DENVER -- Wilson Chandler will have some company in China this season. Fellow Denver Nuggets free agent J.R. Smith is following him overseas. Another teammate, Ty Lawson, is taking his game abroad as well, electing to play in Lithuania. Unlike Chandler and Smith, Lawson will be able to cut short his overseas adventure should the lockout end in time for there to be an NBA season. The NBA owners and players are divided over a salary cap structure and have made no significant progress in talks to end the lockout. No more meetings are scheduled. "J.R. really wants to play basketball this season," agent Leon Rose told The Associated Press on Wednesday. So, Smith signed a one-year deal with a squad in Zhejiang, the same province Chandler is heading to but not the same team. "His decision to accept the deal was based on the uncertainty of the NBA labor negotiations, a significant offer from the club and the unique opportunity to play the game he loves in another country that loves its basketball," Rose wrote in an email. "J.R. is looking forward to the challenge."
This has to be a part of David Stern’s evil genius plan, right? Start out innocently enough by proclaiming NBA players are free to play overseas during the lockout, foreign countries like China and Spain get all excited dreaming of Kobe, Lebron, Wade, and Howard throwing down in packed gymnasiums, start sending over a few non-stars but upstanding citizens, and then while everyone is jizzing themselves to the thought of world famous superstars playing in their cities in the very short future, you start sneaking in the JR Smiths of the NBA.
This is a nightmare for foreign leaders. Now you’ve unknowingly exposed your own citizens to thugs. It's going to be like when the Europeans first gave those small pox blankets to Native Americans, entire societies completely unprepared to deal with these guys...You think Chinese bars just keep Alize and Hypnotic on the shelf? Nope. You think JR Smith is going to be cool with that? Nope.
So now your country is no longer safe, your only hope to get rid of these guys is for the lock out to end. But the league is in financial crisis with no compromise in site. What do you do if you’re China? You kick in some money to help grease the deal. Hows a billion over 5 years sound? Boom, lockout over, and David Stern wins again.
PS: Are posse's traveling overseas with these guys? Are foreign countries allowing that? I can't picture China being all "yea, sure JR, bring over mookie, ray-ray and D-Bo, we're cool with it."
