"When the Dallas Mavericks returned home from Miami after vanquishing the Heat last week, Dirk Nowitzki emerged from the team plane witha cigar in his left hand, the NBA Finals most valuable player trophy in his right hand and wearing an uncharacteristically boastful T-shirt that read, "I'm that dude."

It was a bold statement, but it couldn't be denied that the Mavericks won their first NBA championship because a once-maligned German player wouldn't let a freshly torn tendon in his left middle finger, a fever, or even the overly hyped opposition stand in his way. Many myths about international players have been put to rest through the globalization of the game over the past 20 years, but Nowitzki ended one of the last remaining tales — that a player from Europe couldn't be the centerpiece of an NBA championship team.

"This might be the first time in memory where the true Alpha dog has been a European product," said Donnie Nelson, Mavericks president of basketball operations. "That is a special situation."

While there is no "Next Nowitzki" expected to emerge from Thursday's NBA draft, three European players — Turkey's Enes Kanter, Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic and Jonas Valanciunas from Lithuania — are expected to be among the top 10 players selected for the first time. Three other international players could go in the top 20 — Congolese center Bismack Biyombo, Lithuania's Donatas Motiejunas and Southern California forward Nikola Vucevic, a native of Montenegro."