Definately a GTFO moment....

The team is Panathinaikos....and its for 1.1 mill per year...there's a buyout clause just in case for the NBA draft, which adds the question.....WHAT THE HELL IS THE NBA DRAFT FOR??? KIDS CAN AND SHOULD USE THEIR NCAA SUCCESS TO GET BIG BUCKS!!!

Seriously....its 2009, nothing is holding these kids back anymore....the gap between the nba and the world is closer than it was in the past. Foreign teams want to win now....their leagues are fighting to get and keep talent. More kids will follow suit.....so what will the nba do when kids would rather make milions over seas than subject themselves to the nba "draft"???

Maybe the NBA should sponsor some Euroleague teams and use it as a farm system. I have never felt that it was right for kids to go to college for one year and then jump into the NBA. If a kid is going to do a one and done, keep him out of college and let him go to Europe if he is any good. This way he gets money and better experience against better players. If the NBA sponsors a team the player might be guaranteed more playing time. This might also be better for colleges, who should be guaranteed more than one year from a kid they recruit.

I admit that I have not given this too much though in terms of whether or not everything can be worked out, but I have never liked the idea that future NBA players were using college as a one year springboard to the NBA.

Posted by Paladin55:

Maybe the NBA should sponsor some Euroleague teams and use it as a farm system. I have never felt that it was right for kids to go to college for one year and then jump into the NBA. If a kid is going to do a one and done, keep him out of college and let him go to Europe if he is any good. This way he gets money and better experience against better players. If the NBA sponsors a team the player might be guaranteed more playing time. This might also be better for colleges, who should be guaranteed more than one year from a kid they recruit.

I admit that I have not given this too much though in terms of whether or not everything can be worked out, but I have never liked the idea that future NBA players were using college as a one year springboard to the NBA.

I don't think the Euro teams would be willing to reduce the talent level. That is what you would be doing if you made them into farm teams for the NBA.

If someone came to me when I was 17 - 21, I'd sign up right then and there to go to Panathinaikos and spend my $1.1 million on cars, booze, and chasing skirt

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Put the D-league in Europe and pay the players more, maybe relocate some NBA franchises or two to improve the competition... people will show up in Berlin more often than in Memphis just to see "the future NBA stars"

i think that was the case 10 years ago....europeans love their basketball teams now and they have more pride cuz they know their teams can compete.

I think in the future you may see an international league, but not totally on the nba's terms. Euroleague is paying guys multi-millions of dollars to play this game now. They aren't playing around.

Posted by BigSm00th:

let europe have the minor leagues and let the NBA be the top league. that's basically how its structured now, guys who can't cut it in the league go to europe anyway. the D league is kind of a silly idea, economically, its for guys who dont want to leave america but i mean, guys in the D league get paid chicken scraps compared to the millions they could be making in EUR.

thats what is scary for the nba...right now only 2 serious nba talents have bypassed the nba altogether in Jennings and Calathes...these guys are still college eligable....one didn't go and the other dropped out. What if more players do that from jump?

I can't think of the dides name but there was a high school all-american publicly talking about doing what Jennings is doing. For some reason, Lance Stevenson still hasn't declared a school...what if Lance goes to Europe? Kids never thought of this option until now...the nba wants to put restrictions and in Europe there is no restrictions....Rubio for one was under 18 making money play pro....our own Gallo was doing the same in Italy...

Big Question: What if a player with a talent like a Blake Griffin, Oden, Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo decides that college isn't for them and they want to make money and live in Europe? I mean regular people do it all the time straight outta high school, just to gain life experience....

The option was always there, but I'm sure kids are hearing from European teams while in high school more than ever now. If a team tells you they will pay you 1.1 million and pay for all expenses as you live in Greece for a few months...thats tough temptation. If you dominate and that Europe team wants to pay you 10 mill a year, but the nba wants you to enter the draft to make peanuts, why would you leave???

If I was David Stern i would be ****ting bricks.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by EnySpree:

Big Question: What if a player with a talent like a Blake Griffin, Oden, Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo decides that college isn't for them and they want to make money and live in Europe? I mean regular people do it all the time straight outta high school, just to gain life experience....

if Amsterdam ever gets a professional hoops squad we should definitely be worried

that pic has got me wide open. Damn.

I for one is absolutely loving that the kids are doing this. I hate the NCAA and how they exploit these kids when these kids are making them millions.

I hope Miles Brand is crying himself to sleep every night thinking that all the top talent will just circumvent the exploitation machine that he runs and go to Europe causing them to seriously re-think the needs of student athletes.

Didn't he opt for the draft anyway?

Won't he just stay in?

He has a buy out so he can go to the NBA.

How many division one players are there. How many scholarships are given? How many kids actually turn pro?

The market dictates supply and demand. You got a handful of kids good enough to earn a living and they should. There are far more tennis players and golf in the NCAA than on the tour.

And when a kid is talented and marketable enough to turn pro they do.

The NBA is still the top league. That is their goal and if turning pro early can get them there thats what they are going to do. The top pay and honorable contracts exist in the NBA.

He got a million dollar contract as a back up.