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.
