NBA in Europe? David Stern Says Yes

David Stern sees the NBA's future in Europe. (celtic-nation.com)

As NBA Commissioner, David Stern's job is to make decisions. Be it an act like voiding the Chris Paul-to-the-Lakers trade or something much more influential like, say, regulating pre-game handshakes, his final word on the business of professional basketball in America has often led to backlash. Stern's perceived heavy-handedness has not been without positive results, though. During his tenure as commissioner — which began in 1984 and is set to end in 2014 — Stern has been a major player in growing the sport of basketball around the globe.

In an interview with ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo on Thursday, Stern does not see that growth ending with his retirement. From the man himself:

"I think so. I think [there will be] multiple NBA international teams. Twenty years from now? For sure. In Europe; no place else. In other places, I think you'll see the NBA name on leagues, and other places with marketing and basketball support but not part of the NBA as we now know it."

Basketball is already huge in Europe and, thanks to Stern's shrewd marketing of the NBA product and the league's foreign players, around the world. The sport is second in global popularity trailing only soccer, according to FIBA. It is a natural progression for the NBA to expand its official brand into overseas markets and executives would be ignoring a potential money-grab by refusing to expand Association-branded competition in other countries, especially with players such as Kobe Bryant already commanding large fan bases outside of the U.S.

This means that the NBA should be able to avoid the pitfalls suffered by NFL Europe, which appealed to a relatively small audience outside American borders and eventually shuttered its doors after several re-branding maneuvers and an attempt to use it as an avenue for young players to gain playing experience, a la the D-League.

However, there are several hurdles the NBA must clear before making Stern's prediction a reality, the least of which is finding willing ownership for a franchise based in Europe. Already filled with regional and national leagues, Europe is not a basketball-deficient continent and while the official NBA logo alone will help sell tickets, the logistics of competing with these other groups is not something the Association has never dealt with. As Kurt Helin of NBC's Pro Basketball Talk and Ball Don't Lie's Eric Freeman point out, adopting established clubs such as FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow (the former home of players like Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved) to become the NBA's official branches in Europe is the most logical move as it requires fewer start-up strategies, with the clubs already having fan bases and branded identities.

Scheduling these clubs — and there would have to be several to justify a separate division in Europe — to play against existing NBA teams would be the tough part. International travel would necessitate long road trips for teams to play each overseas opponent in a single go, rather than setting up back-to-backs beginning on one side of Atlantic Ocean and ending on the other (obviously).

Freeman also notes that racial tension is significantly higher in Europe, even in sports like soccer, and that recent NBA expansion teams in Vancouver, Toronto and Charlotte have all struggled to gain footholds among local audiences, prompting one move (to Memphis, for the Grizzlies) and a continued cold shoulder from American-born players skittish to play outside of their homeland's borders.

In the interview, Stern insists the league he has overseen for the better part of 30 years is "poised for global growth" and that he is "very pleased with the prospects for growth," even going as far as to offer his services to travel internationally and negotiate on the league's behalf. As an aside, he also mentions the NBA's return to Seattle, saying he "hope[s] there will be" a franchise there in the near future, a direct contradiction of his own 2007 statement that "if the team moves, there's not going to be another team."

The growth of basketball under Stern's watch is undeniable, whether it be that of his own league or the sport as a whole, and it looks like his precedents will be the map the NBA follows for the foreseeable future. There seems to be no way around it at this point, so the question is not if the NBA will have teams in other countries but if the plan to expand to Europe will work as a sustainable endeavor.


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Prepare for New(-ish) Faces in the NBA

Adam Morrison works for a steal and Coby Karl...runs? Stares? (AP Photo)

Starting tomorrow, NBA teams can sign players to 10-day contracts, meaning you'll soon be asking questions like "Who is that?" and "Why does the Spurs' bench look so different?" Mark Deeks of The Basketball Jones had the drop throughout the week, running down lists of potential D-League call-ups and experienced players who could be granted returns this season. It would be wise to familiarize (or reacquaint) yourself with some of those names before the first round of short-term deals is made.

