NBA Ballers being targeted by FIBA

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Why not? Makes sense to me if they did.

Is big ULEB contract teams and big Russia league teams, not FIBA.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Kill Bill like many other Euroball fans have a huge inferiority complex about the NBA. Hopefully this time we put together a good enough team to smash the compe ion and put all this "nba is equal to europe" bull to rest.

You have it backwards. USA not win 2002 World Championship, 2004 Olympics, 2006 World Championships. But all US say "we are best in world".

It is ones who lose every tournament and keep tell all rest of world they are winning all these tournaments they are really losing that has this inferiority complex.

It is YOU that has such condition. And you have it so bad you cannot see it even but you rather like accuse others of have it. Others who bring up annoying thing to you like you lose last 3 compe ions.

[mavs>spurs2]

You have it backwards. USA not win 2002 World Championship, 2004 Olympics, 2006 World Championships. But all US say "we are best in world".

It is ones who lose every tournament and keep tell all rest of world they are winning all these tournaments they are really losing that has this inferiority complex.

It is YOU that has such condition. And you have it so bad you cannot see it even but you rather like accuse others of have it. Others who bring up annoying thing to you like you lose last 3 compe ions.

Those teams were poorly put together at the last second, poorly coached, and didn't have enough time to develop chemistry. They were going up against guys who have played with eachother since they were teenagers, so it's not a fair comparison. NBA talent level >>> Europe or anywhere else and you'll just have to cry yourself to sleep at night and get over it. And in the meantime, learn to speak English so we can understand your weak ass arguments and at least get a laugh out of it.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Those teams were poorly put together at the last second, poorly coached, and didn't have enough time to develop chemistry. They were going up against guys who have played with eachother since they were teenagers, so it's not a fair comparison. NBA talent level >>> Europe or anywhere else and you'll just have to cry yourself to sleep at night and get over it. And in the meantime, learn to speak English so we can understand your weak ass arguments and at least get a laugh out of it.

lol

[Obstructed_View]

What I wanna know in light of Delfino, Nachbar, Childress...is are there any other premium players being targeted by FIBA?

I'm not sure I accept that Delfino, Nachbar and Childress are "premium" players. If foreign teams want to overpay for players that's their call. Scola got premium money as one of the best players overseas, and he's not much more than a decent role player in the NBA, correct?

[endrity]

I'm not sure I accept that Delfino, Nachbar and Childress are "premium" players. If foreign teams want to overpay for players that's their call. Scola got premium money as one of the best players overseas, and he's not much more than a decent role player in the NBA, correct?

Please Spurs fans, don't turn this into another Scola thread.

And no, Scola isn't just a decent role player. He is a bit more, and as he adopts better to the league, I think you'll realize that.

As for overpaying, well that's the only way you're gonna get some people to come over in Europe and give up their dream of playing in the NBA. But if that helps Euro basket grow in size, popularity, arena quality, then it might just make the Euroleague a true rival to the NBA. And then, overspending won't be the only factor in the equation. An Euro team can sell that living in Europe is better, playing in Europe is more exciting because of better fans, better endorsments maybe. But until they can pitch that stuff, overpaying will be the only way.

[Obstructed_View]

Please Spurs fans, don't turn this into another Scola thread.

And no, Scola isn't just a decent role player. He is a bit more, and as he adopts better to the league, I think you'll realize that.

Scola was the best player overseas. He's by your admission a bit more than a decent role player in the NBA. The point is the gap in talent. That has nothing to do with the Spurs, so it's not "another Scola thread". RIF.

As for overpaying, well that's the only way you're gonna get some people to come over in Europe and give up their dream of playing in the NBA. But if that helps Euro basket grow in size, popularity, arena quality, then it might just make the Euroleague a true rival to the NBA. And then, overspending won't be the only factor in the equation. An Euro team can sell that living in Europe is better, playing in Europe is more exciting because of better fans, better endorsments maybe. But until they can pitch that stuff, overpaying will be the only way.

