International Love.

I live in Europe. I am constantly surrounded by Eurpean basketball players, all of whom tell me how great the European game is. And I must admit, it is great, it's more physical, more skillful and just a generally cleaner game. One of the people always telling me how great European basketball is, is my roomate, the Itialian. Since day 1 he has been telling me how GREAT Andrea Bargnani is, and at first I laughed. He would tell me how he was going to win rookie of the year, and again I would laugh. But then I began to watch and look at the kids stats, and how every game he was getting better, I then stopped laughing began to think... this guy is a stud. He is going to be special. Living in Europe and playing here, I get to watch a lot of games I generally wouldn't get to see. I get to see guys who are already on the NBA radar play live, and it's great. I get to watch 21 year old Tiago Splitter play (6'11'' 250), a potential lottery pick. I also get to watch people like "the best player not in the NBA" Louis Scola of Argentina, this cat is the real freak'n deal, a four man with range and pure strength, and by the way if he ever decides to come to the NBA (he won't) the Spurs own his rights. Players like Marc Gasol (FC Barcelona), Juan Carlos Navvaro (FC Barcelona), Splitter (TAU Vitoria), Bellinielli (Bologna) are all already drawing MAJOR NBA waves, within this year or the next. And that's only a few of them, there are tons of players in Europe generating major buzz. Pay attention to the next few months, as the Euroleague playoffs and playoffs in general begin. As all of you know, this is a great time to rise and fall in the eyes of the NBA executives. It should be a fun and interesting time of year!