Josh Childress signs with Olympiakos of Greece for 20 mil over 3 years =

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3501488

Now I can understand Euro players wanting to return home due to circumstances, and being offered a hell of alot more money than NBA teams (Navarro being a perfect example, earning the minimum in the NBA, and multi millions in Europe)

But this I dont understand...............I mean, Childress is still young (Hes not a 30 something going for his last big paycheck), hes got talent, hes had a solid contributing career so far............many teams could have offered him there MLE atleast!

However, he decides to go play in a league that is no better than the D-League (Im sorry, I know there a couple of good teams in Greece.........but overall, its sh*t, and those two teams dominate the league). How could you not want to stay in the best league in the world, that gives you the ultimate exposure and respect around the basketball community, for probably not much less money?

Why else would he do this, other than pure greed? for what is probably 2-3 more million a year.

Alot of you will disagree, argue with me about the level of the Greek league, and just generally talk about loyalty to ones self and going where the money is.............which will all be valid points..............but Im just getting a little sick of it, and I find this move in-particular............quite pathetic.

Ps: WTF! is the crap with NBA teams not being able to match a Euro teams offer on players that they have Bird rights over???.............why can they match any offer from an NBA team but not a Euro team???

for the sake of the facts - olympiakos will play in euroleague as well, which way better than greek league

No team even talked to Josh Childress for the sole reason that no one could afford him beyond the mid level. So if anyone offered it, it would of been matched by Atlanta. Comes to think what a **** hole the Hawks organization must be, if u'd rather want to pay in Greece then the Hawks.

But here is where i disagree with u bigstrads. Every pro athlete knows (American or Not) you go where the money is. Just because the NBA is a monopoly, doesnt mean he should be confine to stay there. He's getting paid more in greece, by all means go where the money is. So europeans flocking to the NBA come in hopes of massive deals. Sure they dont get too much there rookie year and couple after, but they are thinking long term (gasol, Dirk examples). But the Jorge garborosas, Juan carlos navarros, which didnt pan out to dreams, go the safe route.

its not ALL about basketball, its about the Benjimins, and Childress went to Stanford, so he clearly knows what he's doing.

Good luck in Greece Josh. Stay away from the Greek mafia!

oh and another thing,

he can opt out after each season. and the 20 million/ over 3 years he is set to make is AFTER taxes. That is a pretty sweet deal.

I think this is just the beginning. Brandon Jennings and Josh Childress are becoming trendsetters for high schoolers and pros (respectively).

ajcardenas123 wrote:No team even talked to Josh Childress for the sole reason that no one could afford him beyond the mid level. So if anyone offered it, it would of been matched by Atlanta. Comes to think what a **** hole the Hawks organization must be, if u'd rather want to pay in Greece then the Hawks.

But here is where i disagree with u bigstrads. Every pro athlete knows (American or Not) you go where the money is. Just because the NBA is a monopoly, doesnt mean he should be confine to stay there. He's getting paid more in greece, by all means go where the money is. So europeans flocking to the NBA come in hopes of massive deals. Sure they dont get too much there rookie year and couple after, but they are thinking long term (gasol, Dirk examples). But the Jorge garborosas, Juan carlos navarros, which didnt pan out to dreams, go the safe route.

its not ALL about basketball, its about the Benjimins, and Childress went to Stanford, so he clearly knows what he's doing.

Good luck in Greece Josh. Stay away from the Greek mafia!

Of course man..............what youve said is exactly right and what I was expecting.

However, Im just kind of sick of it really..............and society in general, and its "go where the benjamins are" "do what it takes to get paid" "suck whoevers c*ck to get yours!!" kind of thinking.

Its when enlightened, smart, free thinking people start thinking that this is agreeable behaviour, thats when I will really start to dispair............it is the way it is, yes, but do we have to like it and applaud it?

It was just me having a rant, I know I wrote "I dont understand" but I do of course.............Im just sick of it.

Finally, one thing..............with your explanation of why Childress and others do this, do you deep down in your soul not think it is greed?

Of course it's greed. But considering he's getting about double what he would've gotten over here (with taxes and other perks like free living arangements) it's hard to turn down. Yeah, it's easy to say he's a sell out but it's not easy to walk away from $5 million when it's right in front of your face.

What I think is more interesting about this whole ordeal is that it marks the NBA losing it's talent monopoly in what will be the first step towards an international market (much akin to soccer). You got a sniff of it last year with Webber considering Europe and Marbury saying he's going to play in Italy after this year but this marks an actual NBA talent who is choosing to play overseas not because of talent but because of money. In under a decade I think this will become commonplace. The NBA will always be the elite league with the highest pay, but there will be lost talent to leagues that are willing to pay for mid level players.

bigstrads wrote:Finally, one thing..............with your explanation of why Childress and others do this, do you deep down in your soul not think it is greed?

