The Balkan countries aren’t a huge population but have like 20 players on NBA rosters, including a couple of the best players in the league - Scandinavians have similar phenotypes, why haven’t they produced anyone?
Substantially true, but I'd guess that the Balkans produce more NBA bodies than Scandanavians. Decades ago when Jerry Krause or one of his guys went to Croatia to see a young Tony Kukoc, a scout took him to a beach and basically said "just look". They were amazed at so many very large very athletic boys running around.
Interesting that one of the best Australian players, Andrew Bogut, is Croatian descent.
Bucks had a 7 footer, Dan Gadzuric, who was half Serbian half Caribbean. Amazing athlete, just not that good at basketball.
I think the untold story along these lines is the domination of US children of Nigerian and other African immigrants. You see Nigerian names way overrepresented in basketball and football compared to their numbers in the general population.
You see the overrepresentation of overseas immigrants’ children in so many areas of achievement. I say “overseas” rather than intra-continental immigration because there are a lot stricter controls on who is able to enter and stay in the country, so the parents tend to be well educated and ambitious to provide a better life for their children. Most of the top American tennis and chess players are from immigrant families. Even going way back to Sampras, Agassi, and Chang who were all sons of immigrants. Second generation Asians and Nigerians are way more educated than your average American.
Maybe there is some genetic difference that predisposes Balkans to be better basketball players than Scandinavians, but both populations are quite tall and have achieved outsized success in many other competitive sports.
But most of these nba stars just dog it through a lot of the season.
Not Giannis. He has no "tone it down" switch.
They do make him sit out a few games and limit his minutes, but he goes 100% when he's in there.
30 points in 28 minutes last night. He doesn't pad stats by playing in blowouts. He plays fewer minutes than other players and is intense on offense and defense.
Doncic also passes the eye test. He is amazing to watch. He builds teammates up.
He just received a ban for getting caught with his 17th technical foul of the season. He is #1 in the total technical fouls category for this season. Last season he also had 17 technical fouls but finished in second place. That doesn't pass the eye test.
Did you see the no call on that play? He was up in the air and had his legs taken out from under him from behind.
He just received a ban for getting caught with his 17th technical foul of the season. He is #1 in the total technical fouls category for this season. Last season he also had 17 technical fouls but finished in second place. That doesn't pass the eye test.
Did you see the no call on that play? He was up in the air and had his legs taken out from under him from behind.
Wilt Chamberlain scored 4029 points in one season. The 250th most points in a season is 2045 by Dwyane Wade.
Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 2149 boards in one season. That puts Jokic at #148 for most in a season.
John Stockton dished out 1164 assists in one season. The 250th most assists in a season is 637 shared by Dave Bing and Kevin Johnson. Chamberlain had 702 assists one season (ranked #140).
The point of the above is that Jokic's "epic" season for the ages does not appear to that special. He is only above 50% of the all-time high in assists. He is close in points and boards to 50% but not there yet.
Your cherry picking isolated stats from hall of famers seems to add to the case of how special Jokic is. You pick out the highest scoring season from Chamberlain, players who on their BEST seasons have the record of assists, record boards in one of Chamberlain best rebounding seasons, and compare that to Jokic doing all of it at once in this one season.
He just received a ban for getting caught with his 17th technical foul of the season. He is #1 in the total technical fouls category for this season. Last season he also had 17 technical fouls but finished in second place. That doesn't pass the eye test.
Did you see the no call on that play? He was up in the air and had his legs taken out from under him from behind.
Don't blame him for getting angry with a no call.
I love Luka. He's the only one other than Giannis that I specifically seek out on League Pass. He's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. The most obvious comparison is James Harden, but James kinda makes sense while Luka I'm always scratching my head wondering how he did it.
But Luka is a whiner and complainer, like many players. Often for good reason, there's a lot that goes uncalled. I guess the song he sings in his head didn't work last night.
My other League Pass look-in is hate-watching Mo Wagner. Bench player on a bad team, but he's on a historic pace of ahole-ness. Every single possession.
Many people, including James Harden and former NBA greats, have criticized Giannis for exhibiting "low quality playground ball."
Both the NBA and House Of Highlights youtube accounts just completely skip over this play in their highlight video of the game. They don't wanna show you Giannis' skill pic.twitter.com/Lt4Fv6HyX6
Did you see the no call on that play? He was up in the air and had his legs taken out from under him from behind.
Don't blame him for getting angry with a no call.
