FanHouse OverseasDefection

John Paxson may have to pull those old Gordon Lightfoot records out for some sage advice. In the next level of the ever-escalating Ben Gordon contract standoff, noted Russian basketball juggernaut CSKA Moscow has reared its ugly head and is reported to be making a substantial offer to the Bulls' shooting guard.

The report is dubious on several fronts. First, it comes from a Greek news site that was then found by a Bulls blog and then discovered by Blog-A-Bull's community. If you fancy a laugh, give the poorly translated version of the site a read. It's almost as ridiculous as Gordon's contract demands this summer. Second, it sounds as if the offer is significantly less than the top dollar amount that Gordon is rumored to be asking from the Bulls, supposedly demanding to be the highest paid player on roster. So if he were to go overseas, you'd assume he'd only go for more money than he could make here, or else he's just looking to put the hurt on the Bulls. Which isn't beyond belief, given Gordon's growing bitterness towards management, but still unlikely.

If for some reason this rumor does have legs, you have to wonder how far Bulls management will go to make a point. Will they just swallow Gordon's cap space this year? Will they just let their leading scorer go to Europe, a guy who's clearly a fan favorite (in some circles, anyway)? How far are you willing to go to prove your point? And if you're Gordon, how far are you willing to go to show you're serious about your own sense of self-worth? The most reasonable solution at this point is a sign and trade. And given the complexities of a trade involving a player under a qualifying offer? That shows how truly unreasonable this whole scenario has become, and we're not even to camp yet.

We've got a NBA Overseas Defection Watch List Update for you, and we swear, we're running out of them. Former Hornets guard Jannero Pargo is headed to Moscow Dynamo, according to Woj over at Yahoo!. He'll be joining Bostjan Nachbar on the club.

Pargo is pretty much the epitome of feast or famine. He shot 39% last year, with a PER of 11.9. He also scored 30 points in a Western Conference playoff game against the Mavericks, and went down with his guns drawn versus the Spurs.

Pargo's a competent backup guard that was in a league that is short on competent backup guards. On one hand, for no team to have convinced him to stick around is kind of ridiculous. On the other, the fact that he's going to be pulling in $4 million in Russia guaranteed for a year is also kind of ridiculous. Pargo's likely to be back in the league next season, but he might want to learn some reservation. Maybe Moscow's a good place to pick that up.

The "LeBron James could go to Europe" meme is picking up steam. ESPN's Chris Broussard reports that a person close to LeBron has indicated that LeBron would strongly consider getting his passport stamped if he's offered a salary "around $50 million a year" when he becomes a free agent the summer of 2010. And from the sounds of it, at least two Euro teams are chomping at the bit to get in line:

The Russian team CSKA Moscow and the Greek team Olympiacos, which recently gave Josh Childress a contract approaching $30 million over three years, have already contacted James, according to the person close to him. The person added, however, that no monetary or contractual discussions have taken place.

[...] The source close to James said he would play in Europe only for a year or two before returning to the NBA. He said James would view it as an opportunity to popularize the game and himself overseas.

I know some people cling to the romantic notion that LeBron would never abandon the NBA because he cheered for it growing up, but let's face it, he didn't have Warren Buffet on speed dial back then. These days, James has big picture aspirations such as becoming a global icon as well as the world's first billionaire athlete.

If he can bank $100 million in two years while playing on an international stage and still return to the NBA as a 27-year-old free agent in the summer of 2012, well, why wouldn't he go? He'd still be in the prime of his career with plenty of time to achieve all of his NBA goals upon returning, and who knows, by leaving, he might freak out the NBA so much that it eliminates the salary cap. The more I think about it, the more this makes sense. All we need now is a European billionaire to step up in 2010.

Forget LeBron James to Greece, today's hot rumor is Kobe Bryant to Russia!

Asked if, like many of his fellow NBA stars, he would consider moving to Europe to play, Bryant answered very straight-forwardly. "Of course. By the way, are you the owner of a Russian team? It can be arranged for $40 million per year."

Okay, straight forward or not, Bryant was almost certainly having some fun with Sport Express Daily, the Russian pub that reported his quote today. But the question remains, when will the first bona fide All-Star follow in the footsteps of Josh Childress, Nenad Krstic, Carlos Delfino and all the other rotation guys who jumped overseas this summer.

Jason Kidd alluded to the possibility of finishing his career in Europe three or four years down the line, but Bostjan Nachbar, who turned down the Nets in favor of a three-year deal with Dynamo Moscow, thinks his former teammate might join him even sooner.

"Taxes are lower in Europe and wages depend on the euro, which is much more stable than the dollar. If dollar rates don't stop falling many famous players will move from the US to Europe. And I do not think Jason Kidd was joking when he said that next year he could join a European club."

Think about it: Kidd is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him just over $21 million this season, and there's absolutely no chance that he'll ever sign a contract that pays him that much in the NBA ever again. But might there be a Russian billionaire out there willing to splurge simply for the sake of making a name for his team? It certain seems possible (and, who knows, it just might help in the LBJ sweepstakes a year later).

"That's right, right this way, please step forward. Okay, forwards, please line up behind the Olympiakos sign, guards and centers, please line up behind the Maccabi Tel Aviv sign."

Carlos Arroyo has gotten in line.

