#3: Dick Butkus - Butkus, who made chasing down quarterbacks his personal
mission, redefined the middle linebacker position and is regarded as the
fiercest defensive player the game has ever known.
#4: Johnny Unitas - Unitas specialized in getting it done, throwing at
least one touchdown pass in 47 consecutive regular season games for the
Colts - 49 including two championship games. The mark still stands.
Lithuanian Native wins NBA.COM Poll - Sabonis Voted Greatest International Player
NBA.com users decided Portland’s Arvydas Sabonis is the international
player who has had the biggest worldwide impact in the modern era,
making him the winner of NBA.com’s International Week poll.
Sabonis received 26.2 percent of the vote, outdistancing the late Drazen
Petrovic (17.9 percent), three-time NBA champion Toni Kukoc (14 percent)
and Hawk’s great Dikembe Mutombo (12.4 percent).
Sabonis traveled the globe for a dozen years, building a reputation as
one of the top big men in the world, before joining the Portland Trail
Blazers in 1995. The Trail Blazers drafted Sabonis in 1986, but the
Lithuanian was unable to leave the Soviet Union for a basketball career
in the United States.
The Trail Blazers had to wait nine years for Sabonis, and there were
some questions surrounding the 31-year old rookie with chronic Achilles
tendon problems.
Four years later he has proved worth the wait. He is averaging 12.3
points and 8.3 rebounds for the Blazers, currently battling the Utah
Jazz for the top record in the Western Conference.
His best statistical year so far was 1997-98, when he averaged 16 points
and 10 rebounds, but Portland’s roster is deeper this year, with more
players sharing minutes and scoring.
Before coming to the NBA, Sabonis won an Olympic gold medal with the
Soviet Union in 1988 and a bronze medal with Lithuania in 1992 and 1996.
He was named European Player of the Year four times while playing for
teams in the Soviet Union and Spanish League.
Other candidates for top international player of the modern era were:
Vlade Divac, Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Sarunas Marciulionis, Oscar
Schmidt and Detlef Schrempf.
