Why have games in London and Mexico when all you do is send shitty teams there for one or two games a year. Just do some pre-season stuff, like a tournament over a weekend with some marquee match-ups or send two great teams for once... Here's the games this year and last year:
It'd drum up some interest. But can think of several reasons its not that way. - It'd be the NBA "blowing its load" too early, making competitive stakes with great teams before season even starts. - Though its only playing 1-2 international games, its a little more travel wear for the good teams who'll be playing more combined games than everyone. - Preseason is usually just used as anything from a tune-up to training camp practice on TV. Not sure how seriously teams would take those tournaments. - Its been trending AWAY from even having preseason games entirely. To stretch schedule out for fewer back-to-back games and such - No one from the USA really cares about international locations honestly. US fans see it as a transparently obvious money hunt for the league. Its about THOSE countries' viewing interests really. If THEY want tournaments, thats probably how it gets considered
Who cares? It's not like having one great game is going to make the English care about basketball. Most people who go to watch are tourists anyway.
Well you of all people should know, but I guess being a dick suits you better. People all over Europe's one chance to watch some great NBA basketball is currently wasted. It's not about the English you Greek freak.
?? The game is in London. Why would someone from all the rest of Europe care more about it than any other of the games? If the NBA cared to bring a game to an actual country that loved and cared about basketball as a reward for the fans, they wouldn't have chosen England. So I also couldn't care less about which teams play. You say that some great NBA basketball is currently wasted? Yes. Because it's in England.
Trump would have to settle for Rockets and Thunder, since Chicago Fire isn't a NBA team and Foxborough Fury doesn't exist.
You really not trying to understand it, but let me spell it out for you: people in Europe want to go to games too, but not everyone is rich enough to go the US for a freaking game! Therefore, London is the ONLY chance people have in their whole life to see their favorite teams and players. To continually send at least one bad team and rarely a top 3-5-10 team, makes it a waste.
I think to appreciate good NBA basketball, a person needs to follow the NBA regularly. It's not intuitive what's good and beautiful basketball and what's not. Same with other sports. I think people go to see those games as a curiosity. Same as an American might go to watch a game of cricket or rugby. Imagine if there was a game of European rugby Champions League in New York each year. Would it really matter if it's a game between Saracens and Leinster, i.e. "great teams", or a game between Glasgow Warriors and Montpellier, i.e. average? Probably not, most people wouldn't know the difference, most people would barely know the rules if at all. Basketball (specifically NBA) is maybe a bit better known in Europe than rugby in the US, but probably the difference isn't too big. My dad is a lifelong basketball fan, he watches a lot of local basketball and international games, and some NBA games when they are on TV early enough. He probably wouldn't know 5 non-Lithuanian NBA players though. He probably would know Lowry, because there's a Lithuanian on his team, LeBron, Curry, because they are on TV a lot, and Harden, because there was a Lithuanian on his team. I doubt that he would know anyone else. The time difference makes it hard for grown up people with a life to follow the NBA regularly here, even for basketball fans. So even for a basketball fan like my dad, I think it would make no difference which game to go and see, Nets vs. OKC, or Warriors vs. Spurs. Although my dad would probably prefer a game with Raptors in it, due to a Lithuanian on that team. I think for people who don't even know basketball rules (i.e. probably 95+ % of Europeans) it would make even less difference.
how many of the people who go to watch those games you think have travelled to London from other countries specifically to watch their teams? Most people who go there are either americans on vacation or people who just go to watch a spectacle without even knowing the rules of the game. Having London as the ONLY chance for people in europe to watch an nba games up close shows that the NBA doesn't care much about the real basketball fans in the first place. That's why you also see them schedule crappy teams. If they cared about the real basketball fans they would have the game in Spain or France or Germany or Lithuania or Turkey or Italy or Greece or Serbia etc etc. Or even in Moscow. England? LOL. Their targets isnt real basketball fans. So why would I even care about which teams they decide to have them play?
They can create an International league just with veteran D League players...... and some Internationals.
Currently not as many as there could be, since the match-ups are shitty. You are pretty ignorant, especially coming from Europe, to how big of a fanbase there is in plenty of countries in Europe of NBA teams. Exactly, you hit the nail on the head. That's why I said, why even bother in the OP.
Tbh, as far as attracting 'real fans' to games, I doubt it makes a lot of difference. I live in Lithuania, i. e. by far the most basketball obsessed country in Europe, I don't think I know anyone who travelled to those games, never heard anyone say 'if only the matchup was better'. People don't know and don't care. People travel to major concerts to London, and plenty went there for Olympics, a lot of people travel similar or even much greater distances for national team games, Euroleague games, soccer World cup games. NBA isn't a big deal, there's no real passion for it here. People may follow it some, there are people like me who might know teams and players well enough and follow it regularly, but the NBA is a TV league, I don't think there's a big desire for attending NBA games here. I think those games in London are there mainly for local non-fans who go there out of curiosity and yep, probably American expatriates, there must be at least a few hundred k of them in the UK. Maybe it's different in some other European countries? Maybe we are just fine with our own basketball here in Lithuania. I think the time difference really does make a huge difference. The NBA will never be anywhere near as popular as local basketball here. Maybe in some European countries without passion for local basketball there are more NBA fans? I don't know. But in those countries basketball as such isn't a big deal. Basketball in any shape seems to be a tiny fish in the economic heartland of Europe, i.e. British Isles, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Benelux, Austria, Switzerland, except some weirdos like @Yung-T
