xavier wrote:

dodger78 wrote:Btw... as one of the early "Euro Prospects" on this Forum - let me call out the influx of new European posters herein lately!
I can only say… keep it coming - the more the merrier! Its great to see that the Knicks are getting more and more buzz oversees again as well as it seems! :-)
Also Always love to include a Little Euro perspective on BBall here! ;-)

I’m not exactly a “new” fan and I’ve even been reading this forum for years, I just haven’t registered before

I too was a longtime admirer of this site before joining. It’s the best Knicks site by a large margin.

Congratulations and kudos to Martin and all.

I just hope that Vildoza gets the right opportunity to become part of the team. The plays, sets, etc. Really feel like if he’s given a chance he will ball out!

dodger78 wrote:

Nalod wrote:American playing in Europe is a “Euro-Stash”.
They don’t have the competitive league in South America so we call them “Euro players”.
WE call a kid from Europe who gets drafted from “Gonzaga”, “College player”.
If a kid needs an extra vowel from an Easter European country and gets called up from the Mad Ants, we call them “Gleague Player”.

Fine for me! It took a while for me to understand this - honestly - my european prejudice on Americans being ignorant to the rest of the world also made me - pick this up back in the days! But what you say makes absolute sense to me as well.

Btw... EUROLEAGUE play this season has been OFF THE CHARTS!!! Amazing sports this year!!! If you guys have any chance in the US to watch this Competition and you love pure Basketball you DEFINATELY should try to watch it!!!!

Most of us don't know how the leagues work over there. This is confusing:

Via Wikipedia......

There are currently four competitions which are branded as Europe-wide, two controlled by Euroleague Basketball, and two by FIBA Europe. Clubs which compete in these competitions also play in their national and/or regional leagues. Clubs usually qualify for these competitions based on their performance in the national or regional leagues in the previous season.

The EuroLeague is Euroleague Basketball's premier competition, and each year involves clubs from 10 countries. It is historically the most prestigious competition in European basketball.

The Champions League, which began in 2016, is FIBA Europe's highest competition. Initially, FIBA had intended to take over the running of the EuroLeague, so began its own rival competition. The Champions League involves 32 teams; to date, clubs from over 20 countries have taken part.

The EuroCup is Euroleague Basketball's secondary competition, and currently made up of 24 teams from around Europe. Clubs from over 30 countries have taken part. The two finalists of the EuroCup qualify for the next season's EuroLeague.

The FIBA Europe Cup is FIBA's secondary competition. 32 teams compete, and the teams which did not enter in the Champions League regular season have the option to drop down into the regular season of the Europe Cup. As of 2019, clubs from over 30 national federations have taken part.

The names of the various European and regional club competitions have frequently changed over time.[1]

I understand why the NBA entry to Europe would be problematic. Truth is they should take in existing teams (for a fee of course) with arenas and fan base. The TV thing gets complicated as does the issues of existing agreements with the above. TO simply expand makes sense as well but I would think a new division would need be established with the need for at least 5-6 teams to start. Time difference creates viewership issues in US as those games would be afternoon. Thus a knick game in London would be 5 hours earlier. 3pm for a 8pm local game. Can't imagine MSG would be thrilled with that or would league pass.
Go to Moscow its 7 hours. Los Angeles is 10 hours. 8pm game start in Moscow 10am TV time in LA. How can league justify premium entry fees into our TV contacts when the viewership gets diluted UNLESS Europe viewerships take off. You also have the issue of American star players living in Europe. Some will, some won't. But if drafted they have no choice.
Its conceivable in time a championship is played with a team from Europe? Moscow vs. Portland! The logistics are awful. If your going global, why stop in Europe? Why not teams in China? Toykyo? India? Countries with huge populations?

Nalod wrote:

dodger78 wrote:

Nalod wrote:American playing in Europe is a “Euro-Stash”.
They don’t have the competitive league in South America so we call them “Euro players”.
WE call a kid from Europe who gets drafted from “Gonzaga”, “College player”.
If a kid needs an extra vowel from an Easter European country and gets called up from the Mad Ants, we call them “Gleague Player”.

