NBA in Europe

[Pumchavas28]

I like the idea...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/02/13/international.expansion/index.html (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/02/13/international.expansion/index.html)


The NBA's on-and-off approach to expansion into Europe is back on again. Commissioner David Stern is considering new plans to create five full-fledged NBA franchises in Europe over the next decade, a league source told SI.com.

The initiative promises to be the big news of All-Star weekend in New Orleans, where international basketball officials are arriving this week for their annual meetings with the NBA. Stern is expected to reveal the league's new stance at a news conference Saturday, according to a league source.

The current idea would be to create five new teams in major markets to form a "European'' division within the NBA. The teams would play the full 82-game schedule and compete for the NBA championship. But the proposal is new and many factors will influence the eventual outcome, the league source said.

I do however wonder how they plan on doing the playoffs???? That's a TON of traveling.... and I guess they would be included in the EASTERN Conference... ;)

Also it's gonna suck for TV, if your a Kings, Warriors or Lakers fan & they go to Europe, gonna suck for you cause your gonna have a jacked up schedule & vise versa...

Also this opens the door to even more World Wide Talent......

[KCAggie]

They would have to have it to where the teams played at home for a month then on the road for a month. But I don't know how they would work in the playoffs. Jet lag alone would be pretty bad.

[Pumchavas28]

I would guess for Eastern Conference teams in the Playoffs would have to have a 2 day break similar to what happens in the NBA finals....

Also, I can't help but wonder if current NBA players would want to live & play for a European Team...

I mean lets look at the home grown kids also who will get drafted...

Bryan Davis, Joseph Jones, D. Kirk, J. Carter & J. Jordan all could/should end up in the NBA & any one of them could wind up on a Europe Team....

Would they want to live in Europe for the extent of their contract????

What if Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, McGraddy, or Kidd were traded to a European Team????

[KCAggie]

I'm just wondering if this is set up to fail. I don't think many American born players would want to play for a team in Europe. Some don't even want to play for a team in Toronto, much less London. I could see these teams being filled with mainly European players which would make me wonder if they could compete. European teams have success against American players when playing international rules, but would get slaughtered playing NBA style of basketball.

[Pumchavas28]

That brings up another issue.... Would this increase the chance of Rule Change in either International Ball or in the NBA so that the transition would be easier for one side or the other????

[KCAggie]

I would like to see the NBA move into a more international style of playing. Europe's basketball skills are so much better.

[Loftin]

The travel problem is even more glaring in the regular season. Teams often play games on consecutive nights and rarely go more than 2-3 days without a game. I'd hate to have a road trip where I had to play in Seattle, Milwaukee, New York and London in the same week.

[Loftin]

I would like to see the NBA move into a more international style of playing. Europe's basketball skills are so much better.

The NBA has tried to mimic international ball for the last 10 years and it's been a disaster. Big men are at a supreme disadvantage with the constant whistles, and defense is all but illegal. The NBA needs to realize that it created the phenomenon that this sport has become and return to it's glory years (80s and 90s).

[KCAggie]

I don't think that would happen. Europe's teams would have to play like 20 game blocks at home and on the road. And I would think that teams going to Europe would play all their games in Europe at once so they would only go their once or maybe twice a year.

[Pumchavas28]

I would guess that the Schedule Makers would really have to tweak it & make rode trips for the State Side teams to swing by the 5 teams overseas all in 1 shot....

Probably 5 current NBA Teams a time would go over & play 5 games each against the 5 teams already there... then come back....

Of course if they hold onto the 82 game schedule, somehow 41 games will have to be scheduled, this will be a larger problem for East Conference Teams than Western Conference Teams, since those teams will be the ones doing the majority of the traveling...

I would also guess that those Europe teams would also do their road games not against each other all in several big road trips....

[Pumchavas28]

Also with 35 teams & an 82 game schedule... Not every team would have to go over to Europe... Similar to what happens in the NFL now....

Where not everyone plays everyone.... I would guess that the majority of the 82 games would be within Conference & the remaining games would be dealt out to the Western Conference & those teams would rotate...

[KCAggie]

So why do all the teams have to be in the Eastern Conference? They are not part of the eastern united states. I think it makes more sense to me to have western european teams play in the west and eastern european teams play in the east. But that is just my thinking.

[Pumchavas28]

Also a re-alignment would have to take place... With 5 new teams in the league... I would guess either 2 or 3 teams from the Easter C. would have to move to the Western C.

Based on Logistics... I would guess that Chicago & Milwaukee would be the logical choices to move into the Western C. and if a 3rd is moved also, then that would be Indiana or Atlanta...

[Pumchavas28]

So why do all the teams have to be in the Eastern Conference? They are not part of the eastern united states. I think it makes more sense to me to have western european teams play in the west and eastern european teams play in the east. But that is just my thinking.


I'm just going off of logistics.... Unlike the NFL where Eastern mean nothing... the NBA alignment is based completly on logistics.... Teams from Boston, NY, & Philly wouldn't have to travel as far as a team from San Fran, Oakland or Seattle.

Here's a map of the NBA teams & where they are located...

http://www.sportsline.com/images/nba/teams_map.jpg
(http://www.sportsline.com/nba/teams)
It's pretty obvious how things were lined up....

(http://www.sportsline.com/nba/standings/regularseason/2007/conference)

[KCAggie]

Yeah, but when dealing with across the world traveling, a couple of extra hours don't mean much. I just see it as a huge advantage to western teams if all the euro teams played in the east.

[Pumchavas28]

They wouldn't be completly void of going over-seas....

Eventually Teams would be added in China & Japan.... You have to believe that those teams would fall in the Western Conf.

Especially if it really takes off in Europe... the Asian population wont want to be left out of a Huge $$$$$ making opportunity.