The players demand a voice

June 12, 2017

Behind the glory, the players are revolting

With the players not being quiet anymore, FIBA and Euroleague both need to work together to fix the calendar issue. Emmet Ryan on why player power, with our without a union, is greater than ever and why those who play the game are important voices in shaping its future on this continent

The calendar in European basketball is broken but up until now, only the absolute best of the best could do anything about it. A series of factors, including consolidation within Europe and, far more importantly, the expansion of NBA rosters, may finally bring the matter to a head just as the two most powerful bodies in the sport here are at loggerheads. Fans have long looked for their best players to save them when a game is on the line. Now they might be looking to them for a similar purpose when the game is on the line.




Nikola Kalinic kicks it off
Last night, while most folk were digesting the final moments of Valencia’s win over Real Madrid and getting ready for the decider between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce and Serbia big man Nikola Kalinic started off the discussion.

And he was quickly followed by Aaron Jackson, with King Ragnar issuing a royal decree

The two were joined over the course of the evening in sharing or endorsing their comments by Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kyle Hines, Matt Janning, Keith Langford, and Bostjan Nachbar. Players are, rightfully, unhappy at the way the European season flows. It’s really long, quite disjointed, and there’s a huge lack of coherency. Oh, and let’s not forget that getting paid on time is far from a certainty. That’s a lot to be annoyed about. In the past, most players would just have to lump it. That’s not the case anymore but, before addressing the core issues let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way.

Serbia rose 4 spots in the FIBA rankings thanks to their silver medal win in Spain
Nikola Kalinic has been a major voice in airing player concerns

This is not a normal job
The easy strawman to build is that most people don’t get the 30 or so days a year of leave that a baller based in Europe does. Fine, good for you. Incidentally I do but that’s rather beside the point. Basketball players have rather different working lives to most people. The physical exertion coupled with the constant demand for results based on fairly small windows of activity is a pretty dire grind and the body needs a real break. So does the mind. Rest is generally a good thing for athletes, actually it’s heavily recommended by some sports bodies.

Players involved with the Irish rugby team, for example, are mandated to take a 10 week break between seasons. That’s 70 days without significant physical activity that they are ordered to take. Rugby involves more collisions that hoops, well you’d hope, but the point isn’t about trauma it’s about exertion. To be in optimal shape, that organisation (and many others like it) recognise the need for time off away from the sport so players can get their heads and bodies back in place.

In Euroleague there’s even a team in the recent past that blatantly passes the eyeball test for this. After winning the treble in 2015, Real Madrid looked like a drunken mess through most of the subsequent season. With the bulk of their squad playing all the way through to final of EuroBasket, Los Blancos never got time to recover between seasons.

The calendar issue
Kalinic really hit the nail on the head perfectly here. European teams report back far earlier than NBA sides for pre-season yet often finish later than the big show across the pond. The minimum number of games a team can play to win the NBA championship is 98. For Kalinic, his Fenerbahce side will play a minimum of 75 (excluding pre-season), that may be a quarter less but then you throw in the string of international games ahead of and during EuroBasket and the numbers suddenly get an awful lot closer with the NBA players getting far more rest. This also ignores that 14 teams in the NBA only ended up playing 7 games more than Kalinic and company.

In short, the season starts too early and ends too late. Going with the compression of the NBA is beyond impractical but adding even a handful of midweek assignments would make a massive difference to when a player has to report to camp. Literally moving 5 games to midweek dates could save a month and double the leave a player like Kalinic currently gets.

And now a quick interlude from Alex Proshuta

Why try to write what someone else has already said better than I could? Alex hits the nail on the head perfectly here. Everything Kalinic, Jackson, and others are saying demands action but it’s not going to be easy. There’s no coherency between the national leagues, regional leagues, and European competitions. There were multiple occasions this season where Union Olimpija changed the type of ball they used three times in a game-week, between Slovenian league, ABA Liga, and EuroCup.

Playoff games in leagues involving Euroleague sides regularly occur the same weekend as the Euroleague Final Four. While it’s a pleasant relief from watching the third place game, it also points to how much each competition exists on an island. Leagues adapt to accommodate a tad at present, such as national cup weeks, but that’s adjustment rather than collaboration. Moving those 5 games for Nikola Kalinic for example might work for Euroleague and Eurocup sides but teams in the Basketball Champions League and FIBA Europe Cup in Turkey don’t move to the same schedule. Likewise teams in Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, and it goes on, aren’t running on the same schedule as the BSL that he plays in.