Fine for me! It took a while for me to understand this - honestly - my european prejudice on Americans being ignorant to the rest of the world also made me - pick this up back in the days! But what you say makes absolute sense to me as well.

Btw... EUROLEAGUE play this season has been OFF THE CHARTS!!! Amazing sports this year!!! If you guys have any chance in the US to watch this Competition and you love pure Basketball you DEFINATELY should try to watch it!!!!

Most of us don't know how the leagues work over there. This is confusing:

Via Wikipedia......

There are currently four competitions which are branded as Europe-wide, two controlled by Euroleague Basketball, and two by FIBA Europe. Clubs which compete in these competitions also play in their national and/or regional leagues. Clubs usually qualify for these competitions based on their performance in the national or regional leagues in the previous season.

The EuroLeague is Euroleague Basketball's premier competition, and each year involves clubs from 10 countries. It is historically the most prestigious competition in European basketball.

The Champions League, which began in 2016, is FIBA Europe's highest competition. Initially, FIBA had intended to take over the running of the EuroLeague, so began its own rival competition. The Champions League involves 32 teams; to date, clubs from over 20 countries have taken part.

The EuroCup is Euroleague Basketball's secondary competition, and currently made up of 24 teams from around Europe. Clubs from over 30 countries have taken part. The two finalists of the EuroCup qualify for the next season's EuroLeague.

The FIBA Europe Cup is FIBA's secondary competition. 32 teams compete, and the teams which did not enter in the Champions League regular season have the option to drop down into the regular season of the Europe Cup. As of 2019, clubs from over 30 national federations have taken part.

The names of the various European and regional club competitions have frequently changed over time.[1]

I understand why the NBA entry to Europe would be problematic. Truth is they should take in existing teams (for a fee of course) with arenas and fan base. The TV thing gets complicated as does the issues of existing agreements with the above. TO simply expand makes sense as well but I would think a new division would need be established with the need for at least 5-6 teams to start. Time difference creates viewership issues in US as those games would be afternoon. Thus a knick game in London would be 5 hours earlier. 3pm for a 8pm local game. Can't imagine MSG would be thrilled with that or would league pass.
Go to Moscow its 7 hours. Los Angeles is 10 hours. 8pm game start in Moscow 10am TV time in LA. How can league justify premium entry fees into our TV contacts when the viewership gets diluted UNLESS Europe viewerships take off. You also have the issue of American star players living in Europe. Some will, some won't. But if drafted they have no choice.
Its conceivable in time a championship is played with a team from Europe? Moscow vs. Portland! The logistics are awful. If your going global, why stop in Europe? Why not teams in China? Toykyo? India? Countries with huge populations?

I do understand the confusion regarding the different "european" leagues being played - this goes back to the differces between FIBA and some of the larger Clubs - similar to what was inteded in Soccer lately with the dreaded "Superleague".
Basically the best Competition you can follow in Europe is the "EuroLeague" - this is a league set up by the larger Teams in Europe - Real, Barcelona, Moscow, Olympicos etc. its a league where 18 teams are usually invited to play for a couple of years - gotta meet some Standards of Quality and financial Background and then there are 2 wild cards.
The Level of play is very good - if you want to play in Europe as a Player this is the Level you want to be on - so if you are a EuroLeague Player it does get recognition!
The other "European" competitions really play the second fiddle to this!
Then every Country does have "local" leagues being played - these leagues vary vastly in quality - Spanish ACB is the top league in comparison to other countries - then you have the Italian, German, Russian and Greek leagues I would say - all a Little lower. Then there is a third Tier with the smaller Country leagues. In all those leagues you have a fluid System of Promotion from the lower local leagues up to the "top league in the Country" - its very unusual by US Standards but makes a lot of fun and provides some excitement.

I honestly would hope that no such Expansion of the NBA happens anytime soon.
I really like the Level of play in Europe - especially the EuroLeague - and quite frankly Basketball is Kind of a different Sport than NBA Basketball - lot less iso, less athletic relieance, stronger "Team" play on offence and especially on Defence due to more Zone. Refs call the game different as well - I sometimes think more "serious" - I mean I really get annoyed seeing all the steps taken in the NBA without any Ref calling anything especially on the "star Players".

