DWade "I could play in Greece for the right money"

[marseye]

  for money i my god, it's crazy they played for money not for the game

[johnnyrondo]

Kinda hard to turn down an extra 20 million. I mean you'd think if you're going to make like 200 million in your career what's an extra 20 mil, what more can you buy? But an extra 20 million is a lot to pass on. i'd work in Greece for 40 million   What this is going to do is maybe increase the max amounts, which is fine for Lebron or Kobe or Wade, but the problem always is when the Jalen Rose's and Tim Thomas's of the world also start getting those max deals. The owners create these max limits basically to control their own stupidity. 

[marseye]

Money will kill the Game (sport)

ps: in soccer too

[cordobes]

It goes both ways. If MLS would offer soccer players tons of cash to play in the states, many of the top players in Europe would think about coming over.

It's all about the cash.

they do now. thanks to the beckham exception, alot of good players are coming over. that guy with the fire is sick.

Just out of curiosity, who's that?

[iowa plowboy]

 

There isn't enough right money unless the NBA puts a team in Greece.  Any "superstar" in his prime who does this has just written the epitaph on his relevence in basketball.

[Chris]

There isn't enough right money unless the NBA puts a team in Greece.  Any "superstar" in his prime who does this has just written the epitaph on his relevence in basketball.

I don't know, if you put me on a team with Blount, Marbury, Marion, and Beasley, I might be running to Greece as well.

[crownsy]

It goes both ways. If MLS would offer soccer players tons of cash to play in the states, many of the top players in Europe would think about coming over.

It's all about the cash.

they do now. thanks to the beckham exception, alot of good players are coming over. that guy with the fire is sick.

Just out of curiosity, who's that?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/players/1572

he's a nasty striker, and i expect mroe guys to follow. The MLS will never be be a great quality soccer league, but it will stay relevant, and if hockey continues to shoot itself in the foot, soccer could sneak up and become that 4th major sport.

Soccer's main problem, IMO, is it doesn't lend itself to the american media's way of markiting, i.e it doesn't have a break in the action every 5 minutes for a 2 minute commercial break.

(interstingly enough, neither does hockey. coincedance?)

[Chris]

It goes both ways. If MLS would offer soccer players tons of cash to play in the states, many of the top players in Europe would think about coming over.

It's all about the cash.

they do now. thanks to the beckham exception, alot of good players are coming over. that guy with the fire is sick.

Just out of curiosity, who's that?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/players/1572

he's a nasty striker, and i expect mroe guys to follow. The MLS will never be be a great quality soccer league, but it will stay relevant, and if hockey continues to shoot itself in the foot, soccer could sneak up and become that 4th major sport.

Soccer's main problem, IMO, is it doesn't lend itself to the american media's way of markiting, i.e it doesn't have a break in the action every 5 minutes for a 2 minute commercial break.

(interstingly enough, neither does hockey. coincedance?)

Eh, I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that American Soccer is intensely boring to watch.  American Sports fans like much more action than Soccer offers in general, so it already is behind the 8 ball.  Combine that with the fact that the MLS is an incredibly mediocre brand of Soccer compared to Europe, and you have a league that will never take hold in the US like other sports.

The problem with Hockey is two-fold.  First, they priced out their audience.  It used to be a real blue-collar sport, but now that you need to pay such rediculous prices to watch it live (and lets face it, without HD, it is not a good TV sport), it is killing their main demographic.  But almost as important, the actual play has suffered.  They went from being a fastpaced, high-scoring, hard-hitting sport in the 70's and 80's to a sport filled with low scores, too much clutching and grabbing in the late 90's to early 2000's.  Now they have gone the other way, and the hitting, and fighting has almost fell out of the game.  They need to find a balance, if they want the hard core hockey fans to stick around.

It also doesn't help that they got greedy and signed a contract with an inferior network, that no one watches.  If they were still on ESPN, there is a chance that HD could have saved the NHL...but until they get out of pergatory, the fact that they went from a nearly unwatchable TV sport to arguably one of the best TV sports with HD has gone largely unnoticed.