I love Luka. He's the only one other than Giannis that I specifically seek out on League Pass. He's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. The most obvious comparison is James Harden, but James kinda makes sense while Luka I'm always scratching my head wondering how he did it.
But Luka is a whiner and complainer, like many players. Often for good reason, there's a lot that goes uncalled. I guess the song he sings in his head didn't work last night.
My other League Pass look-in is hate-watching Mo Wagner. Bench player on a bad team, but he's on a historic pace of ahole-ness. Every single possession.
I love watching the guy too but yes he is a whiner. The refs miss much of the crap he takes but he also is a flopper/faker too. But his tech call was on a real bad no call.
Wilt Chamberlain scored 4029 points in one season. The 250th most points in a season is 2045 by Dwyane Wade.
Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 2149 boards in one season. That puts Jokic at #148 for most in a season.
John Stockton dished out 1164 assists in one season. The 250th most assists in a season is 637 shared by Dave Bing and Kevin Johnson. Chamberlain had 702 assists one season (ranked #140).
The point of the above is that Jokic's "epic" season for the ages does not appear to that special. He is only above 50% of the all-time high in assists. He is close in points and boards to 50% but not there yet.
Your cherry picking isolated stats from hall of famers seems to add to the case of how special Jokic is. You pick out the highest scoring season from Chamberlain, players who on their BEST seasons have the record of assists, record boards in one of Chamberlain best rebounding seasons, and compare that to Jokic doing all of it at once in this one season.
Your cherry picking isolated stats from hall of famers seems to add to the case of how special Jokic is. You pick out the highest scoring season from Chamberlain, players who on their BEST seasons have the record of assists, record boards in one of Chamberlain best rebounding seasons, and compare that to Jokic doing all of it at once in this one season.
Seems pretty special to most.
It's called giving perspective.
The 2,000/1,000/500 thing is cherry picking
Most stats are cherry picking. If your team loses who cares if you score many points. How many shots did the high scorer take?
However no one did what Jokic did, ever. It means something. Not saying it means he is the best ever or anything like that.
Since Jokic won it last year, Embiid will win it this year. But most of these nba stars just dog it through a lot of the season. They sit out games and don't play defense at times against weak opponents. They only try AKA play defense in the marquee or primetime matches during the season and in the playoffs. They are fine with losing many games in the regular season as long as they get into the playoffs. Seeding is becoming even less relevant but the players know they can't take every night off because fans will flee.
It funny you say that because in Philly and Boston, in particular, seeding has been the focus of the fan bases for over a month. Avoiding the Nets, not wanting to go to Toronto with unvaxxed players on the roster, etc.
You see the overrepresentation of overseas immigrants’ children in so many areas of achievement.
Quite a good point actually. My son's girlfriend is Nigerian, her parents immigrated to US when she was young, and as he says they've achieved the immigrant dream. One kid is a doctor, one a lawyer, and one an engineer, all with doctorates.
Embiid today: 41 points, 20 rebounds but 37 minutes in a blowout against a team with no bigs.
Some players love to pad stats. I liked him in the first half but he's been complaining and campaigning the last few weeks. Nevertheless no clear cut candidate.
Not one of the top Four candidates for MVP is American born! Has that ever happened before?
For decades American basketball was obsessed with low quality playground ball. Basketball players didn't have to think or develop comprehensive skills, their game was essentially defined by dunking.
The international players advanced the quality of the game. Top 4 players International makes sense.
In case you're serious, you should check out Luka Dončić's recent interview by JJ Redick. This is just a short clip of it I'm linking here that will take you straight to a relevant exchange in regards to what you're saying.
Luka Doncic (The Dallas Mavericks) explains to JJ Redick why it's 100% easier to score 30 points in The NBA than in The EuroLeague. The full interview is ava...
You have to bring it the whole season to be MVP. Doncic showed up out of shape and took some public criticism to get back up to speed. Jokic is by far the best passer for a center in NBA history. That he fills out a new made up stat doesn't make him the best of all time. Just making three levels doesn't account for whether other players just missed one but way exceeded others, like Wilt. Giannis is a very good passer for a center, while Embiid is just average. They play very similar minutes. Giannis and Embiid are supposed to be better defenders, but notably Jokic has a better offensive and defensive rating. He is going to be penalized by some because Denver bowed out early after his first MVP, and Giannis won everything, while Embiid may go further--usually losing to Boston, though. I'd give it to Jokic for superior fg percent, passing, rebounding, and advanced numbers like PER and offensive/defensive rating, but Giannis would be a worthy candidate and Embiid almost as much.