There are a lot of things I don't like about today's NBA but the thing that I probably hate most is how overvalued athleticism and length are. This leads to high expectations from young players because every draft has a few players with freak athleticism and length. Every year we have "generational" players. But at the same time rookies enter the league extremely raw because all they need to get drafted high is a nice highlight tape of them jumping and flying around the court dominating lesser players with athleticism but no actual skill. Probably one of the reason why some of the best and productive young players of the last few drafts were non lottery pics.
If the NBA was established in Turkey, Greece or anywhere in Europe, you could be certain things would look differently.... A lot of American culture is about physical attributes..............
Just saying, I remember all the physical stuff like Bodybuilding, Aerobics, etc. were big in America early on...... African athletes (descendants) were so good at track and field, running, jumping high and wide..... They kept milking those players' attributes.... And then his arms race for who is the tallest human being..... European players/coaches brought over the concept of Real Teamplay through Sacrifice, Smarts and Only Skills..... (Europeans will always stay less physically gifted)
To be fair, Yugoslavia was the catalyst for modern European basketball. Turkey, Greece et al, followed in their footsteps. Those 1970s and 1980s Yugoslavian teams spearheaded "modern" basketball.
Of course, I would not have it any other way because Soccer was predominating everything...... Hommage to the people that spearheaded basketball. Like when Romania spearheaded gymnastics. It was a great thing to have during wartime.
Of course but with the advent of social media things got a bit out of hand. It seems like every player is now 'generational'. And there is this false notion that we somehow overcame the need for skills and fundamentals and you can just play 5 hyper athletic 'longbois' who do nothing but jack up threes and attack the basket.
Yeah, this generational tag is only to show you that this player is special and worthy of attention..... A lot of terms have weakened during this modern era........nothing is ever the same. So the word 'soft' has gained more meaning..... You cannot rough up a team no more.....
Something else. I just realized The Wizard by Black Sabbath is literally about Alpi. Evil power disappears Demons worry when the wizard is near He turns tears into joy Everyone′s happy when the wizard walks by
But if you turn the NBA into a league where stars are only paid 4-5 millions, see how they react and what that league turns into.... That is probably what guys over there are getting paid.
I don't think they can dominate. Would their position a little better? Possibly but they can't dominate. Spanish, Italian, Greek and Turkish power houses would eat them alive...and I am not even considering the pressure from the fans in the arena.
That's an exaggeration, of course. Detroit wouldn't be dominating, maybe a middling. And that's only because most top Euro players are playing in the NBA. So if we are talking about American players and European players, you'd have to do this mental experiment: Take away all the Euro players from NBA and put them back to Euro teams. Would NBA teams dominate Euro teams? NBA (American) teams would probably still be better, but not by a lot. It's just a matter of talent pool. The US still has a larger basketball talent pool than the whole Europe combined.
Actually I think in a considerably different way. First thing we should consider is which rules and referees will be applied. This will change the whole argument. Dont need to send Euros back. For example take Milwaukee, Giannis will faul out in the first half or he will have to change the way he plays immediately. I can give other examples but I believe this makes my point enough. Having said that, I think it is just too hypothetical to dive into.
Dominate? There's no way in hell Detroit can make the playoffs in the Euroleague, let alone dominate it.