Dont get me wrong I really like NBA Basketball - the Knicks were the start for my love for the game in 1994 - but the development the Sport took over the years has taken away some of the "pure" joy I have in the Sport - Teamwork, hustle, hard defense - all that! I mean there is a reason Im a Knicks fan Right?! ;-)
So the EuroLeague ball is a lot still of that rough, pure Sport to me!

Nalod wrote:

dodger78 wrote:

Nalod wrote:

dodger78 wrote:

Nalod wrote:American playing in Europe is a “Euro-Stash”.
They don’t have the competitive league in South America so we call them “Euro players”.
WE call a kid from Europe who gets drafted from “Gonzaga”, “College player”.
If a kid needs an extra vowel from an Easter European country and gets called up from the Mad Ants, we call them “Gleague Player”.

Fine for me! It took a while for me to understand this - honestly - my european prejudice on Americans being ignorant to the rest of the world also made me - pick this up back in the days! But what you say makes absolute sense to me as well.

Btw... EUROLEAGUE play this season has been OFF THE CHARTS!!! Amazing sports this year!!! If you guys have any chance in the US to watch this Competition and you love pure Basketball you DEFINATELY should try to watch it!!!!

Most of us don't know how the leagues work over there. This is confusing:

Via Wikipedia......

There are currently four competitions which are branded as Europe-wide, two controlled by Euroleague Basketball, and two by FIBA Europe. Clubs which compete in these competitions also play in their national and/or regional leagues. Clubs usually qualify for these competitions based on their performance in the national or regional leagues in the previous season.

The EuroLeague is Euroleague Basketball's premier competition, and each year involves clubs from 10 countries. It is historically the most prestigious competition in European basketball.

The Champions League, which began in 2016, is FIBA Europe's highest competition. Initially, FIBA had intended to take over the running of the EuroLeague, so began its own rival competition. The Champions League involves 32 teams; to date, clubs from over 20 countries have taken part.

The EuroCup is Euroleague Basketball's secondary competition, and currently made up of 24 teams from around Europe. Clubs from over 30 countries have taken part. The two finalists of the EuroCup qualify for the next season's EuroLeague.

The FIBA Europe Cup is FIBA's secondary competition. 32 teams compete, and the teams which did not enter in the Champions League regular season have the option to drop down into the regular season of the Europe Cup. As of 2019, clubs from over 30 national federations have taken part.

The names of the various European and regional club competitions have frequently changed over time.[1]

I understand why the NBA entry to Europe would be problematic. Truth is they should take in existing teams (for a fee of course) with arenas and fan base. The TV thing gets complicated as does the issues of existing agreements with the above. TO simply expand makes sense as well but I would think a new division would need be established with the need for at least 5-6 teams to start. Time difference creates viewership issues in US as those games would be afternoon. Thus a knick game in London would be 5 hours earlier. 3pm for a 8pm local game. Can't imagine MSG would be thrilled with that or would league pass.
Go to Moscow its 7 hours. Los Angeles is 10 hours. 8pm game start in Moscow 10am TV time in LA. How can league justify premium entry fees into our TV contacts when the viewership gets diluted UNLESS Europe viewerships take off. You also have the issue of American star players living in Europe. Some will, some won't. But if drafted they have no choice.
Its conceivable in time a championship is played with a team from Europe? Moscow vs. Portland! The logistics are awful. If your going global, why stop in Europe? Why not teams in China? Toykyo? India? Countries with huge populations?

I do understand the confusion regarding the different "european" leagues being played - this goes back to the differces between FIBA and some of the larger Clubs - similar to what was inteded in Soccer lately with the dreaded "Superleague".
Basically the best Competition you can follow in Europe is the "EuroLeague" - this is a league set up by the larger Teams in Europe - Real, Barcelona, Moscow, Olympicos etc. its a league where 18 teams are usually invited to play for a couple of years - gotta meet some Standards of Quality and financial Background and then there are 2 wild cards.
The Level of play is very good - if you want to play in Europe as a Player this is the Level you want to be on - so if you are a EuroLeague Player it does get recognition!
The other "European" competitions really play the second fiddle to this!
Then every Country does have "local" leagues being played - these leagues vary vastly in quality - Spanish ACB is the top league in comparison to other countries - then you have the Italian, German, Russian and Greek leagues I would say - all a Little lower. Then there is a third Tier with the smaller Country leagues. In all those leagues you have a fluid System of Promotion from the lower local leagues up to the "top league in the Country" - its very unusual by US Standards but makes a lot of fun and provides some excitement.