I dont think it is greed at all. At least that is not the right word for it. Greed, to me, had a DIRTY connotation to it. The word feels like someone wants more than they truly need and it will come at the expense of others.

I just think it comes down to what someone values most or how they prioritize their wants while making a decision. I certainly am not one to judge someones motivations in making such a personal decision as to where they will live and with who they will be employed... especially when I dont know anything about them.

People have different values when making this decision... some value money the most, others value the quality of live the area they will live provides for them, others where the best schools are, or a job that provides them the best work/live balance, and still others which job challenges them the most.

Additionally with athletes, they have a very small window to make the money that will need to carry them on to the rest of their lives and if responsible, help set up future generations of their family. I cant fault Childress for this.

We also dont know what his goals are for his life. He is a very smart guy as we all know and who knows... maybe he has always dreamed of opening up his own company and knows he will probably need $20 million of seed money to do it the way he wants to do it and he wants to make as much money during his playing career to help realize this dream. I mean WHO really KNOWS.

I whole heartedly agree with that bada. Greed is such a strong word and can be misused. Yes, he may have been a bit overzealous in his pursue for money, but he is smart. He didn't sell anyone out, he didn't hurt anyone in this process. He saw a better deal and took it.

Actually, I'm happy that more mid-level players are going overseas. I want to see Basketball more international and less monopolized. Players are teams get stagnant sometimes, and with that so does the competition. You see these eras of teams that have no real rivals. Not until recently has the competition been picking up. It's probably a cycle, every few years the league goes cold.

But if International leagues begin to pick up and get more talent coursing through their leagues, we could see an uplift of competition throughout the world. There are already the FIBA tournaments to watch us play against Internationals, but seldomly are they broadcasted. With more flux between different leagues' talents, Stern may not be able to control the majority of the best basketball players in the world.

The only real thing that I worry about is that I won't be able to watch some games. Or even worse, foreign commentators trying to commentate in broken English.

Yeah yeah yeah Bada.

Seriously though, all of what you guys are saying is true and makes total sense..............but I was having a rant (perhaps more because Im faced with giving up on what I want to do in life because of lack of opportunity and better money in the things I hate)

Within what I said in the brackets there is kind of my point............which is to say that if I could live worse off but be in a job/place that I belong and love, then I would take that in and instant...........rather than facing going back to the world of work that I left, which pays lots of good money but I absolutely detest, and have spent the last 9 months unemployed to avoid having to go back to.

So in comparison, if I was Josh, Id rather take 2-3 mil per year less (if that even) to stay in my home country and play with the best players, in the place Ive dreamed about playing from childhood..........I doubt he ever dreamed of playing in Europe huh?..............but again, we dont know Josh, it just seems a total money move.

So yeah, I dont know Josh, his motivations, and the extra money is the extra money and what not..........and it is the way of the world...........I just dont like it, and besides............this is sports!!! we have a right to go nuts and have a rant about things/players/situations that we dont really know the human side of.

Also, Im bored sh*tless so just wanted something to talk about.

I hear ya bigs..... my main point was two fold

1) greed I dont think is the right word becuase of such a negative connotation.

2) we dont know him and what his motivations are. maybe he vacationed in Greece and fell in love with it.... maybe he wants money to build a care facility for children with AIDS in Africa.... or maybe he wants money to buy more cars and a boat.... anyway, I am not going to judge his motivation.

bada wrote:I hear ya bigs..... my main point was two fold

1) greed I dont think is the right word becuase of such a negative connotation.

2) we dont know him and what his motivations are. maybe he vacationed in Greece and fell in love with it.... maybe he wants money to build a care facility for children with AIDS in Africa.... or maybe he wants money to buy more cars and a boat.... anyway, I am not going to judge his motivation.

Yeah, I got rid of "Greed" as your right, it is abit strong.

His motivations...........none of us ever really know the story behind anything that we comment on though do we? doesnt stop us doing so though..........this place would be very boring if we didnt piece together our own pictures of things without the facts..........its impossible but hey, what you gonna do? .............thats sports isnt it? do we know the motivations/reasons behind anything? we can guess, educated or not but we never really know.............you know.

Maybe Childress needs to "feed his family"

sleandres wrote:Maybe Childress needs to "feed his family"

...............that never gets old.

sleandres wrote:Maybe Childress needs to "feed his family"

Do you mean the thousands of new member that called him once he was offered a multi million contract? haha.

I just think he wants to poop on all of those white guys. I think he'll come back to the US though after his contract is up.

He can opt out at any time right?

bigstrads wrote:

sleandres wrote:Maybe Childress needs to "feed his family"

...............that never gets old.

I know, I know...I always throw it out there when we talk about NBA contracts, but I just can't resist!