http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....nships/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Looks like either JaVale McGee or Andre Blatche is going to undergo this procedure called "naturalization" to make them Filipino. I wonder if this will divert some Asian fans away from Jeremy Lin.
I would love to cheer on my mothers homeland but this would be weird. What are some other countries that do this to try to gain a NBA player or two??
If they have filipino citizenship, that means they can be part of the National team. The addition of those 2 might be good enough to knock off China from representing Asia in the Olympics.
A lot of European national teams have "naturalize" players ... it's a shame because they are traditional powers of the European basketball ... They can have only one player.
are they at all philipino? like even a little? if not, i'm not a fan of this (beyond the comedy side) because this is supposed to be players representing where they are from. now its about which country can sign the best free agent. hypothetical, what if russia decided to grant citizenship to lebron plus a few mil signing bonus, and he lead them to beat the USA for the gold? getting beaten by your own players would suck. that's pretty much what these two losers want to do with the philipines. can't make the US team so they go play for another country? maybe work on your game play for your own country.
Haha. I second this. I know tons of Filipinos that relate more to Hispanic culture than East Asian culture.
Great grandfather was son of a Spanish friar Great grandmother was a daughter of a Chinese merchant who married a Muslim Filipina. Dunno if that makes me Hispanic.
This already happens all the time. Which national teams do you think the following guys play for in FIBA competiton: Lebron, however, cannot play for another team even if he naturalizes because he has already played for the US team. It also would not make business sense for him or other guys who can actually make the US team to play for another team. I am sure the extra endorsement money they get from Nike and other sources for playing for the US outweigh even a cash payout they'd get for playing for Spain or Greece or whatever.
You mean, you're not a fan of the NBA? :grin: But, yeah, I'm not in favor of this. I stopped watching local basketball here in the Philippines when they introduced naturalized foreign players to local teams.
All jokes aside, I wouldn't be surprised if a few quality filipino players emerge within the next fifteen years; maybe even a filipino equivalent of Hakeem Olajuwon comes here within my lifetime.