Marc Stein, who may or may not be omniscient (seriously, who sits around asking "You know what I haven't checked on in a while? Whether Carlos Arroyo is looking at an Israeli basketball offer. I should look into that. "?), reports that the former Orlando point guard has accepted a three year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, which will net him $2.5 million next year. Not exactly the wallet buster Josh Childress got, but a nice chunk of change regardless for the 29 year old point guard that lost his gig last season. Arroyo started last season in contention for the starting spot for the Magic, then went to a backup role behind Jameer Nelson, before eventually not appearing hardly at all except to make sure Jameer Nelson didn't hurt himself by playing too much. When you lose your job to a guy who was heavily responsible for the Magic's self-destruct versus the Pistons and who the Magic had not interest in retaining, yeah, a change of scenery might be nice.

This is much more likely to be the last effect of the NBA Overseas Defection Watch List. Players that are better than the minimum, but not good enough for solid rotation or a significant chunk of change can head over and get paid. No word yet on whether the Israeli airlines plan on instituting a bulk discount for former Magic and Heat players.

Oh, did you think we were done with the NBA Overseas Defection Watch List? No, no, silly rabbits. Israeli contracts are for Jason Williams!

That's right, Mr. White Chocolate himself has had a hard time finding himself a gig in the states, and when the Miami Heat are basically saying "No, it's cool, our second round draft choice and Chris Quinn will do fine, thanks," it may be time to explore other options. For most people in Williams' position this would mean a part time position at Pottery Barn or a nice soft reality TV role. But White Chocolate just has that competitive fire.

So he's piqued the interest of Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, according to TrueHoop. Apparently Williams' agent is Mr. Blabber McBlabbermouth and willing to go on and on about how this is an option you now have to explore in the market. He also says that J-Will's biggest priority is to win. Apparently it doesn't matter where, but winning is important. For instance, right now you can find Jason down at your local over-30 league, tearing down Bob from accounting. Not really, but the message is kind of the same. The money's not important. Winning is. Winning money, I mean.

And so the saga continues...

Hey, look, it's not like I'm arbitrarily making up this stuff up, okay? If athletes and their agents will stop talking about going to Europe, I'll go back to making fun of incompetent GMs. But as it is, this is the currency on the market, so to speak.

Today's addition to the NBA Overseas Defection Watch List is Ben Gordon. Today at his youth basketball camp, he told reporters that playing overseas is definitely a possibility.

"Definitely, it's a possibility now with the euro being so strong," Gordon said Monday at his youth basketball camp. "Josh did it. It just depends on what the individual wants and what he can put up with. It's definitely something that seems like it would be interesting. But ideally, I'd like to be here playing in the states for the team that drafted me."

So there's that. Later on in the article, he mentions that the Bulls have a plethora of guards and so he may be expendable. This could be another example of a guy trying to increase his value by talking about it. Or it could just be Ben Gordon displaying his knowledge of the global currency market. But with Gordon's British background, and his newfound discussion of the imaginary elephant int the room, this may not be all smoke, no fire.

No, silly Europeans, Andris Biedrins is for Nellie!

The Warriors shored up their remaining free agent quandary today, according to the infinitely reliable Marc Stein over at the WWL. Stein says the Dubs have given Biedrins a 6 year, $63 million contract, with a player option for the fifth year. Tim Kawakami respectfully disagrees with Stein's report on the amount, putting the number at $54 million. Six years, $54 million seems a little more reasonable for the top big man on a team that was, you know, kind of terrible at both defense and rebounding. Still, Don Nelson is big on Biedrins, and after Baron Davis absconded to LA, the Warriors needed to shore up their roster in-house.

It's unknown at this point what effect Biedrins' position on the NBA Overseas Defection Watch had on the urgency for the Warriors to get the deal done, if any, but anyway, go ahead and cross him off the list. And, barring injury or a team losing their mind in a trade (we're looking at you, Atlanta), this should pretty much lock up the Warriors roster next year, with both Anthony Randolph and Richard Hendrix signed. So for better or worse, it's Monta Ellis, Kelenna Azubuike, and Andris Biedrins resigned, Mickael Pietrus and Baron Davis gone with the wind, and Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf newly acquired. Your guess is as good as ours as far as next season goes.

Let's say you think the whole idea of NBA players bolting overseas in droves is a bunch of poppycock. Ballyhoo. Perhaps hijinx with a dash of hogwash. A rather large portion of manure. You may not be far off. But what's interesting is that this whole overblown message may have a very real effect on an age old tradition: agents making up stuff to get their clients more money.

I submit to you now the curious case of Delonte West, starting point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Following a drawn out contract dispute that looked like it would be no big deal and has since turned into quite the ugly affair, rumors began to circulate the intrepid Mr. West was considering an offer from Russian team Dynamo Moscow (which also sounds like a 1950s proletariat superhero from Communist propaganda). Tonight, however, terrific blog for all things Cleveland, Waiting for Next Year informs us that the rumor is more than likely a negotiation tactic, via the Morning Journal's Bob Finnan.

Only time will obviously tell on this particular issue (I know, that's kind of obvious. But my sources in Dynamo Moscow are out saving the world from the evil Comrade Capitalism). But this is likely to be the real ramification of all this foreign ball bluster: contract negotiation leverage.