<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"Uruguayan center <u><font color="#000099">Esteban Batista has been invited to the Warriors' training camp</font></u>."</div> </font></font>Height: 6-9, age: 21. weight: ??? http://caracas.eluniversal.com/2005/09/01/...rt_01305D.shtml It's in Spanish, so there's no point in reading it unless you know how to read Espanol or you know your latin basics. But I found it on hoopshype. Here is the crappy translation done by free web software I found. <font color="Blue">SENT SPECIAL/THE UNIVERSAL Saint Sunday. Esteban Batista, center of the national selection of Uruguay, was invited al training camp of the Warriors of Golden State, looking to the season 2005-2006 of the NBA. The noticeable action achieved by the rebotero charr?a in which goes of the Premundial of Basketball did that the youth of 21 years and 2,06 meters called the attention of the cazatalentos that continue the incidents of the continental tournament. Batista, a player of great importance and with noticeable development in the restrictive zone, is a leader rebotero of the Cup of the Americas, al point that in the five first encounters of its team accumulated 78 captures, including 26 offensives. Its average of repercussions by collision is of 15,6. Besides, is eighth in blockades, with average of 1,2 and goes fourth among the scorers of the contest, with average of 20,2 so many. The technician of the selection charr?a, Alberto Espasandin, indicated that the player counts on the necessary talent for establercerse in the NBA. "He is in a very small level as for what can achieve as the player and therefore he should work a lot more strong. He has to improve a little the technique, his exterior shot and to act with intensity. He has to be set goals to be able to develop his potential, but if he puts of his part, he will arrive far away", he notified. Batista accumulates experience in the league of his country with the teams Welcome, Leap and Trouville. Besides, it carried out pasant?as in Spain, with the Pozuelo, in the LEB-2 and with the Water of Calpe, in the Spanish League of Basketball (LEB). In 2005, participated as reinforcement of the Welcome, in the south american League of Clubs 2005. </font> F-in' hilarious, huh? He's primarily a paint player I'm guessing. He's recently been getting some crazy stats in these world tournament qualifiers for the Federation of International Basketball Association (?) FIBA. On various sites, it says he's got something like 20.5 points, 14.5 boards and 1.5 blocks in the first two games. In game 3, he also got 21 points, 19 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. The article mentioned he averaged 15.6 Rebounds per game (Repercussions by Collision LOL), 21 ppg and 1.2 bpg (Blockades!) in the FIBA Americas tournament. Now here's a better source I just found in Ingles: <font color="Blue">01/09/2005 FIBA Americas - Uruguay star Batista eyed by Golden State SANTO DOMINGO (FIBA Americas Championship) - All is not lost for Uruguay centre Esteban Batista, whose team was eliminated from semi-final contention at the FIBA Americas Championship when they were beaten by Venezuela, 101-99. The 2.06m tall Batista played 40 minutes and scored a team-high 25 points while also pulling down 18 rebounds. It was a typical performance from him in the tournament. According to Uruguayan newspaper El Universal, his efforts in Santo Domingo have caught the eye of the Golden State Warriors, who have invited the 21-year-old player to their training camp. Batista has been the leading rebounder in the Americas Championship, hauling down 94 in the competition, including 33 on the offensive glass. Through six games, he has averaged 20.2 points - making him the tournament's fourth leading scorer. National team boss Alberto Espasandin believes the player has the potential to make it in the NBA. "I think he is at a low level in terms of what he can achieve as a player, and that is why he has to work very hard," Espasandin said. "He needs to improve his technique a little bit, his perimeter shooting, and have more intensity. "He needs to set himself goals in order to develop his potential, but I believe that if he actually does this, he can go very far." Batista has played in Uruguay with teams Welcome, Salto and Trouville. He has also played in Spain with Aguas de Calpe in the LEB. *Which team will win the FIBA Americas Championship? Go vote here.</font> http://www.fiba.com/ And here's some great pics of him getting dunked on http://it.sports.yahoo.com/050901/1/afaa.html Altering a shot http://it.sports.yahoo.com/050901/1/afan.html Driving http://it.sports.yahoo.com/050831/1/aej1.html Layup attempt http://it.sports.yahoo.com/050831/1/aej9.html Watching a defender fly by http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/photo?slug=r57...81&prov=reuters <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"> Playing in the post I guess he's not a highlight player. Still, I wonder if he's in any of those film clips on the site that I found the Tiago Splitter highlights. </font></font>
I guess Mully and crew has been inspired by the Spurs selection of unknown foriegn bigs. Size is always good though and this guy sounds like he has some talent. I would love for him to make the team and ride the bench for a year or two, just to see if he pans out. Does anyone know anything about his game? I've read that he's an "inside player" but there was no specifics as to whether that meant he was a good post defender, good offensive post game, good rebounder, or any combonation of those. He sounds like a monster rebounder but I dont really know what the norm is for stats in these leagues. I hope we give him a cheap contract for 2-3 years, maybe he will turn out to be a gem.
I think the stats might be inflated. A dude like Peter John Ramos got something like 19 boards and 8 blocks if you look up the box scores on the fiba site.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the stats might be inflated. A dude like Peter John Ramos got something like 19 boards and 8 blocks if you look up the box scores on the fiba site.</div> Do you know what his specialty is? Offense? Defense?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Run BJM:</div><div class="quote_post">Do you know what his specialty is? Offense? Defense?</div> Who knows. Judging by the number of photos I found on him, I think getting dunked on.