Overpaying is currently a way to get guys who aren't really very good in the NBA to jump ship. Again, Delfino isn't exactly first-tier talent.

[Indazone]

Of that list I put of of players at risk. I just don't want a Euro team to snag Landry and take him away from the Rockets. In fact, I think Landry has so much potential that he might someday become an All-Star and I do not want him going buh bye simply because the Rockets were not able to match the MLE.

[ArgSpursFan.]

Do you believe that European basketball leagues are better or equal to the NBA?

It doesn't matter.
The US soccer league have beckam and It's the worse soccer league in the planet.
Money talks and bull walks.

[Indazone]

It doesn't matter.
The US soccer league have beckam and It's the worse soccer league in the planet.
Money talks and bull walks.

Spoken for Truth

[xcoriate]

If they follow the old American Basketball Association, they would go after the young stars and the number one draft picks of the NBA. Those guys are not established yet and they have the LLE rookie rule. Pay a guy like that 20-30 million a year and he's gonna be gone.

Brandon Jennings for example. Signed a three year deal with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma in the Italian Pro League.

He was projected as the top point guard of the 2008 HS class, but due to the 1 year college rule decided to go to Europe for guaranteed money.

link

[Roxsfan]

You guys are failing to see this as a businessperson:
By NBA talent being wooed into Europe with Higher Salaries, that means that the parent companies that own these teams are spending more money. If they are spending more, they will have incentive to increase their own revenue to cover the cost of the big contracts. The best way to do this is by having modern arenas with proper suites, box seating, and modern concession.
That is what the NBA has been waiting for to globalize. The arenas. And Stern and the current owners, won't have to subsidize a single penny to bring these teams up to speed. The owners of the international teams will most likely want to take part in the marketing machine that is the NBA, and will allow for the NBA to expand into Europe, making this a truly global game...

Its the National Basketball Association, NOT the Global Basketball Association or GBA, or World Basketball Association, WBA

[emo serb]

Herrmann Must Stay A Piston For Life. Start Him Over Sheed!

[ChumpDumper]

Its the National Basketball Association, NOT the Global Basketball Association or GBA, or World Basketball Association, WBA

Strangely enough, the GBA and WBA are little regional leagues wholly located within the US.

[Kibic]

Remember?

By Michael Wilbon
Saturday, September 2, 2006; E01

Our arrogance has no boundaries when it comes to international basketball, though it ought to by now, after yet another loss in a major compe ion. Even Americans who pay fairly close attention to world basketball, people who should know better, took one look at the Greek roster and dismissively figured, "No NBA players on the roster? Then no chance for Greece."

As dumb as it is for American fans to be so presumptuous, especially after a string of losses dating from 1987, it's even dumber for anybody actually involved in international compe ion to be dismissive. But that's exactly what I heard in the words of Team USA's Joe Johnson earlier this week. The Atlanta Hawks guard, asked if the United States is unstoppable when the team shoots well, answered: "No doubt, when our shots are falling and when they're not falling. I think our biggest opponent is ourselves right now."

This was after beating up on the likes of Senegal and Australia, teams that were never going to challenge the world's top teams anyway. But you know how we roll; one foreign basketball team is the same as another. China, Senegal, Greece and Spain . . . they're all the same, right? They are to most Americans, fans and players alike, which is one of many reasons U.S. teams, first the college boys and now the pros, are getting whipped in these international compe ions.

We commit the single most arrogant and unpardonable mistake in compe ion: We underestimate the opponent. , half the time we don't even pay any attention to the opponent. We didn't know the Greek players, so how could they be any good? Where are their phat shoe contracts? Where were they in the Top 10 Dunks on "SportsCenter"? How talented could they be if they don't have a Gatorade commercial or answer to a single name like Shaq or Kobe or LeBron?

Greece? Why should we pay attention to Greece?

Because they won. Because Greece, a team known only for playing good defense in this tournament, scored 101 points early Friday morning in Japan and eliminated Team USA from the FIBA World Championship.