Oh, and Adam Morrison is featured in the picture at the top of this post because the Association needs those locks on the sidelines again.


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Friday Roundtable: Popularity Contests, Snubs and the NBA All-Star Game

An injured Yao Ming and the other 2007 Western Conference All-Stars. (NBA.com)

BDD's Friday Roundtable is a weekly discussion among three of our writers on a trending NBA or college basketball topic.

This week's question: Voting for the NBA All-Star game is almost over (go here if you wish to cast a vote) and the starting line-ups are nearly set. But is the current process of letting fans vote for starters and having coaches choose reserves the right way to set an All-Star roster, or is there a better method?

Kyle Davis: 
I'm usually fine with any sort of fan involvement that makes those who watch the NBA and make it popular feel like they have a voice. But fans have biases and fans don't watch every team play every night. It's not because they are trying to ruin the system, but they'll vote for the names they know and for players on the team they support. It's easy to do. This last MLB All-Star Game was in Kansas City and I voted for a handful of Royals players (yes, it is as painful as you would imagine being a Royals fan) because I wanted to see them play in their city in an All-Star game, even though there were probably more qualified candidates.

The same happens in the NBA. How else do you explain why Jeremy Lin is third in the Western Conference Backcourt category, ahead of his teammate James Harden and Russell Westbrook? Steve Nash is sixth in that category, ahead of Tony Parker, Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry and he's been injured for most of the season. Somehow Dwight Howard is second in the Western Conference Frontcourt voting and is ahead of the likes of Blake Griffin, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol and Kevin Love. Yet Anderson Varejao, currently NINTH in the Eastern Conference Frontcourt, leads the league in rebounds and is having a breakout season. Possibly most egregious is that LaMarcus Aldridge is seventh in the league in scoring, only Kevin Durant is a Western Conference forward scoring more, yet Aldridge sits at No. 11 among Western Conference forwards.

Some players who are having great, breakout years will likely be watching the game at home, unless their conference All-Star coach brings them in as a reserve. The system is more of a popularity contest than a reward for great performance, and that should change. Let the basketball writers select the starters. They have watched more basketball than anyone (coaches and players don't have a lot of time to watch games other than their own) and are paid to be unbiased and objective. The coaches can still pick the reserves, and if you want to keep fans involve, let them vote for the first player off the bench. Fans still get a voice and those players who have had tremendous seasons, but aren't household names, can still get the recognition they deserve. 



Alex Skov:
While the current voting system is one of the numerous ways the NBA has built a strong rapport with fans -- especially casual ones -- it has been sitting on a cracked foundation since becoming a rule. See: Yao Ming's starter status on the occasions that he had missed a majority of games due to injury. See also: Tracy McGrady's inclusion on the Western Conference roster as he got a glean of votes from being Ming's teammate on the Houston Rockets.

With Ming, and his worldwide popularity, in basketball retirement, there is no chance of a repeat incident, but the obvious arrow now points to another Rocket. After the explosion of Linsanity in the early half of 2012, the NBA felt compelled to have Jeremy Lin participate in All-Star weekend despite not qualifying or being pre-selected for any of the events. While he is not as visible to viewers in the United States since he downgraded media markets upon leaving New York City, the Linsanity outbreak showed that the point guard is capable of harnessing benefits similar to those received by Ming. Some of that could be due to race (although being of Taiwanese descent is very, very different than being Chinese) and some of it could be because, like Ming, Lin is a talented basketball player.

ESPN LA writer Arash Markazi recently revealed another flaw in the All-Star voting:

"That [Jamal Crawford] is not on the All-Star ballot while players who haven't played this season are, again shows why balloting needs to change."

