Other guys are worth more in Europe than they are here the ones you mention not so much. Draper , ere, smith for example earn huge cash compared to what they can get here.

Rob Rose, Paul Stanley, Milt Newton, Leroy Loggins, Dwyane McClain, Lanard Copeland, Kevin Brooks, Kent Lockhart, Mario Donaldson, Steve Woodberry - all successful swingmen. Good imports aren't restricted to size or position but admittedly, it's hard to find any that aren't bigs or point guards.

Carlos Powell for the Breakers put up decent numbers

Carlos Powell for the Breakers put up decent numbers

for every copeland/ loggins there is heaps of failures. just seems like the % of players that are brought here that are 6'3-6'6 primarily to contribute to their teams scoring seem to fail. but the % of players that come in that are 6'8- 6'10 while fewer seem to work out more often and has resulted in some real guns staying here.

In my opinion, the 3 best imports of the last 2 years has been McKee, Ervin and Ubaka. All are small guards.
The strike rate of talls is definitely better than smalls though.
NBL tends to lend itself to PFs being dominant. In most teams, the player in this position is largely an offensive player with questionable defence.
Ballinger, Rychart, Redhage, Worthington, Forman, Davidson, Loughton, Tragardh...

Dont forget ebi ere!! I have harped on for a while but a chris williams and kavossy franklim duo are hard to find!! Brian whethers was good for hunter too!! BUT

Despite all their hassles- Kevin freeman (one of the best ever imports ive seen), bryant matthews and bobby brannen are three of the best EVER!!!

Ebi Ere? A poor man's Milt Newton. Like a shooting star, we knew him for too short a time.

Muursepp, Beazley, Reyes, etc.

Imports tend to struggle due to the game style, its too physical compared to the american game that they're used to. The ones with plenty of European experience tend to have better success.

isaac- those 3 were average to say the least.

Phil, its definitely not better team defence, its just that we allow a true zone and our refs allow defenders to bump, grab and reach in to a ridiculous degree. The slashing wing types that come here often struggle because they are used to being able to drive the lane and here it is next to impossible unless your team moves the ball effectively and shoots well from the perimeter to open up some space.

I also think you can point to just as many point guards as bigs that have been successful in recent years.

PG - Ervin, Homicide, McKee, Ubaka, Shannon
Wings - Hodge, Ere
Bigs - Redhage, Wilkinson, Clark, Rickert

I actually think the PGs have an advantage over wings in getting to the basket in this league anyway, because they are more nimble, quick and have better ball handling, giving them a better chance of weaving through the defence than a bigger guy.

yeah i agree about point guards, some rather successful ones recently as well, and maybe that goes back to them being used to having to create their own shot, and taking the game on?

its just the slasher/shooter wing types, we have had heaps of good ones but how many have come into the league in the last 4 years? im going to have a wild stab in the dark that maybe anywhere from 20-40 new imports have come in that time with probably almost half or more fitting that description. wouldnt be too many of those that came good.

definitely seems pg pf import duo is the way to go.

it doesnt help when the import shrinks in the plane on the way over.

You guy's have forgotten to mention Mee ( I cant remenber how tall he was )but was able to fit into every team within Australia and played the point. Is it that imports are required to score regulary and not alway's fit into team round out play's and therefore can live and die by the sword. They are hired to make difference and can with a lot of pressure to produce.

Nah, didn't forget Mee, Soulman - how could I ever forget him? (I would actually rate either him or Rose as the best import the Sixers ever had). It was just the context of the discussion. Phil was talking about the last 3-4 seasons.

I agree with you though, its a tough gig being an import. They usually do have a lot of pressure on them to score and don't get cut a lot of slack for bad shooting nights. Mee was one of the few exceptions, purely because of his ability to turn a game with steals, great defence, rebounds, passes and hustle plays.