Europe Continues to Siphon Talent from the NBA
When David Stern announced that the League was looking to expand into Europe within a decade’s time, nearly everyone freaked out at the thought of transcontinental flights and competition against what was then deemed “weaker” competition.
If things continue to go the way they’ve been going of late, half the NBA will already be in various European cities by the time the Stern and his people bring their basketballs across the Atlantic.
It began slowly this summer, first with Juan Carlos Navaro wisely choosing beautiful Spain over Memphis, and shortly thereafter, the floodgates opened.
Brandon Jennings shocked the world by choosing Europe over the NCAA; Carlos Delfino is headed back to Europe; Primoz Brezec (who is my favorite person in the whole League) is also taking a Eurotrip; and now, even Josh Childress is reportedly listening to Europe’s sweet siren song.
Pretty soon, folks, the term “World Champion” is actually going to mean something.
(Thanks to the great DBB for the Brezec link.)
40 Responses to “Europe Continues to Siphon Talent from the NBA”
Jul.21 at 1:02 pm
H to the izzo says:
No mention of The Wire’s Emmys snub?Getting soft Marcel…
Jul.21 at 1:05 pm
Marcel Mutoni says:
the emmys have been dead to me for years. this latest snub changes nothing.
Jul.21 at 1:08 pm
Jukai says:
Nochbar is heading to Europe too, BTW.
Jul.21 at 1:09 pm
Jukai says:
It seems that Europe may be THE destination for role players who want a lot of cash. The youngins’ playing in Europe worries me… seeing Childress and Delfino whining that they aren’t getting their 15 million and playing in Euopre really doesn’t.
Jul.21 at 1:15 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
The Euroleague should expand to the USA. Although I guess there’s no money in it. Shame.
Jul.21 at 1:19 pm
TADOne says:
The U.S. economy sucks, so no surprise.
Jul.21 at 1:26 pm
Olympic Olaf says:
The international game of BBall is a whole other game, to watch a Europe top game is more fun then “give the Ball to your star player and watch him doing his thing” one on one
NBA BBall.
Jul.21 at 1:29 pm
Mendel says:
wow, our glorous nation is sinking quick
Jul.21 at 1:43 pm
B. Long says:
TEAM USA needs to send a message.
Jul.21 at 1:49 pm
Ryne Nelson says:
Let Childress go to Europe. He might make more money, but I bet he’ll soon miss the NBA’s unmatched level of competition…not to mention the majority of his people who are still in the states.
Jul.21 at 2:13 pm
RV says:
where’s the mandatory Jaric/Lima pic from last night of the ESPYs?
Jul.21 at 2:26 pm
Jukai says:
Olympic Olaf, not to destroy yer universe, but even though the European talent is nearly on par with NBA talent, the ‘excitement’ factors are leagues, leagues, leagues apart. Most Euro games have the mindset of soccer, pass the ball until the shot clock is running out and then act desperately and take a jump shot. Exciting.
Jul.21 at 2:35 pm
whooo! says:
i think the spurs are still the only team in this league who don’t use “world champion”, but say “nba champions” on their banners. they even changed their old banners a couple years ago. considering that argentina was winner of both the world championships and olympics, anyone else calling themselves ‘world champions’ is just wrong, isn’t it?
Jul.21 at 2:48 pm
canadian says:
That’s great to hear about the Spurs. Good for them. I hope Childress stays in the NBA - I’ll miss watching him play.
Jul.21 at 3:07 pm
RolleZed says:
Please, u all nba players. Don’t let this happen. Don’t play if they’re (stern) going to do that.
Jul.21 at 3:22 pm
Co Co says:
Ryne, I hear what your saying and for the most part I agree with you that the competition is better, unmatched…. eh….., but we American’s cannot really beat our chest until after we win Gold at the Olympics becuase right now we’re stuck on Bronze from the last games….. Lets not act like the same things that plagued this team loast time can’t come back to bite them again. Sure we’re going to have more talent, but what if those teams decide not to play a sorta streetball game against us and they decide to do simple things like pick and rolls we could still be vulnerable..
Jul.21 at 4:13 pm
Brandon Hoffman says:
I’d give Tau Ceramic or Panathinaikos a fighting chance against the lower-tier teams in the NBA. European basketball is closing the gap on the NBA when it comes to the level of competition. That gap is going to continue to close too. Factor in the value of the Euro over the dollar and the fact that players don’t have to pay taxes on their income overseas and more and more players could be going overseas.
Jul.21 at 4:13 pm
Brandon Hoffman says:
When does the CBA expire? 2011? The NBA could be LONG overdue for some drastic changes by then…
Jul.21 at 5:29 pm
d.Y. says:
Good point Brandon. Can they amend the CBA before it expires? For the sake of the league?
Jul.21 at 6:21 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
There’s a tipping point. All it will take is a few top-level talents to head to Europe to play (and coach), and who knows what will happen? The NBA has only existed for 62 years, there’s no law that it has to be the world’s premier basketball league forever.
Jul.21 at 6:23 pm
Chris says:
It’s all about money. I read an article where it said that Delfino, when you factor in the exchange rate and the fact that he won’t have to pay taxes, will be making the equivalent of $9 mill dollars per year. This is for a guy that was the 7th or 8th, and couldn’t even sniff a mid level exception. Until the dollar turns around expect this trend to continue.
