It's all about the Benjamins (or the Euro's) - Page 10 - Detroit Pistons Fan Community

**dba** · #91 (**permalink**) 08-08-2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallDon'tLie

...Tell that to this guy.

If you had that haircut...

TaShawn · #92 (**permalink**) 08-09-2008, 04:43 PM

Kobe says Europe a possibility - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

Here we go!

Quote:

BEIJING – Kobe Bryant won’t sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers until he has tested the global market, the U.S. Olympic basketball star told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday.
Asked whether he plans to solicit overseas offers before signing an extension, Bryant flatly said yes.

Quote:

As players, the business of the game (is) evolving,” Bryant said before a Team USA practice at Beijing Normal University. “I think free agency now is becoming a global thing …. When players become free agents, the team they’re currently with – their competition is no longer the rest of the teams in the NBA. But it’s global. So, the market’s opened up. So we’ll just have to see how the league responds to it.”

Quote:

Bryant spent several years of his childhood in Italy and loves it there. Seven years ago, he bought an ownership stake in Olimpia Milano of the Italian league for his father Joe to run. When Bryant was asked whether he held intrigue with owning and playing on a team together, he said, “Absolutely.”

Some basketball executives believe Bryant’s ultimate ambition might be to have a majority ownership with a powerhouse Italian team while serving as its superstar. What’s more, Bryant, 29, insists that it wouldn’t be such a leap of faith for him to leave the NBA.

“I think people kind of make it out to be a little more than what it is,” he said.

Nemo · #93 (**permalink**) 08-09-2008, 06:10 PM

Kobe can go......Sign Shaq to your team Kobe.....

Don't drink the Limoncello.....unless with lots of pasta and garlic ~~breath~~ bread.

Ernie the Slow Adult · #94 (**permalink**) 08-10-2008, 12:24 AM

Kobe grew up in Italy, so it would not be a culture shock for him to play there. Money talks.........

linwood · #95 (**permalink**) 08-10-2008, 01:35 PM

The Sonics failed to turn a profit with both Ray Allen and (max contract) Rashard Lewis. Even with large public subsidy for the stadium, Howard Schultz and Clay Bennet claimed losses of nearly 40 million dollars a year. If the NBA changes the salary cap, how will smaller market teams be able to afford these players? Also, if Kobe is getting $60 mil, does that mean that Jarvis Hayes is worth 8 mil a year, or does the NBA become a league with one tremendously overpaid player and a supporting cast of D-League rejects making the league minimum?

Perhaps the NBA will have to rethink it's superstar marketing and start building teams that can consistently win against Euro-teams built around the star and scrubs.

TheeTFD · #96 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 02:46 AM

So why didn't they just tell the people to let it go?
If it's the same ownership in OK City, they'll blow it there.

**dba** · #97 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linwood

The Sonics failed to turn a profit with both Ray Allen and (max contract) Rashard Lewis. Even with large public subsidy for the stadium, Howard Schultz and Clay Bennet claimed losses of nearly 40 million dollars a year. If the NBA changes the salary cap, how will smaller market teams be able to afford these players? Also, if Kobe is getting $60 mil, does that mean that Jarvis Hayes is worth 8 mil a year, or does the NBA become a league with one tremendously overpaid player and a supporting cast of D-League rejects making the league minimum?

Perhaps the NBA will have to rethink it's superstar marketing and start building teams that can consistently win against Euro-teams built around the star and scrubs.

Pretty interesting question, isn't it?

Seattle is anywhere from 3.3 to a little over 4.5 million people depending on how you define the market (from metro area to TV market). It's hard to get comparable definitions elsewhere, but for comparison, in France, only Paris is larger, the UK maybe has two, and Germany maybe three of comparable or larger size.

I wonder how much more (if any) sponsorship dollars a Euro team might get, because the extra cash to sign LBJ or Kobe isn't going to come from usual revenues. This could be a case of talking the talk, but on the face of it, it might be pretty hard for a team to walk the walk.

If LBJ were willing to walk away from all his endorsement dollars and let those flow through the team, then maybe something might happen. Otherwise, I'm must not seeing where the money will come from.

And then of course there is the signing of Childress...

TaShawn · #98 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 12:00 PM

Now they are reporting that Flip Murray might go over seas? That is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

basketbills · #99 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaShawn

Now they are reporting that Flip Murray might go over seas? That is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Wow. That's huge!

BallDon'tLie · #**100** (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaShawn

Now they are reporting that Flip Murray might go over seas? That is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

With Arroyo and Ron Murray over in Europe, It's hard to even justify that backcourt play in the NBA is on the same level as what's happening on the other side of the Atlantic.

The NBA is becoming a "minor league".