‘First Wave’ Of NBA International Superstars Gets Its Hall Of Fame Due

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Pat Williams, who is still active with the Orlando Magic but got his career as an executive started in Philadelphia, once told me a great story about Jack Ramsay, who was coaching in Philadelphia before he went on to fame in Portland. Ramsay was coaching at St. Joseph’s before getting the Sixers job in 1968 and had gotten a tip about a 7-foot European prospect who was interested in coming to the U.S. Ramsay was excited, and dispatched Williams to the airport to retrieve his new potential star. When Williams asked Ramsay how he would recognize the player, Ramsay just told him, “Just look for the big guy.”

Williams scoured the airport and, eventually found a man who resembled a basketball player. Only problem was that the player was closer to 6-foot-6 than 7-feet. Williams sighed and folded the man into his car to take him to the Sixers’ practice facility. Ramsay was waiting. He turned pale when he got a load of his (ahem) 7-footer.

“Jack took one look at him and told me, ‘Take him right back to the airport,’” Williams said. “Jack had been hoodwinked. Players from overseas who said they were 7-feet had a habit of shrinking a half-foot or so during the journey.”

Here we are, 65 years later, on a Naismith Hall of Fame induction weekend that shows just how far the NBA has gone in its internationalization. On tap for Saturday night speeches are Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, perhaps the greatest international player in league history, as well as Pau Gasol of Spain and Tony Parker of France. Ramsay’s Euro big guy had been nothing but a daydream, but this group proved that international players could be elite superstars.

“For European basketball, I think this class is an incredible accomplishment, for international basketball as well,” Gasol said. “The game has grown so much since we first started playing, and getting into the NBA. I thnk we can be very proud of having taken the international game to a higher level and being very proud of seeing how the present and current player are taking it to the next level. It’s very special to share this moment with Dirk, with Tony, because it is remarkable because it is something that was unthinkable not to long ago. It’s beautiful to show and share a message that things are possible, things do change and do improve.”

Dirk Nowtizki, International GOAT
GOAT

Gasol is right in that you don’t have to go all the way back to Jack Ramsay to get a line on how misunderstood the international game was in an NBA context. He was the No. 3 pick in the 2001 NBA draft, in part because teams wanted to replicate the success the Mavericks had with the No. 8 pick in the 1998 draft, Dirk Nowitzki. It was only three years before, but picking Nowitzki had been a very controversial move by Dallas at the time, one for which the Mavs were pilloried when Nowitzki struggled as a rookie.

The Mavericks surely redeemed themselves, as Nowitzki went on to be an MVP and a 14-time All-Star in his 21 years playing for the franchise, winning Dallas’ only title in 2011. Parker credited Nowitzki with being the G.O.A.T. of international basketball.

“He told me that yesterday and it was very humbling,” Nowitzki said. “You know, I always give credit to everybody else who paved the way for me—(Detlef) Schrempf, (Toni) Kukoc, (Drazen) Petrovic, probably (Arvydas) Sabonis, who we did not see the best of, he was a beast before he got hurt. If I came in and helped inspire and motivate some guys along the way, then that makes me incredibly proud. It’s always hard to pick a G.O.A.T, though.”

And the G.O.A.T. may yet change. Joel Embiid, of Cameroon, is the reigning MVP, and the four MVP awards before that went to Nikola Jokic, from Serbia, and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece. Jokic’s Nuggets and Antetokounmpo’s Bucks also have championships to their credit. There’s also much-hyped rookie big man Victor Wembanyama of France, the No. 1 pick of the Spurs.

Parker, who came into the NBA in the same year as Gasol, can see how the view of international players has evolved. He noted that Spurs star Tim Duncan did not talk to him at all during his rookie season, when Parker was 19, until the Spurs toppled the Sonics in the playoffs, with Parker averaging 17.2 points against veteran Gary Payton. Even then, Duncan just said, “You’re going to be all right, Little Frenchie.”

But Parker has an underrated role in the development of international basketball on the NBA level, too. While most of the focus had been on finding European big men or shooters, Parker showed that there were pretty good international point guards, too.

“It’s pretty cool,” Parker said. “It’s pretty cool to see how European basketball and international basketball exploded. I always say we had some great international players before me and Pau and Dirk, but we were the first wave where NBA franchises decided like, ‘Yeah, we can trust a European guy to be our franchise guy.’”