Europe Competing with the NBA for Talent

"Affluent European teams tempting NBAers"
TheStar.com, Toronto Star
September 30, 2007
By Dave Feschuk

TREVISO, Italy

So here it is, the NBA's annual take-over-the-world tour. And maybe the Raptors' two-week jaunt through Italy and Spain inches the roundball globe just a little closer to what some have long considered its manifest destiny, a European Division for David Stern's mighty league.

Judging from this past summer, though, Europe's basketball power brokers aren't pining to be colonized. Instead, they're suddenly competing with the NBA for the kind of players that European teams, not long ago, had little chance at landing. And they're doing it with impressive stacks of euros, the high-flying currency that, as of yesterday, was worth $1.42 U.S.

So while some have scoffed at the Europe-bound threats of Andrei Kirilenko and Anderson Varejao, disgruntled NBA forwards who have both talked of the option of leaving the NBA for Europe, this summer has seen a flow of trans-Atlantic traffic in a heretofore unusual direction. And the movement, now that Chris Webber is reported to be considering a two-year deal with Greece's Olympiacos, could continue.

The prospective terms of the Webber deal – two years and a net takeaway of $10 to $12 million (all figures U.S.) for the 34-year-old free agent – are the latest set of stunning figures to be tossed around the Continent. Sarunas Jasikevicius, the Lithuanian point guard slated to make $4 million with the Golden State Warriors this season, agreed to a buyout and signed with Olympiacos's Greek-league rival Panathinaikos for a deal that that will pay him a net salary more than $4 million a year. Factoring in the exchange rate – and the fact his NBA salary was a pre-tax figure while his European salary is quoted in take-home pay – Jasikevicius would have had to sign an NBA deal worth about $8 or $9 million to bank the same amount.

The prospect of NBA-calibre players heading back to Europe, once essentially idle chatter, is now "a concrete threat," said Maurizio Gherardini, the Raptors' Italian-born assistant general manager.

"No one was expecting Europe to become such a quality alternative over these past two or three years," Gherardini said.

"I think the NBA teams need to understand that the European teams can put on the table some good contracts, something that, a few years ago, you couldn't even think of."

Most of the gains are at the bottom of the NBA food chain. Uros Slokar, the Slovenian forward who spent last season riding the bench for the Raptors, has found impressively gainful employment in the Russian league, more than tripling his take-home pay after earning $412,000 in the NBA last season. And the list goes on.

Maceo Baston, the Raptors forward from Dallas who has spent the majority of his nine-year pro career playing for teams in Italy, Spain and Israel, said that when piled atop the traditional benefits of playing on the old side of the Atlantic – the apartment and the car that are automatic throw-ins in most contracts – the deals are "surprising."

Where are these teams getting the money? The best-in-Europe Spanish league is booming. The Russian league counts among its owners a handful of mega-rich businessmen. Same goes for the Greek-league powers and a couple of teams in Istanbul, Turkey. The top team in Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv, isn't averse to paying top dollar to secure talent. Even the comparatively modest salaries in the Italian league are on the rise.

"I still believe that there will never be enough money to attract the true superstars (to Europe)," Gherardini said. "But for an average player, if he has a true offer from Europe, you do not want to underestimate that. You have to respect he growth of basketball in Europe, because people love basketball and it's getting better and better."

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/261956

Maurizio Gherardini Helps Bring Success to the Raptors

Last June, the Toronto Raptors hired Maurizio Gherardini to become their team’s vice president and assistant general manager. Gherardini was hired to work under Raptors president and general manager, Bryan Colangelo.

Why was this a significant hire for the NBA? Gherardini became the first European to hold a senior management position with an NBA team. In 1992, Gherardini joined Euroleague's Benetton Treviso and the club has experienced a great deal of success since then. With his leadership, the club became a training ground in Europe, and NBA personnel flocked there to scout players. He led Benetton to four league championships in 1997, 2002, 2003, and 2006. Benetton also won seven Italian Cups, three Italian Supercups, two Eurocups, and four times reached the Euroleague’s Final Four. Gherardini’s squads included NBA players Nickoloz Tskitishvili, Uros Slokar, Jorge Garbajosa, and Andrea Bargnani among others.

Upon hiring Colangelo, Gherardini said, “We are thrilled to have a globally esteemed basketball executive like Maurizio Gherardini join the Toronto Raptors. This is a ground-breaking move for the league, appropriately with the NBA's only true international franchise.”

Additionally, Gherardini was quoted as saying: “What made Toronto very special was actually the real opportunity to enter in some capacity the brainstorming process of an NBA team.”

With the idea that Toronto is not an attractive market for many NBA free agents, it became obvious that Colangelo and Gherardini wanted to add players from overseas in order to improve their team. Bargnani (drafted with the first pick in 2006), Jose Calderon (Spain), Jorge Garbajosa (Benetton), Rasho Nesterovic (Spurs, Slovenia), Anthony Parker (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bradley), and Uros Slokar (Bennetton) were brought in. This offseason, Toronto traded for Carlos Delfino, who had previously played three seasons with Detroit. Delfino was born in Argentina and had yet to reach his potential with the Pistons.

Colangelo and Gherardini have shown that they properly value the international game and know how to compare values. Players like Garbajosa and Parker are glue guys, and will continue to help the Raptors maintain their playoff stature. Although many of the top players overseas are fans of the NBA, they often do not want to leave a place where they are highly regarded to come to the United States where they are just another player. Gherardini is able to help to sell them on the idea of coming to the league.

Along with helping to attract international talent, Gherardini was also brought in to evaluate the talent here in the states. Colangelo will not be asking him to evaluate the finances of the team and to make decisions based on the league's collective bargaining agreement, but to evaluate the talent that is in the United States and around the globe. This is the aspect of senior management that Gherardini has and will continue to excel at. With Gherardini and Colangelo at the helm, the Raptors will certainly look to improve the Raptors franchise and top last years 47-win seaspm.