NBA's Global Expansion Makes Raptors Perfect Team to Showcase Overseas

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For anyone who has ever travelled for work, the concept can be appealing but depending on where you end up, it's not always as exciting as people make it sound. Still, getting away from your normal routine—even if it's just for a few days—can be refreshing. The Raptors and Magic are spending this week in London, England, taking a break from their regular schedule for a matchup at The O2 Arena in Greenwich on Thursday for what will be the sixth consecutive soldout NBA regular-season game in London.

Ahead of the trip, players expressed various levels of excitement. Luis Scola, who represented Argentina at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, will let the team-organized activities dictate his downtime this week. Bismack Biyombo wants to visit some of the soccer teams, and test out his British accent. Some players will bring their families along, and have them experience a new country for the first time. The Raptors last visited London during the 2010-11 season, playing two games overseas against the (then) New Jersey Nets. DeMar DeRozan and James Johnson are two active players from that team who are on the roster this season. "My first time going to London to play an NBA game was definitely awesome," DeRozan told reporters in a conference call last week. "They didn't have one team they were cheering for, they were cheering for both teams. That's what made the game even more fun and competitive."

One of those games in 2011 went to triple overtime (Andrea Bargnani led all scorers with 35 points), giving the London fans their money's worth. According to Benjamin Morel, the NBA's senior vice president and managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, discussions are held with all the teams about participating in preseason and regular-season games overseas before the start of every season. The Raptors and Magic are what Morel describes as two exciting young teams.

While it is not, say, Cleveland versus Golden State, both teams will enter the matchup very much in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors, the only team in the league residing outside of the United States, have been especially strong. Sitting atop the Atlantic and going for their third consecutive division title, the Raptors are second in the East behind the Cavaliers and their .615 winning percentage is the sixth-best mark in the league.

All eyes will be on Toronto in February, too, as the city will host the first-ever All-Star Game outside of the US. The team has a chance to send two players to the mid-season showcase in DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, giving London fans a glimpse at a pair of potential all-stars.

There's quite a bit of international appeal, as well, with Scola, Biyombo, Jonas Valanciunas, Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira, Evan Fournier, Nikola Vucevic and Mario Hezonja representing players from outside of the US and Canada. According to Morel, this is the second consecutive season in which the league's had at least 100 international players on opening night rosters, with 52 of them from Europe.

For some of the players who haven't travelled overseas during the season, there's a curiosity about whether the long flight and time zone difference will have an impact on them while they're in London, and when they return. The Raptors, who went to London after a stretch of five games in seven nights, will play Thursday, fly back, and get a few days off before starting a seven-game homestand next Monday. Teams have physicians and doctors who provide the players with proper guidance in terms of how best to adjust their body clock. Scola, who has extensive experience playing overseas, doesn't see it as a big deal at all.

"You have to adjust a little [because] you're changing time zones," Scola said. "But we fly all the time. When we play the Lakers or the Warriors, we change three hours." If anything, Scola added, the London trip is easier from a competitive standpoint since both teams will be making the same adjustments to the new environment.

Jason Smith, a forward on the Magic who travelled to London with the Knicks last season, sees it a bit differently. "There's a lot of things you have to mentally prepare for knowing you're going there to do a job," Smith said. The biggest lesson he learned from last season's trip? Don't nap when you arrive. Smith recalls the team landing and arriving at its hotel in the early morning. Because there was a small time period before the Knicks held their morning practice, Smith dozed off for 15 minutes, and it threw his body clock off for the remainder of the trip. His advice is simple. "I'm going to tell the guys it's going to be a long flight," Smith said. "You're going to want to sleep when you get there but you have to fight it."

Jose Calderon, who travelled to London with the Raptors in 2011, believes it's more difficult adjusting to the time change when you get back, although jetlag isn't much of a concern. "You don't really have time to be jetlagged," Calderon said. "Anytime that you get a chance to sleep is great during the season. It's great."

While the logistics of travelling to London for one game might seem like a hassle for some players, Smith sees it as a great way to bond as a team on an international trip, and is looking forward to doing it again. Last season, the Knicks tried to do some sightseeing in London, but ran into obstacles everywhere. "We tried to go see the Big Ben, but there was remodeling," Smith said. "The London Eye was closed because it was too cold. The London Bridge was closed because of visiting political dignitaries." As a consolation, Smith at least got a glimpse of the bridge as the team bus drove by.

Another part of the experience that Smith found enjoyable was dealing with the local media in London, an encounter he describes as similar to Super Bowl media day. There are basic questions about how the team handled its long flight in, what they think about the local food they've tried, and then, "you get into the odd questions," Smith said. Last season, he was asked about his favorite cartoon character and television show. "It's like they're trying to size you up, get to know you better," Smith said. The media also asks a lot of league-wide questions, such as how is it like to guard LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, and queries about what players think will happen to marquee stars when they hit free agency.

The league appears committed to making progress with growing the game overseas. Last season, before the Bucks and Knicks played in London, commissioner Adam Silver talked about potentially having four teams in Europe in the future. While overseas expansion comes with a lot of questions that need answers, Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes it can be done.

"There is a lot of logistics that have to be worked out as far as travel is concerned," Casey said. "I know Adam is really concerned about the wear and tear on players. I think just getting the logistics worked out as far as getting a team there, I don't see why not. I don't foresee any stumbling blocks in the next ten years for having a team there."

The league continues to see year-to-year growth with its social media presences in London, and for the second straight season, has included games on the weekend schedule that are broadcasted in primetime in Europe. This season, that includes 23 Sunday games and 12 Saturday games, allowing overseas fans in a different time zones—who usually have to stay up until midnight local time just to see the East Coast games tip off—a chance to watch at a more reasonable hour. Calderon has seen the league's growth, as well. "I know people in Spain are definitely following the games more now," he said. "A lot of people are just waking up in the middle of the night, or they just don't go to sleep just to watch the games. It's growing."

In November, the league teamed up with Basketball England to announce a second season of the Jr. NBA Basketball England League, a secondary school league for boys and girls aged 11-12. The first year of the program reached 30 schools in London. This year, the program expanded to four leagues across London, Birmingham and Manchester. "There has never been a better time for fans to share in the excitement of the game," Morel said. "Our efforts are designed to get more kids in the UK and across Europe to dribble a ball. Growing a love for the game itself and the NBA is key objective in everything we do."