AboveLegit Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 NBA commissioner David Stern predicts that his league will feature a European division sometime within the next decade. "It's a wonderful topic, because 10 years ago, I said, 'Oh, it's inevitable, it'll happen in 10 years,' " Stern said. "And now what I'm saying is, 'It's inevitable, it'll happen in 10 years.' But in terms of globalization, we're going to see a desire for franchises in Europe -- and in about 10 years, you'll send me a postcard." The Nets and Raptors will play two regular-season games in London in March. "I think we'll have a division and I think the Heat will play in Boston one night and then they'll go to Paris and spend a couple days on the Champs-Elysses shopping and relaxing," Stern said. "And then they'll go and play five teams. And when they finish that, they'll play them again. Then they'll come home, having had a nice trip to Europe and they'll be finished with their European obligations."Read more: http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69838/20101030/stern_predicts_european_division_within_decade/#ixzz13sHzSMzQ So they are willing to globalize the league but changed the Finals format to 2-3-2 to decrease the amount of travel for teams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Penny Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 i don't. teams in Europe just don't make sense, because the games are too close together and time differences would [expletive] everyone over. unless they have 2 seperate conferences (an NBA and an EBA, and the only times the teams meet are for the finals) but that would ruin the NBA imo. untill we find a way to travel from Europe to the USA without any form of jetlag, this won't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YugoRocketsFan Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 Most Airplanes go about 700 mph. It takes 10 hours to get to Europe, once they make planes that go 1000 mph, I'd be for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clutch Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 iverson's worst nightmare, NBA gonna drive him out of europe too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 Talent would be spread way too thin. Not a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 Awesome idea. This is the one thing I like about David Stern. I can't wait for Europe to be a part of the NBA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lone Granger Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 I love this idea. European teams bring great competition, and a very diverse playing style than everyday NBA play. In all honesty, adding European teams would not only add more excitement to the games, but it would also bring in more NBA overall fans. People in Europe would follow the NBA a lot more than they do now, and also, I think it would be a good break for NBA teams to travel across seas to play. Sounds like a good plan to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philly Diehard Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 Stern is such a joke.. He brings this up, just after saying there's a possibility of contracting teams? The travel time would never work also. The idea is good, but it just wouldn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headliner Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 It sounds like a good idea in theory but I think it would hurt the game itself. I think it would ruin the overall quality of an NBA game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver P Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 it would also bring in more NBA overall fans. People in Europe would follow the NBA a lot more I honestly doubt that a lot. The NBA is already as popular as it can be in Europe, everyone knows about it. This since the 90's and the Dream Team in the 92 Olymipcs. Which is why Stern decided to allow NBA players participate in that event anyhow, he wanted to get more fans to follow the NBA and buy the NBA products all over the world... Which succeeded. In the 90's everyone woke up in the middle of the night to watch Jordan play here, it was unbelievable, even people who didn't like basketball ! That's how great Jordan was... Since Jordan's retirement the NBA is not as big here, although we still have quite a lot of NBA fans (no one would broadcast the games otherwise...), but basketball's popularity is definitely not as big as soccer's or rugby. And it will never be, let's face it, even if there were some NBA franchises here that wouldn't change much. Soccer and rugby will always be the main sports in France, soccer will actually always be the number one sport all around the world (except the US). Well anyway it's certainly not the first time that I hear that idea, I heard about it the first time talked about it in fact, it was in the late 90's... And I dunno about it to be honest. Well that could be a good idea, I just wonder how they plan to make it work. But that could be a good idea indeed. Although we don't have enough arenas in which NBA games can be played in Europe right now, most of them are too old and too small. For example in France we only have one arena in which an NBA game can take place right now, it's the Bercy arenas in Paris. I even think that we only have three arenas in all Europe that are big enough... So it will take time no matter what. Not only that but I don't think that the owners of the Euroleague and other European leagues for that matter would be very pleased about it to be honest... So I don't know. I really don't know right now. I am not against this idea. I'm just curious to see how they plan to do it in fact, then I'll comment on it. We'll just have to wait and see anyhow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish7718 Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 I don't think it would work for the reasons stated, the travel is ridiculous. It would take over 8 hours to get from Portland to London. I don't see anyone in their right mind wanting to make that trip. Can you imagine if Portland and London made the NBA Finals? Forget about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 This is a bad idea not just for the NBA, but for the game itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Penny Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 This is a bad idea not just for the NBA, but for the game itself.how you figure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaFranchise03 Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 Dont fix what isnt broken. Get rid of Stern already. Its time for a new commish. The NBA already has a problem with many teams without stars. Why stretch the talent pool even further? Just gonna have more teams like the Raptors. Yeah they have a nice following in Toronto/Canada but they are kind of considered a joke in the NBA. No star wants to stay there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 how you figure Because the NBA doesn't need to go overseas. Like someone