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International big men rule NBA
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Atlanta Hawks coach Nate McMillan believes big men entering the league from other countries thrive because they were taught the fundamentals of the game at a young age.
That grasp of the all-round game has helped international big men dominate the National Basketball Association.
Last season鈥檚 most valuable player voting confirmed the return to prominence of big men in the NBA. The voting also highlighted the dominance of big men from other countries.
Denver鈥檚 Nikola Jokic of Serbia was the MVP winner, followed by Philadelphia鈥檚 Joel Embiid from Cameroon. Milwaukee鈥檚 Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece finished fourth in the voting and was the NBA Finals MVP. Golden State鈥檚 American Stephen Curry was third as the only guard in the top four.
Meanwhile, Utah鈥檚 Rudy Gobert from France won his third defensive player of the year award. Atlanta鈥檚 Clint Capela from Switzerland was the NBA鈥檚 top rebounder.
McMillan says some United States players are missing the lessons of the 鈥渢riple threat鈥 skills of shoot, pass and dribble toward the basket that were learned by the players in other nations.
鈥淚 just think they come in with the basic fundamentals, more so than our players do,鈥 McMillan said on Tuesday.
鈥淚t used to be a lot of that, but now our guys are not spending as much time in those types of programs. ... You don鈥檛 spend four years in college anymore where coaches can develop those basic fundamentals of the triple threat.鈥
McMillan then paused before asking, 鈥淵ou know the triple threat? You say that to one of our guys and it鈥檚 like 鈥楪ive me the ball and let me just ...鈥.鈥
McMillan didn鈥檛 have to finish the sentence. He could have said 鈥淟et me just dunk鈥 or 鈥渓et me just score.鈥
Jokic, who averaged 8.3 assists while also posting big scoring and rebounding numbers, flourished while also making his teammates better.
Jokic isn鈥檛 motivated to dominate the spotlight on the court. That鈥檚 also the way he lives. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to raise my celebrity status,鈥 Jokic said. 鈥淵ou can control that in some way. I don鈥檛 have social media. ... I would rather nobody knows me than everybody knows me, you know. So, it鈥檚 much better if nobody knows me.鈥
Embiid couldn鈥檛 escape the spotlight while averaging 28.5 points last season. He added 2.8 assists per game and wants to be known for his play on the other end of the court.
鈥淚 have aspirations to be the defensive player of the year,鈥 Embiid said at the 76ers preseason media day. 鈥淚 think I have to be more active and it鈥檚 hard to do because offensively I鈥檓 also asked to do a lot. I don鈥檛 mind. I love it. I love carrying a team on both ends. I think that鈥檚 what probably makes me special, because I do it on both ends.鈥
Capela led the league with 14.3 rebounds while making almost 60 percent of his shots from the field and adding two blocks per game. Capela鈥檚 rebounding and defense were big reasons the Hawks beat Embiid鈥檚 76ers to reach the Eastern Conference finals.
The wave of international big men also includes such players as Phoenix鈥檚 Deandre Ayton from the Bahamas, Chicago鈥檚 two-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic from Switzerland and Dallas center and power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who is from Latvia.
Capela said international big men 鈥渆mbrace our role.鈥
He said his role is, 鈥淢ake sure that I do my work. Make sure I finish whenever I get the ball inside. ... You rebound, you create extra possessions. You erase mistakes with blocks. I take pride in that.鈥
The international big men also support each other.
鈥淚鈥檝e known Jokic since I was in high school,鈥 Capela said. 鈥淛oel for a long time. Rudy since I was back in high school as well. We鈥檝e known each other and support each other.鈥
Capela hasn鈥檛 played this preseason while having treatment for a sore left Achilles. He took part in live drills for the second time on Tuesday and expects to be ready for next week鈥檚 season start.
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