I'm going to go through every single European/Serbian player drafted over the past decade in the first round. Let's see how many of them were "utter trash".
Players bolded=all stars
Players Italicized=solid role players
Players with nothing = garbage
2001
Pau Gasol
Vladimir Radmanovic
Raul Lopez
Tony Parker
Pau Gasol and Tony Parker are all-star players. We all know the story of Raul Lopez. Radmanovic is debatable, he's been a serviceable player, not an star, but definitely not utter trash, so I'll add him with italics. That makes us 3/4 with positives so far.
2002
Nikoloz Tskitishvili-garbage
Bostjan Nachbar- considering he's no longer in the NBA, I'll call him garbage as well
Jiri Welsch - Ugh....this draft really sucked
Nenad Krstic- finally, at least one solid-ish player.
That makes us 4/8 so far.
2003
Darko Milicic - He did have a pretty decent year this year, but considering where he was drafted....I'll add him as garbage, but it's debatable.
Mickael Pietrus - Solid player
Zarko Cabarkapa - Garbage, though technically he did have injury problems but I'll give it to you
Sasha Pavlovic - Well....he's still in the NBA....but he sucks. I'll add him in as garbage
Boris Diaw - Solid player
Zoran Planinic - Sucked
Carlos Delfino - Solid-ish player. Wouldn't say he's garbage.
7/15 so far
2004
Andris Biedrins- He's a pretty solid player
Pavel Podkolzine- I can only just laugh at this
Victor Krhyapa- Lulz
Sergei Monia - The last 3 were all drafted in a row. Terrible
Sasha Vujavic - Solid, but he has really bad hair. I really hate him.
Beno Udrih- Solid player
10/21 so far
2005
Frank Vazquez - Has yet to make it over to the NBA
Yaroslav Korolev- Giggle, Man I used to love watching the Clippers draft
Johan Petro - sucks
Ian Mahinmi - Also sucks....stupid French
10/25 so far
2006
Andrea Bargnani - Granted not very good for a 1st overall, but this draft year sucked. And he's still a solid solid player
Thabo Sefolosha - Not garbage, he's an average player in the NBA.
Oleksiy Pecherov - Oh the Wizards....
Sergio Rodriguez - Eh, average. Wouldn't say he's garbage for a late 1st round pick.
Joel Freeland - I don't even know who that is. He's still never made it over apparently.
13/30
2007
Marco Belinelli- Good role player
Rudy Fernandez - I'd still like to get him over here
Tiago Splitter - Has shown flashes, had injury problems and it's his first year over here. I'm not really sure how to classify him. I'll keep him under garbage for the time being.
15/33 so far
2008
Danilo Galinnari -Don't act like you wouldn't take him on your team
Alexis Ajinca - Ech
Serge Ibaka - Solid
Nicolas Batum - Wouldn't mind having him either
18/37 so far
2009
Ricky Rubio - He hasn't come over yet, but he will contribute when he does. I'm going to mark him as a role player at least.
Victor Claver- Also hasn't come over yet, but I was never a big fan of his.
Omri Casspi- Apparently a bunch of people here like him but I know nothing about him, so I'll trust them.
Rodrique Beasbause - **** I can't spell that name and I'm tired. He's gonna be good.
21/41 so far, one year left
2010
Kevin Seraphin - LOL, I think the only foreigner drafted in first round last year, correct me if I'm wrong
So that makes it 21/42. Exactly 50%. Obviously some of these can be debated and feel free to disagree with me. My point is that some of the Euro's suck. Some of them don't. But overall, that average is probably better than what we get out of the first round for American players. Whether they're good or not has nothing to do with the fact that they're from Europe, it has to deal with the fact that GM's draft players on the basis of athleticism and potential instead of whether they can actually play the game.
