Links: International Influx and Issues, All Star Process, The Number 3

Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski discusses the position that Jorge Garbajosa has put the Raptors in with his decision to play this summer even though Spain had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. After this interesting look into what GM's like Bryan Colangelo and R.C. Buford face each time they go overseas to scout foreign players, A.W. makes mention of the Grizzlies bringing in Juan Carlos Navarro and what effect Pau Gasol had in bringing him across the pond, as well as Navarro's presence making this a better situation for Gasol than last year's nightmare.

Jack McCallum (SI.com) decided to defend himself (and his fellow media members) in reference to the level of outrage that occured when they decided to place Tim Duncan (as well as Amare Stoudemire and Pau Gasol) under the designation of "Center" on the All-Star ballot, rather than the Power Forward position he typically plays. He lists the criteria that the NBA requires for candidates (which I had never read before) and then explains their reasons for their selections, which occasionally leaves more qualified players out in the cold.

David Berri (Wages of Wins) looks at a question that I saw on TrueHoop yesterday and intend to tackle as he did -- although not from a statistical perspective. That question is "Is Three A Magic Number?" when competing for an NBA title? Good read on his part and expect to see something on 3 Shades of Blue in the near future about the subject.