http://sportstwo.com/NBA/Story/NBA/2469503 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Juan Carlos Navarro is set to return to Barcelona after spending just one season with the Memphis Grizzlies.</div>
He'll make a helluva lot more money and probably doesn't want to play for a shitty Grizzlies team without his pal Gasol.
Seems like a lot of Euros are really souring on the dream of playing in the NBA. A lot of NBA draft prospects are opting to stay in Europe and make more money, be more comfortable near their homes, and be treated like gods by the fans. I'm just waiting for some of the great college players who get drafted in the second round to opt for Europe instead of the NBA.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Jun 19 2008, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>He'll make a helluva lot more money and probably doesn't want to play for a shitty Grizzlies team without his pal Gasol.</div> But isnt Gasol coming over this off-season?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Big Frame @ Jun 19 2008, 01:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Jun 19 2008, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>He'll make a helluva lot more money and probably doesn't want to play for a shitty Grizzlies team without his pal Gasol.</div> But isnt Gasol coming over this off-season? </div> He's friends with Pau, not sure if he is friends with Marc.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jun 19 2008, 04:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Big Frame @ Jun 19 2008, 01:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Jun 19 2008, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>He'll make a helluva lot more money and probably doesn't want to play for a shitty Grizzlies team without his pal Gasol.</div> But isnt Gasol coming over this off-season? </div> He's friends with Pau, not sure if he is friends with Marc. </div> Even if he is, I'm not sure he is friends with Tennessee.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Universe @ Jun 19 2008, 04:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>20 million dollars is a good reason to leave.</div> No kidding. Who wouldn't want to make more money, be more of an option, play for a winner, play in their home nation, and be appreciated by the fans? As for the Grizzlies' end, this is good news. Navarro was high scoring, but he was just another in a long line of the Grizzlies' undersized hacks (Atkins, Stoudamire, B. Jackson, etc.). They seem to really gravitate towards those types, but all of them wind up shooting the team in the foot. Let's not forget that this team hasn't always been in the basement. They've had their brief moments of success, and in those moments, the one thing that has held them back from winning (other than lack of post defense... *Gasol*) was the poor decision making of their guards. I remember calling into a radio show during the Mike Fratello era, and they had the coach on the program fielding questions. I asked him why they always ran the same play in close crunch-time situations, which was basically an isolation for the one, sometimes being interchanged with a high ball screen, but either way, leaving the ball in the one's hands at the end of every close game. I really railed on the guy about how dumb it was to leave the fate of the game up to Chucky Atkins with Gasol, Miller, Battier, and Posey on the floor, and his response was, "You're right." He went on to say the team was changing things up, changing personnel, etc., and sure enough, he was canned shortly thereafter. I just don't get why the team loves those types of players so much. Is it a management thing, a coaching thing, or what? Either way, it's nice to see Navarro off the roster.
Mark my words (well, don't, but whatever): The NBA will someday not be the best league in the world, solely because of the weakening dollar. The relatively low salaries in the NBA (especially those in the rookie-scale contracts) are not appealing to European players at all. The so-called Euro invasion is already dying. No, the next great foreign invasion will be from China...
So the EURo player who can play are wanting to go back home. yet were still stuck with the Zaza PAchulia's and Darko's of the worlds.
They had their moment to shine the same year as the Clips. Goddamn, Nets have the worst timing for traded picks
