travis hansen was making 3 mil a year? well, that would make him about the highest paid player in euro basketball in 2013: http://www.talkbasket.net/salaries. so you're going to tell me that ten years ago, he was making that? really? allen iverson makes a million dollars, for goodness sake.

and yes, in travis hansen's mind, he was a an elite athlete. we are talking about the same thing. you don't have to be a top pick to make millions in the nba. that's clear, and i've given you evidence of that already. it's much easier to make millions in the nba than in europe. you can make claims as to his motivations, but athletes are athletes. we all think that we are great, and we always want to test ourselves against the best. who in their right mind wants to be second best or settle? furthermore, with the lack of long term contract options in europe, why wouldn't you test the nba market? you can't always go to europe, but it's difficult to go the other way.

as for jimmer, of course he wants to play. but if it were as simple as you make it out to be, he would have already been in europe. NO already had starters at both guard spots, as well as backups. he knew that he wasn't going to get meaningful minutes. but he went there, precisely for the reasons i laid out. he wants the chance to prove himself on the highest level. maybe he sits the bench, but in his mind, all he needs is the chance, and he's jeremy lin. again, athletes are delusional. if he fails, he's a failure. but when you're in the league, at least you're IN THE LEAGUE. what athlete wants to be on the b team? stay on as long as you can. that's the way of thinking.

a buddy of mine was an all A-10 LHP at rhode island. i asked him why he didn't go to the minors when he had been a great college pitcher. he had went up against the best, and had been successful. he told me that he had seen so many of his buddies stick it out one more year after one more year, never getting anywhere. they'd say "ok, this is the last year." then they'd go up in a classification, or they'd have a nice year, and they'd say, "ok, now THIS is the last year". next thing they knew, they were 30 years old with nothing to show for it. i'd like to think that the guys you speak of are rational, but they're not. they always stay one more year, hoping to get paid, AND play.

in the end, however, i think that we are actually saying similar things. i don't think that haws will make it in the nba, but i think that he's got to go that route as long as he can. once it doesn't work out, naturally you look at europe. it's an opportunity to play for a living.