First Brandon Jennings bypasses college to play in Europe, now this?!?! With the current state of the ecomony, the increasing value of the Euro as compared to the American dollar, I think the NBA is in a bit of trouble.

-CD

ATHENS, Greece -- Josh Childress signed a reported three-year deal worth $20 million with the Greek club Olympiakos after leaving the Atlanta Hawks.

Olympiakos announced the deal Wednesday. The guard was a restricted free agent, but the Hawks do not have the ability to match an offer from a European team.

 

"It's official. I've signed," Childress said. "I was in a situation that I really didn't know what my answer would be when I got to Athens. But it's a great city and a great team, and they did everything to make me feel at home."

Olympiakos finished runner-up in the Greek basketball league last year, behind rival Panathinaikos. It has boosted its roster with summer transfers -- including Greece star Theodoros Papaloukas, who was signed from CSKA Moscow.

The deal is the most lucrative current contract in European basketball and the biggest in Euroleague history, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the signing. It follows the decision by top prep prospect Brandon Jennings to sign with an Italian club team rather than play a season at Arizona.

The newspaper reported Monday the Hawks had a deal on the table worth nearly $36 million, with a first-year salary in excess of the mid-level exception of $5.6 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

 

Pond Jumpers

Josh Childress became the fifth player to leave the NBA for a European team this offseason.

Leaving NBA for Europe in '08

Player	NBA team	European team
Primoz Brezec	Raptors	Virtus Roma
Josh Childress	Hawks	Olympiakos
Carlos Delfino	Raptors	Khimki BC
Juan Carlos Navarro	Grizzlies	F.C. Barcelona
Bostjan Nachbar	Nets	Dynamo Moscow

I respect your opinion a great deal, but I hope you're wrong, CD.

I'm already pissed that the NFL takes a home game away from a team so they can go play in freakin London! I definitely don't want our players going to play over there and even worse would be having a team over there.

Why cant our leagues stay in the US where they belong? Baseball doesn't need to freakin open in Japan or Tokyo, NBA doesn't need to have freakin training camps in China and the NFL sure as hell doesn't need to play games outside of our country.

This really gets me hot under the sports collar

I saw this too buddy - it's been in trouble for a few years now, and I'm not sure the Celtics/Lakers series did everything they hoped it would to prove everything is perfect in David Stern's world.  It goes deeper than Donaghy/Foster too.

Stew:

I respect your opinion a great deal, but I hope you're wrong, CD.

I hope I'm wrong too!!! It's a shame players are going overseas, but you can't fault a guy for maximizing his earnings while he can. The Jennings deal really sucks becuase the college game needs high profile players to get the public interested!!

Matty O'Shea:

I saw this too buddy - it's been in trouble for a few years now, and I'm not sure the Celtics/Lakers series did everything they hoped it would to prove everything is perfect in David Stern's world.  It goes deeper than Donaghy/Foster too.

I agree 100% Matty. This is just another issue on a growing list...

Carpet Dave:

Stew:

I respect your opinion a great deal, but I hope you're wrong, CD.

 

 

I hope I'm wrong too!!! It's a shame players are going overseas, but you can't fault a guy for maximizing his earnings while he can. The Jennings deal really sucks becuase the college game needs high profile players to get the public interested!!

Except that I'd personally rather see a kid go overseas than go to college for one year and bolt for the NBA. 

Matty O'Shea:

Carpet Dave:

Stew:

I respect your opinion a great deal, but I hope you're wrong, CD.

 

 

I hope I'm wrong too!!! It's a shame players are going overseas, but you can't fault a guy for maximizing his earnings while he can. The Jennings deal really sucks becuase the college game needs high profile players to get the public interested!!

 

Except that I'd personally rather see a kid go overseas than go to college for one year and bolt for the NBA. 

Totally disagree on that Matty. I'd much rather watch a year of Mike Beasley, Kevin Durant, Melo Anthony, etc as they play their hearts out for a chance at the Big Dance than to miss watching their games completely while they develop overseas.

I know I'm in the minority here and understand your point.  I just think it's a waste of a scholarship and is still watering down college basketball.  I side with Lute Olson on this one, as he said he will no longer recruit guys he thinks will be one and done.

I hear what you're saying, I'd like to see them create a 2 year minimum for players in college too.  

That would help.  Trust me, I loved what Carmelo Anthony did for Syracuse in one year as an alum.  But for every 'Melo, there is more than one Donte Greene.