Chad Ford on International Stars, Mavericks

[HexNBA]

ESPN Insider article about international stars in the NBA. I won't paste everything, but here's the part about the Dallas Mavericks.

-----------

There was a time when the Mavericks were the United Nations of the NBA. Don Nelson, in the now iconic Visa commercials, shouting out instructions in a number of languages to his player might have been some fans' first introduction to a truly international team.

Things have changed over the past year, and only one truly significant international player remains on the Mavs' roster. However, he just so happens to be the best one in the NBA.

Dirk Nowitzki is having a career year in Dallas and looks to be a serious MVP candidate this year.

"The absence of Stevie [Nash] has really put a different kind of pressure on him this year," Mavs president Donnie Nelson told Insider. "He's now got the ball in his hands in more conventional settings. Last year, it was Steve who made the tough decisions with the game on the line. That's Dirk's job now. He's responded as well as we could've possibly imagined."

Through Monday's games, Nowitzki was averaging 25.9 ppg, 11 rpg on 47 percent shooting. And he's shooting 44 percent from three-point range. These all are career highs.

Nowitzki's come a long way from a disastrous rookie campaign. Don and Donnie Nelson took a huge gamble in the 1998 draft, passing on Paul Pierce and then swapping Robert Traylor (who many thought would be a star), for the unknown and unproven Nowitzki.

The gamble has paid off big. But it didn't always appear that way. Nowitzki was pretty awful during his rookie season. So bad, in fact, that the Nelsons believed they'd be fired at the end of the season.

However, Donnie, firmly believed that it was just a matter of time before Nowitzki became a star.

"You just looked at what this kid could do at his size and felt like he had the chance to revolutionize the position," Nelson said. "How many 7-footers could shoot the ball or handle it that way? He wasn't your prototypical power forward. But we didn't want him to be."

In fact, Nelson's international strategy over the years has been to find guys who don't fit a traditional mold.

"There is no mold," Nelson said. "We drafted Dirk exactly because he didn't really fit a mold. With the way he could shoot and handle it for his size, it was the chance to do something different. The only guy in the league that you could compare him to was Kevin Garnett. They are totally different players, but Garnett, in his own way, was redefining what it meant to be a power forward. Five years later, look at where these guys are.

"The common thread in international scouting is to find a guy who breaks the mold. Teams that are over there looking for clones are missing the point. It's finding unique talents that can take your team to a different level."

Nowitzki continues to take his game to another level. Nelson says that he comes back from Germany every fall with several new weapons in his arsenal. This summer, Nowitzki worked on his defense.

"The biggest difference I've noticed this year is how active he is on the defensive end. He's getting a lot more deflections and playing the passing lanes much better," Nelson said.

"Offensively, he's developed this sweeping hook that could eventually become a big part of his game in the paint. We haven't seen it too much yet in games, but in practice the thing is unstoppable."

While Nowitzki remains the only significant international player left on the Mavs, Nelson has a number of other projects that he's developing. DJ Mbenga is a 7-footer from the Congo that Nelson discovered last spring at the Reebok Big Man camp in Treviso, Italy. Mbenga had been playing professional ball in Belgium and had somehow slipped under the radar. At 23 years old, he wasn't draft eligible, but the Mavericks quickly realized his potential and signed him to a guaranteed free agent contract to keep him away from another team with sights for him – the Detroit Pistons.

And don't forget the Mavs' other big project, 7-foot-5 inch Pavel Podkolzin. Nelson fell in love with Podkolzin at the same Eurocamp and traded away the Mavs' first-round pick this year to Utah to acquire him on draft night. Podkolzin hasn't played a minute for the Mavs so far. Instead he's undergone a surgical procedure to fix an overactive pituitary gland and a bum ankle.

When he does begin playing, which probably won't happen until this summer, the Mavs are expecting big things from Podkolzin. Unlike other mammoths – Gheorghe Muresan and Shawn Bradley – Podkolzin is athletic and skilled. He can handle the ball, has a soft touch on his jumper and is a good passer. What he still needs to learn, however, is how to play like a 7-foot-5, 300 pounder. Once he figures out how to get physical in the paint, the Mavs believe he could turn out to be the steal of the 2004 draft.

