I've wondered for years why the NBA hasn't tried harder to get established star Euros over. It seems like you either get them young (and in the case of Nikoloz Tskitishvili, completely untested) or not at all. But now with the economy tanking seriously in Spain and Greece in particular, more of those players might be coming over. The Spurs have signed Erazem Lorbek of Barcelona, MVP of the ACB finals, and the Knicks have invited my longtime fave Pablo Prigioni over for a look. Why not take advantage of this? We have cap space, but (a) there are very few decent NBA FAs this year, (b) the good ones wouldn't come here, and (c) the half-decent ones will cost a fortune. And still might not come. Euro players, on the other hand, regard $1M (rightly) as an obscene amount of money, and can be had cheap. And there are a lot of really good PGs out there: Dimitris Diamantidis Bo McCalebb Vassilis Spanoulis (more of a combo guard, but a very good passer) Milos Teodosic Victor Sada Marcelinho Huertas Now, certainly not all of them are NBA starters, and possibly none (although I would bet large sums of money that Diamantidis would be), but they have bball IQ coming out of their ears, and all would be better PGs than anything we've got on our roster, even after the draft.
I think that the Jasikevicius experiment soured a lot of people on "BBIQ-heavy, athletically-challenged" Euro guards. I know I was one that was pimping him hard, because I thought that court vision and pure shooting could translate. It didn't. Get me Big Greek Shaq, though, and I'm on board.
I watched part of that Diamantidis video. Very quick shot. Like scary quick. Like what the hell are you doing throwing that up? Oh it went in, yay!
For each name on that list, how much would it cost to buy out each contract? Which NBA team holds the rights?
vspan makes 2.4 million EU after taxes, and he flamed out with houston already did he not? DD makes makes around 2 million EU after taxes so yeah....not so much
You mean, like Jeremy Lin? And if you're "the Rocket Man" then flaming out is a good thing! [video=youtube;P4OY23eQJTE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4OY23eQJTE&feature=related[/video] Apparently Spanoulis, miffed at his lack of minutes, told Jeff Van Gundy that at home he was Tracy McGrady. Van Gundy retorted that they had the real thing here. Still, the Spurs were intrigued enough to trade the Rockets the rights to Scola for him, not knowing that he'd already decided to go back to Europe. Jesus, he does? I wonder if he'll be affected by the tanking economy in Greece, though.
There's a much bigger risk with these guys because they haven't proven themselves against NBA teams. More risk than free agents who have already proved themselves in the NBA, but probably less risk than draft picks, at least for the real stars from Europe.
Define "flamed out". He left to play in Europe - as you point out, for MORE MONEY. (Not to mention better food and complete adoration.) How much money does Steve Blake make? How much money would we have to offer Goran Dragic to get him to sign (incidentally, someone who put up much less impressive stats in Europe than any on the list I gave)?
he flamed out as in couldnt get minutes and begged his way out of the league with his tail between his legs steve blake makes $4 million a year i think, not sure what dragic is gonna sign for, prolly 7ish id guess anything else? for a euro fanboy i would have figured you to do a little homework on these guys
Wonder what the 3 year turnover rate is on Euro guys? I hope Olshey learned his lesson on Yuroslov Korolev.
For more money, stardom and better food. Wouldn't you? That's the downside of the rookie contract for established players. Lin, on the other hand, was just cut.
Don't draft crappy players who can't play? Wait to see if they can play in their own countries before you draft them? Don't listen to Chad Ford?
Except as a 2nd round pick, he wasn't on a rookie contract. He had a really nice 2 year, 3.7 million dollar deal.
this he begged out of the last year of his contract after his trade to the spurs, and the spurs happily obliged
listen, i actually like vspan, but there is no way he is coming back over here for a million dollars, so this thread was dead before it started
You're almost certainly right. And he probably wouldn't even for Steve Blake money, as he's happy where he is and getting a bit long in the tooth. However, if the Greek economy totally tanked, he might consider it. However, he was only one example, and actually the least PG-ish of my examples. Bo McCalebb is much more likely, and has every chance to be better than Damian Lillard.
You're right that the Spurs released him. Here's the reason he left "with his tail between his legs":
If the Spurs are doing it, it is at least worth looking into (top notch organization in my eyes). The problem I see is roster spots. Blazers have two 2nd rounders, and a couple euros they may try and bring over. Throw in a draft pick or two and hopefully a serious piece with FA money and roster spots start filling up. Euro players remind me of the stock market. Blazers got in a little late but early enough that they got a couple good picks. Then the Euro player market got over inflated as many teams got in on the trend late and picks on Euros were turning into wasted picks. Blazers got a little euro happy, IMO, and got bit. But now the trend seem to shy away from euro players . . . which means it might be a good time to buy, especially if the Euro economy is a factor. I'm following the Spurs, who is the current Rose of Europe?
