I just made a highlight video for Jakob Poeltl, who hails from Austria, and now I’m doing one for Tomas Satoransky out of Czechia (the Czech Republic if you’re not hip with the lingo). That’s cool. I love repping those countries who straddle the line between western Europe and Eastern europe. I did some research on basketball-reference to figure out if I could make highlights for players from any of the other nearby countries, and here’s what I found out:
Slovakia has only ever had one NBA player, Richard Petruska. He played one season for the Rockets in 1993-94. His career high is twelve. I totally would have made a video for the performance but the concept of user-created highlight videos didn’t really exist back then.
Hungary also only has one NBA player to call their own, some dude whose name seems like it’s backwards: Kornel David. Is it not David Kornel? This dude played three seasons on four different teams. His rookie season was on the Bulls, and it was the year after Michael Jordan retired for the second time. In that sense, he was the Jordan replacement. I don’t think he lived up to it.
Slovenia has had plenty of NBA players, including three that I’ve made highlight videos for: Goran Dragic, Beno Udrih, and Sasha Vujacic. Slovenia doesn’t count because they’re a Balkan state, and all the Balkan states have strong basketball traditions.
Poland has had four NBA players, including one that’s on the same team as Satoransky (I’ll let you figure that one out). It should be five, but Olek Czyz was blackballed from the league for having a last name which looks like a typo.
Romania has two NBA players to its name, including one with Wizards connections: Ernie Grunfeld? Is this a mistake? There’s also Gheorghe Muresan. You know all about him.
So, long story short, I need more players from these countries to make it to the NBA so I can make highlight videos for them and rake in the sweet, sweet foreign views.