Should young players go to the US or Europe?

[Matt]

We've had a few players take the European route in the past, but it seems like that's becoming more common now. Mo Soluade, Josh McGinn and Eliandro Inacio have all gone over recently, and while there are still a lot more players going to States, it feels like the start of a shift to me.

What do you think? Will we see more and more young players go to Europe rather than the NCAA/US high schools? Which is the better option?

[Sam]

I think it all depends on the individual player and the situation. One problem I think we have in the UK (which may be starting to change) is this obsession with going to the states and believing that is far and away the best route. How many young players follow European basketball? It's all NBA and college-that makes us an exception compared to most European countries. Duco referred to it a bit in his 'armchair reflections' post after the GB U20s came back from the Euros. There is a belief embedded in UK basketball culture that the US is the holy grail of basketball.

We had around 45 players at D1 schools last season (I'm putting together the list for this season at the mo), and if you break it down and look at how many are actually playing and really contributing, you can chop that number down to under a quarter of that. I don't think anyone can argue that riding the pine for 3/4 years is the best way to develop as a basketball player.

I think first of all players need to be more realistic with themselves about their playing ability and what level they can play at.

Another difference with going to Europe I think is that to get with the big teams you need to go younger (I'd guess most of our players in the US go to prep school at 18 then college after) and show a lot more promise. Right now, we just don't have that many players that are actually good enough.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Sam

I think it all depends on the individual player and the situation. One problem I think we have in the UK (which may be starting to change) is this obsession with going to the states and believing that is far and away the best route. How many young players follow European basketball? It's all NBA and college-that makes us an exception compared to most European countries. Duco referred to it a bit in his 'armchair reflections' post after the GB U20s came back from the Euros. There is a belief embedded in UK basketball culture that the US is the holy grail of basketball.

I'd definitely say that's a common attitude. Maybe it is starting to change, or will start to, given that the GB team now features several players who played in Spain rather than going to a US college. I hope so, anyway.

Originally Posted by Sam

We had around 45 players at D1 schools last season (I'm putting together the list for this season at the mo), and if you break it down and look at how many are actually playing and really contributing, you can chop that number down to under a quarter of that. I don't think anyone can argue that riding the pine for 3/4 years is the best way to develop as a basketball player.

I agree. I do wonder whether Europe is a viable alternative to college for those players. Guys like Liam Potter and Ben Eaves (who didn't exactly light it up in college) are now playing in Europe so they are clearly good enough to be pros. I wonder if a player of that skill level would ever be signed by a European team at 16/17/18, or are European teams only interested in our very best prospects? If I were a mid-level European team trying to get an edge, I'd be looking at GB as a place which is probably being under-scouted at the moment, and therefore has the potential to unearth some solid players - not Euroleague stars (who would have been snapped up already), but future rotation guys.

And if those Potter/Eaves type of players were signed by European teams, would they develop their game better than in the NCAA? I'd imagine in most cases they would.

[Samuelsson]

I don't know too much about the Great British players, but that's why I'm here, to sit, observe and learn haha, but from what I know and if I were to put myself in their situation, I'd want to go to the states. I know, I know, typical answer and it's probably because I've watched far too much NBA & Space Jam, or all I know is NBA, but you're much more likely to get noticed by the NBA if you're playing in the college system (or so I think) and it's in the players mind's that if you hit the NBA, you're set for life, which can be true, but then again, there's a lot more players that play a few games for a team and then fade into the background, than those who don't.

So until the European leagues can start to get to an NBA-type status, better media coverage, better hype, pay etc (they might already have this, I really don't know), then it looks like the players will continue to see the European leagues as a sort of 'D-League', which will make them think, 'Why not just go over to America and play in the College system over there? Cut out the middle man, and that way I'm already in America, in the leagues that get noticed more than Europe'.

Of course, I may be completely wrong, my knowledge on basketball, especially British, is not as extensive as I would like haha

[Matt]

I think what you say was probably all true 10-15 years ago Sam. Some players probably still think that is all the case too, though you'd hope the people advising them (coaches, agents etc.) would let them know that it isn't.

NBA teams' European scouting systems are very extensive now. Pay is not on an NBA level and probably never will be, but you can certainly earn a very good living in the top European leagues, much better than the D-League.

The one point you mention where I think Europe still does have work to do is hype and media attention. I think a lot of American and British basketball fans don't really respect European leagues and don't follow them. Hopefully that's changing though - the lockout will probably help, as will the increased coverage that tournaments like the Worlds/Eurobasket now get from the American press.

[Samuelsson]

Ah, looks like I'm 10-15 years behind the times then! haha. Yes you would, especially if Europe is giving better opportunities than colleges/D-League.
That's good I guess, it's about time the NBA lifted their heads and looked more closely at European talent (again, I don't know if they did before, just theorising). And yes, I've looked into it actually, isn't Freeland on someone like 4 million $'s over 4 years or something? That's pretty good for a Euro league team.

And in response to your point, to my point about hype and attention (haha) is that, even if we did follow the BBL/Euroleagues more, I don't think it'd ever be as hyped up as the American Leagues. It's just the way they are, they can hype up a game out of nothing, whereas the Brits are more mellow (again, I haven't been to a BBL match, but from watching NBA and NFL and all sorts, I don't think anyone else in the world could get as excited as Americans do about their sport!)

[Sam]

Salaries in Europe aren't too shabby at all these days-Ball in Europe did this nice post just the other day looking at the top salaries, defo worth a look

BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site Blog Archive Top salaries in European basketball, 2011-12

I don't necessarily believe you're more likely to get noticed in college than in Europe-NBA teams have got this scouting thing on lock, and there are very few legit prospects that go unnoticed wherever they are in the world.

I agree with you Matt about British/American fans not respecting the Euroleague as much, however, in terms of hype/media, I'm not sure what else they can do. All the information you could need to follow them is out there (as with the NBA), their Youtube channel has a crazy amount of updates...it's a strange one. What can you do when you've provided all the content for people but they don't pick it up?