Odds & Ends: Europe, Draft, Harden, Blatche

Recently, NBA commissioner David Stern said that he could see a franchise in Europe sometime in the next couple of decades.  While the idea of a team on the other side of the pond, perhaps in England, remains a possibility, it won't happen right away, writes Oliver Holt of the Daily Mirror.  “We have more intensity,” Stern said. “We play 82 games in 171 days. For us, it would not work unless we had multiple teams in Europe who could play against each other regularly…There are long-term strategic issues that mean it will not be happening any time soon. But the UK remains a very intriguing market to us.”  Here's tonight's look around the league..

  • Chad Ford of ESPN.com revealed his first big board for the 2013 NBA Draft and placed Kentucky's Nerlens Noel at the top of the list.  Maryland center Alex Len, who some have speculated could be the No. 1 pick in the draft, checks in at No. 4 on Ford's list.
  • Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld runs down the best moves so far as we approach the midway point of the season.  The best trade acquisition of the year goes to the Rockets for the James Harden trade while the Nets get the nod for best free agent pickup for big man Andray Blatche.
  • Count former NBA big man Shaquille O'Neal amongst those who is against the current "one-and-done" system in college basketball for players ascending to the pros, writes the Associated Press.  If it were up to O'Neal, there would be a "three-and-done" mandate in place before college players could enter the NBA.  
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