Id like to ask someone in the know about a few Euroleague players.....

[Kblaze8855]

...and the likelyhood of them coming over and how well they think they would do if they did.

Because I made the topic I have no problem just deleting any reference to Anthony Parker, Arkansas, or anything if the kind....I will not offend myself.

Serious question about some of these guys...

Ive long believed that at least at point....and center...there have to be great players in europe. Perhaps less on the wings where some of the NBa athletes might just eat them up. But you see bigmen looking great in the olympics...points who never get a shot here have owned teams of NBa players.

So many teams are short on talent, fundamentals, or just....players who look like they belong on the floor. Meanwhile Juan Carlos Navarro is in europe. He looked solid on Memphis. Pekovic didnt get here till he was...25? Contract issues I believe. Teodosic is a euroleague MVP. Nocioni is back over there. He was one of my favorite Bulls. Diamantidis is a 5 or 6 time DPOY over there and is supposed to be a great point forward. I know he can take someones spot.

Rudy Fernandez briefly looked like the truth in Portland before he was just...never seen again for some reason.

I remember in like 02 or 03 we thought the huge Greek center(6'9'' 350 or so at the time) was coming over. Im not even gonna attempt to sound out his name. Ill call him Sofo. He was supposed to join the clippers. I heard he tried out again and didnt make it. Has no stamina...but cmon. You see some of the scum out here at the 5?

You pay any attention to Festus Ezeli last night? I know hes a rookie but...he straight up gave away like 3 posessions and 2 lobs in 5 minutes of key playoff basketball with mistakes. Losing his man off the ball. Moving screen. Just being lost and frustrated.

There isnt some 29 year old big bodied center in Europe who could just make the right play...stand in the right spot...rebound...make a crafty hook or two? Some guy to get these guys off the floor till they are ready?

All these project bigmen are taking up space id like to use on more ready players probbaly going unseen elsewhere.

But....

A few of the people I saw play in the euroleague/international games ive watched I thought would be good...just...didnt work out.

Spanoulis...we wont go into. But Jasikevičius(had to google that one)...he looked so ready to step in and run a team. Confidence out the ass. Jumper....pure. He was dropping passes into windows I could barely see on replay. Gets over here...nothing. I thought he would get a real shot on the warriors with Nellie....nothing.

Look at Pablo Prigioni...all euroleague not long ago. Hes getting old but he was still a good player in europe a few years back going by the all euroleague teams.

Hes....ok...here. Thats about all.

Is it the points who have trouble with the transition?

Any other Pekovics over there?

How much would it take to get Navarro back? Cant you see him like....coming off the bench for the Spurs playing the 1 and 2?

These guys just not being offered the money to justify leaving europe? Are NBA teams just not convinced they are that good?


Am I wrong to have high hopes for Nikola Mirotic on the Bulls next year? He looked solid in the clips/half a game I watched. Dirk looking jumper I suspect is hell to block and he seems like a good shot blocker.

Are there just dozens of middling bigmen over there teams could make use of here if they didnt worry about getting the next big thing?

An awful lot of guys I see just...shouldnt be on the court.

I gotta believe there are 8-10 year vets in europe who just know the game better.

They demanding too much? Buyout issues too major?

Whats the problem?

Why am I subjected to all these borderline Dleagers with so many decent players looking good vs team USA and and in preseason games?


Really...how hard would it be for the Celtics to pull a pass first point out of Europe to help fill in for Rondo on offense?

DeSagana Diop just keeps hanging on in the league. Ive not seen him make a move the equal of some I saw put on tyson Chandler in the olympics...ever. And hes not even that good a defender.

What the **** NBA gms?


There must be 90 people in europe better than Ish Smith. They cant be demanding 10 million each.

Someone explain.