It is the same Ming Theory, yes, but it also points out that against the popular vote, and likely against coach votes, even the most deserving players who typically fill back-up roles have no shot at garnering the same accolades as their starting counterparts. Some are designated as reserves simply because they perform better when coming off the bench, like Jason Terry during his Dallas Mavericks years and Crawford and the Knicks' J.R. Smith this season.

In response to Markazi's tweet, Crawford expressed his wish for 15-man squads with players voting on the last final three roster spots. That would at least be a start, but some kind of weighted voting between fans, coaches and players with minimum requirements for number of minutes played would make for line-ups that accurately represent the best interest of each of those three demographics. Maybe cater to viewers by giving them a majority of the votes for starters while splitting the remaining votes, including those for second-stringers, between coaches and players.

Champ:
The NBA made a great change this year to the All Star ballot system. Now instead of two guards, two forwards and a center, fans will just vote for three front court players and two back court players. This is a good addition in the age of basketball because positions are not clearly defined as they have been. Players like Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh spend a lot of time at the center position but don't play like one; meanwhile, Pau Gasol and Tim Duncan spend enough time in the low post to be considered centers, but are often times listed as power fowards because of bigger teammates.


The biggest criticism to this rule is that it takes away from the hard work that centers do every night. Some people, like Dwight Howard, insist that smaller players get flashier highlights than centers who spend most of their time with their backs to the basket, and more people will vote for forwards like Kevin Durant. I don't think this is true, though. Most fans know the value of a true center. Howard has the second highest number of votes among big men in the West and Tyson Chandler is high in the East. It's true that players like Marc Gasol and Anderson Varejao are low on their lists, but that has more to do with being in small markets.


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Gonzaga Proves It Can Compete In Any Conference

Gonzaga has shut out the Big 12 this season and has proven it belongs in a major conference. (examiner-enterprise.com)

Gonzaga should be included in the Big 12 conference standings, and in the top third no less.

Don't mind that the Bulldogs don't play in the Big 12; they've still accomplished more than most of the teams in the conference will. Gonzaga scheduled five Big 12 teams and beat them all. That's impressive.

More impressive is only two of those wins were by 10 points or less (Baylor and Oklahoma State on the road in a difficult arena) and two (Oklahoma on a neutral site and West Virginia) were by 25 points or more. The Zags also defeated Kansas State in a neutral-site game in Seattle by double-digits.

That's nearly half of the conference suffering a loss to Gonzaga, and most of those teams should end up in the top half of the Big 12 at the end of the year. It'll be tough to find a more impressive performance against a conference this year. I can only assume Gonzaga fans were drunkenly calling the Big 12 offices asking "who's your daddy?" Until Kansas or another team (maybe OSU or KSU) has its shot at the rest of the conference, the answer is Gonzaga.

But it doesn't end there. Thanks to an always brutal non-conference schedule, Gonzaga has also beaten Clemson (from the ACC), Washington State (from the PAC 12) and mid-major darling Davidson. The only loss of the season came to No. 13 (and then undefeated) Illinois of the Big Ten, the country's best conference.

No offense intended to the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga's current home) because along with Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU have been very good programs of late and Santa Clara has a good team this year, but if there was any question of Gonzaga being able to hang with the big boys of a power conference, that question has now been answered.

Eventually Gonzaga will grow too big for the WCC. It's a shame, because it's a fine conference, but it just can't offer the national publicity, strength of schedule and RPI boosts a team like Gonzaga deserves. We just saw the same thing this offseason when Butler left the Horizon league for the more prominent Atlantic 10. People will continue to point to the Zags' weaker conference schedule as a means to excuse the Bulldogs' record.

It shouldn't be hard for Gonzaga to find a new home. Not having a football team will make it more difficult, but the (former) Big East (R.I.P.) proved a great basketball conference could exist without football. Now the seven Big East catholic schools without football are breaking away, and (cough, cough) Gonzaga is also a Catholic school without football. Sure, the geography doesn't make sense, but since when has that stopped realignment?

