Better at being human?! Okay, I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek ... I think. After a trip to Japan, Jim Gaffigan said it well in one of his skits. It takes you less than a day in Tokyo to realize that the basic fiber of living is in many ways more elevated than what you are used to. Running a bit late, my friends and I ran right up to the door of a bus, and the driver sighed. Only then did we notice a marker some TEN feet away, behind which a group of people had already organized themselves into a line and were patiently excusing our ignorance. At the subway we noticed carriages for only women during designated "rush hours" for their greater comfort 😀. And yes, the toilets do make you feel like your country you thought was so developed all your life has actually been (and still is) in the stone age—we're not talking about 4K, AI or rocket science here — just t oilets! Why haven't we perfected the toilet yet? They didn't stop at the toilet, lol. Japan's techno...
A U.S. born NBA player hasn't won MVP since 2018. Nikola Jokić from Serbia, Joel Embiid from Cameroon and Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece, the latest winners, are the current titans of the NBA.
Why are the best NBA players now foreign born?
Three key words: Softer. Smaller. Smarter.
1) The NBA is softer than the European leagues.
Damian Lillard, an consistent NBA All-Star, admitted as much:
"A lot of the best scorers in the NBA, they score from three and they get to the rim and they get fouled, and in FIBA, there's not as many foul calls. You're gonna get away with a lot more. It's more physical."
In my personal opinion, his tone and expression, "you're gonna get away with a lot more", suggest at the very least that he doesn't think the European rules are more fair or better.
Perhaps that's because Damian Lillard regularly gets the benefit of some of the softest foul calls in the NBA you will ever see.
Imagine playing a pickup game and trying to call some of those fouls.
Of course Damian Lillard is not the only one to search for calls like these. Joel Embiid, for example, is one of many who do the same thing because the NBA caters to it. The difference is Damian Lillard is only 6 feet 2 inches. He might struggle to thrive in a tougher league whereas Joel Embiid regularly gets punished in the NBA just for being big.
Bottom line: the way the modern NBA calls fouls encourages all, big and small, to play soft. It's as Stephen A. Smith, on his show, First Take, regularly says with regards to the modern NBA:
"You can get a foul called on you for passing gas."
2) NBA players are smaller.
After the USA's elimination loss to Germany in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Semifinals in which USA gave up 25 second chance points to Germany's 8, NBA Insider, Brian Windhorst, reported:
"We don't have a lot of size from the American rosters right now. We don't have much at center. We don't have much at power forward. That is a reality that USA is grappling with. They grappled with it coming into this. They grappled with it throughout it, and now they're grappling with it as they go to play for the Bronze."
According to NBA.COM, as of today, Nikola Jokić is 6 feet, 11 inches and 284 pounds, Joel Embiid is 7 Feet and 280 pounds, and Giannis Antetokounmpo is 6 feet, 11 inches and 243 pounds. They are beasts. U.S. born big men of a similar skill level are generally popsicle sticks in comparison.
The lack of U.S. born truly big men in the modern NBA may have something to do with the 3 point revolution. In 1980, less than 3 percent of all shots taken in the NBA were 3 point shots, and by 2020 that number had risen to 39.2 percent. The increase in "soft" fouls called and the rise of smaller players with unprecedented shooting ability such as Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard has led more and more NBA teams to develop strategies that prioritize three point shooting above all else. And since the best three point shooters generally aren't big and heavy centers, and since big and heavy centers generally can't defend the smaller, quicker three point shooter that is so highly valued and common in the modern NBA, it seems as if not as many big and heavy U.S. born basketball players even aspire to make the NBA, as they know that, generally speaking, they are no longer in high demand.
3 point shooting is also valued in the European leagues, but since they haven't all but eliminated tough, physical play, the strong, thick center is valued as well, and this balance has led to many strong, big men who can also shoot the three.
3) They play smarter in the European leagues.
Luka Dončić from Slovenia, arguably the NBA's next great "titan", said on JJ Reddick's podcast:
"European basketball is more team basketball, more tactics basketball."
What could he have meant?
In the NBA, iso ball, or HERO ball is a big thing, to say the least. Regardless of logic, statistics, strategy, the defense or what's best for the team, the NBA has a culture of the best player needing to take the last shot at the end of games, essentially going one on one against his defender, as the rest of his teammates stand by and watch. Jim Boylan, former assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks is quoted as saying:
"You're down one. There are 15 seconds to go. You come down the floor, make a few passes. Somehow your best player ends up not getting the ball. Now there are five seconds left, four, three, two ... boom. Got to shoot. You miss. After the game, everyone asks, 'Why didn't your best player, your highest-paid player, get the basketball? This is why he's here. We're paying him to get the ball at the end of the game and win it for us.' As a coach, you're stuck."
In fact, Lebron James, arguably, the greatest player to play the game of basketball, has been regularly vilified for passing the ball TO AN OPEN TEAMMATE at the end of games when he is double teamed.
What makes iso or HERO ball even worse is it appears that it doesn't work. Henry Abbot on ESPN.COM reported:
"Plays involving off-the-ball cuts (1.18 points per possession) and transition plays (1.12 ppp) are by far the most efficient, followed by putbacks (1.04 ppp) and pick-and-rolls in which the ball reaches the hands of the rolling man (0.97 ppp). And the least efficient? Isolation plays, good for only 0.78 points per possession."
European players seem to be taught to do what we are all taught to do in Middle School: PLAY SMART - NOT SELFISH. PASS THE BALL.
Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić are regularly praised for being some of the greatest passers ever, where as the NBA culture has regularly disrespected one of the best U.S. born players ever, Lebron, because he has a pass-first mentality at the end of games - calling him scared or a choke artist.
Meanwhile Nikola Jokić, 2023 NBA Finals MVP, ignores the noise, just passes and wins.
After Team USA's disappointing loss in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, U.S. born NBA players and insiders are suddenly very worried about making sure there is a better outcome for them in the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris. The problem is, evidently, they're not good enough on their own. Many share the opinion of Brian Windhorst (5:41 mark):
"Whatever it takes to get a center who can compete with those European big men, with Nikola Jokić and those big German guys - Gotta have it. If you care about Team USA winning the gold, you should embrace our naturalized citizen, Joel Embiid, and ask him to come play for Team USA next summer in Paris."
Managing Director of Team USA Men's Basketball program, Grant Hill, agreed. Windhorst reported that after Joel Embiid became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2022, Grant Hill wasted no time in flying to Philadelphia, some two years before the Olympics to recruit Joel Embiid to the team, and after 12 months of trying, he finally convinced Embiid.
Whether or not Embiid ends up being healthy enough at that particular time to actually play for Team USA, Team USA is thrilled to at least not have to play against Embiid. Windhorst adds:
"If Joel Embiid is not going to play for the Americans, the last thing you want to do is face him."
Why might that be?
Because the best players in the NBA are now international.
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