In every other sport we seem to understand that we're not the only ones playing, that we're not vastly superior and, in fact, often aren't as good. We're fairly arrogant about Ryder Cup play, too, but not to the extreme of basketball. Americans only popularized golf; we invented basketball. And we dominated hoops for nearly 100 years if you don't count being cheated out of the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics.

But a lot has happened since, beginning in 1987, when Brazil beat a U.S. team of collegiate players. The Dream Team reestablished American superiority in Barcelona in 1992. But the United States barely won Olympic gold in 2000 in Sydney, finished sixth in the world championship in 2002, lost three times in the 2004 Olympics and now has failed to win in the 2006 world championship.

The rest of the world isn't catching up. They've caught up. I think, in terms of international compe ion, they've passed us.

Please, I don't want to hear about how we could have won if we'd only had our best players. Two of the brightest men in the basketball community, Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski, led the effort that put together this team. Don't tell me we lost because Tim Duncan wasn't there, because Duncan was there in Athens two years ago when the United States lost. Don't tell me "Well, Allen Iverson wasn't there," because A.I. was there two years ago with Duncan when the United States lost those three games. Don't tell me that Paul Pierce and Tracy McGrady would have made all the difference because they could have busted those zone defenses Americans struggle with, because Pierce and McGrady were on the world championship team four years ago when the U.S. team finished sixth.

This team had access to all the shooters and role players in America, and one of the great coaches in the history of modern basketball -- Coach K -- and lost. Why? Because we're not as good, not in this international format, anyway. But more than anything we lose these most recent affairs because we look down our nose at the compe ion, which is going to land us in the same position in 2008 in Beijing if we don't wise up.

The game has changed. Much of it has been given over at the grassroots level to the forces of AAU, hip-hop and video game nonsense, where the emphasis has switched from learning how to play fundamentally to embarrassing the opponent in any way imaginable and posing while doing so. Combine this new at ude with the traditional arrogance from people nearing age 60 who grew up without ever seeing the United States challenged other than in '72, and we've got just about every basketball demographic covered in hubris.

It's a cultural condition that afflicts us: If we lose, it must be our own fault because, well, just look at you.

And it's a racial condition as well. We -- and by "we" I mean Americans of all colors -- have conditioned ourselves to look at European teams specifically and dismiss them out of hand because they're white. Or we think they're white. And of course, Americans have led the world in telling folks that white men can't jump, though amazingly some of those Greek kids apparently didn't accept our premise. I never thought this U.S. team was going to beat Spain or Argentina but it didn't even get to that.

What's sure to happen now is that we'll start to pick apart Team USA, and I will admit that I don't understand how we continue to go from one compe ion to the next without multiple pure shooters. Will we at some point stop paying lip service to having shooters and actually put some pure shooters on the team?

Still, there's no sense in picking apart the players on the team. USA Basketball picked the right team for the most part, though cutting veteran defender, three-point shooter and calming influence Bruce Bowen seemed regrettable to me the moment he was let go. And who in his right mind would question selecting Krzyzewski to coach the team? In fact, look at the men whose teams have lost in international play the last 19 years. Denny Crum (1987 Pan American Games) won two NCAA championships. John Thompson ('88 Seoul Olympics) won an NCAA championship. George Karl (2002 World Championship) might not have won a championship, but only a fool would suggest he's not a fine coach. Larry Brown (2004 Olympics) has won championships in college and the NBA. And Coach K has won three NCAA championships.

You want to argue with the selection of coaches? These men are or were great coaches. International teams (particularly in Europe and South America) studied at the feet of those coaches in clinics and compe ions. And they taught the American game to their European, South American, Asian and African players.

