Former NBA players, stashed NBA draft picks all over World Cup rosters
Aug 25, 2014, 10:46 PM EDT
Getty Images We know the NBA players that fill out not only Team USA but other World Cup rosters are loaded as well — 45 guys currently on NBA teams will be playing in Spain. Guys like Goran Dragic suits up for Slovenia, or Rudy Gobert, Boris Diaw, Evan Fournier, and Ian Mahinmi will play for France. You get the idea.
But as John Schuhmann notes at NBA.com, a there are also 23 guys who used to be on NBA rosters also are playing in the World Cup.
The biggest names among them are Carlos Arroyo and Renaldo Balkman (both of whom play for Puerto Rico), Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain), and Andres Nocioni (Argentina).
Schuhmann makes another interesting observation: There are 17 other players drafted by NBA players who have been stashed overseas who will also be on World Cup rosters.
There’s Croatia’s Dario Saric, who the 76ers picked up in the last draft. There is Raul Neto playing for Brazil and maybe someday the Jazz. Bogdan Bogdanovic will be part of a pretty good Serbian team and could someday play for the Suns.
Team USA still has more depth of talent than any other team in the world — but there is talent all over the globe now. The days of the USA cruising to gold are fading. Fast.
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- RavenzGunnerz - Aug 25, 2014 at 11:22 PM
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Bring on basketball!!!!
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 25, 2014 at 11:32 PM
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Oh my God. Yes, they are fading fast because there are guys whose names we know know how to pronounce because we’ve heard of them before. Pssssssssssssh!!!!!!!!
These guys are either OUT of the NBA, or are 2nd and 3rd stringers for the most part! And the others weren’t even good enough to come out righy away, they had to be stashed.
F O….H!
U S….A!!!!!!!
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- rrhoe - Aug 25, 2014 at 11:34 PM
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Players drafted by NBA players….priceless!!
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 25, 2014 at 11:37 PM
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“The biggest names among them (guys who used to be in the league who aren’t anymore) are Reynaldo Balkman and Carlos Arroyo…….”
YEAH. That says it all.
And what was Nocioni, a guy who couldn’t even hang on with the SIXERS of all teams!
The USA could literally throw out the Atlanta Hawks roster and take the gold for Pete’s sake.
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- blogsk3tball - Aug 26, 2014 at 1:26 AM
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Lol not every team is Puerto Rico who still managed to scare the US
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- asimonetti88 - Aug 26, 2014 at 10:45 AM
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The 2004 Olympics weren’t THAT long ago…
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- tomtravis76 - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:07 AM
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The Aussies are going to have some top notch talent down the road with Exum, Ben Simmons and Thon Maker. Steve Nash will be able to put together a highly competitive team for Canada.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:34 AM
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No.
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- demasane - Aug 26, 2014 at 1:04 AM
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You don’t believe that Cory Joseph, Bennett, Wiggins, Ennis, Olynyk, Tristan Thompson,… could be part of a highly competitive roster down the road? Not saying they would be better than team USA but that’s some pretty good talent , especially at the international level
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 3:45 AM
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Cory Joseph= HOW MANY MINUTES DID HE GET IN THE PLAYOFFS, LET ALONE THE FINALS????
Anthony Bennett= BWAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HAAA.
HAAA!!
Wiggins= Okay, now we’re talking, but still very young, raw, and inexperienced. But a fantastic start nonetheless.
Olynyk= Drafted in the lottery last year in the weakest draft known to mankind but got beat out by undrafted (?. or at least 2nd round) Vitor Faviani!!!!???? On a week arse C’s squad that coulda used allllll the help they could get????
Tristan Thompson= Under appreciated, but is a backup now.
These guys are supposed to “compete” against USA?? THAT’S LIKE saying the 76ers are gonna beat the brakes off the Spurs!
Look….just because you “recognize” the names doesn’t mean NOTHING. Even with us putting out our NBA B/C+ squad.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 3:53 AM
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And oh, would you look at that….Ennis is so irrelevent I forgot to add him in the mix.
(I do like him though, but let’s be honest, will he even make ONE ASG in his entire career??)
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- sylpkt - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:22 PM
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2 years from now, that Canadian team will politely settle for a bronze medal.
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- areyesrn - Aug 26, 2014 at 6:08 AM
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can’t wait to see how good Dario Saric really is…
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- balsagna - Aug 26, 2014 at 6:48 AM
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I fail to see how a bunch of players not good enough to play in the NBA, as the article is written, are going to challenge the best players the NBA has to offer. It just doesn’t make much sense to me.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 7:59 AM
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THANK YOU.
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- asimonetti88 - Aug 26, 2014 at 10:52 AM
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The 2004 Argentinian team that won gold had only one player that made a NBA All-Star team.. Manu Ginobli… the rest of the team:
Carlos Delfino
Gabriel Fernández
Leonardo Gutiérrez
Wálter Herrmann
Alejandro Montecchia
Andrés Nocioni
Fabricio Oberto
Pepe Sánchez
Luis Scola
Hugo Sconochini
Rubén WolkowyskiInternational basketball is different… look at the Puerto Rico team that beat the US that same year… Carlos Arroyo was the best player on that team. Clearly you haven’t paid attention to international basketball before if you really believe this.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:38 PM
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Yeah I remember that sad anomaly of a year with a young LeBron, Wade, Melo etc.
I also can’t forget how a young Carlos Arroyo tore us a new one. That year team USA just fell asleep and never really respected the competition or they would’ve prepared better.
As long as we ALWAYS take this seriously and put in the work, you should never expect to see that ever again.
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- asimonetti88 - Aug 26, 2014 at 3:23 PM
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It’s not an anomaly. Between the 2000 Olympics in Australia and the 2007 FIBA Americas Tournament in Las Vegas, the US Men’s Team did not win a single tournament… even placing 6th in the 2002 World Championships Tournament. International basketball is very different from NBA Basketball, and the Spanish team especially is stacked. Some of those players, specifically Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro, aren’t in the NBA not because they can’t stick, but because of choice.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 5:31 PM
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JCN and Rudy were bench players in the NBA, and they had no choice in that.
Both of them left because they couldn’t handle the NBA because they weren’t seen as studs and they wanted to go back home where the competition wasn’t as stiff so they could finally be The Man. They wussed out.
Yeah Espana is “stacked” to a certain degree, and the teamwork between them is actually brilliant. But let’s not get it twisted. As long as the US stays focused every tournament we will never have that kind of output ever again. They just cant ever take the competition lightly ever again.
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- montrealknowledge - Aug 26, 2014 at 7:55 AM
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Basketball Canada is going to have a hard time getting all this guys to play for them. Our national team does not have the money to get insurance on their contracts, in case of injury. So while Canada will get some, will be impossible to get all. I guarantee you Basketball Canada would not have had the money to insure Paul George.
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- hubermeersmans - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:00 PM
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Anybody see the Spanish team somtehing to fear about?
I do.
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- 00maltliquor - Aug 26, 2014 at 12:17 PM
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No.