There is still a very long way from second division in Spain until the NBA. Why does no Spanish first divsion team sign him? They can impossibly overlook him. Why is he not playing for Real Madrid, Malaga or Tau? These are questions that I directly pose as a European. What does those FIBA stats really mean? Not much if you ask me... I often notice that NBA scouts seem to neglect the difference in competition level in Europe. Playing and starring (!) for a European top-team as Real Madrid (Gasol) Tau (Nocioni, Oberto, Scola) Bologna (Ginobili) or Paris SG (Parker) is completely different than playing for an unkown crap team as for example Darko or this kid did. Look who San Antonio drafts (proven winners) and look who all the other teams draft...that makes them the current NBA champions.
Biedrens didn't start for a top euro team and Pietrus was a bench player. This kid is from Uruguay and he is young. I like the international players that the Warriors have brought in. This kid is 6' 91/4" and looks like a bull. He must have something Mullin likes: Toughness, strength. From the pictures posted by CR2 He looks like he has a big strong NBA body. Maybe they want a tough guy to knock Taft and Diogu around in practice.
I read that the Hawks offered him a contract. Did anyone else hear about this? I think it was from hoopsworld so I wont buy it until a more trustworthy source reports it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chuck.be:</div><div class="quote_post">There is still a very long way from second division in Spain until the NBA. Why does no Spanish first divsion team sign him? They can impossibly overlook him. Why is he not playing for Real Madrid, Malaga or Tau? These are questions that I directly pose as a European. What does those FIBA stats really mean? Not much if you ask me... I often notice that NBA scouts seem to neglect the difference in competition level in Europe. Playing and starring (!) for a European top-team as Real Madrid (Gasol) Tau (Nocioni, Oberto, Scola) Bologna (Ginobili) or Paris SG (Parker) is completely different than playing for an unkown crap team as for example Darko or this kid did. Look who San Antonio drafts (proven winners) and look who all the other teams draft...that makes them the current NBA champions.</div> Those are some good questions, chuck, and yes, stats are pretty meaningless if the competition is nowhere near comparable to the top level international teams in the world. There must be some things about him if two NBA teams are indeed looking into him. But we don't know that for sure despite some "reports". It's always great to have some international viewpoints on this discussion because it's hard to get a grasp on the guy when he's a relative unknown to our media. But I think scouting is the same everywhere. It's a huge gamble to whoever doesn't have good judge of talent or they don't do their homework on the player. There are some guys that are really high on some team's radar and they might have played against subpar competition. It's like the fad with Junior College ballers (JUCO) awhile back like Kedrick Brown and Qyntel Woods or the young 18 year old big Dirk Nowitzki-like players. Great physical bodies, but they didn't pan out when it came to the tougher competition or learning/having the skillset. Also BJM I heard the Hawks gave him an invite, but I don't know about contract offer or anything with the term "offer" in it. The "offer" must have been a rumor, but now it says GS and ATL are making "offers". Every source I find isn't in English and I'm not familar with any of the international news sources and how legit or credible their reporting is. I know hoopsworld is definitely questionable. Until I find something in English, I'm pretty much in a holding pattern in what I think is going on. It's not like the guy has a good chance of making the team in Oakland unless Mullin plans to move a PF/C this season. I've never known the Warriors or Hawks to be the Mavericks or Spurs when it comes to surething international talent. We know Mully gambled on Biedrins for his freakish athleticism and length of his and he definitely played against subpar competition in Latvia. <font size="1">Batista tiene ofertas de Atlanta y Golden State</font> http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.es.hts/sp/spt/3335695 http://www.freetranslation.com/
I doubt we will land him if the Hawks gave him an invite. He probably would rather go to the Hawks camp because he has a better chance of making the team and getting a contract. Not that I think he will be a stud but if he ends up being a legit career reserve PF/C thats like a free draft pick.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting FIBA:</div><div class="quote_post">- The Atlanta Hawks gave Uruguayan center Esteban Batista a two year offer worth almost 900,000 dollars informed Pedro Perez, who works with Aaron Goodwin, who is Batista's agent. "Batista is very happy to have the opportunity to play against the best players in the World," said Perez. The offer was recieved on Friday, when Batista turned 22 years. Batista revealed that his agent is also working an offer with Golden State, being Atlanta the best offer so far. In eight games played, he averaged 18.0 points and 15.6 rebounds per game in the 2005 FIBA Americas Championship.</div> So I guess he did get a contract offer from the Hawks. http://www.fibaamericas.com/noticiasread_us.asp?r=WJGRAEGREJ
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/372...steban_batista/ Looks like Esteban chose GS. I guess GS's no playing time 1 year 900,000 offer was more attractive than ATL's playing time 2 year 900,000 offer. He looks like a decent prospect, he cant be much more raw than Taft or Fran Vasquez. Do yyou guys think he will be on the roster or in the NBDL? Maybe he will stay in Europe for a few years, but then again he is already 22.
Who knows. I know nada about the guy. But I'll post something if I do. Maybe Taft's back problem, Zarko's strength, or Foyle's age might be a problem where we need to add another F/C to bolster our roster. Also, it would allow us more flexibility in dealing one of the bigs should the opportunity arise to upgrade a starting position.
First, I do want to see the confirmation that we actually got him. Considering that the league minimum is $400,000 and it generally takes MLE to sign anybody who plays center, I can't complain a bit. Of course, I have no idea how he will get a mins, when we have Foyle, Murphy, Diogu, Taft, Zarko and Biedrins at 4 and 5, but who knows? Besides, Mullin has great eyes on euros, so let's see what happens...
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/4844328 Fox sports says Dime Magazine says Hawks sign center Batista. I guess that could be that until official reports verify it.
