EuroLeague Finals MVP wishes he could play in NBA

[Allanon]

EuroLeague Finals MVP wishes he could play in NBA
http://lakerforums.com/2008/10/eurol...d-play-in-nba/



We all know about Josh Childress leaving the NBA to play overseas and that caused quite a stir in the NBA world. People were starting to speculate that NBA top stars would be clamoring for $50 million dollar paychecks. Alright, the $50 million was a hypothetical number thrown at Kobe and LeBron but still, the whispers were there.

Fans everywhere were starting to worry about losing their team's star to the sexy European basketball clubs with high Power Euros and tax-free living. And if you watched Sports Talk shows or listened to Sports Radio, that's about all they talked about for a week.

Lost in the translation was that Josh Childress, although a very good player, is only a 6th man in the NBA. Other team fans bristle at the thought of evening mentioning Kobe and Jordan in the same breath. But at the same time, they'll be happy to parrot back to you that Kobe said he would consider going to Europe.

Alright, reality check time, it ain't happening. This reminds me of the Millenium bug scare that had people buying water bottles and stocking up their bomb shelters. The fact of the matter is, the NBA is still the ultimate place to play.

Even Kobe laughed at the idea:

Kobe Bryant

Somebody throws us this question about playing overseas. I don’t want him to answer it. He’s a young kid; I don’t want him to take the controversial stuff. I said, ‘Well, if a team throws us $50 million, then we’ll all go.’ …It’s just something that was a joke for us, and people took it and ran with it or whatever. That’s fine. Everybody needs to banter about something.

Well, this notion of NBA players going overseas was recently kicked in the groin again by visiting Euroleague Superstar Trajan Langdon. Trajan Langdon plays for CSKA Moscow in Europe's premiere basketball league "Euroleague". Langdon also happens to be their Finals MVP and 2 time championship winner. So what did Mr. Langdon have to say about this?

Here are some tasty tidbits from Trajan Langdon's visit (he's here with CSKA Moscow to play some NBA teams during pre-season)

Trajan Langdon

I don't see elite players going over (to Europe)
Obviously the best basketball league in the world is here in the NBA with the best players.
Everything about the NBA is great.
And finally, asked if he would like to play in the NBA again, "I would never turn something like that down"

So there you have it, one of the top players in Euroleague wishing he was playing back in the NBA. Josh Childress was a second/third tier player, he had better opportunities in Europe. We'll see plenty of Josh Childress/6th man type players flocking to Europe in the next few years. But we'll never see Kobe or LeBron donning a Tau Ceramica jersey unless they're 40 years old.

[monosylab1k]

Kobe's talking it all down in order to drive up the price for his services. If they're already willing to pay 50 million, see if you can up it to 75.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Trajan langdon "superstar" in Europe

[koriwhat]

never know what time will bring...