[Teanett]

of course there are better players than ezeli in europe but they play for top dollar in the final stages of the season in european leagues. you cant just tell them to come over and fill in for a couple of months.

if a 35 year old prigioni can play in the nba, so can other euroleaguers.
the thing is, they CHOOSE to play in europe for various reasons other than money. be it playing time, culture, language, playing for their childhood team, not dealing with long ass flights etc...

rudy is the perfect example. i think he went back to spain because of the adoration of the spanish fans and he plays for real madrid, which for spaniards is like playing for the lakers.
(the 2.7 mio € dont hurt either)

[Kblaze8855]

[quote=Teanett]of course there are better players than ezeli in europe but they play for top dollar in the final stages of the season in european leagues. you cant just tell them to come over and fill in for a couple of months.

if a 35 year old prigioni can play in the nba, so can other euroleaguers.
the thing is, they CHOOSE to play in europe for various reasons other than money. be it playing time, culture, language, playing for their childhood team, not dealing with long ass flights etc...

rudy is the perfect example. i think he went back to spain because of the adoration of the spanish fans and he plays for real madrid, which for spaniards is like playing for the lakers.
(the 2.7 mio

[BoutPractice]

I'm not as big a Euroleague fan as an NBA fan, but I do watch games from time to time.

Among guards, I think Teodosic, McCaleb and Llull could be awesome under the right circumstances, but I don't see them making the jump.

And if you're looking for competent bigmen who could teach a thing or two to some of the low bball iq fillers in the league right now, you always have Erazem Lorbek (Spurs have his rights I believe), Darius Lavrinovic, or Giorgios Printezis.

[Teanett]

I dont mean a couple months. I mean sign them long term. What are the rules on undrafted FA rookie contracts? I know Pekovic was taken second round for the express purpose of being able to offer him more than he could get as say...the 29th pick. To cover his buyout.

Say there is some guy...maybe 28...Europe...roughly that good. never been drafted. Makes 2 million...net. I know thats the difference...they often pay your taxes there. But anyway....

What is the max for such a player? If you wanted to throw him 8 million for a year...could you?

Teams are paying 50 million for anyone who can put up 12/9....

Money shouldnt be as big an obstacle as it seems it is.

afaik prigioni and copeland play for the rookie minimum.

[Djetic]

Well, when u already mentioned Pekovic, we(Montenegrins) have one youngish(21 year) player which we call Baby Pek.He is basically less stronger version of Pek with outside jumper and 3pt range(45% for 3).He plays PF/C for Valencia in ACB league he is team 2nd scorer(had few 30+ pts game which is huge for euroball),1st in rebounding and fouls drawn which brought him Eurocup Rising star award.His game is very psychical,he gets under the basket easily using simple but effective post moves(like Pekovic does).He somehow managed to go under the scouts radar.I didn't saw him being projected for this draft in mock drafts.

He have few things to fix, but he is not rushing for NBA nor he is interested of playing abroad according to last infos i had from him.

[Grinder]

I dont mean a couple months. I mean sign them long term. What are the rules on undrafted FA rookie contracts? I know Pekovic was taken second round for the express purpose of being able to offer him more than he could get as say...the 29th pick. To cover his buyout.

Say there is some guy...maybe 28...Europe...roughly that good. never been drafted. Makes 2 million...net. I know thats the difference...they often pay your taxes there. But anyway....

What is the max for such a player? If you wanted to throw him 8 million for a year...could you?

Teams are paying 50 million for anyone who can put up 12/9....

Money shouldnt be as big an obstacle as it seems it is.

You can sign them for more than the rookie minimum. Mirza Teletovic was an undrafted international free agent and he has a 3 year/$10 million contract with the Nets. I think he was initially offered the MLE until they lowered their offer because of signing Gerald Wallace. Alexey Shved is on a similar contract.

Well, when u already mentioned Pekovic, we(Montenegrins) have one youngish(21 year) player which we call Baby Pek.He is basically less stronger version of Pek with outside jumper and 3pt range(45% for 3).He plays PF/C for Valencia in ACB league he is team 2nd scorer(had few 30+ pts game which is huge for euroball),1st in rebounding and fouls drawn which brought him Eurocup Rising star award.His game is very psychical,he gets under the basket easily using simple but effective post moves(like Pekovic does).He somehow managed to go under the scouts radar.I didn't saw him being projected for this draft in mock drafts.

