I like this quote:
As basketball continues to grow in popularity overseas, it will obviously attract the attention of powerful entrepreneurs. In soccer, superstars are bought and sold like a high-stakes game of eBay. Christiano Ronaldo and Ronaldhino are just the latest examples.

Hypothetically, let’s say a billionaire from Macau wanted to capitalize on basketball’s exploding popularity in China. Let’s also say this billionaire has a wonderful working relationship with Nike’s Phil Knight. This billionaire decides his next major investment will be a hoops franchise with a state-of-the-art indoor arena. This billionaire wants to make a major splash, and his pockets are bottomless. He decides to put together an offer for one of Knight’s signature clients -- oh, say, LeBron James. This billionaire is prepared to offer James a 2-year deal in the neighborhood of $150 million.
What happens then?

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Another quote:

That's a big if....

What would constitue a "successful transition" anyway?
Anyone expects him to average humongous numbers? What would the criteria be?

At a minimum it would be to fulfill his contract.

Idle thought #1, I love Paris in the summer..I love Spain in the fall..I love Italy in the winter, but I love Moscow best of all..and another ones gone, and another ones gone and another one bites the dust..

"Agent Marc Cornstein has confirmed to Chad Ford of ESPN.com that former Net Nenad Krstic has officially signed a two year contract with Triumph Moscow early Tuesday morning.

The deal is worth around $9 million per year in the United States once you factor in the exchange rate and the fact that European clubs pay all the players' taxes, according to Ford.

Krstic joins Josh Childress, Bostjan Nachbar, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jorge Garbajosa, Carlos Delfino and Primoz Brezec as NBA players who opted to play for more money overseas this year. Three of the six are Cornstein clients." ESPN


Idle thought #2, I wonder if Cornstein is exchanging his Rubles for Euros?
This guy is reputedly a Vampire...hmmm

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"Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, knowing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about." Dangerfield

Europe exploits free trade to begin revenge on NBA

Three NBA-ready players have received lucrative deals to play in Europe instead, and more will be joining them soon

Mark Woods


July 29, 2008 2:17 PM



"Call it "Doing A Beckham". Take an ageing star. Pay him shedloads of cash. And then profit from the reflected prestige of luring said player to your club while resolutely ignoring the fact that:
a) he's well past his prime, and
b) he's only here because nobody back home wanted him (at least, not at that price).


For decades, Europe was the last resort for veteran American basketball stars, the place to seek one gargantuan final pay cheque when the doors of the NBA were politely, but firmly, shut. Bob McAdoo, the one-time Lakers great, started the trend when he decamped to Milan at the end of his career. Dominique Wilkins did likewise with Panathinaikos when his best highlight films were long behind him. One last roll of the dice.


Sometimes it wasn't all about the money. Rehabilitation was often the aim, like when Roy Tarpley was banned for drug use by the NBA but welcomed in Greece. When Loren Meyer, once a first-round draft pick by the Dallas Mavericks, joined the Chester Jets in 2001 in search of new beginnings, he became the BBL's greatest ever import.


Regardless, the theme was constant. America is where it's at. Europe? Very much Plan B.


Not any more. High on the summer shopping lists of any NBA general manager would have been the names of Josh Childress, Juan Carlos Navarro and Bostjan Nachbar. The trio were all available for hire this month, contract negotiations pending. Each has seen his undoubted skills rewarded with lucrative deals for next season with major clubs.
All will be playing, not in North America, but in the Euroleague - and there will be more joining them.


Whisper it quietly if you must, but NBA is no longer the only show in town. European basketball is big business in its own right, no longer the poor relation to its Stateside cousin, no more holding out the begging bowl in the hope of help and a handout.


The signings of Childress (by Olympiakos, for a Euro-record £4m per season), Navarro (to FC Barcelona) and Nachbar (to Dynamo Moscow) are just the opening salvos in what has now become a global competition for talent. Europe's leviathans are flexing their financial muscle, and it will be the performers who benefit most.


Ever since the NBA merged with the American Basketball Association in 1976, players have had precious little leverage. The salary cap limits how much they can get paid, even with the introduction of Bird Rights (which allow an over-the-odds offer to re-sign a player). The system of drafts and trades puts the ball firmly in the hands of the teams.


The Euroleague, as yet, has no fixed wages parameters. Sponsorship, television deals and the development of revenue-friendly arenas throughout the continent are allowing the sport to emulate a model that they once could only admire from afar. The falling dollar has strengthened their hand. And there is little the NBA can do to stem this tide.


The Atlanta Hawks must have felt confident of retaining the services of Childress, a promising sixth man last term. Around £17m over five years was just about the going rate. But not, it turned out, sufficient. "They told us to go explore the marketplace,'' his agent, Lon Babby, said. "They obviously never contemplated that we would go outside the NBA.''
There is a modicum of sweet revenge at work here. Time after time European clubs put time and effort into nurturing their prodigies, building youth systems that patiently smoothed the development process in order to turn out well-rounded, multi-faceted basketballers. Then, just when their primes beckoned, the bright lights of the NBA would beam down and spirit them away for nominal compensation.


The tables they are a-turning. And the NBA can, in a curious manner, only blame itself. It was its courageous decision to dispatch its biggest American stars to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona to form an all-conquering Dream Team that catalysed the genuine globalisation of the sport. Figures such as Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol have eroded any inferiority complexes while the defeats of Team USA in recent times have shown how the deficit between them and (the rest of) us has narrowed to a mere sliver.


Still, the NBA itself remained immune to the conquest - until now. America gets Beckham. Europe gets their ballers. In the free market, the barriers to trade have irrevocably come down."



From Mark Wood at the UKGuardian Sportsblog
(he's an English bloke)

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"Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, knowing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about." Dangerfield

Yeah, but it's not sustainable. Or only as long as billionaires want to spend. Didn't we read an article on here that said that these teams are not profitable and from the owners' perspective it's more a pride thing and for the fans. That can only go so far. Then again, if more and more fans in Europe are watching the NBA (as Stern has been trying to market) then when these guys start coming to play there, it's only logical that fan interest will go up, revenue will go up, and it will become financially lucrative. The NBA is causing the problem they were trying to avoid by expanding their reach to other countries. Ironic, isn't it?

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Sy Amara Warrior for the slam!!!
Merc

They can go pretty far, that's obvious. I am talking about Russia, where all the self-made billionaires are. They can afford throwing millions upon millions of dollars at a team just for the sake of prestige.

Jennifer Lopez Paid $1.2 Million for 40-Minute Concert - Jennifer Lopez : People.com
32 pictures of Roman Abramovich's Pelorus yacht from around the world. Please do not copy
Pacific H2O » Abramovich buys World’s biggest yacht
People's Daily Online -- Russian billionaire plans investment in Brazil soccer team
Report: Russian billionaire wants Leafs - Sportsnet.ca
Russian Billionaire Pushing Forward With Arsenal Takeover - Premiership, Soccer

you need anything else?

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“How many words does you know? What is some of dem?” - Ali G

NBA players that want to live and work in Russia?

I would move in a heart beat. Of course, I am just a PF.com co-owner.