in teh example of Russia above, how many of those Russians really made an impact in the US leagues? I know some made impacts in Europe leagues. Lithuanians are amazing basketball players. But they aren't Michael. They aren't Kobe Bryant. They aren't Lebron, Blake Griffin, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Shaq type players.
overall i agree with you but i like to make a point for the lithuanian school, who maybe have no Kobe, michael but an Sabonis and some pretty good Ballers. And hey lithuania is smaller then NewYork and haven't even 50% of the population NewYork have.(Lithuania 3 Million citizen)
Another thing is that beeing a good FIba and NBA have some difference in the rules, which makes it not so easy to convert the game from one game to the other. I think with same rules we would have more elite players(or player in the elite league) from around the world butalso a more dominant US Nationalteam. Cause they or Lithuania have the best Program, but the USA have the much bigger Talentpool. Maybe some ex. Jugoslawien program are worth are mention over here, but i think they are worse then those two nations.
And who is this Norwitski? ;)