Foreign Accent in NBA

There may be a distinctively foreign accent this season in a sport that bills itself “America’s Game.”

No fewer than half a dozen NBA teams drafted non-U.S. players this year--and many appear to have a good chance to make it in a league that historically has been an exclusive club for Americans.

The foreign players range from Patrick Ewing, the native Jamaican selected by the New York Knicks as the draft’s top choice, to Manute Bol of the Washington Bullets and Georgi Glouchkov of the Phoenix Suns.

“Do you drink milk mixed with blood like they do in Uganda?” was the unorthodox question with which Bullets owner Abe Pollin greeted Bol, his club’s second round pick.

“No,” answered Bol, the 7-foot-6, 200-pound Dinka tribesman from the arid South of Sudan.

Bol may be the most unusual presence in NBA history, what with his towering antenna-like frame, toothpick limbs and V-shaped decorative scars lining his forehead and scalp.

The former cowherd played one year of small-time American college ball, at Division II University of Bridgeport (Conn.), and tuned up for the NBA in the new U.S. Basketball League.

“He is just absolutely unique and can do incredible things,” said Washington general manager Bob Ferry, who gave Bol a three-year $300,000 pact. “He catches the ball off the rim and dunks it flatfooted and he does it with grace. If he can make it in the league, he has the potential to be the best shot blocker in the history of basketball.”

Phoenix used its seventh-round pick to select Glouchkov, an amateur star playing on the Bulgarian national team. But getting the 6-foot-8, 230-pounder out of the East Bloc and into the NBA was a more tedious task.

Bulgarian Basketball Federation officials, apparently not enthused about losing their best player to American pro basketball, this week finally gave Glouchkov tentative approval to join the Suns.

In training camp, Glouchkov was impressive, averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds -- including an 18-point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“He’s going through a major adjustment, not only in surroundings but on the floor,” Coach John MacLeod said. “He’s joining a team that moves up and down the floor quickly. But he comes from a team that’s been deliberate in approach.”

By signing with the Suns, Glouchkov would forfeit his amateur standing. But he also would become the first East Bloc player to join the NBA.

“We’re very excited because Georgi has demonstrated that he has the ability to play in this league,” said General Manager Jerry Colangelo.

The Atlanta Hawks were not as excited with their attempt to lure a top Eastern European. The Hawks drafted 7-2 Arvidas Sabonis, but the Soviet Union’s great center did not bite at the offer.

The Dallas Mavericks netted three foreign players in the draft, each of whom played big-time college ball in the United States: West Germans Uwe Blab and Detlef Schrempf and Canadian Bill Wennington.

Schrempf, who starred at the University of Washington, is the most versatile foreign player drafted, with the ability to play three positions. But it took a soccer injury when he was 14 to lead him to even pick up a basketball.

“In Germany, basketball hardly exists,” added 7-2 Blab, who played at Indiana. “In Europe, tall people get laughed at. My coming to America had nothing to do with basketball. I just wanted to come to the States for four years. Lots of Americans don’t understand that.”

Wennington, the former St. John’s 7-footer, played for the Canadian Olympic team at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Other foreign players drafted include: 7-foot-3 West German Gunther Behnke, who says he won’t report to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Spain’s Fernando Martin and Haiti’s Yvon Joseph, both selected by the New Jersey Nets.