An interesting commentary on the level of play in the D League from dleaguedigest.com via the apbr.org forum:
http://dleaguedigest.com/2010/01/15/mor ... landscape/
D League vs the Euroleague
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turbocamyes
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After reading that, it sounds like the D League is being called out. Maybe the D League needs to send a team or two into European club competitions. (I'm sure the NBA would just love to be flying these teams into Europe several times a month, and scheduling around these competitions). A non-Europe team is not without precedence since a handful of Asia-Europe border teams play, along with teams from Israel.
Euroleague or Euro leagues?
Overall, Euroleague is of course a higher level of competition than the D-League -- but that said, I certainly think Maine or Iowa could beat the cellar dwellers of their groups from Germany and France for example.
Many of the answers from those directly involved with the D-League were PR boilerplate; nothing else could really be expected. Morey was the most blunt and honest about the talent level, but he tempered it with a pretty lame newness argument.
As far as national leagues go, Spain, Greece and Italy are head and shoulders above all others including the D-League, which is much more comparable to the second level clubs in those countries. Keep in mind that those leagues are always in flux as clubs are regularly promoted or relegated between the two levels. I'm sure international posters could let us know how the D-League stacks up against leagues like those in France, Germany, Turkey, etc.
As far as competitions between D-League and European teams, I think it would be pretty cool if it could be pulled off during the season -- but would be hard to schedule. The likelihood is higher we'll see more D-League "select" teams competing with European and Asian national teams like they have in the Stankovic Cup.
Bottom line is the D-League will never be the second best league in the world if they play their players nothing relative to what is available to them in Europe.
Many of the answers from those directly involved with the D-League were PR boilerplate; nothing else could really be expected. Morey was the most blunt and honest about the talent level, but he tempered it with a pretty lame newness argument.
As far as national leagues go, Spain, Greece and Italy are head and shoulders above all others including the D-League, which is much more comparable to the second level clubs in those countries. Keep in mind that those leagues are always in flux as clubs are regularly promoted or relegated between the two levels. I'm sure international posters could let us know how the D-League stacks up against leagues like those in France, Germany, Turkey, etc.
As far as competitions between D-League and European teams, I think it would be pretty cool if it could be pulled off during the season -- but would be hard to schedule. The likelihood is higher we'll see more D-League "select" teams competing with European and Asian national teams like they have in the Stankovic Cup.
Bottom line is the D-League will never be the second best league in the world if they play their players nothing relative to what is available to them in Europe.
Remember the NBA game is based on speed and getting to the cup, while D-league basketball is more of a long range jump shooting league. The styles of play are totally different. That said, our second tier jump shooters are not as good as Europe's top Jump shooters and D-league teams are a littler smaller the Euro League clubs.
Last edited by bectond on Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:13 am, edited 3 times in total.
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