Why are National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and NBA teams searching around the globe for players?
Many basketball analysts agree that international players are more fundamentally sound and do not play as many games as their American counterparts, focusing instead on practice and allowing players to work extensively on all aspects of their game. Çem Dinç, who has dual citizenship in both Germany and Turkey, agrees with this assessment of international players. “Overall, most European players lack the athletic skills of players in the U.S. Lithuanian, Turkish, Serbian and Russian basketball programs focus on the fundamentals of the sport to make their players better,” he said. Dinç recalled that there were many times when a coach would tell him to stop working on his dunk shot and start working on his jump and hook shots. Ben Allen noted that players in Australia are also drilled on the fundamentals of basketball. “There is a greater focus on being involved and playing as a team, not just individual play,” he said in an interview. GLOBAL SPORT Çem Dinç noted that when the Turkish Nat
