International Team

[IWWROCKS]

Hey guys, i've set myself a little challange and wanna know what you think. I'm a brit and recently got tickets to go to the olympics to watch b-ball. Very excited about this and it made me think of trying out a franchise where I build an international team. The whole roster must be international players, i'm only allowed to draft international players.

So I started with the spurs and made the following trades to get my team international (no force trades, 1 team control)

Spurs Trade: Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard
Bulls Trade: Joakim Noah, Luol Deng

Spurs Trade: DeJuan Blair, Stephen Jackson, 2013 2nd Round Pick, 2012 2nd Round Pick
Pistons Trade: Ben Gordon, 2012 1st round pick

Spurs Trade: Daniel Green, James Anderson, 2013 1st round pick,
Suns Trade: 2012 1st round pick, Robin Lopez (wasn't thinking! traded him away shortly after remembering he is american)

Spurs Trade: Gary Neal, Patrick Mills, 2012 Spurs 1st Rd Pick
Mavs Trade: Ian Mahinmi, Kelenna Azubuike

Spurs Trade: Matt Bonner, Cory Joseph, 2012 Pistons 1st Rd Pick
Wizards Trade: Jan Vesely, Kevin Seraphin

Spurs Trade: Robin Lopez
Nuggets Trade: Rudy Fernandez

Free Agent Signings: Carlos Arroyo, Mehmet Okur,

This leaves my final roster as:

PG - Tony Parker, Carlos Arroyo
SG - Manu Ginoblli, Ben Gordon, Kelena Azubuike, Rudy Fernandez
SF - Luol Deng, Jan Vesely
PF - Kevin Seraphin, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter
C - Joakim Noah, Mehmet Okur, Ian Mahinmi

Do you guys think I did well to get that considering the challenger, or I could of done better?

And what do you think my realistic expectations should be for the season?

[BuddhaBaller]

Joakim Noah was born in New York City and played college ball at Florida. How is he an international player? Just because he has Swedish and French citizenship? Can't you go with a player who played overseas like Andrea Bargnani? Ben Gordon played at UConn. I guess you can't be too picky, but I'd go with Ricky Rubio as my backup PG and Marco Belinelli as my backup SG, personally. Not too realistic, but I think it honors the spirit of your challenge better.

I like this idea. Keep us updated.

[IWWROCKS]

I know he's not truly international but i'm trying to go by players who represent international teams like Noah does for France. Otherwise my options would be really really limited!

[BuddhaBaller]

Sorry I'm an edit-monster. I can't collect my thoughts all at once very well.

What do you think of my substitute suggestions for C, PG, and SG?

[IWWROCKS]

Good suggestions but what I really don't want to do is force trades. I prefer the computer to decide for me and I can't see getting Rubio with what I have to offer. Plus with that, there is a greek PG projected to go top 5 and i'm hoping my suns pick will end up around there so I can either grab him or trade up to get him.

I will keep an eye out for potentially moving them for more true international players, but certainly for 1st season while building im happy to go with players who represent their counties at international level.

[BuddhaBaller]

Fair enough. Definitely won't be able to get Rubio without giving up your draft picks but you might be able to score Belinelli. Good plan with the draft prospect. Good luck with this, man.

Also, I didn't realize Noah played for the French team so that makes him stick out less.

[IWWROCKS]

Not a bad season! I tend to go through seasons quick playing 1 game a month, and 1 game a playoff series.

So I ended up with the 3rd seed in the west. Joakim Noah was 3rd in the league for rebounds which helped. 3 point shooting was good all season too. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Luol Deng all made the all star game, but truthfully it was a season where everyone on the team played at the same sort of level. No real superstar seasons for anyone but good team play.

Sweeped the Trail Blazers in the first round. Then was bounced 3-1 by 7th seed Lakers.

The Suns pick had me predicted to go at 8th in the Draft. I thought this was a good basis for a trade up to get the greek PG. Amazingly the lottery comes about and the Suns pick comes out as the no.1 pick. I'm amazed because I have never got the 1st pick on NBA 2k12. All my other games even if I had the best chance of getting it, I never did. As a top 5 prospect, rated A, it seemed like destiny I would get this guy. He can also play SG which he might do a bit off this season with Manu Ginobili out for the first 2-4 months.

When i'm home i'll update with free agency and next seasons depth chart. But good basis for some international success I think.

[Signaltheescape]

FYI, If you go a player's card it shows you where they are out of. Like earlier Noah plays international but is not a international player. and off the top of my head Ben Gordon went to UConn and is an american player. I did one association like this with the Paris Lions. It is hard but not impossible when you do not focus on overall. You can easily field a good team.

BTW Papa Si (6'7'' PG) from France (48 OVR) was 2nd team All NBA for me in my first season averaging 14 pts and 11 assists.

[IWWROCKS]

Will certainly look into Papa Si.

As for the player card it does show where they are from to a degree. To take Ben Gordon as an example, he did play at UConn and while he grew up in America, he was born in London, England and will play for Great Britain in the olympics. I mean, Dikembe Mutombo played at Georgetown but you certainly wouldn't count him as an american player right? :P

I'll stick with allowing people as long as they represent an international FIBA team (i.e. Noah) as that suggests they were either born in that country or at least they are at least partly that nationallity even if only through one parent. Plus as time goes on the draftees will be 100% legit and eventually faze those guys out.