Gonzaga has the means necessary to make it work. The original "Cinderella" team is now a stable competitor, but still has the fans that fell in love with the mid-major darling. Support? Check. Coach Mark Few has proven he can recruit elite players to Spokane. Talent? Check. Thanks to Gonzaga, WCC games are shown on ESPN2 every Thursday night during conference play. And an appearance in the NCAA Tournament every year doesn't hurt. Recognition? Check.

Whether intentional or not, Few's non-conference scheduling has prepared the program for a jump to a higher level of conference competition. Power-conference teams should welcome Gonzaga into their ranks with open arms. That is, of course, until the Zags start winning.


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Video: High School Sophomore Victor Dukes Jumps Twice On Posterizing Dunk

It's a miserable feeling being a defender getting dunked on.

The defender's intention was good. He was in position to possibly take a charge. If nothing else, maybe he could get in the way enough to make it a more difficult shot.

What's more miserable is that not only did this high school defender get dunked on by 6-foot-3 Nettleton (Arkansas) high school sophomore Victor Dukes, but it looks as if Dukes got so much height by pushing off the defender's body after his initial jump.

Getting dunked on feels bad. Getting dunked on because the shooter used you as a ladder to the basket feels worse.

For Dukes, this has to be the dunk of his young career as he nearly hit his head on the rim at his apex. Give him credit for using all available resources to skyrocket into the air.

Make sure to watch the replay for a better angle as the ref steps into the shot during the actual dunk, but this advice probably won't be needed, as I'm sure you'll end up watching it three or four times. This clip was one of two posted on Nettleton's YouTube channel that has a combined 37,000 hits as of this posting.

 

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The Minnesota Gophers have restored hope and excitement in Minneapolis

Minnesota is pushing its way to the top of the Big Ten and back into the national spotlight. (startribune.com)

You probably know Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith, but probably not for what he's done with the Gophers.

Smith won a national championship at Kentucky in 1997 and was one of the most successful coaches of the 90s and that's still what he's known for.

That's about to change.

The Gophers are ranked No. 9 in the country and have started the season 13-1. But the success is coming after a dark period in Minneapolis. This is the first season since 2009-10 that Minnesota has won its first Big Ten game of the year. The last time The Gophers reached the NCAA tournament was that 2010 season, but they haven't won a game in the tournament since 1997, the very year Smith was winning it all for UK. A Big Ten regular season championship would be the school's first since 1982.

It took time, but in Smith's sixth season it looks like he has his best squad yet. In the past, the Gophers have had strong starts, but have faded in conference play. This year looks to be different. The Gophers kicked off conference play with a 76-63 win over No. 18 Michigan State yesterday.

In a season where four Big Ten teams were expected to compete for the conference title (Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan and dark horse Illinois), Minnesota could make a emphatic comeback in a conference where there's not a lot of room to break through.

The Gophers are doing it with balanced scoring (Andre Hollins and Rodney Williams are both averaging more than 13 ppg while Austin Hollins and Joe Coleman are also in double figures) strong rebounding (more than 40 per game) and averaging more than 16 assists per game.

There is no singular superstar who's health and talent decides the team's fate. This team is well balanced and well coached, which are keys to winning in March.

While a win over Michigan State sends a message of dominance, the toughest stretch is yet to come. The Gophers will face Illinois, Indiana and Michigan in three straight games starting Jan. 9 with the first two coming on the road. If Minnesota is 2-1 or 3-0 in those games on Jan. 18, then the Gophers have proven again that this is no fluke.

It doesn't have to happen. Minnesota doesn't have to win the Big Ten or reach a Final Four this year (although Gopher fans won't oppose). A failure to reach these goals won't mean a failed season.

Because what Tubby Smith and this team have done so far is restore hope and excitement in Minneapolis. He's also sent a message that the Minnesota program is back and he has more than just his Kentucky resume to be remembered for.


