But from my work I have lived in Italy, Spain, and Greece. I also have watched plenty of Russian Super League. I think the Greek one is better than the Italian one and still a bit better than Russian one. If I consider all the new players the Russian League added, even the NBA guys it is still a little bit behind the Greek League I think. Italian Liga is not as good as Greek A1 – in fact, I don’t think it’s even that close. Although without any doubt the Italian League is still the 4th best in Europe and the next best league is a ways off from it.

Spanish ACB and Greek A1 are the top domestic leagues in Europe, and truth is the Spanish one is no better at all than the Greek one. Absolutely not. It simply has, comparatively speaking, a much bigger, richer, more diverse league, and yes it is certainly deeper because it has more top division level type of teams.

But as someone who has followed both leagues extensively, I can say 100% that if you took the biggest 8 clubs in Greece and the biggest 8 clubs in Spain and made with them a 16 team league, the Greek League is easily every bit the equal to the Spanish League, if not in fact superior. There’s a myth that the ACB is so superior to A1 and that A1 only has two good teams. I honestly think 1-8 A1 is even a better league, and ACB is better in the teams after that.

About the ACB still being the best league in Europe, I think it’s still the Superleague’s task to prove otherwise. A bunch of stars by themselves are not enough material to make such a great difference; those teams will need to meet expectations, prove they are for real. Just remember last season Joventut and Girona blew the rich Khimky and Dynamo out of the water in the ULEB Cup. We also have to consider those leagues as a whole, as the Russian one still shows a number of extremely weak teams.

I think the second game was more important. It was the final. Rubio stayed strong on court 28 minutes (Kidd? 11 minutes, not during the crucial moments), I can’t remember an exhibition as big as his, in the Olympic Final, at the age of 17. Chris Paul is an All-Star and one of the most likely candidates to become the next Nba Mvp. Jason Kidd is a former All-Star and between the best 10 PG of the NBA history. Differences are evident. Paul embarasses Rubio… this is regular! If the opposite happens (against Kidd), something is going wrong.

@ Maku

Maku, I’ve seen the Olympics. Prigioni? Good job. But that’s was a tournament, an entire European season lasts 8 months. Prigioni has shown problems to keep his efficiency high during all this period. Mainly, because of his physical integrity. So, I spoke about “15 quality minutes”: for his health and for his ability to become the leader for more than a quarter. This is the reason why Prigioni has never been the starter PG of a Euroleague team: of course he’s talented, but his discontinuity (also in the same game) is a shortcoming that carries coaches to use him less minutes you could expect.

Overall though, this is another excellent article.