The New Look NBA

Argentine athletes with their thick Latin accents and long hair would typically be found at a tennis court or soccer pitch but something remarkable has taken place since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Argentina is sending basketball players to the U.S. to play professionally, though this seems odd because there is no history behind this phenomena, the players are excellent. It all started with Manu Ginobili, the scrappy 6’6’’ forward on the Spurs who has aided in the Spurs winning the NBA championship several times in the previous few years. However, Latin American basketball players were not a hot commodity like Eastern Europeans until the 2004 games when Argentina led by one NBA star, Ginobili, and a full team of amateurs, to a gold metal victory. When the NBA season picked up again in the fall, rosters were changed, and now Ginobili look-alikes such as Carlos Delfino, and Fabricio Oberto have made significant impacts on championship caliber teams. Though Argentina has benefited most by their own success, teams have picked up Brazilian and Puerto Rican players to add to the growing list of Latin American talent in the NBA.