Let's compare!

PARIS (The Monday International Show) - Periodically I like to look at where the NBA and Euroleague stand because these are the 2 strongest levels of club basketball in the world and the sport's major locomotives towards progress.

The Euroleague, in terms of infrastructure,revenues and TV rights is about where the NBA stood 25 years ago before international expansion which I experienced first hand at the time following David Stern around europe on a fact-finding tour.

The recent strength of the euro compared to the dollar has helped bring some NBA players back to europe and the level of competition is excellent with a long, drawn out but fair, four- stage format finishing with an exciting final four(exciting, but not as fair from a sports standpoint as the NBA's series playoff system).

The advantage over the NBA of this 4- stage formula is that most of the games are important in order to qualify for the next round or for home-court advantage in the quarters which guarantees intense battles each week!

The NBA's overly long regular season is full of fluff and lots of games that don't count for much!

The Euroleague's top 16 round is more just than the first round of the NBA playoffs because most of the truly deserving teams qualify whereas in the NBA format,in terms of win percentage, this season 10 western conference teams merit being in the playoffs and only 6 eastern teams but we know that won't happen!

The refereeing in the Euroleague has improved and I get the impression that big-budget clubs are less coddled than before,the proof being young Partizan Belgrade's decisive home win over Panathinaikos' expensive dream team last week which means the defending champs are eliminated as well as the final four hosts from Real Madrid but the Euroleague is strong enough, now, to have a successful final four event depite the absence of 2 of the most prestigous teams!

Now the Euroleague has to follow the NBA's lead and dare to suspend players who are caught by TV cameras displaying despicable,unsportsmanlike conduct!
Punches,low blows and spitting on opponents-for example, in a recent,decisive matchup between Olympiakos and Real- must be punished to protect the integrity of the competition!

On the NBA side,the fabulous and charitable success of the New Orleans all-star weekend, which might have been Stern's finest moment, has improved the image of the league after the ref scandal last summer which seems long ago and far away!

As we move towards the NBA's " real season ", the playoffs, all indicators are positve because the west is ridiculously powerful and wide open which guarantees exciting duels in each round whereas in the east, you'll find the 2 best win percentages in the league and 3 true candidates for the title in Boston,Detroit and Cleveland!

Imagine a " back to the future "NBA Finals opposing LA and Boston in a dream matchup for marketing and TV partners as well as 2 great towns for the visiting media contingent!

In light of all these facts, it's safe to say that the future of elite basketball in the NBA and Euroleague looks pretty bright! end