Article:Could an All-International Team Compete in the NBA?

As I recently discussed in the post The New Globetrotters, International players (foreign players that never played high school or college basketball in the United States) are here to stay and the NBA is better because of it. Nevertheless, some of my colleagues still insist that the international player is just a novelty, and they refuse to admit that the international basketball import was officially legitimized when Dirk Nowitzki was named league MVP last year.

I’m interested in your opinion. Here is my All- International team:



STARTERS:

C - Yao Ming, Houston, China PF - Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks, Germany SF - Boris Diaw, Suns, France SG - Manu Ginobili, Spurs, Argentina PG - Tony Parker, Spurs, France

RESERVES:

C - Pau Gasol, LA Lakers, Spain PF - Mehmet Okur, Jazz, Turkey SF - Peja Stojakovic, Hornets, Serbia SG - Hedo Turkoglu, Magic, Turkey PG - Leandro Barbosa, Suns, Brazil PF - Luis Scola, Rockets, Argentina PG - Jose Calderon, Raptors, Spain

Some very good players were left off of this roster due to the depth available, including: Nene, Andrea Bargnani, Andrei Kirilenko, Anderson Varejao, Andris Biedrins, and Beno Udrih.

So, would this All-International team be a title contender, a mediocre playoff team, or would they be lottery bound?