<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Spanoulis' star rising quickly 2nd-round pick in '04 may force Rockets' hand By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle The reports were good, almost too good. The tapes were encouraging, almost exhilarating. Vassillis Spanoulis played well. But the problem the Rockets might soon face is that he played too well. As the Rockets head into Tuesday's draft, they also head into a decision about their last two draft picks ? Malick Badiane, taken in the second round of the 2003 draft, and Spanoulis, acquired in an exchange of second-round picks during the 2004 draft. Both were projects, and the Rockets have been happy with how they have progressed. But while Badiane could be a perfect example of a player ideal for the new option to send young players to a National Basketball Development League team, Spanoulis might have played his way out of that option. Spanoulis played so well for Marrousi Honda in Greece this season that he is reportedly receiving rich offers from other European teams. The Rockets might have been ready to bring him over, knowing that if he is not ready to crack Jeff Van Gundy's rotation, they could let him work in the D-League. But now that they have to compete to land him, the Rockets will have a tough decision about how much they are willing to spend. And they are not about to offer millions for a second-round pick unless he is ready to help their NBA, rather than NBDL, team...</div> http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3241303
We still have bird rights for the kid, don't we? So he could stay in Europe and play for any team he wanted, but after that year, we could call him over and offer him a contract. Or we could offer him a contract and let him play in the NBDL. I think the "JVG hates Rookies" stuff is stupid, if he's good, Van Gundy will play him. Sort of like Boki. While some of us thought that he had some magic potential, he never did. And Van Gundy knew what to do. We need a nickname for the kid. Span man? Vaseline (sp?)? Hm..
Well the article is claimin that if we put Span in the NBDL, he might be tempted to take an offer in Europe where he would earn more.
Well I have a feeling our guard positions will be set by the time camp arrives...so, even saying that we stick with Sura/James/Wesley as our guard rotation, I could see Spanoulis still as a backup, playing spot minutes, especially considering Sura's history of back problems...but I trust CD's eye for talent and JVG's eye for character and heart, so I trust they will do the right thing...
The only problem is I don't think he will want to play spot minutes. I think after the summer league if thats the only option we give him he will continue to play in greece where he has become one of the leaders of the team. I hope he comes over during the summer and really impresses. From what I have heard everything the Rockets have asked this guy to improve on he has done. That to me shows work ethic and players like that bring championships!!
A rotation of Sura, James and Span would be great at the PG. We should trade Wesley. He's good but he has an expiring contract that might be valuable to another team.
If we're trading expiring contracts, Weatherspoon should go first. Spanoulis, with the way he's playing, could force the Rockets either to offer him big bucks or let him earn the money overseas. We need help at point guard and if Spanoulis is ready, then we will want to get him over. Now it looks like that it's up to whether he is more interested in playing in the NBA for less money or does he want to make the money.
