Another interesting storyline in the NBA. The Spurs-Cavs finals seem so far away…

I wonder how the NBA is going to try to tackle this. I sure hope they will for the sake of watching games. If the best talent gets scattered around the world the NBA will be less fun to watch. All the best talent should be in one league.

...this needs to be addressed is for the NBA’s CBA to be rewritten to allow for teams to match Euro offers on some sort of sliding scale that takes into account the tax advantages and exchange rate. The problem with this is that high-end guys will find that this sort of thing would benefit them even more than mid-level guys.

I ultimately think that this (and Jennings) is good for the game. I’d love to see the NBA shorten its regular season, crown a reg season champion, and then have a tourney that would get the best 2 teams into a final 4 playoff with Euro teams. This is an international game that should be right along side of soccer in terms of a true world championship and appeal. There needs to be a 4 year FIBA tourney as well as a champions league style tourney. I want to get all crazy and dress up in red, white, and blue and go cheer on our best league team in a true world championship. I also want the NBA to have its owners move closer to a club style model. I think the NBA should partner with college teams and pipeline talent from high school to the pros. The NCAA is too high and mighty to make it work but the NBA could pressure them to make it work.

...wanted a 1/2/3, I think he just left the country. Would he have taken the full MLE to come up here? I guess we’ll never know but I had said it a few times a while back: Childress > Gomes.

“I don’t mind talented players going elsewhere, soccer doesn’t seem to suffer for the talent being scattered in different countries”

The problem with this is that you can’t compare European countries to the US country. A European country should be compared to US states. Most US states are even bigger and have more people in them than European countries. So actually the soccer talent from all over the world is only scattered over the European countries while basketball talent is only scattered over the NBA states.

The difference is that the NBA just has 30 teams, geographically dispersed as much as possible so that everyone has a team close to home. Soccer has lots and lots of teams and just wastes a season first to sort out the best 30 and THEN lets them compete in the Euro league. These national competitions to determine the best 30 teams are extremely uninteresting in my view. Because we have no rules on spending, no draft, etc.. the outcome is always the same. It always about the same 30 teams that make it. The level of play in national leagues is also very low, especially here in Belgium because all big name players are playing in Italy, Spain, ...

The NBA system is way better. I’d kill for a system where every Euro country had just one team and that money didn’t really matter. I think I’d be great to have a team like “The Belgian Lions” that has an equal chance to be the best team of Europe compared to the Italian Boots or the Spanish Matadors. European soccer competition isn’t interesting to go watch because all we can see is our Belgian teams getting completely obliterated in the first round.

So actually the talent is concentrated in about the same amount of teams in soccer as it is with basketball, just in a different way.

I think I’d be a pain for European soccer fans if they suddenly had to start watching not only the UEFA but also the Brasilian or the Chinese league to see quality play. For the same reason I wouldn’t like that I’d suddenly have to see 4 leagues to see some quality play.

-On the international tourney thing

To make it a bit competitive Euro teams would have to get a lot stronger.
If Euro teams can get good enough without weakening the NBA I’d be OK with it. If the gap is closed by weakening the NBA to make the Euro league stronger I’m against it. We’d then get into the same system where there’s first a lot of national competition that has low level of play. I simply think there’s not enough talent around (yet) to make Euro teams compete with NBA teams without sabotaging the NBA teams.

I’m thinking that for the chance to dress up in red, white and blue it might turn out that it’s no longer intereseting to dress up in regular T-wolves blue because too many of the interesting players have gone away.

Besides, you guys are best at making sports a true form of entertainment! No doubt about that.

Not sure I’m getting all of this right though. Feel free to comment on this!

This must be the most edited post of my life, 2 and half hours straight ^^.

...by taking the NBA’s mid-level talent and aging stars. They also keep the home grown talent. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that Russian team knock off a pre-season game or two this year. The gap isn’t that big in team ball. Over a 7 games series it probably is, but not in a short tourney (Final Four) or single game matchup. If last year’s Wolves won 22…anything can happen :)

The NBA will have to resign themselves to lose the mid-level talent while adopting a different relationship with college. Either they change it or it changes them. I’ll have a post on it in a while.

No one would be mroe bummed than me if the talent dropped off (or even leveled off) in the NBA. Needless to say seeing the “best players in the world” (American, European or otherwise) come through Target Center is something I look forward to, even when our team sorely lacks talent. If that happened quickly (which is doubtful to me), I’d be bummed.

But hopefully this is a shot across the bow for the NBA (and ESPECIALLY the NCAA). Competition is good. Particularly for the NCAA, where the NBA’s “1-year post high school” rule has allowed them to keep their gravy train rolling by getting talented kids who clearly have no intention of staying 4 years and graduating. All the hype that has been generated by Durant/Oden and Beasley/Rose/Mayo/Love the last two years has certainly benefited March Madness, the NCAA and CBS. If Europe becomes a viable alternative for young players who don’t have the inclination or aptitude to get into college, that’s great. Maybe the NBA will set up a true minor league where players can actually get paid real money. This in some ways addresses the inconsistency as to why baseball players can be drafted immediately out of HS and get big signing bonuses but basketball players can’t.

I agree this will not be the answer for everyone. Take Gomes: apparently he just had a kid. So it’s not just moving himself over it’s moving his wife and young child (or not). A little different for Childress (assuming he’s not married with children). But I bet more players will start exploring the world, which will be a really good thing. If I’m an agent (or a street runner), i’m definitely playing up the drinking age in Euope, let alone the fun that can be had legally in amsterdam . . .

OK I know I have a million posts on here so sorry about that, but this is interesting: I just read that Carlos Delfino, moving from Toronto to a Russian team next year for – get this – $30 million over 3 years, will be making more than Manu Ginóbili. I kid you not. I don’t want to take this too far, and I know that Russia is flush with money right now (well rich Russians anyways), but I’m starting to wonder how NBA teams are even going to compete.

...will have to be changed to reflect the new realities. Of course, Stern hasn’t and likely won’t do anything here because his job is to make owners money and right now, the market is slow and his owners stand to make a lot if stuff like this happens on a small scale. There is a tipping point however, and he’ll act like a smug asshole until it’s too late.