Deron Williams agress with Besiktas (turkish team )Derom Williams to play in Turkey during lockout

[moevillini]

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/basketball/nets/Report_Nets_Deron_Williams_to_play_in_Turkey_if_long_lockout.html

the article mentions that he'll bring his family with him, and he's excited about the prospect of living abroad!

...Williams has reached an agreement in principal to play for Besiktas in Istanbul. He reportedly will sign a one-year, $5 million deal today that includes an out that allows him to return to the NBA if the lockout ends. Williams will bring his wife and four children with him when he reports to Besiktas in September.

“The team made a fantastic offer,” Williams’ agent Jeff Schwartz said. “Deron is excited to spend some time abroad with his family.”

The Nets probably weren’t that surprised that Williams might go this route.

He said earlier this off-season that he would explore playing overseas if there was a long lockout. Nets general manager Billy King and coach Avery Johnson played golf and had dinner with Williams in San Diego a couple of days before the lockout began. It’s possible the subject of Williams’ future plans came up.

But the Nets can’t comment on players during the lockout. Reportedly, teams could face a $1 million fine and the loss of
draft picks if they discuss player-related matters....

 

[SojoDave]

It would be awesome if Deron gets in a fight with his coach and the coach just quits. He would be "Coach Killer" on two continents.

 

[margodydek]

Margo's take:

This won't last. The top athletes in the world are wired differently than most. They love to compete against the best of the best. The analogy isn't perfect, but DWill going to Turkey is somewhat reminiscent of Beckham coming over from RM to play for the Galaxy. There was tons of hoopla and people thought he'd get soccer over the hump here in the states, and what got people most excited was that he genuinely seemed like he wanted to come and live here in the states. He came, people followed the story for a few months then the excitement died down. Later he went on loan to AC Milan and got a taste of what he'd been missing over in Europe. He wanted to stay there and didn't want to come back to LA. He was under contract so he didn't have a choice. My point is that DWill (and other stars) could go play overseas, but they'll quickly miss playing against the best players, in NBA arenas, in a country where the public actually gives a damn about their sport. Add on top of that they'll be making at most a quarter of what they could make here, and they'll realize they have a much bigger incentive to come to terms with the owners.

 

[BabyPeterzz]

So has anyone mentioned the Britton Johnson interview on KFAN yesterday? He described Besiktas as a club with finacial problems. They have stiffed players before and apparently owe a bunch of players money. He was saying that Besiktas is one club he would never play for.

 

[jimmyjazz]

Margo's take:

This won't last. The top athletes in the world are wired differently than most. They love to compete against the best of the best. The analogy isn't perfect, but DWill going to Turkey is somewhat reminiscent of Beckham coming over from RM to play for the Galaxy. There was tons of hoopla and people thought he'd get soccer over the hump here in the states, and what got people most excited was that he genuinely seemed like he wanted to come and live here in the states. He came, people followed the story for a few months then the excitement died down. Later he went on loan to AC Milan and got a taste of what he'd been missing over in Europe. He wanted to stay there and didn't want to come back to LA. He was under contract so he didn't have a choice. My point is that DWill (and other stars) could go play overseas, but they'll quickly miss playing against the best players, in NBA arenas, in a country where the public actually gives a damn about their sport. Add on top of that they'll be making at most a quarter of what they could make here, and they'll realize they have a much bigger incentive to come to terms with the owners.

Beckham signed a 5-year deal to play in the US. DWill is in for a nominal 1 year with an immediate out when the lockout ends.

From what I can tell, the Turks do care a lot about basketball. Unlike many Americans who've never gotten the hang of 'the beautiful game'. Maybe it's the team sports saturation in the US -- aside from basketball, there's at least (American) football, baseball, hockey. DWill and other NBA players won't lack for enthusiastic fans in some of the bigger non-US basketball markets.

DWill and other NBA players will be in Europe, maybe China, and elsewhere are athletes who actually care about keeping in shape and playing the game. Hoping the lockout ends soon but the flipside is this could be a rare, until the next lockout, year when some of the top NBA players fan out across the world.

 

[margodydek]

Beckham signed a 5-year deal to play in the US. DWill is in for a nominal 1 year with an immediate out when the lockout ends.

From what I can tell, the Turks do care a lot about basketball. Unlike many Americans who've never gotten the hang of 'the beautiful game'. Maybe it's the team sports saturation in the US -- aside from basketball, there's at least (American) football, baseball, hockey. DWill and other NBA players won't lack for enthusiastic fans in some of the bigger non-US basketball markets.

DWill and other NBA players will be in Europe, maybe China, and elsewhere are athletes who actually care about keeping in shape and playing the game. Hoping the lockout ends soon but the flipside is this could be a rare, until the next lockout, year when some of the top NBA players fan out across the world.

