Those Euros, They Will Spend

So the rumor mill has Rudy Fernandez, new to the Mavs after a draft-day deal with his old club in Portland, getting a large multi-year contract offer from Real Madrid.

It makes all of the sense in the world for Real Madrid to do this, really. Fernandez has spent much of the past few years pining to return, and there's always the feeling that transplanted players are always here on loan. But there's a bigger reason why this is important: the simple fact that professional basketball exists in Europe, and right now, as the locked out NBA situation shows, it does not in the United States.

There isn't enough money in Euro basketball to pay all of the freely available talent, and as the stalled migration of players like Josh Childress and Allen Iverson shows, guys really do not want to go overseas to hoop. But cash is cash, and unlike the last time the NBA went into lockout, there are other options.

As for Fernandez... I have to think he's gone. He doesn't know anyone in Dallas, he's not exactly beholden to the idea of winning an NBA championship above all, and he's spent years not being at home, and by most accounts, not liking it much. If you don't like living in Portland, I can't see how Dallas is going to whet your whistle. All for the joy of staying in a league where he's not getting paid, and may not get paid for a very long time. Wouldn't you bail as well?