Is it really good, for the popularity and development of the sport worldwide, that so many American players are going overseas to play the game? What are your thoughts about it?
For example I'll use the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). It's a small league with 10 teams and all teams have some Americans in it (except for Amsterdam).
Americans in DBL:
Amorrow Morgan (Idaho State)
Jesse Kimbrough (Jacksonville)
Brandon Griffin (SE Missouri State)
Tyler Tiedeman (Boise State)
Tim Blue (Middle Tennessee State)
Frank Turner (Canisius)
Julian Mills (Ball State)
John Smith (Winona State/ Iowa (D-League))
Bobby Bostain (Furman)
Jason Ellis (Boise State/ Idaho (D-League))
Steve Ross (San Diego/Santa Clara)
John Turek (Nebraska)
Matt Haryasz (Stanford/ Arkansas (D-League))
Matt Bauscher (Boise State)
Mark Sanchez (Boise State)
Todd Brown (Wright State)
John Williams (Bryant/ Bakersfield (D-League))
Manny Adako (Northeastern)
Gerard Punch (Furman)
Calvin Chitwood (Cal State Northridge)
Ryan Anderson (Nebraska)
Thomas Jackson (Butler)
Monta McGhee (Lewis)
Jesse Smith (Idaho state/ Rio Grande, Reno & Dakota (D-League))
Seamus Boxley (Portland State/ Tulsa (D-League))
Brian Laing (Seton Hall/ Reno (D-League))
Zaire Taylor (Dellaware & Missouri)
Markel Humphrey (Marshall)
E.J. Kusnyer (Centenary & Mercer)
Brian Freeman (Long Beach)
Glenn Stokes (American)
Trey McDowell (Louisiana Tech)
Junior Hairston (College of Charleston & Towson)
Donte Minter (Virginnia)
Lawrence Hamm (Towson)
Ben Strong (Guilford)
Lawrence Borha (Utah)
Matt Mullery (Brown)
Harry Marshall (Indiana State)
This is a huge amount for a small league like the Dutch one and in my opinion it stops the growth of the sport over here. If I have to choose between going to a match over here or watch an NBA match on TV, I'll choose the latest. I see no sense in going and watch the Americans in Holland who couldn't make it in the states whilst I can watch the best Americans playing with some serious skills on TV. Same goes for the Television stations, they're not gonna broadcast a sport where you have to look really hard to find a Dutchman. And so they won't..
It also stops the growth of the Dutch Talents, with the exception of Rik Smits, Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric. I know this is the fault of the teams and I can't blame them, the Americans are really better at the game. But still if they give a chance to the Dutch players the sport can really start to grow over here, more people get interested and perhaps more big talents can come from here.
Maybe I'm wrong and will all these Americans help the Dutch with the Development of their skills but sometimes I feel that the Dutch Basketball sport will be better of without them.
I'm really only talking about the players, I have no doubt that we can use the coaches, their experience and knowledge of the game can only help the development of talents and popularity of the game in Europe.