius. Gustas and Gecevicius are the names but they wouldn't make the cut.
SG - Main contributors here would be Rimantas Kaukenas who is currently one of the best offensive weapons in the Euroleague, and Simas Jasaitis, a long-range shooter who can also play SF (poor man's Carlos Delfino comes to mind). 
SF - Ramunas Siskauskas : their playmaker off the bench, all-around threat with an excellent mid-range game, extremely savvy player who is able to handle three positions on the floor.
PF and C - Their deepest position in my opinion. They have Darius Lavrinovic, Darius Songaila and Robertas Javtokas, all big bodies who can score inside and out (except for Javtokas).

Even with all the national pride involved, I dont think this team would fare very well in the NBA. I'll go on a limb and say they have an above average rotation on the inside but they are not loaded enough in the guards department to be succesful, especially since a combo Jasikevicius-Macijauskas would probably get torched on defense on an nightly basis.I'd give them 20-24 wins.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Lithuania certainly does always seem to have a lot of good big players. I think you're right that their lack of NBA talent at guard would hurt. Even their best guards are poor athletes, relatively speaking, even though they're very good players.

I can't recall his name at the moment, but doesn't Lithuania have a younger PG with NBA potential who did well in some of the national team junior tourneys recently? I can't think of him.

Perhaps M. Pocius, who is at Duke, could help some. He's terrible by NBA standards, but he's another guard, at least, and isn't an awful athlete.


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## urwhatueati8god (May 27, 2003)

No country currently has 12 players in the NBA, so I'm going to go with nobody.


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

denis said:


> Serbia
> PG Marko Jaric
> SG Sasha Pavlovic
> SF Peja Stojakovic
> ...


Im going to Serbia and Im going to cause some ****. Why does everyones last name end in "ic"? It angers me.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

urwhatueati8god said:


> No country currently has 12 players in the NBA, so I'm going to go with nobody.


If everyone good enough to be in the NBA were in the NBA, that argument would be worthwhile.


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## SheriffKilla (Jan 1, 2004)

i think a lot of these teams would be more succesful than you guys are saying
I honestly think the Spanish national team would be a playoff team in the east for sure... and be around 10th in the west lol

i think a better question if Pana, CSKA, Real Madrid etc.... entered the NBA can they compete over the course of the season


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

fjkdsi said:


> i think a better question if Pana, CSKA, Real Madrid etc.... entered the NBA can they compete over the course of the season


I think we have a thread about that somewhere. 

I think the very best teams, if using their current rosters and playing an 82-game schedule by NBA rules against NBA teams, would struggle to avoid being the worst team in the league. I have consistently defended international talent, players and play here and elsewhere, but they're just not as good as the NBA overall, especially when playing the NBA game (as opposed to European rules).


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

fjkdsi said:


> i think a better question if Pana, CSKA, Real Madrid etc.... entered the NBA can they compete over the course of the season


Yep, as referenced in my last post, we do have a thread about that. Here it is. It's been a while, but it might be fun to revisit:

http://www.basketballforum.com/international-basketball/385808-top-2-euroleague-teams-nba.html


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

R-Star said:


> Im going to Serbia and Im going to cause some ****. Why does everyones last name end in "ic"? It angers me.


I think R-Staric has a nice ring to it, actually.


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