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Rebounding from Sorrow, the St. Louis Billikens are Solidifying Their Resume

Dwayne Evans and Mike McCall, Jr., are SLU's leading scorers this season. (Nick Krug/KUSports.com)

The line between top-tier college basketball programs and mid-majors is blurring. The probability it ever vanishes completely is low, but the ascension of schools like Butler and Gonzaga to the plane of annual NCAA tournament competitors — not just attendants — has the college hoops community putting an ever-more scrupulous eye on smaller schools. Whether it is the blue bloods that schedule mid-majors hoping they can bully less recruited players for an easy victory, the teams that draw such schools in non-conference tournaments and are uncertain about how to handle that below-the-radar opponent, or the teams that meet these mid-majors multiple times each year in conference play — begrudgingly or not, the little brothers of college basketball have earned respect. For the first time in more than a decade, the St. Louis Billikens have played like a team deserving this reverence.

The Billikens' biggest moment of national exposure came when they were on the wrong end of a 73-59 rout by Kansas in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, but even a loss like that — to one of NCAA Division I's most history-rich programs on a neutral court just 45 minutes from the favored team's home court — will be considered good in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee.

A home loss to the Santa Clara Broncos, who have put together their own respectable record thus far, and a five-point stumble to the Washington Huskies on the trip to the Pacific Northwest are the only other blotches on the Billikens' agenda. The rest of St. Louis' schedule is sterling, including a win over Texas A&M, just a few seasons removed from being a threat to the Jayhawks' own streak of Big 12 titles. The crown jewel in St. Louis' collection of wins is a 60-46 smashing of No. 20 New Mexico on Monday. Davidson, George Mason, Cincinnati, UCONN are all teams that the Lobos have bested, and the Billikens beat them soundly, irritating UNM head coach Steve Alford so much that the 22-year veteran picked up back-to-back technical fouls and was ejected from a game for the first time in his career.

The Billikens pounded the paint, outscoring the Lobos 32-16 on the inside as the SLU back court contributed just 21 points. From a team who entered the season touted on the shoulders of senior guard Kwamain Mitchell, that's not a shabby showing.

In fact, the Billikens have succeeded largely without Mitchell, who underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left foot in mid-October and returned on Dec. 28, just in time for play in a tune-up game against SIU-Edwardsville before facing New Mexico.

As we noted in our Atlantic 10 conference preview, the Billikens are dangerous because of the continuity of their line-up from last season to this season. With the exception forward Brian Conklin — SLU's leading scorer in 2011-12, closely followed by Mitchell — every player from last year's team returned for the Billikens for another go-around.

That roster continuity is what many mid-major schools thrive on, relying on less recruited players to develop chemistry with the same teammates by playing together year after year. This is one of the rudimentary elements that can lead to upsets in postseason tournaments, but the Billikens were not exactly a quiet story coming into the season. They were expected to contend for the A-10 title, even with new additions to the conference Butler and VCU making immediate impacts, and gained attention after beating Memphis during the first round of NCAA tournament play in March before narrowly losing to Michigan State, all while carrying a No. 13 seed.

In Mitchell's absence, the Billikens proceeded with a balanced attack, led in scoring by two guards and two forwards, each averaging over 8.5 points per game. SLU is now 77th overall in field goal percentage, shooting at a .458 rate, and primed to enter conference play at an all-out sprint, already carrying an RPI of 50. But one unquantifiable trait of the Billikens' group personality is how much they are fueled by the loss of head coach Rick Majerus, who had not sat on the St. Louis bench this season before losing his life to health issues.

Mid-major success is often said to be based off intangibles, like chemistry, heart, grit... The list can, and will, go as far as an imaginative mind can take it. In the case of the Billikens, those tags all happen to be applicable, but there is also ball movement and shooting accuracy to take into account when facing a team — this team — that could make a serious racket come tournament time.


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