NBA and Euro leagues flip flopped?

[hardus77]

Hello everyone,

This is more just my observations because I can't say if this is totally true or not, or that statistically it can even be proven, but it seems 15-20 years ago foreign or Euro league players were known as offensive players who didn't play defense. That their leagues and players were soft and they had a hard time adjusting to the physical style of play in the NBA. I've watched a lot of basketball going back to the early 80's and I'm seeing that now its almost the opposite. I see a lot of physical play when I watch euro league or international games, and a lot of soft defense being played in the NBA while teams are scoring like crazy.

Some of it is probably due to a stereotype taking hold during a particular decade then leagues adjust to it and overreact by changing the rules of the game. I know the NBA has more overall talent and star power. Am I skewing this and looking at it wrong?

This really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things though as I will follow basketball, more specifically Kings basketball, because I love the sport but its an interesting thing to watch develop. Thoughts?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don't watch enough Euro league to say definitively but I think it boils down to the NBA being star driven while the Euro is more team driven. Just look at Luka who was handed the keys in Dallas but forced to play off the bench at times despite having NBA talent in Spain.

And to that extent, yes, NBA really clamped down on defense between the 90s when Euros started coming over en masse and the modern game where the focus is on shooting and spacing vs. brute force of your big men.

 

[Sac.1989]

Agree with both your sentiments. End of the day the stereotypes were extreme and many NBA teams were able to capitalize by landing talent from overseas which others would not consider.

If Drazen continued his trajectory and we were allowed to appreciate his genius for a bit longer, i truly believe we would be further along

 

[kingsboi]

I think more than ever, Euro players are being more valued in the NBA rather than before teams were weary on drafting International prospects because they wouldn't work out in the NBA a lot of the time. The talent is dispersed all over the Globe now and more than ever, teams who don't do their homework end up passing on a productive player. I know the topic here is about the league more so than the players but I never get an opportunity to watch FIBA Basketball anyway unless the USA is playing so I can't comment much on that aspect but in general, the value of International prospects will only grow over the years.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Whatever differences in physicality there are now, it all stems from the NBA’s constant rule changes over the past 20 years to increase scoring. It has become even worse in recent years with the outlawing of hand checking and implementation of ‘freedom of movement’.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

This thread has been closed and the original poster banned as a spammer (subsequently-added spam links deleted for your safety). Nice try, but it won't work. - CF