2 Questions rescued from the spam

MAILBAG Ian Thomsen will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

2. Do you think the Blazers actually have TOO much young talent and that they'll need to move some pieces before the deadline or in the offseason, especially with Greg Oden due to come back next season?
-- Drew T., Oregon

Everything is arranged beautifully for Portland. The Blazers have a winning record with the youngest team in the league, and they'll have major cap space in two summers -- leading to speculation of a run at Chris Paul. There is no need to trade anybody right now because they're waiting for LaMarcus Aldridge and Oden to mature together. Why trade for veterans until those two are ready to contend?

1. Is Stern crazy, or merely unwilling to learn from past mistakes? Only now is the league emerging from a 15-year funk caused by too little talent being spread over 30 teams. Further expansion would destroy that momentum and reestablish crummy teams as the norm and barely above average as championship caliber.
-- Aaron, Pittsburgh

That's a fair point. But if the NBA goes in this direction, the residual hope will be that moving to Europe will inspire a new generation of players, thus growing the pool of talent.

There would be a lot of problems, including a drain on the talent pool, as Aaron predicts. The American players would inevitably complain about having to play in Europe, and their demands to be traded back to the United States wouldn't be appreciated by the fans in Europe. All of the teams -- especially those based in Europe -- would complain about the travel, and local supporters would detest the ticket prices. But the bottom line is that Stern has been globalizing the NBA brand for two decades in hopes of pursuing this kind of expansion. If he believes he can ultimately create new revenues while growing his business and his sport by moving to Europe, then I would imagine he is going to give it a try.

1 New way of viewing the league

Most sports leagues outside the United States operate on a "promotion'' system in which teams are promoted to -- or relegated from -- the first division, with the second and third divisions featuring weaker franchises that dream of working their way up. That kind of approach would work quite nicely in today's lopsided NBA. Just exchange five teams from each conference and you'd have the makings of a first and second division, based on the records of teams entering the All-Star break.

(Eastern conference teams are in bold-face)

First Division

1. Boston .820
2. Detroit .750
3. New Orleans .706
4. Phoenix .698
5. L.A. Lakers .673
6. San Antonio .667
7. Dallas .660
8. Utah .642
T-9. Golden State .615
T-9. Houston .615
T-9. Denver .615
12. Orlando .611
13. Cleveland .558
14. Toronto .549
15. Portland .538

Second Division

1. Washington .481
2. Sacramento .451
T-3. New Jersey .434
T-3. Philadelphia .434
5. Atlanta .429
6. Chicago .404
7. Indiana .396
T-8. Charlotte .358
T-8. Milwaukee .358
10. L.A. Clippers .340
11. New York .288
12. Memphis .269
13. Seattle .255
14. Minnesota .196
15. Miami .176