Wang Hu / EPA file

Workers paste an ad of Chinese star Yao Ming on a billboard in Xiangfan, in central China's Hubei province last year.

But what accounts for the improved play of international players? How did they get from being a novelty to a force in such a relatively short period of time?

“I think the international exposure of the game to players and coaches has raised the level of play everywhere,” Buford said. “Several Eastern bloc countries have put together very sophisticated education programs for coaches and players. That has created a better environment for players to grow up in.

“Conversely, we have become less structured in the U.S. and that has hurt our player development.”

The 22-year-old Biedrins, in his fifth NBA season, said that, while growing up in Latvia, he wasn’t able to catch too many of the league’s games on television. And Latvia didn’t have a national star to look up to; the closest thing, he said, was Arvydas Sabonis of Lithuania, who played most of his career in Russia and Spain before retiring from the NBA in 2003 after seven seasons with the Blazers.

But what Latvia did have was an excellent set of national teams.

“I played on those teams, and then I started to play professionally at the age of 16,” he said. “That was a lot of games and a lot of experience.”

Eventually, Biedrins was drafted 11^th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft after being accepted as an international early entry candidate. He is averaging 13 points and almost 12 rebounds a game for Golden State this season.

“I always had a dream to play in the NBA,” Biedrins said.

Years ago, it was only a dream to most international players.

“Quite frankly, they weren’t good enough,” Kupchak said. “They played a different game. The trapezoid and the rules made it a different game.

“But the world has gotten smaller. There is much better coaching. That’s really it.”

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