dontbelikethat":2vfgh0m9 said:
The thing is why would they come to the NBA now after the expansion when they could've came before and played?
Because up until the mid/late 90's those international players didn't exist and NBA teams didn't bother looking for them.
The international reach of the game has changed significantly in the last 20 years. One main reason is NBA marketing - starting with the Dream Team of the 90's Olympics. The other reason (good or bad) is that the style of play in the NBA has changed. The international game has a slightly different set of rules & style (more like NCAA) - more emphasis on playing in space, ball movement, jump shots, etc. In the 80's/90's in was possible for perimeter players to make the transition (the wave of Eastern Euro swingmen like Petrovic, Kukoc, Marciulionis). Since then, the style of the NBA has adapted even further - players like Nowitski, Ginobli, Parker, etc - can now thrive.
There are currently 30 teams in the NBA. Everyone freaks out about expansion and "diluting the product" because in 1990 there were only 22. First wave of NBA expansion was 1990 (Heat, Hornets) then 2 more a year later (Magic, Timberwolves) then 2 more in 1995 (Raptors, Grizzlies). Finally the Bobcats were added in '04 to make it an even 30. However - in the "Golden Age" of the 60's & 70's, when the NBA & ABA were both in action, there was also a total of
30 teams (18 in the NBA, 12 in the ABA).
Basically, you're only looking at a 10 year stretch in the 80's where there were not about 30 professional basketball teams playing in the US. (and the ABA did not fold because of lack of talent - it was like the USFL and folded because of a mish-mash of good/bad owners, no TV deal and small markets).
Bottom line, there's more than enough talent to support 31/32 Pro teams in the US. Expansion is not going to destroy the product. The NBA's issues have always been with bad/restrictive CBA's, no hard salary cap, guaranteed contracts, and the difficulty of trades. That's what allowed "powerhouse" big market teams to hoard talent in the 80's/90's while small market teams suffered. And it meant that if a team made one bad trade/investment it could trap them in cap hell for 3-4 seasons. Supposedly those issues were improved a bit in the latest CBA.