From Russia with Love

After a big slump in 2004, USA men’s basketball restored it's reputation as the strongest basketball program on earth both in ’08 and this past summer.  This year’s team really boasted that US dominance when they performed feats such as scoring 156 points against Nigeria, which had Al-Farouq Aminu of the Hornets and former lottery pick Ike Diogu on the team's roster.  Even if the US is still blowing away the competition, I am glad to see that the international competition is continuing to increase.

France's team featured 6 current NBA players, as well 2 more who formerly played in the NBA.  They were also missing a plethora of players such as Joakim Noah, Mickael Pietrus, Johan Petro, Ian Mahinmi and Rodrigue Beaubois, who were all either injured or chose not to play internationally this year.  Spain has established themselves in basketball as 2^nd to the U.S., featuring 5 current NBA athletes on their roster.  Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez are most certainly skilled enough for the NBA as well, and the team took home the silver despite taking a hit in losing Ricky Rubio to injury.  One country really took me by surprise more than any other this summer, and that was Russia.

At the time of the 2012 Summer Olympics, the team had only 3 current and 2 former NBA players on their roster.  Despite that, team captain Andrei Kirilenko lead the way to a bronze medal this summer and many spectators were quite impressed.  AK-47 seemed to return to his old form for the ’12 Olympic games, and he has really carried that play into the current NBA season.

After 6 games, Kirlenko is averaging 11.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2 blocks and 1.7 steals per game.  None of those numbers are great, but each of them is solid and that really shows the all-around play that he has kept up for his entire career.  As for fellow T’Wolve and bronze-medalist, guard Alexey Shved, he has been playing pretty well for a rookie.  Both have been a big part of Minnesota’s 4-2 start without Rubio and Kevin Love.  Timofey Mozgov, the other current player of Russia in the league, has been limited to 1 game for Denver due to a knee injury, but I want to talk more about the Timberwolves.

I’ve always respected Minnesota because of how it reminds me of my home state of Michigan.  Both are located in the Midwestern U.S. and are known for their freezing cold winters that seem to last as long as 8 months at their worst.  I was a fan of the Timberwolves during the team’s Garnett-era, and I’ve continued being a fan today.  Kevin Love is my favorite player in the league and I believe that if his recovery permits him to play enough games this season, he will easily be a front-runner for MVP.  In a way though, the team is not just representing Minnesota this year, but also Russia.

Just like Yao Ming helped the Rockets get just about every NBA fan in China on their side, I imagine that Kirilenko and Shved together will help Minnesota do the same for their home country.  It doesn’t hurt that they also have Nikola Pekovic at center, a native of the distant Russian neighbor of Montenegro.

The T’Wolves have plenty of great, young and exciting talent on their team this year.    Derrick Williams and Chase Budinger are skilled, explosive dunkers and I couldn’t be happier to see that Brandon Roy is returning after injuries led him to announce his retirement at only 27 years old.  Hopefully we’ll get to see a quick and healthy recovery from both Rubio and Love because this team is going to be quite the spectacle at full strength.

The rise of the NBA overseas is pretty exciting though.  They bring a different style of basketball to the U.S. and it also brings a wider range of talent to the league.  I also like to see players of the same nationality like Kirilenko and Shved playing together.  Like I mentioned with Minnesota and Michigan, Minnesota and Russia have some similarities in their geography and weather trends as well, both being known for their cold air.  Now they share similarities in their basketball too, and hopefully that gives Russian basketball fans an NBA team that they can cheer on this season.

Now what would be a good nickname for a team with a couple Russians and a guy named Love?  Hmm....