RealGM

As most of you know the NBA wants to have a European division in the NBA, made up of 5 teams.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... xt_decade/


I'm thinking the Bucks would almost be at the top of the list to move to Europe. I think it is unlikely that the NBA would just add 5 new expansion teams, because it would further water down the talent in the league. Instead I could see them taking 3 or 4 teams that are currently in the NBA over to Europe.

If this division ever happens is questionable, but if it does I see the Bucks moving.

Never.
A European division has so many problems.
It will have to consist of entirely European players, Americans will never want to play there, or sign there. Also the whole traveling issue since it takes 10 hours or whatever to get there. Either the season would have to be extended by like a month or the schedule shortened.
American players will not take kindly to being "relocated" to a European team.

Not only that, but nobody wants to deal with that kind of jet lag. Going across this country can be bad enough.

what about kind of a territory draft of sorts like in the old nba. Not that the idea needs alot of work but alow the euro teams more priority for euro players in the draft. like you said Mo would not want to play in Frankfurter or Milan

I doubt they would take 5 existing teams. There is way too much legal jockeying that would need to occur, and it would leave the conferences unbalanced.

That said, 5 new franchises (ugh..) could be possible, and I'm sure they have looked at the logistics of how it would work out in terms of scheduling. My guess is that teams would go on a 3-5 game euro road trip, in order to make the long haul worthwhile. The euro teams would have to go on 3-5 game US trips as well. The flight between say London, Spain, France and the US (east coast) is not that long, and is about the equivalent of a cross country US flight (maybe a little longer). Not sure how the west coast teams would play the europe teams though. Thats a long flight.

No, but Dirk Novitski might want to play for Frankfurt.

I think that the NBA views Europe like the market that it is. If they don't sell a product with their logo on it, they leave it wide open for someone else. It makes sense for them to develop a niche in that market, so they can control the TV and logoed apparel business that can accrue.

oLd sKool

With how weak the dollar is, the Bucks might actually be worse over in Europe than they are here...

They would be making 5 new franchises, not taking 5

Competition with the Euroleauge might be difficult. The "easy" solution is to co-opt the Euroleauge but that'd require significant compromise, which E.L. teams might be reluctant to make.

And I think US players WOULD play in Europe. If a player was given an alternative between playing in/for Paris versus playing in/for Salt Lake city or Cleveland well...

Along, of course, with the cash.

That would primarily affect free-agents, and as mentioned, a lot of top European (and even Asian) talent might enjoy being somewhat closer to home.

The jet-lag might be brutal, but if teams get their entire inter-conference schedule out in a pair of trips (for example) it would be manageable. There is a Siberian team which plays in the Russian League and ahs a 9 hour 10 minute flight to play in Moscow. For comparision, NY --> London is 7 hours and 40 minutes.

It's difficult, but it's doable.

The day they have an NBA European division is the day I stop watching the NBA.

I think the Euroleague should do a better job of getting some of their games on american TV on a regular basis. They really do have some great basketball over there, but I agree this NBA division in Europe is kind of a head scratcher.

Send us to Amsterdam. Bobby would be beating more ass than Mike Tyson.

I've never heard anyone talk about the logistics. Would it be separate to the point where the regular NBA champ might just play basically an exhibition against the Europe winner after the Finals?

Or would every team make one long road-trip over during the season and play their 4-5 games over there? That side of it would be a lot tougher for the European teams having to get 41 games over here I guess.

I'm not sure the league is strong enough to think about that stuff so seriously.

Stupid, just plain stupid

LUKE23 wrote:Send us to Amsterdam. Bobby would be beating more ass than Mike Tyson.

that would be the day

I think i'm one of the few who wouldnt mind seeing the Bucks relocate to Amsterdam, although Rotterdam would be even better. Season tickets!