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Calderon Heading to Europe if Lockout is Long

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  • Calderon Heading to Europe if Lockout is Long

    Jose Manuel Calderon: "Europe is an option, but for example in my case it would be an option if there's a year-long lockout. I'm not going to stop playing for a year.
    Source: HoopsHype.comSource: Mundodeportivo.com

    I would anticipate Bargnani to do the same.

  • #2
    I can understand this. I wouldn't be surprised if some Americans did it either. Maybe Maurizio can help Bargs join a team which emphasizes D and rebounding for their centres

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    • #3
      There seems to be some questions about whether or not the players can play elsewhere, while still under contract with the NBA. And I really don't think many will or should. Especially the non-Europeans. Most teams are only allowed 2 imports, which means that if there is an influx of NBA talent, then a lot of players are going to be out of work. A lot of players who earn a hell of a lot less than the NBA players do. Quite frankly, the NBA players would be kind of dicks for doing that. Most NBA players make enough money to be off for a year. Most Europeans players don't.
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      • #4
        Tim, it all comes down to what FIBA wants to do.
        There’s no such clarity when it comes to the likes of Bryant, Nowitzki and Jennings, because all three would remain under contract to their current NBA employers during a lockout. That reality has spawned the widespread belief that the sport’s international governing body (FIBA) -- presumably under pressure from David Stern -- would block any player contracted to an NBA team from playing elsewhere, since Stern has staunchly supported the participation of NBA players in FIBA’s international tournaments for the past two decades despite the frequent protestations of his owners.

        Nowitzki himself sounds pessimistic about securing the freedom to sample the ball in Greece or his native Germany if the 2011-12 season doesn’t start on time, as covered in this cyberspace earlier this month.

        Sources close to the situation, however, say that the NBA Players Association is quietly convinced that such pessimism is misplaced and that its players actually can’t be blocked from playing overseas during a lockout.

        The union, according to one source, believes that NBA teams ultimately will not be able to legally enforce contracts during an NBA shutdown, whether it’s short or long, which would theoretically clear the way for the Lakers’ and Mavericks’ worst nightmare.

        Yet I’ve also been strongly advised that the union anticipates having to caution its constituents with two very strong warnings about playing elsewhere during a lockout in the event that labor negotiations drag into the fall and the NBA finds itself unexpectedly powerless to prevent vets from moonlighting abroad:

        1. The union will be telling its players that they risk forfeiting any guaranteed money left on their NBA contracts if they suffer serious injury overseas. Bryant, for example, is owed $83.5 million over the next three seasons. Nowitzki is currently in the first season of a new four-year, $80 million deal. The Lakers and Mavericks would almost certainly have the ability to void those deals if Bryant or Nowitzki suffered some sort of catastrophic injury in an overseas gym. And you have to believe -- drastic as the notion of cutting ties with franchise icons sounds in those examples -- that the threat of getting hurt and invalidating a guaranteed contract will deter plenty of people.

        2. The union, I’m told, is also realistic about the overseas market and knows that only a limited numbers of players can reasonably expect decent offers. There are likewise very few teams, even in Europe’s biggest leagues, with the budget to come anywhere close to NBA money, which is why we never saw the once-feared exodus of NBA players after Josh Childress left for Greece in the summer of 2008 for two seasons with Olympiacos. So no one in the players' association, even if its legal read proves correct, is prepared to suggest that Europe will be a legitimate option for more than a handful of locked-out NBAers.
        Source: ESPN.com

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        • #5
          good.... at least we'll have a couple players who aren't rusty from a year of inactivity

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          • #6
            Apollo wrote: View Post
            Source: HoopsHype.comSource: Mundodeportivo.com

            I would anticipate Bargnani to do the same.
            are they coming back?
            If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?

            Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.

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            • #7
              Maybe not to the Raptors.

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              • #8
                Apollo wrote: View Post
                Maybe not to the Raptors.
                i'll take it.
                If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?

                Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.

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