are different competitions，

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The number of international players in the National Basketball Association has increased 10 percent from one year ago Jalen Ramsey Womens Jersey , the league said on Monday.


A record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories are on opening night rosters, easily eclipsing last season’s total of 92 players, according to the NBA.


The defending champions San Antonio Spurs lead the league for the third straight season with nine international players, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Brooklyn Nets with six each.


Canada has 12 international players in the NBA Authentic Dante Fowler Jr Jersey , including the overall No. 1 pick in each of the last two NBA Drafts (Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins).


France follows Canada with 10, while Australia has eight and Brazil seven.


Spain rounds out the top five with five players from outside the United States.


Tyler Ennis, a first-round pick out of Syracuse in the June draft, said his native Canada has “a lot of good players right now”.


“We’re taking basketball a lot more seriously Authentic Dawuane Smoot Jersey ,” he said. “Back in the day, we had players but people didn’t really believe they could make it to the NBA. Now, we have the talent. We just have to put them in the right spots to be showcased.”


In the 2000-01 season, the league had 45 international players Authentic Will Richardson Jersey , less than half of today’s total.


League’s growth


To underscore the league’s growth, NBA games and programming will be available in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages this season.


Slovenia’s Zoran Dragic, signed by the Phoenix Suns last month, said it was always his dream to play in the NBA.


“Everybody is playing basketball in Slovenia. We’ve had nine players in the NBA Authentic DJ Chark Jersey ,” said Dragic, who will play this season alongside his brother Goran with the Suns.


“The country is very small but we are practicing very hard and trying to make it in basketball.”


Kim Bohuny, the NBA’s senior vice president for international basketball operations, credits the surge to the league’s Basketball Without Borders program Authentic Taven Bryan Jersey , a 13-year-old basketball global development and community relations program.


“We’ve had over 100 countries participate in the program,” Bohuny said in a telephone interview. “The growth of international players is a testament to how the game is growing globally. It’s growing in every corner of the world.”


Thirty NBA players have participated in the Basketball Without Borders program, and 29 have been drafted, including Joel Embiid Authentic A. J. Cann Jersey , the Cameroon-born No. 3 player selected in this year’s draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, Bohuny revealed.


The new NBA season begins today (China time) with the Spurs hosting the Dallas Mavericks in one of three games on the schedule.

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MADRID， June 5 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona' s Spain international left back Jordi Alba commented on Sunday that the defending champions have the toughest group in the first round of the 2016 European Championships which kick off next Friday.


The Spanish have to progress from a group containing Croatia， Turkey and the Czech Republic if they are to have a chance of lifting a third consecutive European crown， although Alba believes they will have to hit the ground running.


""First of all we have to focus on our group， which I think is the most complicated in the tournament. I hope we will be able to make it to the next ground， but there are some very good sides in the competition，"" he said in the daily Spanish press conference.


Alba looked back on Spain's triumph in 2012， in which the Spanish started slowly but improved over the competition before defeating Italy 4-0 in the final.


""That was a brilliant competition for me， because I had only played three games for Spain beforehand. Vicente del Bosque showed confidence in me when nobody else did， so I have to thank him for what he did. He showed a lot of faith in me and it was wonderful，"" said the defender.


Alba also remembered the 2014 World Cup when the Spanish， who travelled to Brazil as world hampions， crashed out in the first round.


""They are different competitions，"" he said， explaining that in Brazil， ""we were not at the level that people or we expected. That is history now and this is different. The players who are here are very optimistic and there is a different mentality. In football and in life you have to learn from the bad things，"" he said.


Spain play their final preparation game on Tuesday when they take on Georgia in Getafe， just outside of Madrid.
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