You may not be able or inclined to decipher any of those foreign words, written in unfamiliar letter sequences and combinations, but, and this is the point here, the NBA can and is.

It is eager to absorb all the internationalization possible, to take all the Berlitz lessons necessary, to haul in all the burgeoning talent with which it can make higher stacks of cash.

Anyone who saw what happened to the American NBA players at last year's world championships -- a sixth-place finish -- knows hoop talent is no longer an American birthright.