---------

[rakesh.s]

i think they're expecting pavel to turn into yao ming....which isn't unreasonable if he can actually do the things they say he can

[sike]

Unlike other mammoths – Gheorghe Muresan and Shawn Bradley – Podkolzin is athletic and skilled. He can handle the ball, has a soft touch on his jumper and is a good passer. What he still needs to learn, however, is how to play like a 7-foot-5, 300 pounder.

what an ignorant comment to compare Muresan with Bradley...actually when describing Podkolzin's game you could easily replace it with "Bradley" and be accurate: "Bradley" is athletic and skilled. He can handle the ball, has a soft touch on his jumper and is a good passer. What he still needs to learn, however, is how to play like a 7-foot-5, 300 pounder. (though Shawn is a bit shy of 300lbs)

[sike]

Originally posted by: rakesh.s
i think they're expecting pavel to turn into yao ming....which isn't unreasonable if he can actually do the things they say he can

I think it is rather unreasonable...though having never seen him play in person, all the video I've seen has Paval looking nowhere near the athlete that Yao is.

[Murphy3]

Originally posted by: sike

what an ignorant comment to compare Muresan with Bradley...actually when describing Podkolzin's game you could easily replace it with "Bradley" and be accurate: "Bradley" is athletic and skilled. He can handle the ball, has a soft touch on his jumper and is a good passer. What he still needs to learn, however, is how to play like a 7-foot-5, 300 pounder. (though Shawn is a bit shy of 300lbs)

That is exactly what I was thinking. If anything, Shawn is too much of a finesse player for his size. He is extremely athletic for his height.

[TheBenger]

He is extremely athletic for his height.

Good one, Murphy3! Hilarious! We should try to keep the comedy stuff in OT, though.

[XERXES]

That is exactly what I was thinking. If anything, Shawn is too much of a finesse player for his size. He is extremely athletic for his height.

Plus Muresan is a better actor.

[mary]

Things have changed over the past year, and only one truly significant international player remains on the Mavs' roster. However, he just so happens to be the best one in the NBA.

Wow...what a difference a year makes. I could've sworn that this time last year Peja had been crowned as the NEW best international player in the NBA. Or was it Gasol?

[Dirkenstien]

On Dirk...

"Offensively, he's developed this sweeping hook that could eventually become a big part of his game in the paint. We haven't seen it too much yet in games, but in practice the thing is unstoppable."

I'm loving it.

[bernardos70]

We must have the sweeping hook precioussssss......

I've seen him use the hook only once and it worked, I don't know why he doesn't pull it off a few times a game just to get it going.

[V2M]

Originally posted by: bernardos70
We must have the sweeping hook precioussssss......

I've seen him use the hook only once and it worked, I don't know why he doesn't pull it off a few times a game just to get it going.

I agree. At the very least, he should use it every game until he misses a couple in a row. It could be a deadly weapon in his arsenal come playoff time.

[sike]

Originally posted by: TheBenger

Good one, Murphy3! Hilarious! We should try to keep the comedy stuff in OT, though.

Bradley is extremely athletic and cordinated...I heard in a tv report some time ago that in high school baseball he batted over .500 Just Imagine that strike zone!!!

[bloodyhell]

From the games i've seen of pavel, I can easilly say Yao is far slower than paval and bradley is not anywhere near 300 lbs. unless you consider 275 to be around 300 lbs. IF bradley was closer to 300, perhaps he wouldn't be shoved around so easilly. I'd love if bradley were more like 285.

I'd love to see more international players in the game because I know there's some great one's still out there but locked into contracts. One I like a lot is the 24 y/o javtokas. In the olympics he rejected some top u.s. players(one was amare s.) Javtokas is really quick, 6'11-7'0 and around 260-265. He's athletic and a good defender, rebounder and can score pretty well also. When I think of center i think of this guy. I only wish dampier could be as good. Maybe we can pick him up next year. I like his intensity.