[iowa plowboy]

There isn't enough right money unless the NBA puts a team in Greece.  Any "superstar" in his prime who does this has just written the epitaph on his relevence in basketball.

I don't know, if you put me on a team with Blount, Marbury, Marion, and Beasley, I might be running to Greece as well.

  Chris, you might have a point there.

[Eja117]

with this the third big name to sprout off about foreign money, is there any doubt the players union is giving these guys marching orders to put pressure on the NBA to reconsider the contract cap and salary cap?

Personality, i think thats whats going on.

I kinda think it's the agents, but you have a bery eeenteresting theory

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'm scratching my head on why you decided to bump this year old topic...

[Eja117]

Sometimes I see a guest looking at a topic and it looks interesting to me and I just respond. A good thread is a good thread, and if i didn't see it maybe someone else didn't. I guess it has pros and cons

[Poseidon]

whats with all the spelling errors on supposed quotes?

I think he's Greek. But as far as the topic goes,can you provide a link, please?

[guava_wrench]

One more thought. Sorry this is a hot button topic for me.

Lets say this handful of superstars got their way and could be paid say $40 million per year. That sort of salary structure would wreck that team's ability to build around them. The lower and middle class players would get the short end of the stick.

The players get somewhere between 56-60% of the NBA's $. That is fair and plenty. The coaches, management, marketing, accountants, etc. need to eat too. 

The bigger point is eventually the NBA will be one of many leagues in the world. Basketball is becoming too popular globally for us to maintain control over the top talent. Other markets will catch up and have the ability to pay big bucks.

Look at how much money teams pay for soccer players in Europe. We often underestimate the financial power of sport in other countries. Time will come when the wise players will shop their talents to all top leagues, just like when the rest of us send out resumes for work.

[guava_wrench]

It goes both ways. If MLS would offer soccer players tons of cash to play in the states, many of the top players in Europe would think about coming over.

It's all about the cash.

they do now. thanks to the beckham exception, alot of good players are coming over. that guy with the fire is sick.

Just out of curiosity, who's that?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/players/1572

he's a nasty striker, and i expect mroe guys to follow. The MLS will never be be a great quality soccer league, but it will stay relevant, and if hockey continues to shoot itself in the foot, soccer could sneak up and become that 4th major sport.

Soccer's main problem, IMO, is it doesn't lend itself to the american media's way of markiting, i.e it doesn't have a break in the action every 5 minutes for a 2 minute commercial break.

(interstingly enough, neither does hockey. coincedance?)

Eh, I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that American Soccer is intensely boring to watch.  American Sports fans like much more action than Soccer offers in general, so it already is behind the 8 ball.  Combine that with the fact that the MLS is an incredibly mediocre brand of Soccer compared to Europe, and you have a league that will never take hold in the US like other sports.

The problem with Hockey is two-fold.  First, they priced out their audience.  It used to be a real blue-collar sport, but now that you need to pay such rediculous prices to watch it live (and lets face it, without HD, it is not a good TV sport), it is killing their main demographic.  But almost as important, the actual play has suffered.  They went from being a fastpaced, high-scoring, hard-hitting sport in the 70's and 80's to a sport filled with low scores, too much clutching and grabbing in the late 90's to early 2000's.  Now they have gone the other way, and the hitting, and fighting has almost fell out of the game.  They need to find a balance, if they want the hard core hockey fans to stick around.

It also doesn't help that they got greedy and signed a contract with an inferior network, that no one watches.  If they were still on ESPN, there is a chance that HD could have saved the NHL...but until they get out of pergatory, the fact that they went from a nearly unwatchable TV sport to arguably one of the best TV sports with HD has gone largely unnoticed.

Let's not forget that baseball is one of the most boring sports out there. Tradition is what saves it here in the US and in Japan.

Soccer lacks that tradition here in the US. It also lacks the easy to appreciate excitement of basketball, so I do not see it growing here like how basketball is growing in every continent.

The only time I can maintain interest in soccer is if the US is overachieving and that generates the excitement that watching the game itself lacks. Same thing for me with baseball. I can't watch unless my team is playing. It is brutally boring otherwise.

It is rather impressive how quickly other countries have become relevant in basketball since the Dream Team.