Top Ten Foreign NBA Players

A former NBA Rookie of the Year, Pau played an important part in the Lakers' run to the NBA Finals last year, although they were beaten by Boston.

Gasol is a good compliment to Kobe Bryant. He can score, get rebounds, and block the ball—and he has a high field-goal percentage. With Andrew Bynum returning, Gasol, Kobe, and the Lakers should make another deep run in the playoffs next year.

1. Yao Ming (Houston Rockets/China)

Yao Ming has been named an All-Star every year that he has been in the league, but has only played in five out of six years, due to injury.

For the first few years of Yao's career, Charles Barkley said his selection was simply the high population of the Chinese voting him as a starter year after year. I agreed with that statement at first. However, as the years have passed, Yao has become a better player, and now deserves his All-Star accolades.

Yao's only weakness is his lanky body for his height. Yao often gets pushed around by other centers, and doesn't get nearly the numbers that a 7'5" NBA center should get.

Yao is the the most valuable player for the Rockets, and I'm sure that the Rockets would have made it past the first round last year if he was not injured.  With a healthy Yao, look for Tracy McGrady to finally make it past the first round of the playoffs.

Honorable Mentions: Andrei Kirilenko, Luis Scola, Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Fabricio Oberto, Nene, Yi Jianlian, Andres Nocioni

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