Recently, I was very lucky as I watched Raptors against Warriors live. It was a tremendous experience watching how the champions applied the simplicity of the game so harmonically and effectively. At the end of the game, my mind went straight back few years ago, when I was still in Europe and I was watching Euroleague games. The first thought was: Is actually the European Basketball so old fashioned? The week after the game, I was very interested in watching games from Euroleague and some national European leagues, and at the same time I spent all of my nights analyzing NBA games. So I started keeping notes on my notebook. This led me to write about this hypothetical battle: NBA vs European Basketball. This topic is an endless discussion. Most of the readers will claim that there is no point to go through it, because NBA is the best Basketball league in the world with the best players. I don’t doubt about NBA’s power and majesty over the basketball at the rest of the world, but there are some aspects in both basketball worlds which would be very challenging to be analyzed.

History

As we know, basketball was a Canadian infusion, which became viral in U.S.A. In Europe the first European Tournaments took place at the end of 20’s. The majority of the teams in Europe are strongly connected with the same soccer teams. Someone who is fan of a team in soccer, will support the same team in basketball. So their history didn’t arise in the middle of 80’s and after when the majority of the European leagues changed their status into professional, but they have their roots back to the beginning of the century. The top 10 teams in Europe have a big history in soccer as well. CSSKA, Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, Real, Barcelona, Partizan, Red Star, Fenerbache, Maccabi.

In Europe, the most historical teams are more than 60 years old. The teams weren’t franchise, but in Europe the teams bring a special story and bear a deeper meaning. They represent more than just a town. They represent beliefs, ideals and values. The teams started from neighbourhoods, small regions, and through the decades obtained huge power and they extended their diffusion in their whole countries. Even the name of the teams determines their identity.

On the other hand, the teams in NBA are franchise teams. Except the big franchises, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Philadelphia, New York, the rest of the teams don’t have more than 30 years life. Some of them moved to another city in order to attract a new market.

NBA teams tried to create history from scratch, through the glory, the quality of the players and their management, but the history was already made for most of the basketball teams in Europe . Their established fan base and “brand” were already there.

Management-Administration

NBA teams were meant to be companies and organizations. They have hierarchy and a pretty well defined structure. Each team has its own board of directors, CEOs, facilities and equipment which every company would be jealous of. The owners are mostly a group of investors. They operate like a machine. They cannot be part of the league if they don’t meet the requirements and the standards. They must be profitable. There is a significant amount of hierarchy levels. Usually they are part of another organization either as a mother company or as a subsidy. The rules of management and operation are clear and fair to everyone most of the times.

In Europe, as I mentioned earlier in my text, the teams started from neighborhoods and they were unprofessional. As a result of it, their structure was affected. They participated in national leagues. They didn’t have any special management or organizational structure. When they finally became professional, their identity was led by wealthy individual businessmen. There weren’t neither CEOs nor Board of Directors. For some of the owners it was an opportunity to exploit game’s power to wash money, to obtain easy glory, and establishment in the life-style world. The last years, some of the most dominant teams made more significant efforts to meet these standards in order to be independent from individual persons.

Fans- Atmosphere

The majority of the fans in NBA is families, young people, and business people. Most of the times, they are chirring, but in a calm way. You have the impression that either they are playing in their hometown or as guests is the same. The only exception is only Warriors, because of their incredible team. Every game is like an event perfectly organized in details. From the security till the food quality, everything is professionally organised. It’s a huge celebration.

On the other hand, in Europe it’s contrast. Except some teams in Spain, the passion between the fans is above the limits, especially in South and South Eastern Europe. Every game is a war. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of hooliganism is still apparent. When the top teams play each other, you cannot even imagine the case that fans of both teams will be at the same court. It’s something beyond the borders of fantasy. That would infer episodes and injuries. However, there is a huge ‘but’. When the authorities can control the hooligans and the episodes, the experience of watching a basketball game cannot be described in words. You have to live this experience. In 2011, I was in Athens, watching Euroleague Play-offs game between Panathinaikos and Barcelona. The stadium was packed. The capacity of the court was pretty much above the designed capacity. The passion from the official fanatic fans and the rest of the people played a significant role to the result. Nobody stopped signing, screaming, yelling. You had the feeling that there was no way Panathinaikos would lose that game. The same happened as well in 2010 in Belgrade between Partizan and Maccabi. Maccabi was the favorite, but Partizan with the support of their fans and the incredible atmosphere, went against the predictions and they qualified to final foul. You can see some of their homes below:

Panathinaikos

Partizan

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Red Star

Olympiakos

Athletes

In NBA, without a doubt, the athletes are not human beings. Most of them are nature’s miracles. Giant guys with incredible jumping skills and speed. You can watch +220 pounds guys, who run up and down, jump with incredible balance of their tremendous strength. Their talent is inborn. The level of the game in terms of physical abilities is at the highest level. However, the main disadvantage of the players is their behaviour and their critical thinking. Most of the players are coming from poor background and instantly they obtain contract of millions. They cannot control and manage their fame and they don’t focus on their education. They quit their colleges in order to be drafted by NBA as soon as possible and unfortunately they don’t come back to finish their studies. That affects their game. The college basketball is the best tutorial for discipline and basketball critical thinking. Furthermore, we can observe players with obvious sky potential failing or not reaching the expectations.

On the other hand, in Europe, you can see tall guys who lack of speed and the majority of the point guards look like the next door guys. But they are genius. They understand the game and interpret the game conditions like coaches. Most of the players know the basics much better than NBA players. Defense, passing and shouting abilities. Coaches love watching European basketball. Game discipline, basketball basics and basketball intelligence are in a very high level. Europe mostly lacks of athletic players.

Concluding, I love watching both of the games. NBA is NBA, the best league in the world and it is very difficult for Europe to reach NBA standards. But Europe has a huge advantage over NBA: "Basketball Romance”, it shows us how the game used to be played. Athletes who are fighting for their fans, their teams, their dreams, not for their contracts or the personal achievements.

“NBA fights for the glory, Europe fights for every single win.”