For many basketball players, the NBA is considered the zenith of professional basketball. Players all across the world work extremely hard in order to one day make it to the NBA. The rise in popularity of basketball has allowed leagues across the world has create more platforms for players to ply their craft. But the NBA is still considered the biggest league.
But there are questions about the quality of play between the NBA and other leagues; most specifically, the European League. One former NBA player currently playing in Europe believes that the European league requires more technical skill and is much harder to play well in.
Former NBA player Bonzie Colson, who now plays professional basketball in Turkey, spoke recently about the differences between playing in the NBA and in Europe. He said that playing in the NBA is a lot easier because they don’t have a lot of the rules that European basketball does, and so it is easier to score in the NBA.
“Playing in the NBA is easier than playing in Europe. There is more space. The three-second rule doesn’t exist here. There are many different rules. That’s why players are constantly changing places. Scoring is easier in the NBA.”
– Bonzie Colson
(Via @Eurohoopsnet) pic.twitter.com/Ad34odInxk
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 16, 2022
“Playing in the NBA is easier than playing in Europe. There is more space. The three-second rule doesn’t exist here. There are many different rules. That’s why players are constantly changing places. Scoring is easier in the NBA.”
Colson is far from the only player to make these comments about playing in the NBA and Europe. Former European sensation and current NBA All-Star Luka Doncic has spoken in the past about how scoring in Europe is much harder than scoring in the NBA today.
On top of that, former NBA player Mario Hezonja spoke about how legendary European head coaches Zeljko Obradovic and Sarunas Jasikevicius would not fare well in the NBA because their style is too rough. The debate between European basketball and the NBA will only continue to intensify with years to come, as the European league begins to attract more star players.
