RealGM

The NBA's on-and-off approach to expansion into Europe is back on again. Commissioner David Stern is considering new plans to create five full-fledged NBA franchises in Europe over the next decade, a league source told SI.com.

The initiative promises to be the big news of All-Star weekend in New Orleans, where international basketball officials are arriving this week for their annual meetings with the NBA. Stern is expected to reveal the league's new stance at a news conference Saturday, according to a league source.

The current idea would be to create five new teams in major markets to form a "European'' division within the NBA. The teams would play the full 82-game schedule and compete for the NBA championship. But the proposal is new and many factors will influence the eventual outcome, the league source said.

LINK

I think that would hurt us.

Wow.....travel would be killer.

I think it'd be great for the NBA and it'd expand the fan basis tenfold. They've been experimenting with the pre-season games over there and so far they've been great successes.

It just doesnt seem very feasible

Doesnt seem likely as just last week i heard on The Fan, that besides the O2 arena european cities lack the infustructure to host an NBA franchise, + too many variables.. travel, schedule conflict

i personally love this idea. i think they'd have to spread out the 82 games by an extra month though. maybe start the regular season on October 1st?

it would hurt our chances getting european talent. But that is all...

my five cities:

- London
- Paris
- Madrid
- Barcelona
- Rome

David Stern is an iditiot. He should just put more NBA franchises into other parts of Canada (ie. Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, maybe Calgary).

How the heck do teams travel to face each other? This will bring new meaning to a 5-game road trip.

What is the difference in flight times between going from Toronto to L.A and going from Toronto to say, Madrid? I would guess it's not bad... but the flight time from L.A. to Madrid has gotta be killer. Maybe you just structure road trips a bit more intelligently though, and L.A. makes a trip up to play in boston, detroit, chicago, then to madrid and london, back to toronto, and then back home?

I'd love to see this happen, personally...

it's too bad they ditched the concord. if we still had that, European trips would be more feasible.

still, this could work if they structure it so that the West Coast teams start the season in Europe, and the European teams finish the season on the West Coast. it takes about 7-8 hours to fly into continental europe from the East Coast, so if they go on 2 week road trips, this thing could have a chance of working out.

if there's anywhere to expand though, I'd look at Mexico City first.

I wouldn't be surprised if European teams wouldn't play north american teams very often, perhaps only once a season, and would meet only really in the playoffs.

The crappy thing is that the NBA has finally recouped all the talent from their last expansion - there aren't too many teams that have everyone's left overs any more, as was the case only a few years back when teams like dallas and charlotte (and then toronto and vancity) were perenial dumping grounds for the borderline and unwanted.

Why dilute the talent pool again? It would be bad for the league and it's fans.

well LA to NY is a 6 hour flight, what's an extra hour when going from NY to London?

New York to LA is 4000 km.

New York to London is 5500 km.

The difference isn't so extreme, especially in light of the cushy flight privledges (first-class charters, executive-appointed private jets etc.) that teams currently enjoy.

London - LA flight 11 hours

LA - London 10 hours

Needless to say I would love this

Jai Monee wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if European teams wouldn't play north american teams very often, perhaps only once a season, and would meet only really in the playoffs.

The crappy thing is that the NBA has finally recouped all the talent from their last expansion - there aren't too many teams that have everyone's left overs any more, as was the case only a few years back when teams like dallas and charlotte (and then toronto and vancity) were perenial dumping grounds for the borderline and unwanted.

Why dilute the talent pool again? It would be bad for the league and it's fans.

this is a valid point, but I think the NBA are relying on the increased exposure in European expansion to even up the talent pool within 6-7 years. it only takes half a generation to do that and there's already pretty big interest in Europe for basketball anyway. the only reason why Europe is lagging behind America in terms of aggregate NBA talent (individual talent, it's doing pretty well matching up to the US with the likes of Parker, Nowitzki, Calderon, Bustnani, etc.) is the institutional structures to develop young talent during the prime years of 14-22.

they don't have a US High School or NCAA system there. imagine if someone like Ricky Rubio or Nicholas Batum went to Mt. Zion Christian Academy and then to Syracuse or Arizona for 6 years instead of being a rotational player for Real Madrid, they'd probably be a lot more developed along the way. now, for every Ricky Rubio or Nicholas Batum, there are maybe 20 or 30 guys who couldn't latch on with a tier-1 team, so they (Please Use More Appropriate Word) their development playing in inferior leagues without the opportunity for growth--had these 20 or 30 guys played in an American system, there's a good chance anywhere between 5-10 of these guys would be sure-fire NBA contributors.

if we create the European teams there, chances are there would be enough buzz to create such institutions to develop basketball at the NBA level for youths.

not to mention, kids growing up in Paris or London would have more firsthand exposure to seeing guys like Tony Parker or Luol Deng play and feel inspired to consider a career in professional basketball in the NBA more seriously and see it as a viable option.

Meursault wrote:my five cities:

- London
- Paris
- Athens
- Barcelona
- Rome

fixed


I think it would be more like the five teams do three or four xcountry tours over a 3-4 times per season.

And groups of NBA teams would be there the same...Logistically it could work.. But it wouldnt be easy and im almost certain 90% of coaches would complain about it..then in four years the teams go by way of the synthetic ball

SkinnyP wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




fixed

Athens is definitely better in terms of the basketball culture and interest, but it's a bit too far