said above, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm also not sure its good for basketball as a whole. Especially if there's a European influence on the NBA game. I don't think that's for the good of the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 4, 2010 Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 The NBA already has a problem with many teams without stars. Why stretch the talent pool even further? Just gonna have more teams like the Raptors. Yeah they have a nice following in Toronto/Canada but they are kind of considered a joke in the NBA. No star wants to stay there. That's definitely a big issue as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver P Posted November 7, 2010 Report Share Posted November 7, 2010 Dont fix what isnt broken. Get rid of Stern already. Its time for a new commish. The NBA already has a problem with many teams without stars. Why stretch the talent pool even further? Just gonna have more teams like the Raptors. Yeah they have a nice following in Toronto/Canada but they are kind of considered a joke in the NBA. No star wants to stay there. I don't see that being an issue at all. Quite the opposite, when you look at it carefully there are a lot of very talented players who does not play in the NBA. So I'd rather say that we need other teams, 30 is not enough. Also it's important to consider that this ain't gonna happen today, not before 2020 and you can be sure that there will be even more talented players in teh world by then. Besides the Raptors have a lot of talents, this roster can definitely make the playoffs, they are very talented on paper indeed, their problem is rather their lack of chemistry. But when you look at every team's roster this year you can clearly see that they're all very talented. And I didn't know that the Raptors were considered as a joke to be honest... Why is that ? Just because they're a Canadian team ? That's a weird mentality if you ask me... You guys better get used to it anyhow, cause even if there wasn't no European team, well there's gonna be a team in Mexico quite soon. Because the NBA doesn't need to go overseas. Like someone said above, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm also not sure its good for basketball as a whole. Especially if there's a European influence on the NBA game. I don't think that's for the good of the league. Especially if there's a European influence on the NBA ? And why is that ? Europeans, and in fact the rest of the world, know how to play basketball you know... I think that it's clearly been proved this last decade when, not only Team USA failed three times in a row (2002, 2004 and 2006), but they also almost lost in 2000 and 2008. As a matter of fact if Jasikevicius shot at the end of the Lietuva-USA game in 2000 was good, Lietuva would have won. And Spain almost beat Team USA in 2008. Not only that but they even had a lot of troubles against Argentina despite the fact that they had ONLY Scola (Ginobili was injured), yes the other players in that team were not only NBA players but they weren't even stars in the league they played in... And in 2006 Team USA lost against Greece, there were not even ONE NBA player in that team. Even worse several NBA franchises lost against several European teams those past few years as well. I said even worse cause those teams didn't have any chemistry issues (contrary to Team USA...) as all the players knew each other very well... The last one was even the champs, the Lakers, who lost against Barcelona WITH THE NBA RULES. I think that all of this clearly shows that the rest of the world knows how to play basketball indeed. Besides there's ALREADY a European, and international, influence in the NBA anyhow, and it can only get bigger as more and more international players will play in the big league. The time when Europeans didn't have a chance to prove what they could do (like when Petrovic has to sit on the bench for two years in Portland before he had a chance to show how great he truly was in New Jersey for example) is clearly gone now. And this European influence only brought terrific things in the National Basketball Association. For example who's the team who's been the most European like this past decade ? The San Antonio Spurs. As a matter of fact they've been among the very first teams to give their chance to international players, they didn't hesitate to draft Parker, Ginobili and Udrih or sign Oberto when no one else wanted them for example, and even if they didn't play for them they also drafted Scola, Barbosa or Dragic... The Spurs knew before anyone else that there were talents all over the world. Pop's always been a fan of overseas basketball anyhow and he always said that FIBA had a big influence on him. And this international influence has be nothing but good if you asked me, not only the Spurs were the second most succesful team of the 2000's with 3 rings but they were the only team who won at least 50 games every season... Don't get me wrong though I am not trying to say that European basketball is as good as the American basketball, certainly not, the USA are definitely the best at basketball that's for sure, and I've always rooted for Team USA myself anyhow, no all I'm trying to say here is that it's time now to realize that there are a lot of great basketball in the world everywhere in the world and that the rest of the world definitely deserves respect. But anyhow I certainly don't see how this "European influence" can be in any way a problem. Besides it ain't because there were some NBA teams in Europe that there would be only European players in those teams... Are there any Canadian players in Toronto ? Not even one... So no this is certainly not an issue. Also to answer what you and DaFranchise said about this "if it ain't broke don't fix it" thing, well I couldn't disagree more. It's not because the NBA is a great league that it can't be improved. And I certainly don't blame Stern to wanna make the NBA an even bigger league. So that's not an argument either. Now I want to precise that I'm not especially for this idea in the first place. I'm not sure that it would a good idea myself. But I think that we can give some credit to Stern, and at least wait till we know exactly how they plan to do it before we criticize it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newman Posted November 8, 2010 Report Share Posted November 8, 2010 I would much rather them have two separate leagues, to be honest. Pre-season games with European teams is enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mr_sunshine Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 i am from europe and i'd love a native team but i dont want players getting so tired and un-rested cause they not make flight or not have long hours sleep. i think this would hurt the players moral and how you say.... bodily stress? they'd be so tired and imagine a back to back europe-USA game! bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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