I'd like to say a couple things about the future side of the subject.
The gap between the NBA and the rest is closing and the bridge between the NBA and the international basketball, especially the European Basketball, is getting stronger and wider increasingly, yet it's still not even a completed structure entirely. Coaching importation, for instance, is yet to begin and there are still biases and prejudices about Euroball. Average NBA fans still have little to no knowledge about Euroball while the whole world knows(deservedly) quiet a lot about the NBA.
I've got into an argument here on this forum in the past. People claimed the best players would be playing in the best league anytime and no matter what, meaning the NBA of course. If a player haven't played in the NBA, it's automatically assumed that he couldn't or he wasn't worthy. Many NBA fans think that way about the great European players of the past that didn't make it to the NBA. Which is not true at all, especially not true when there used to be thick curtains between the NBA and the rest of the basketball world. The NBA has seen great Euros nevertheless but God knows how many more Euros could be a part of the NBA history if the doors were open as of today.
So, if anything, it's the right time to spend time, money and effort to scout the outside of the NBA because it will get even more important in the near future as the international relationships getting deeper and the game itself continues to globalizing more and more the each day.