It is a never ending issue amongst basketball fans
outside of the US. “The Euroleague is closing the gap” “Real Madrid could
compete against any team in the NBA” “The Euroleague Final Four teams would easily
make the playoffs if they played a full NBA season”.
The above are only a few of the several remarks that
can be heard in any basketball discussion amongst two European fans. The
European basketball fandom can be basically divided into two huge slices: on
one hand you have NBA freaks who will defend the Association’s quality and
superiority even in detriment of their own country’s league. On the other side of the spectrum one may
find rabid fans, backing up their favorite teams until death, even if that
means desperately trying to bash the NBA with gems such as “The NBA is not real
basketball, it’s just a show”, “They
don’t play any defense in the NBA” or “Americans can’t shoot”.
Since I am not particularly biased on this subject and
having the 2015 NBA Global Games fresh in our memories I thought tackling this
subject would be a good idea, since it is a always a current issue in the Old
Continent.
Real Madrid, the team with the most continental crowns
with 9, defending Euroleague champion, as well as Spanish’s league and cup
winners, got beaten easily in Madrid by the Boston Celtics, with a final score
of 111-96. Just two days later they trashed Olimpia Milano (a team which last
season cracked the Euroleague’s Top-16) in Milan by 33 points, 124-91. Don’t
get me wrong, the Celtics are a solid team who happen to have a great coach.
Nevertheless, they barely made it to the Playoffs last season, and in a league
that would not be divided into Conferences they would not have made it in the
Top-16. Nevertheless, despite being an average team with no current All Stars
on its roster, they just easily beat a Top-16 Euroleague team and the defending
Euroleague and ACB champion after having played in Milan two days prior and
having had only one week of team practice since late April, when they were
swept by the Cavs in four games.
Unfortunately, it would be erroneous to back up a
general statement like that, involving approximately 30 teams on each side of
the conflict, by looking at only two games, both played by the same NBA team.
For this reason, I have examined the all time record between NBA teams and
Euroleague teams.
Giving a quick look at the data a few conclusions con
be drawn:
-
Historically
NBA teams have widely dominated Euroleague teams, although the latter have
improved slightly since the early 2000s.
-
The
all time record for NBA teams is 73-15, which translates into an 83% winning
percentage. Now let’s have a look at the European improvement we are talking
about:
-
in
the 1978-1999 era the NBA boasted a 23-3 record (88’5%), with the 3 European
victories being inflicted by Maccabi Tel Aviv, who beat the NBA defending champions
Washington Bullets in the first ever game between an NBA team and a European
team back in 1978. Then in 1984 Maccabi beat the New Jersey Nets and the
Phoenix Suns. All three games were played in Israel.
Since 2003, NBA teams have a winning record of 50-12 (80’6%).
In the 2000s, when the NBA Europe Live Tour became a household name for
international fans, they had a 31-5 record, an outstanding 86’1% winning
percentage. This record was almost as commanding as the one from the last two
decades of the 20th Century.
In the 2010s NBA teams have undergone a notable
decline when facing teams from across the pond. In the few years since the
start of the decade NBA teams are sitting on a 19-6 record. A 73’1% winning percentage.
That’s still a major lead, but it is also a substantial decline in such a short
period of time. So, should the NBA panic? Should Adam Silver fear European
squads becoming a threat to his product? Not at all.
The 19 NBA wins have come with a 15’3 points margin,
including 6 blowouts which ended with a +20 point difference. Meanwhile only 3
of those 19 wins came with a difference of 5 or less points. On the other hand,
though, out of the 7 wins by Euroleague teams in the present decade 5 have come
with a 5 or lower point differential, with only a six point win by Fenerbahçe
over the Celtics in 2012 and a 14 point win by Barcelona over the Mavs in that
same year being their only comfortable wins. The 2012-2013 season, by the way,
has been the only season where the Mavs have missed the Playoffs since 2000.
Taking this into account, could Euroleague teams
really compete in the NBA? Well, although the samples are very small, I have
dissected the games from the 2010s into two categories: Non-Playoff teams vs
Euroleague Final Four teams and Playoff teams vs Euroleague Final Four teams,
meaning how teams fared at the end of that season, not how they performed the
previous season, since summer trades may radically change the aspect of a team.
On the first category we can see that non-Playoff teams present a 1-2 record against Final Four
competition. If everything goes as planned this season, we will add Fenerbaçe’s
(definitely a Top-3 Euroleague team this season) win in Brooklyn two weeks ago.
On the second category, Playoff teams are 3-0 against
Final Four competition, boasting wins by Memphis and San Antonio over Real
Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Fenerbaçe. Again, if things turn out as they should if
we consider roster quality we could be able to include another 2 wins by
Playoff teams that recently came in October, when the Celtics and the Thunder
easily beat Real Madrid and Fenerbaçe.
From a players’ perspective, the NBA is by no means
losing its ground when it comes to talent, as the last couple of summers have
seen the influx of Euroleague superstars such as Bojan Bogdanoviç and Nemanja
Bjelica and rising stars like Mario Hezonja, whereas only role players or
benchwarmers seem to be leaving the NBA for the Euroleague, with the likes of
Ekpe Udoh, Jan Vesely, Alexey Shved or Luigi Datome. There is no reason to
think this stars-in-scrubs-out trend will reverse anytime soon.
In conclusion, I do not think Euroleague squads could
compete in the NBA, not even the perennial powerhouses. By competing I mean
making it to the postseason or at least fight for a spot until the last couple
of weeks. Previous games have shown the NBA is still a few floors above in
terms of physical and overall individual talent, even though those games are
played in early October, when NBA squads have barely started training camp. On
top of that, European teams are used to a much lighter schedule and shorter
games. The fact that they would have to endure the mileage of an NBA season,
both on and off the court, makes me believe no Euroleague team would make it out of
the bottom of the league, not being able to crack the Top 25.
What do you think? Is Euroleague basketball closing the gap?
What do you think? Is Euroleague basketball closing the gap?
