The quality of American players playing in Europe going down the drains?

[critter out on a walk]

Here are my observations concerning the situation: Recently, I was browsing through my old basketball magazines and came by a list of the American players of Italian, Greek, Spanish, French, Israeli and German club sides in the early 1990s. What struck me was the number of top-notch players(be they former NBA stars or former college basketball stars) that were good enough to carry a team on their shoulders. Then I compared these players to the American players currently playing in the old continent and was petrified by the amount of disparity in the level of talent and knowledge of the game. The reasons that I could think of were:

1-The opening of the gap between NBA salaries and European salaries which made it difficult for European teams to sign experienced NBA players.
2-The over-commercialization of the game which accentuated the importance of athleticism at the expense of fundamentals, shooting and knowledge of the game.
3-The fall in the quality of the CBA and the NCAA.
4-Related to (2), the influx of players, with little or no college basketball experience, into the NBA.
5-Related to (1), the ability of American players to make handsome amounts of money at an early age and the concomitant fall in their motivation level towards the end of their career.

Anyone want to share their opinions and on this problem? Any suggestions as to how this trend can be reversed?


p.s. A concrete example: In the 1994-1995 season, the French basketball league was host to American players like David Rivers, Michael Ray Richardson, Rickie Winslow, Conrad McRae, Ron Anderson, Michael Young, Delaney Rudd, Brian Howard, Tim Kempton, Ian Lockhart ampng others. Compare these players with contemporary ones and you'll see the difference.

[rikhardur]

I think European players are getting better and better, so there isn't actually a need to sign American players in most European leagues. The Portuguese league has many American players, a thing which only shows that Portuguese players are somewhat weak and teams tend to sign Americans who play better basketball. That's how I see it.

[Billy]

Here are my observations concerning the situation: Recently, I was browsing through my old basketball magazines and came by a list of the American players of Italian, Greek, Spanish, French, Israeli and German club sides in the early 1990s. What struck me was the number of top-notch players(be they former NBA stars or former college basketball stars) that were good enough to carry a team on their shoulders. Then I compared these players to the American players currently playing in the old continent and was petrified by the amount of disparity in the level of talent and knowledge of the game. The reasons that I could think of were:

1-The opening of the gap between NBA salaries and European salaries which made it difficult for European teams to sign experienced NBA players.
2-The over-commercialization of the game which accentuated the importance of athleticism at the expense of fundamentals, shooting and knowledge of the game.
3-The fall in the quality of the CBA and the NCAA.
4-Related to (2), the influx of players, with little or no college basketball experience, into the NBA.
5-Related to (1), the ability of American players to make handsome amounts of money at an early age and the concomitant fall in their motivation level towards the end of their career.

Anyone want to share their opinions and on this problem? Any suggestions as to how this trend can be reversed?


p.s. A concrete example: In the 1994-1995 season, the French basketball league was host to American players like David Rivers, Michael Ray Richardson, Rickie Winslow, Conrad McRae, Ron Anderson, Michael Young, Delaney Rudd, Brian Howard, Tim Kempton, Ian Lockhart ampng others. Compare these players with contemporary ones and you'll see the difference.

I think you came pretty close to the truth but you forgot the most important factor -the increased level of the European players (like Rikhardur put it).

There is no doubt in my mind that the reason more and more Europeans are starting to really make it in the NBA is because they are better prepared as well as having been able to overcome that initial hurdle/threshold.

I think that we will se a similiar developement to what the NHL had with a trickel of Europeans untill the floodgates suddenly opened to the extent that there are more Europeans in some teams than US players.