I know Beckham signed a multi-year deal, but my point was that soon after he got over here he was itching to play back in Europe with the big boys, and this was well after he'd peaked as a player. DWill is just getting to that point. He's not going to want to spend his prime years playing in meaningless games in Turkey. I could care less if he goes there. Heck let him play a whole season over there, but people who are scared that this could drastically alter the future of the NBA are delusional.

 

[Gameface]

Margo's take:

This won't last. The top athletes in the world are wired differently than most. They love to compete against the best of the best. The analogy isn't perfect, but DWill going to Turkey is somewhat reminiscent of Beckham coming over from RM to play for the Galaxy. There was tons of hoopla and people thought he'd get soccer over the hump here in the states, and what got people most excited was that he genuinely seemed like he wanted to come and live here in the states. He came, people followed the story for a few months then the excitement died down. Later he went on loan to AC Milan and got a taste of what he'd been missing over in Europe. He wanted to stay there and didn't want to come back to LA. He was under contract so he didn't have a choice. My point is that DWill (and other stars) could go play overseas, but they'll quickly miss playing against the best players, in NBA arenas, in a country where the public actually gives a damn about their sport. Add on top of that they'll be making at most a quarter of what they could make here, and they'll realize they have a much bigger incentive to come to terms with the owners.

He didn't mention the part where The L.A. Galaxy and Beckham went to the Championship game and got beat by Real Salt Lake. Boom Bitch!

 

[aybars]

Besiktas management will meet kobi bryant and his agent next week.Just saw on Turkish tv.

 

[Jazz4ever]

I don't get how this gives the players leverage. Can't the owners now say, "hey, you are willing to play for 5 million in Europe. Come back to America. You won't get your 17 million, but we will double what you are willing to work for, and our max deals will be 10 million. Don't like it? Go back to Europe and play for 5 million."

It doesn't give them much leverage, but they will still be making millions while the owners are losing millions with empty arenas. Yes the players are playing a little Russian roulette if they sustain a major injury, but DWill is the franchise and well worth his contract to the Nets. So its a lose/lose proposition to owners anyway you look at it. I see it as a great catalyst to get the owners to budge a little on the hard cap. Hopefully the players will budge a little on their demands too.

 

[moevillini]

So has anyone mentioned the Britton Johnson interview on KFAN yesterday? He described Besiktas as a club with finacial problems. They have stiffed players before and apparently owe a bunch of players money. He was saying that Besiktas is one club he would never play for.

most of the foreign teams have partnerships with corporate sponsors and some of the payroll and other financial issues have more to do with the corporate sponsors than the team itself - plus these sponsorship partnerships can change from year to year

some of the agents just aren't good at understanding this, and that can compound the problems

 

[green]

Well if a ton of star players are playing in Europe instead of the NBA, the NBA is going to lose a lot of money.

I completely disagree. Completely. Did the Jazz lose a ton of money when Stockton retired and Malone left? Nope. The NBA might dip for a season or two, but there is always a Lamb in college more than willing to be drafted by the Nets, take 20+ shots a game, score 25 pts a game and get the hell marketed out him by the Nets. There will always be another Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan and LeBron. Players are everywhere. Billionaire owners who are willing to lose money on a game are not. The prime resource in these negotiations are the owners, not the players.

 

[NUMBERICA]

I completely disagree. Completely. Did the Jazz lose a ton of money when Stockton retired and Malone left? Nope. The NBA might dip for a season or two, but there is always a Lamb in college more than willing to be drafted by the Nets, take 20+ shots a game, score 25 pts a game and get the hell marketed out him by the Nets. There will always be another Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan and LeBron. Players are everywhere. Billionaire owners who are willing to lose money on a game are not. The prime resource in these negotiations are the owners, not the players.

You are delusional. SO much horse-****.

1) Jazz fans are a different animal, and the '03-'04 team's success was one hell of an anomaly.
2) There will always be another Kareem? or Jordan? We've been waiting 30 years for one, and 20 years for the other. You must hate that kids are taught that everyone is special if you think that Kareem and Jordan weren't and won't be eternally so.
3) What you're describing is what happened to SNL in the early 80's. "Saturday Night Dead" it was called. Hardcore basketball fans might stick around, but the lay-person/casual fan - which is probably at least 50% of fandom - would be gone quick.
4) The NBA is the best league in the world because of the players. I don't route against the Lakers because I don't like the Busses. I don't route for the Jazz because I like 50-year-old-goatee-that-demand-everyone-under-him-take-less-because-of-hard-times-while-possessing-every-FJ/Land-cruiser-ever-built-and-more-that-spends-more-time-in-Moab-enriching-his-goatee-with-money-he-never-earned-than-with-the-team-he-inherited-nepotist-****ing-*******. Guys with money that earn money and try to earn more of it regardless of the amount they have is the most abundant thing in these negotiations. They are the players too.