2: There are not a lot of NBA fans who will lament a reduction in the flow of European talent into the NBA, as they are often criticised (with varying degrees of fairness) as not being physical enough for the NBA style.

3: "The existence of professional sports is a testament to man's stupidity." This is one of the most rediculous things I've ever read on the entire internet, and I am aware of all internet traditions.

The existence of professional sports is a testament to man's stupidity.

If you like a sport- go play. Don't pay money to sit around and watch other people get exercise by playing with a ball. That's &^%$ing retarded. Particularly when those people are stupidly overpaid and generally behave as the worst brats imaginable (with apologies to the britney Spears and Paris Hiltons of the world).

Same could be said for music, art, and just about any form of entertainment. Even reading a book could be replaced by folks sitting around and telling tales - used to work that way. There's a difference between the enjoyment and development you get from participation and the enjoyment of watching people who have mastered an art or sport - they're not even necessarily mutually exclusive. Listening to Glen Gould play Bach has inspired many pianists in their own playing. Same for Michael Jordan playing basketball.

Maybe we'd be better off if most people participated (played their own music, painted their own pictures, played in their own basketball league), but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

As far the NBA (actually the NHL now too), professional athletes play for money. They'll go where the pay is best. Nothing strange or wrong about that, its the way its supposed to work.

It will be interesting to see if basketball follows football in the ways in which talent is distributed globally. In football, you basically have a half a dozen teams (Man. U, AC Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool)in various national leagues that compete for the top talent. Outside of the English Premiership, the national football leagues are generally less competitive (and more boring) than the Champions League.

The main reason football has moved this way is because you have big money owners and no salary cap. The NBA could get rid of the salary cap and be in a better position to compete globally for talent, but the NBA would then likely be dominated by a handful of big media market teams.

It would be cool, however, if they had a global Champions League-type of tournament if the talent pool becomes more widely distributed across the globe.

Not totally true. Yes, he's playing there and getting paid while waiting to reach the NBA min. age....but the main reason is because he couldn't pass the ACT (or SAT) test(s) so college wasn't an option. He failed the test(s) twice.

If you like a sport- go play. Don't pay money to sit around and watch other people get exercise by playing with a ball. That's &^%$ing retarded. Particularly when those people are stupidly overpaid and generally behave as the worst brats imaginable (with apologies to the britney Spears and Paris Hiltons of the world).