Score One For the NBA in Their Battle vs. Europe

Not to make this all Europe, all the time, but for you steadfast separatists and Amero-centrists, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and his name is Bobby Brown. The former Cal State Fullerton guard, whom many thought would have cracked the NBA last season, signed with the Kings despite being avidly pursued by a Euro powerhouse.

From Kings Blog:

It's a guaranteed two-year deal at the league minimum ($442,114) with a player option in the second season, as confirmed by a source close to the Kings ... A 6-foot-2, 23-year-old who went undrafted last summer and played in Berlin last season, Brown was impressive enough at summer league that there was buzz he could become the backup to Hornets point guard Chris Paul after averaging 15.2 points and 6.3 assists.

According to Marc Stein, Brown's prospects in Europe were positively sky-high. He was key to Alba Berlin's German club championship this past season. The might Maccabi Tel-Aviv, an Israeli team that's among Europe's stronest, was after him, and "Brown was on the verge of accepting a multiyear deal 'in the millions' from Spanish giant Barcelona this week when Sacramento increased its bid." So what does it all mean? Well, clearly Childress went to Greece in part because he'd gotten his taste, or fill, of the NBA. He ran up against its economic realities and decided to go in another direction. Brown, on the other hand, has yet to see just how far his boyhood dream can take him. Time will only tell what makes Carl Landry tick, and if he's got Childress's comfort level with leaving the comforts of home.

I guess I'm saying that the NBA isn't going anywhere, and will have some cachet for years to come. It's just a matter of how much competing credibility Euro leagues can muster -- to go with all the money they can offer.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.