The NBA has a foreseeable trend on their hands. Players are skipping out on mid-level contracts and taking the next flight to Europe. Recently, players Juan Carlos Navarro (Grizzlies), Carlos Delfino (Raptors), and Bostjan Nachbar (Nets) have all left the states for much “greener” pastures in Europe. Nachbar, a decent NBA competitor and perennial seventh man has accepted a contract offer from Dynamo Moscow worth nine
million Euros over three years. This will equate to about $14.3 million. This size contract would be completely out of the question for Nachbar in the NBA considering his age, production, and inability to sell a jersey stitched with his name. Navarro will be returning to FC Barcelona, where he played ten seasons prior to coming to the NBA, while Delfino will be a member of Khimki BC of the Russian League.
This small (for now), yet eye-opening trend is unsettling to say the least. I realize the three players mentioned previously are all international players. However, while Brandon Jennings skips out on college to play in Europe for a year, it leaves me with an apprehensive feeling about the situation, even for American born players. I sincerely hope players get over there only to realize that this isn’t the way. But, let’s be for real. Midlevel NBA guys, in some situations, can make twice what they would make in the NBA. With the Euro still hovering around one and a half times the dollar, it would seem this decision should be a simple one. The way I see; these guys get a chance at stardom abroad, the opportunity to live in Europe (enough said), and get paid twice what they would in the states. As long as international basketball continues to grow in popularity and European franchises are willing to throw money at players like Nachbar, the NBA could be in trouble down the road.
Don’t be looking for Lebron in an FC wherever jersey, but if you like watching players like Navarro, you better get satellite. David Stern better hope the prestige of the NBA holds up enough to keep these mid-level, but contributing players.
Josh Childress has been offered over $20 million over 3 years to play for the Greek team Olympiakos… UH OH!!! He is considering it instead of messing with NBA restricted free agency…
Indeed, just got the official word from the Motherland that Josh signed for Olympiakos, $20mil over three… Hope he behaves in Athens! Lots of distractions there:)
And something that has been missed in many of the Jennings-related High-Schoolers Euro-tours prior to the NBA:
You wouldn’t find many respectable European teams to pay up and take a considerable gamble on these green, inexperienced, frequently homesick (in college, now think Europe!) and overall questionable quality kids… Roma took the risk, but it was affordable to them, their GM Bodiroga was a solid player and should have an eye for talent, but still they are not the cream of the crop by far in Europe, and we won’t soon see any of these kids make it in one of the top 10 teams of the Euroleague…
I still do think that it was a fun and perhaps important development for some of the more talented and top-caliber ones, like the OJs, the Beardsleys and Roses, the Durants and Odens etc, to possibly consider the option down the line. The top talent would indeed be intriguing for the top Euro teams, but then again the problem becomes: Will they be able to deal with the transition at 18, and make it into a competitive side that may feature seasoned veterans, NBA-experienced players, and some of the local Euro-talent that will look at them as having a nice big Star-Spangled target on their backs?
Better hang with Bruce Pearl, Calipari, Coach K, and Tony Bennett I say!
OK, and Coach Crean!
Now, how about the Euro doubling up on the dollar next year? Could we then get All-Stars in Europe, like the days of Dominique Wilkins in Panathinaikos, McAdoo in Milan, Roy Tarpley in my team, Aris Thessaloniki (ahhh Roy and his 26 beers prior to games, man…) whilst keeping the better Euro-talent in the Old Continent?
Not only is the dollar having its ass kicked by the Euro … but a guy like Childress, if I’m not mistaken, is looking at that money being tax free! Also, the Euro was worth about $1.55 the last I checked … it’s worse than you think. You can thank Bush for destroying the value of the dollar. He makes you want to leave the US and then you find that you have no buying power.
I wouldn’t exactly say that Dominique was an All Star when he went to Europe. More like a fading star … he played for a crappy Celtic team (maybe an 8 seed in the East) the year before Europe, and was clearly not the athlete he used to be. Then he returned to the States and averaged over 18 ppg for a Spurs team that won about 20 games. It was a depressing slide from his Hawk glory days.
As for Tarpley, he wore out his welcome here and no one would take a chance on him … so he really had no choice but to go to Europe.
But now we’re seeing decent players — maybe not top of the line players as you point out, but mid-level guys and just below — go to Europe because the teams there can offer more. Europe is not just for faded stars & fuck ups these days …
The NHL is having the same problem right now - European players are leaving to play closer to home because, simply, the dollar is much weaker than the Euro, and they can make a bunch more there.
Ironically, this has the global effect the NBA has been wishing for, spreading talent around the globe … although I’m sure this is not the way David Stern wanted it to happen.
Childress is a nice get, but no one will take full notice until a big name leaves to play overseas. Then suddenly it will be “OMG! What happened to the US dollar?!?! The NBA is dying!” Blah blah blah.