I honestly would hope that no such Expansion of the NBA happens anytime soon.
I really like the Level of play in Europe - especially the EuroLeague - and quite frankly Basketball is Kind of a different Sport than NBA Basketball - lot less iso, less athletic relieance, stronger "Team" play on offence and especially on Defence due to more Zone. Refs call the game different as well - I sometimes think more "serious" - I mean I really get annoyed seeing all the steps taken in the NBA without any Ref calling anything especially on the "star Players".

Dont get me wrong I really like NBA Basketball - the Knicks were the start for my love for the game in 1994 - but the development the Sport took over the years has taken away some of the "pure" joy I have in the Sport - Teamwork, hustle, hard defense - all that! I mean there is a reason Im a Knicks fan Right?! ;-)
So the EuroLeague ball is a lot still of that rough, pure Sport to me!

Most of us don't understand Soccer leagues either! LOL. I get the basic nature of it.
The smaller arenas seem more intense and loud! Looks fun for sure!

LOL! Thanks for that honesty! You got me laughing there! :-)

Honestly Soccer in Europe is Living via so many layers of emotions - you have excitement on the top (who wins the Championship, the 2nd 3rd etc. place will be rewarded as well with international games in the Champions League etc. so its not "only" about being first), the Bottom is also super exciting because if you loose you will be relegated to a lesser league below the 1. League of your Country - the way back to the top league often times is very difficult! Often times those places are being played for until the last day of the Competition!
The Connection of the Soccer (Football!) fans often times is a little more emotional than with many (of Course not all) NBA fans - I mean you can really feel this in the Stadiums - also true by the way for Basketball in some European countries - if you ever went to a Basketball game in Greece or Turkey of some of the ex Jugoslavian countries - man they "BURN" down the gym and sing for the WHOLE game!
The bad side of this is that sometimes this makes the Sports less of a Family Event and more like a Battlefield!
Also Football is everywhere in Europe - I mean - every kid will play Football. So most ppl here connect to the Sports early in their live!

Nice little example about the atmospheric differences between

firefly wrote:

Nalod wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:I'll say it again. Glad we're getting a European player, a PG, whose best days arent in the rearview mirror, for a change.

The closest I can remember us getting was Layden drafting Vujanic, who stayed in Europe.

Pablo? Frank?

Vildoza is Argentinian. Priggy was Argentinian as well!!!

Argentina. Not in Europe. God it gets on my nerves hearing NBA fans saying "Euro players".

Excited for this signing!!

"Players in the EuroLeague regardless of their original birth country" has a nice ring to it.

Seriously, I think the usage of EuroPlayer is more like the usage of "NBA player" or "NCAA player" than a comment on their birth origin. Refers to the league.

martin wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1390007128249749504

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1390007821069078534

Modern day magician with the ball. This is a small sample of some of the sorcery I’ve seen him do.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/NYPost_Berman/status/1390009997455761410

MaTT4281 wrote:Knicks agree in principle to 4 year, 13.6M deal with Luca Vildoza (last 3 years not guaranteed, year 1 partially guaranteed).

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31394335/knicks-agree-principle-four-year-deal-pg-luca-vildoza-agent-says

Smart to get this done before the Olympics. Even if he doesn't stick, sounds like losses are minimal.

BigDaddyG wrote:

MaTT4281 wrote:Knicks agree in principle to 4 year, 13.6M deal with Luca Vildoza (last 3 years not guaranteed, year 1 partially guaranteed).

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31394335/knicks-agree-principle-four-year-deal-pg-luca-vildoza-agent-says

Smart to get this done before the Olympics. Even if he doesn't stick, sounds like losses are minimal.

Oh, It's Austin Rivers money. I'm down with this.

Kid reminds me of Rivers when he was at duke. Naturally a bit less flair and the hyper euro trash electronics dance music!