Now those players play this particular brand of basketball -- one not controlled by our slash-and-slam style that's grown so tiresome -- better than we do. The question now, as we look to the Olympic Games of 2008, is whether we'll spend the next two years making excuses or taking a good look at the growing number of teams internationally who play at least as well as we do, and increasingly better.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

[Obstructed_View]

Man, that was embarassing. I didn't mind losing to Greece; they were by far the better team. It was the bad at udes the USA team displayed once they discovered that Greece had the unmitigated gaul to come out and try to win against them. International compe ion is no place for Ugly Americans. I don't give a that the rest of the world hates us, but I can't stand when we give them good reasons to.

I'm so glad Bowen wasn't a part of that shameful display, and I was happy to see them get what they deserved. I haven't really rooted for the US team since then.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Scola was the best player overseas. He's by your admission a bit more than a decent role player in the NBA. The point is the gap in talent. That has nothing to do with the Spurs, so it's not "another Scola thread". RIF.



Overpaying is currently a way to get guys who aren't really very good in the NBA to jump ship. Again, Delfino isn't exactly first-tier talent.

Scola was never the best player "overseas". He was the best player in the country of Spain. He was not even ever the best player in Europe.

[stretch]

You have it backwards. USA not win 2002 World Championship, 2004 Olympics, 2006 World Championships. But all US say "we are best in world".

It is ones who lose every tournament and keep tell all rest of world they are winning all these tournaments they are really losing that has this inferiority complex.

It is YOU that has such condition. And you have it so bad you cannot see it even but you rather like accuse others of have it. Others who bring up annoying thing to you like you lose last 3 compe ions.

from my understanding, the only teams that have any right to say that they are/were the best in the world during those three championship, were Yugoslavia, Argentina, and Spain.

being that you are in love with greece, and that they have never won (except for a silver in 2006, BFD and please dont bring up that BS eurobasket crap cuz no one gives a about that tourney except insecure fans like yourself) you kindly need to remind yourself to shut the up. the US at least have a history of winning (since 1936, there were only 3 times when the US did NOT win the gold medal in olympic play, so a whopping 12 gold medals in the olympics, as well as another 3 world championships)

oh, and the we arent the ones ranking the US as #1. FIBA is.

[Indazone]

Well everyone knows that the USA is the favorite. How could they not be? The roster is stacked and they have been playing together for 3 years.

[Obstructed_View]

Scola was never the best player "overseas". He was the best player in the country of Spain. He was not even ever the best player in Europe.

List of players who were better than he was, plz.

[jacobdrj]

Its the National Basketball Association, NOT the Global Basketball Association or GBA, or World Basketball Association, WBA

Canaidiya ain't a US state, protectorate, or teritory. Not Vancuver. Not Toronto.

[samikeyp]

But all US say "we are best in world".

Wrong.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

List of players who were better than he was, plz.

In years he was in Euroleague was also some same players and they were better if ask me.

Spanoulis
Papaloukas
Pau Gasol
Manu
Bodiroga



Anthony Parker, Diamantidis, Siskauskas, Nocioni, Navarro, Jasikevicius, Vujcic, is debatable ones in same class with him I think in these times for most in Europe. But I will give in personal opinion that yes he is better than these ones, except Diamantidis and Siskauskas. But many others from Europe would argue others is in similar class with him also.

Is just part of US NBA fans always exaggerates everything like "Scola best player in world not in NBA". So they can always say thing like "and look he is starter in Rockets but just role player, this proves NBA destroys Euroleague."

Scola I think can be consider best player in Spain in time after Gasol and Bodiroga leave there. He was consider best PF in Europe along with Smodis in peak years before he came to NBA.

NBA fan always try say he was best player in Europe is exaggeration and was never true. One of best players, but not #1 best. There was others which was better players and others in very similar level as him.

[Indazone]

Scola is playing with Yao also an International Player. I think if Yao can find a way to be successful in the NBA so can Scola. Remember Yao only averaged like 13.5 ppg in his rookie year. Scola has been going at about 16 ppg.

[stretch]

Scola is playing with Yao also an International Player. I think if Yao can find a way to be successful in the NBA so can Scola. Remember Yao only averaged like 13.5 ppg in his rookie year. Scola has been going at about 16 ppg.

you mean about 10 ppg?