David Stern's take on Childress

[asdfgh]

N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern told The New York Times he saw the move as a positive for the league. He said the presence of a player like Childress could only help promote basketball in Europe, where soccer remains the primary sport. “We think that this actually may encourage more people to play basketball, and in the long run it’s only going to benefit the N.B.A.,” Stern said.

He added, “It encourages more kids to bounce the ball, rather than kick it.”

[Heat3]

haha. everything is always perfect in david stern land. he should run for president

[magicfan4life05]

haha. everything is always perfect in david stern land. he should run for president

[Don Draper]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

[draft]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

Soccer and basketball are the two most popular sports there. There's enough money in europe that they can both be successfull and profitable. Basketball does not need to overtake soccer. They can co-exist.

[britblazerdude]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

But the basketball teams are associatied with the soccer team. The fans care more about the club rather than what is being played. Therefore basketball can grow. This is why all the top soccer teams in europe are also the top basketball teams. Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.

[BiggMann]

What would Stern say without a publisist?

[Don Draper]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

But the basketball teams are associatied with the soccer team. The fans care more about the club rather than what is being played. Therefore basketball can grow. This is why all the top soccer teams in europe are also the top basketball teams. Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.

What about the Italy, UK, Holland, etc? Those are some of the biggest markets. Europe doesnt even have the best players so how can they have elite teams? There are only a handful of teams with all this money to spend.

[BillessuR6]

Basketball will never be even close to football. Football in Europe and majority of the world is on a totally different level and always will be.

But it is nice to see that some of the NBA guys are coming over. At least for us basketball fans a player like Childress means we will watch a game or two more...

[lunarblues]

i can see basketball getting closer to soccer (i'm not going to disgrace the name of my favorite sport) . ten years ago i couldn't tell you the name of a foreign player and now almost every team has a contributor that was born in another country. in another ten years, it might be the next sport to truly have a global league.

[Cliff Levingston]

Cliff Levingston is sure that, at some point in time, people said American football would never be more popular than baseball in the U.S. So much for that. Point being, it's not impossible for basketball to overtake soccer in Europe, but if it happens at all, would probably take at least another 50 years.

Nonetheless, people can like more than one sport.

[Cevap]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

But the basketball teams are associatied with the soccer team. The fans care more about the club rather than what is being played. Therefore basketball can grow. This is why all the top soccer teams in europe are also the top basketball teams. Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.

if you wanna be in the big leagues: Serie A, la Liga, EPL, you gotta be 6'3" and up and very big and fast, unless you got AI like talent to compensate for it ala Messi

[magicfan4life05]

Childress's take on Stern?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kahtI5G2DrQ

[britblazerdude]

What about the Italy, UK, Holland, etc? Those are some of the biggest markets. Europe doesnt even have the best players so how can they have elite teams? There are only a handful of teams with all this money to spend.

Ok, you pick out the countries that def. don't have the biggest markets. The four countries in the UK all have Rugby Union, football, cricket, Rugby League ahead of basketball. In Italy the fastest growing sport is Rugby and that is #2 to only soccer. And holland...well 16 million people live there.

The countries that have the most room for growth are the SE European countries. Greece, Serbia, Israel, Croatia, Montenegro etc. And the former USSR countires. Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine. The only western european countries that it can really grow in are Spain and Germany and to a lesser extent France because Rugby is so big there as well.

[Cybulski37]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

But the basketball teams are associatied with the soccer team. The fans care more about the club rather than what is being played. Therefore basketball can grow. This is why all the top soccer teams in europe are also the top basketball teams. Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.

if you wanna be in the big leagues: Serie A, la Liga, EPL, you gotta be 6'3" and up and very big and fast, unless you got AI like talent to compensate for it ala Messi

Well either the best team in Europe is an absolutely massive exception, or you are full of ****.

According to Wikipedia, Manchester United, Champs League winners, have four players 6'3" or higher. Three of them are goalkeepers.

[Neb]

He's full of poop.

[Rasho Brezec]

Basketball will never overtake soccer in Europe. 2 main reasons.

1) Soccer is a religion in Europe. People regularly fight over soccer matches.
2) Soccer is a sport anyone can play. In basketball you pretty much have to be tall. Look at some of the heights of these soccer players alot of them are like 5'9" even some as short as 5'4".

But the basketball teams are associatied with the soccer team. The fans care more about the club rather than what is being played. Therefore basketball can grow. This is why all the top soccer teams in europe are also the top basketball teams. Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.

if you wanna be in the big leagues: Serie A, la Liga, EPL, you gotta be 6'3" and up and very big and fast, unless you got AI like talent to compensate for it ala Messi

I seriously hope you're joking. If you are at least 6'3'' and play football, you're either a defensive player or a goalkeeper. Only a handful of tall players play midfielders or forwards.

[britblazerdude]

Like Jan Koller or Peter Crouch! haha

[Ballings7]

Formula 1 is big-time in Europe. May be bigger than basketball.

[BubbaTee]

haha. everything is always perfect in david stern land. he should run for president

Maybe he can get appointed to Minister of Information in Iraq.