To get everyone ample rest, there simply has to be fully involved cooperation between the national leagues and European competitions. For that to happen, FIBA and Euroleague need to find some kind of grounds for peace. It doesn’t need to be a fully cessation of hostilities. That’s not happening for the foreseeable under any circumstances but cooperating on a calendar benefits both sides as it keeps the players happy. Now, that might not seem like enough to get mommy and daddy to stop fighting…especially considering the situation over international windows…but this divorce is ignoring one key element.

The players can just leave
Not all of them but far more than before. The expansion of NBA rosters coupled with the big show being far more open to bringing in players that developed in Europe (be they American or international) than ever before means more players who are stars here are opting to go there. There are more jobs and that’s not going to change. The D-League/G-League’s refusal to take itself seriously for the bulk of its history has long been the biggest favour the United States and Canada have done for European hoops. That however is clearly changing.


Malcolm Delaney built his pro career in Europe before signing with the Atlanta Hawks

Those two-way roster spots plus and clear desire to improve and expand the secondary league across the pond is giving players more options when they finish college or get cut from the NBA. Yes, plenty of great American ballers will still come here but more of them are going to have more reasons to stay. Europe is essentially relying on the secondary competition remaining a mess in order to keep its supply line of talent healthy when the health of the D-League/G-League is improving.

The bump also improves matters for those not quite good enough for a shot as the more players that don’t come to Europe/move across the Atlantic, the further up the power chain the players below them go and within that the more influence they gain.

So a union?
The reasons for one are obvious. Players have limited representation as it stands so collectively bargaining makes sense. Getting one together won’t be simple. There jurisdictions are many and labour laws within them vary wildly. While Aaron Jackson would be significantly less compensated playing in the British Basketball League, he’d certainly have more rights as a worker than he does in Russia.

The situation is further complicated for Americans, particular those without European passports, as they still have to pay tax back home. The US tax system, of following its citizens around the world, may be daft but it’s not changing.

Just because it’s going to be tough doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. While this corner disagrees with Kalinic on drug testing, the comparitive lack of testing in the US is a failing rather than an indictment on the amount of tests in other markets, he is right in saying the players should have a say in how the terms for testing are decided. A union, particularly a trans-national one, would have a strong say in such matters and also others such as ensuring being paid on-time, working conditions, and adequate leave.

Keep it simple
No two players have identical concerns, never mind hundreds if not thousands of players across dozens of competitions in Europe. Any collective body will need to set out a clear identity and from that clear goals that impact the bulk of the member base. Otherwise you’ve got a bunch of dudes with membership cards gathering dust.

Identify who needs to be represented, ideally it would be every professional baller in Europe but that’s up to the players to work out.

Build a strong leadership team, find people who know how to run such an organisation, force recognition by the governing bodies, and bring the members together. There are some existing unions at national level and the NBPA would probably be worth calling for advice too.

Then set out clear achievable goals that reflect common demands. More rest, reliable payment for services rendered (in English: getting paid on time), minimum working conditions, and player involvement in decisions that affect them such as when free agency begins and ends. Right now there’s no order across the continent on that front, interrupting the playoff races in multiple leagues. All of these are goals that a pro in the weakest league shares with the best paid players in Europe.


Aaron Jackson was one of many players to share their concerns over player welfare

This should mean better basketball
Having a few more crowded weeks in the season might not sit well with some, certainly going full NBA style would irk the many, but adding another month to six weeks in the off-season would put players in far better condition to deliver when the games start. Over exertion from insufficient rest is a recipe for more injuries but even if there was a miracle year where nobody got hurt it would still be for the better. More rest, mental and physical, gives players time away from the game with their families. That tends to be a good thing, especially when so many of them are more than a continent away. It also gives them time to look after their bodies in their own time. Condensing the season slightly could deliver huge benefits for the end products.

My DMs are open
I know I’m going to regret this but it’s the right thing to do. For any player who wants to share their views or stories, you can direct message me on Twitter at @bie_basketball even if I don’t already follow you.

Let me know if you wish to remain anonymous or if you want your views shared on the record so I know if I can quote you. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous has my word that I will respect that and not name them.

Also, as this site is Irish please note that I have to observe the rather strict defamation laws we have here. As the publisher and chronically broke, even the threat of a lawsuit would essentially terminate the existence of BallinEurope in an instant. I will share what I can that wouldn’t run that risk but please don’t take it as personal or a sign of my doubt in your word if I don’t share every element of something you tell me.

I will however do my best next Monday to share the concerns, ideas, and hopes of any player who does reach out in a follow-up piece. I’ll leave my DMs open until Friday night.

Emmet Ryan
Powered by
This post was published on June 12, 2017
FIBA scores a big win with 3x3 getting into OlympicsThe strange case of the Swiss jersey

Leave a Reply

Emmet Ryan
7 years ago EuroLeague, Features, FIBA, National Leagues, NBA/NCAA, , , , , , , , ,