View Full Version : Gist Signs with Italian Team
Camden_yardbird
08-08-2008, 11:27 AM
Maryland standout James Gist has decided to sign with an Italian Basketball league team. Contract details are not announced. I thought I would pass this on given he is a Terp.
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NBA&id=1546
This is a really interesting trend in the NBA which will require some change on their part to keep the talent level where it is long term. But it is great for the game of basketball worldwide. It seems to make sense for Gist who would be at the end of the bench or possibly in the D League this year.
BaltimoreTerp
08-08-2008, 05:40 PM
I was talking to someone about this situation today, and he brought up a point that I hadn't really thought about.
We could end up with a similar situation in basketball that already exists in soccer, with a league that is generally considered the top league, other pretty-high leagues and then other regional leagues.
In soccer, its the Premier League followed by the different major European leagues and then the leagues like MLS. Most of the best players go to the higher leagues, but for the right money a player will play for a lesser team (Beckham to MLS, for example).
In theory, in the future the NBA could be the top league overall, but with other European leagues competing for players.
Icterus galbula
08-08-2008, 10:59 PM
This is a different situation than say, Childress accepting bigger money to play in Europe.
Gist really didn't have all that much hope for a career in the NBA. There have been many Terps and countless other solid college players over the years who have gone on to play in Europe because the NBA hasn't been banging down their doors. Gist is just another of those.
LeBron, Kobe, and many of the other members of the Redeem Team say they would strongly consider signing with a European team for huge money.
bryanman8
08-09-2008, 10:09 AM
LeBron, Kobe, and many of the other members of the Redeem Team say they would strongly consider signing with a European team for huge money.
All this is bull. Yahoo's article on Kobe today was basically identical to the one before on LeBron. It's just the players toying with the media to try and pressure the NBA into changing the CBA and blowing up a salary cap and thus their salaries. I can absolutely see solid role players and all bolting the NBA because of how dumb the cap is and no one has any money to give them, but Kobe Bryant? Give me a break.
All this is bull. Yahoo's article on Kobe today was basically identical to the one before on LeBron. It's just the players toying with the media to try and pressure the NBA into changing the CBA and blowing up a salary cap and thus their salaries. I can absolutely see solid role players and all bolting the NBA because of how dumb the cap is and no one has any money to give them, but Kobe Bryant? Give me a break.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least one major star goes and plays over there for a 1 or 2 year deal where they get way more money than they would there, and become a bigger worldwide star. With Kobe, you have to consider that he grew up in Italy, so that's more appealing to him than most.
Yes, they are probably doing this in large part to get the NBA to change the cap rules, but what if the NBA doesn't change?
Baltoravensrule
08-10-2008, 10:11 PM
Most NBA stars make more money on shoe deals than in contract money. Shoe companies might offer more money to a guy that goes and plays overseas in a unexposed market in terms of shoes than to one that stays in the US market which is already over-saturated. NBA stars already make promo tours through Asia and Europe.
While Gist would of probably played very little (especially early on in his career) some solid bench players have started to bail (Childress, Boykins (who is now the highest paid player in Italy)) and this makes me wonder more about bench players then the stars. Will every bench/"role" player start going overseas because they can make twice as much money while also being the star on their team? NBA teams will find a way to keep most, if not all, stars in America. LeBron isn't going anywhere and Kobe isn't either (unless its when they are 40 and for publicity). But I could imagine more and more solid bench players going over.
GeorgiaBird
08-11-2008, 05:07 PM
It is funny because for years the NBA was the envy of U.S. sports leagues for its success overseas. Basketball indeed is catching on in a big way all over the place. Now that success is starting to bite back. I too doubt you are going to see a mass exodus, but if it continues you are going to see the NBA taking a hard look at its salary cap. A salary cap is easy to enforce when everyone is bound by the same rules. The European teams throw that balance off in a big way.
I doubt a Kobe or LeBron go, but it is just a matter of time before someone big goes for huge cash. A European team could look at it similar to how the MLS justifies David Beckham... the price of legitimacy/marketing power. Eventually someone really big is going to take them up on it.
backwardsk
08-14-2008, 10:35 PM
I was listening to the radio the other day and they had Ben Gordan on talking about how intriguing it would be for a guy like him to go overseas. The consensus on the show was that guys like Kobe, Wade, and James probably wouldn't go, but the second and third tier of stars may have the incentive to leave.
If a guy like Childress does well it could catch on. It provides a FA with more alternatives if there are few teams with cap space during their FA summer.
Camden_yardbird
08-18-2008, 11:45 AM
This is a different situation than say, Childress accepting bigger money to play in Europe.
Gist really didn't have all that much hope for a career in the NBA. There have been many Terps and countless other solid college players over the years who have gone on to play in Europe because the NBA hasn't been banging down their doors. Gist is just another of those.
Yes, but how many players that have been drafted have gone to Europe before they even broke camp with the NBA team. Most guys try and wash out before going to Europe, or were never drafted in the first place. Unless you can show me players drafted in the NBA who went to Europe before trying the NBA I am going to say its a different situation.