Jul.21 at 6:49 pm
boobie_gibson says:
Josh Childress too.
Jul.21 at 7:02 pm
b-moore says:
Top euroleague ball is not even close to watching a teams superstar e.g. LeBron or Kobe do something spectacular.. Why don’t they have a boston celtics vs euroleague champs game or whoever the next nba champs are vs euroleague champs
Jul.21 at 8:30 pm
GGG says:
I’m with B-moore, need to have interaction between the leagues. I think recent Olympic have shown that they can both learn from each other and raise their game to the next level.
Jul.21 at 9:58 pm
Jukai says:
uhm, I think yer exaggerating Russ. Top-level talents will never leave the NBA. The Euro leagues have money but if they’re throwing nine million at Delfino, they don’t got enough to throw at Lebron
Jul.21 at 10:02 pm
Redrum says:
B-moore, there used to be the Macdonalds open, where the the NBA champions and another NBA team played the euroleague champions plus a team from the hosting nation. Unfortunately the NBA teams ruined it by sending reserves and most of the times the stars not showing up. It has to be said though that Jordan did take part in one, in 96, but the second best player in that team was Longley… they did win it though against Olympiakos. As I said in the Childress thread, it seems to me that euro teams can band on any player getting offered the mid-level. I cannot exclude a surprise, a euro team getting some top nba name. for example last year olympiakos, CCSKA and Panathinaikos had a badget of close to 50mil
Jul.21 at 10:04 pm
Will Lee says:
if i were childress i would go to Greece. For role players to sit on the bench, getting less money and always get called cheap fouls on the “stars”… I would just play fair basketball in Europe where there is fair judgement and team game.
Jul.21 at 11:04 pm
LAN says:
i agree with jukaii…. lebron to europe!!!!!!!!!!!! yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii jkkkkkkkksssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Jul.21 at 11:47 pm
Teddy-the-Bear says:
LMFAO Primoz Brezec is f*cking hilarious. Whenever I saw him in games with his headband and his Iverson-Sleeve, running up and down the floor attempting to get everyone fired up, not hitting a single shot, and not catching a single pass, it made me crack up instantaneously. Brezec is the man! Please, NBA, don’t leave us!
Jul.21 at 11:56 pm
Dma says:
figures all the b!tchy players would play in europe (again)!
Jul.22 at 1:46 am
josesito says:
No more treats from the Boston Snackbar either, he’s off to Dynamo Moscow.
Jul.22 at 3:53 am
Omar Aberilla says:
Shame on these players, taking on an undeserved bigger paycheck and not putting much importance on better competition, much less winning. If you care bout basketball, come to America. If you only care bout how big your account’s going to be, come to Europe. It’s no slight on the type of competition in European leagues. It’s a take on players who solely play for pay.
Jul.22 at 4:22 am
Son of Shawn says:
About this, it will be very interesting the fate of Brandon Jennings, both in Europe and in his first year in NBA, ´cause this can hurt very badly the NCAA (if he demonstrates that a talented 18 y.o. player can win money overseas and then is well prepared for the NBA at 19), …unless NBA blacklisted him and no one draft him next year (I´m excited to see the fate of this kid, because that can change a few things… or not), and he´s chosing a better competition, you can´t compare the NCAA to a european professional league nowadays, a few years ago that was very different, but i think that´s only NCAA fault, they´re making a lot of money without paying the employees, and I feel that no one money-minded company would be allowed to do that, and the NCAA is clearly (nowadays) very money-minded
Jul.22 at 5:24 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
As ever, I find it very interesting that most of the people criticizing the leagues in Europe probably have never set eyes on a basketball game played in one of them. I’m just saying…
Jul.22 at 5:35 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
While the overall talent level is certainly not as high, most of the ball clubs in the bigger leagues in Europe actually play defense, pass the ball and shoot well - you know, the way basketball is supposed to be played. Also, the intensity is much higher - no sleep-walking through regular season games like in the NBA (which obviously can be explained by the difference in the number of games).
Jul.22 at 9:53 am
fro says:
The news from Greece is 10 mil per for 3 years. That and the fact that Olympiakos is in the Euroleague. I wonder if he’ll go.
Jul.22 at 10:02 am
fro says:
If Childress goes I can’t wait to see his reaction during the Panathinaikos-Olympiakos derby. He will absolutely crap himself. One other thing the Raptors played Panathinaikos is the Tdot 5 years ago and smoked them, apparently jetlag was an issue.
Jul.22 at 11:39 am
RedRum says:
Yeah, it would be fun to see how he reacts when the coins, chairs, mobile phones, key-rings and blocks of concrete start coming his way…
Jul.22 at 1:00 pm
crazylee12 says:
As a raptors fan, I am deeply saddened by the fact that we will be losing the G that is Primoz Brezec.
This is the first I’ve hear of Delfino leaving. Come back to us, Carlos! We need your ball-handling and shooting skills to come off the bench at the 2 & a bit at the 3.
Jul.23 at 4:25 am
wendy says:
I would to see EuroLeague Champ vs NBA Champ, one game with FIBA and one game with NBA rules. I do wonder, all the games between NBA teams and Euro teams in the last couple of years, which rules had been used, euro or NBA? That´s a BIG factor to put those games in the right perspective. Can´t wait to see USA against Spain at the olymp!