Trail Blazers from the West in the Latvian Basketball League (Pt. 2)

The second installment on a series of oral histories about the first American players in Latvia in the 1990’s. Part I can be found here.

Part II consists of the experiences Abdul Abdullah (Providence), Andre Reyes (Maryland and California), Casey Schmidt (Arizona and Valparaiso), Curtis Jackson (DePaul), Donald Whiteside (Northern Illinois), Doug Smith (Samford), Fred West (Texas Southern), Jamaal Brown (Ohio State), Johnathan Edwards (Georgetown), Johnny Melvin (UTEP), Kevin Nixon (BYU), Mike Spicer (Ball State), Ralph Davis (UTEP), Shawn Fergus (Cleveland State) and Wade Jenkins (Tulsa) had.

In a way it also explains how the league itself functioned. Where teams got their funding (sometimes thanks to organized crime), what the life of agent looked like back then (countless hours dedicated to VHS tapes), on what floor the played (the one from the 1994 FIBA World Championship in Canada), and so on.

Not to mention tales of culture shock, after hours incidents, controversial releases of foreign players and how Donald Whiteside managed to make the NBA right after playing in Latvia.

https://www.delfi.lv/sports/rietumu-celmlauzi-latvijas-basketbola/