He's obviously been working on a weakness. He's shooting an absurd 64% from three -- 22 attempts. Every pre-draft scouting report I've read said that he has a non-stop motor with a very high bbIQ.
Tonight vs. Zalgiris Kaunas: 13 PTS | 6 REBS | 2 STL | 24 MIN | 3-6 from Three Now shooting 17-28 from three this season.
Since the last update Kosta has shot 5-10 from three. 59% in 10 games. He's putting up 11 PPG (46 FG% - 59 3PT%) with only 67 total attempts in 22 MPG. I'm really liking what I'm seeing. He has a lot that should transfer to the NBA - shooting and defensive IQ. On another note, NY's scouts are superb. They targeted Kosta very early on and manage to find gems late in the draft.
Blowout win in the Greek League: KP went 4-5 from 2, 2-2 from 3 and 4-4 fts, to go with 8 rbs and 7 assts. All in 25 mins. Our other Greek, Printezis, was pretty good too, with 24 points on 24 mins. Terrell Stoglin scored big for the losers. But Olympiacos LOST in the Euroleague to Caja Laboral (with ex-NBA-ers Marcej Lampe, Omar Cook and Nocioni, OKC Thunder Tibor Pleiss and the guy who plays over Claver on the Spanish national side, Fernando San Emeterio): KP and GP both got 10 in roughly 25 mins.
So what are their contracts like? Can we bring in papa end the other guy next season? Would they be interested in coming?
I was just looking at papas numbers, but have not watched him play. Is he purely SF? He seems like a great shooter, but a little shy on rebounds and almost no assists. Is he a black hole?
I think of him as a rich man's Brian Cardinal. That may sound like damning with faint praise. And it probably is. Perhaps a rich man's Omri Casspi sounds better?
Good game in the Euroleague for our man. Boxscore. Highlights (he's #16 in red): [video=youtube;1XXIk12MPf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XXIk12MPf0[/video] The game also features Bo Maccalebb vs. Pero Antic (Macedonians must be torn), Acie Law, Josh Powell and the self-styled Euro T-Mac, Vassilis Spanoulis.
I think that Claver is starting to look pretty good, myself, so I wonder where that leaves us with K-Pap. Perhaps there's room for both of them, even if both become solid NBA players, if Batum spends more time at SG. Also, I guess, Claver is being played as a stretch 4 a little bit. Perhaps K-Pap will be content to stay in Europe for the time being.
I'm doubting more and more that Batum will ever play significant time at SG. Almost every team in the league plays two point guards together for at least some amount of time. Very rarely do teams go big by moving their SF to SG. It's not gonna happen in today's NBA.
KP had a good game in a narrow loss in the Euroleague (the other team has Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic! Ex-Lakers city!). The only footage I can find is of the last minute or so: [video=youtube;XAjpcb9B_h4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAjpcb9B_h4[/video]
