In the World basketball map specials we broaden our horizons and recall all foreign players in League’s history, discuss foreign leagues and national teams. Today’s special will cover Argentina.
Population: 44,9 mln
Players in League history: 1.
Full list of players: Nicolás Laprovíttola.
There was only one Argentinian in VTB United League history – Nicolás Laprovíttola of Buenos Aires. Lanus of the same city was the first professional club for the point guard who left Argentina only at the age of 23. He played in Brazil, Lithuania, Spain, came to NBA’s San Atnonio Spurs in 2016 (18 games, 3.3 PPG).
One year later Laprovíttola inked with Zenit. The Argentinian played 9 games in VTB League averagin 4.2 points per game. Today, Nicolas plays for Real Madrid and is reigning MVP of Spanish league.
Basketball in Argentina
League: Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB)
Founded: 1985
Number of teams: 20
League’s website: http://www.laliganacional.com.ar/laliga/
Basketball coach Leon Najnudel and sports journalist Osvaldo Orcasitas played a key role in LNB foundation in 1985. They wanted Argentinian league to be like the NBA (logos, All-Star games, playoffs system), but they kept the relegation system to lower the teams from the bottom of the standings.
In 2002, Argentinian clubs began retiring the numbers to honor their players. Since then, six clubs have retired a total of 17 playing numbers.
20 teams compete in Argentinian league today, 8 of which are located in Buenos Aires. The most successful club is Atenas with 9 titles, and the last 4 seasons went to San Lorenzo with NBA champion Joel Anthony and Dar Tucker.
Russia is also represented in Argentinian league. 35-year-old Dmitiy Flis from Kaliningrad (also Spanish citizen) played for Ciclista Olimpico in 2019/20 season. They player was a starting five in all 19 games and averaged 9.7 points. Worth mentioning, that David Blatt included Dmitriy Flis in the shortlist of national team candidates for Eurobasket, but Dmitriy didn’t get into the final roster of what became European champions.
Fact
All the leaders of Argentinian 2004 Olympics winners – Manu Ginobili (Estudiantes), Luis Scola (Ferro Carril Oeste), Andres Nocioni (Independiente), Fabricio Oberto (Atenas), Walter Hermann (Olimpia), Ruben Wolkowyski (Boca Juniors) – in 1997/98 season all played in their domestic league in different teams.
Argentina natonal team
FIBA ranking: 4
FIBA member: since 1932
Achievements: Olympic Games winners (2004), World Cup champions (1950), America champions (2001, 2011), Panamerica games champions (1995, 2019), South America champions (1934, 1935, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1966, 1976, 1979, 1987, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012)
Argentinian basketball is more than 100 years. The Canadian professor Paul Phillip had started teaching basketball basics to local students in 1912, and 9 years later Argentina played their first friendly game against Uruguay.
In 1950, Argentina hosted the first basketball World Cup and the national team led by center Oscar Furlong, outplayed all the opponents to get the gold beating the USA in the final game (64:50). Argentina became the first world champions, and Furlong the first world cup MVP.
It took more than 50 years for Argentina to come back to dominant position. At 2002 World Cup in the USA, the Argentinians with Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni were beaten by Yugoslavia in the final OT (77:84), and two years later were unstoppable at the Olympics in Greece. In the semifinal, they downed the US team (89:81) with Lebron James, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson, and then destroyed Italy (84:69) in the decisive game.
Today, Argentina is still one of the strongest in the world with silver medals of the last World Cup and 4th place in FIBA rankings.
The most famous players
Manu Ginobili. Legendary guard, one of the two players in the world (along with BIll Bradley) to win the Olympics, NBA and Euroleague. In 2017, Ginobili’s number was retired from the national team (#5), and from San Antonio (#20) in 2019.
Luis Scola. The forward has over 20 seasons for the national team, golden medals of the Olumpics, Americas Cup and Panamerican games, plus 10 seasons in the NBA. Today Scola is 40 and still plays at a major level for Milan.
Andres Nocioni. After Olympic triumph in 2004, the forward moved to the NBA (8 seasons) and later Andres won Euroleague and Final Four MVP. In 2017, the national team retired his number (#13).
Hector Campana. Shooting guard with 28 seasons in Argentinian league. Campana is 7-times league champion, 4-times league MVP and is all-time top scorer in Argentinian league. In 1990 season he averaged 44.2 points per game.
Carlos Delfino. Another Argentinian to get to the NBA after Olympic gold. Delfino spent 8 years in the association, and Russian fans remember him for playing for Khimki in 2008/09 season.
Worth mentioning: Pablo Prigioni, Ruben Wolkowyski, Fabricio Oberto
Dmitriy Kolinov