He have few things to fix, but he is not rushing for NBA nor he is interested of playing abroad according to last infos i had from him.

You're talking about Dubljevic right? I like his game but he's not that similar to Pekovic. You guys have a great team for such a small country. I like Nikola Ivanovic as well.

I'm not as big a Euroleague fan as an NBA fan, but I do watch games from time to time.

Among guards, I think Teodosic, McCaleb and Llull could be awesome under the right circumstances, but I don't see them making the jump.

And if you're looking for competent bigmen who could teach a thing or two to some of the low bball iq fillers in the league right now, you always have Erazem Lorbek (Spurs have his rights I believe), Darius Lavrinovic, or Giorgios Printezis.

I think the Blazers have Printezis' draft rights. He'd be a great fit in the NBA. Lorbek was close to joining the Spurs this past year but it'll be hard to get him. He plays on a great club in a beautiful city and makes a lot of money in a featured role. No team would sign Lavrinovic. He's past his prime.

Llull's draft rights are owned by the Rockets, they paid a pretty penny for it too, but it's hard to believe he'll leave Real Madrid and I think he's locked into a long term contract.

[TimmyDuncan]

Spurs had a lot of trouble to make Tiago Splitter come in the NBA even with the draft rights.

Because he was already a 25+ year old already proven in Spain and Euroleague (Spanish league MVP) so he had a lot of offers better than the spurs one (2 years 4M because of salary cap).

So Splitter had to choose either a better offer from an euroleague team or come in the NBA, hope he does well and then make the big $$$ at 27 or 28 years old with his 2nd NBA contract

Now we know he made the good choice. He had a good year, is FA this off season and will probably have 8+ or 10+ M$ per year for at least 3 or 4 years but it could have been 2 bad years and he would have lost a lot of money

It's not an easy choice to prove yourself again for less money at 25+ year old

[Djetic]

You're talking about Dubljevic right? I like his game but he's not that similar to Pekovic. You guys have a great team for such a small country. I like Nikola Ivanovic as well.

Yeah. lol, i cant believe i forgot to type guy name after all those things i wrote

Dubljevic game is more diverse, Pek does a lot of work in low-post and he does it well but Dubljevic is multiple threat, he can hurt you from perimeter,from behind the arc,he is very good at pick and roll(while he would probably struggle in NBA vs more athletic and faster PF's) and we probably misunderstood when i said he looks like Pek because their post moves are so much alike so i dared to compare them.

Nikola Ivanovic stagnated this year, improved very little mostly because most our coaches are pure guard killers, his job was to bring the ball to the other side and give it either to first or 2nd scoring option.When he attempted to make some play by himself(drive to the basket,make space for his own shot) he would get benched and it killed his confidence later in season, and even his shooting stroke was gone making him liability in offense.

Few weeks ago FIBA published nice article about our bigs and rest of the team:Montenegro,The big men factory

[CeltsGarlic]

A lot of retired or close to it euro players often say, after being asked about why they didnt chose NBA, that NBA was their dream when they were young and looked at it like a main destination point, but after getting their name and game done in euroleague, that just didnt find the point to leave. They admit that they had offers, but why to risk so much to possibly waste couple years of their prime (macijauskas).

[alexd]

in the nba and europe there are different standards of how we judge players.for example pietrus was considered great defender and good player in nba but not so much in europe.in europe the game is more basic.what i mean by that is that almost all players have good fundamentals can shoot.the coach has a bigger role.you can play zone so you can take advantage of the others team poor shooting.what you won t see is high flying dunks,super athletes and showmanship
by sofo you mean schortianitis.he has a mini size shaq body type but he s lazy.prefers going out and partying than getting in shape.in 2006 he played very good against.he made howard bosh etc look like fools.but he got fat and out of shape
jasikevicius was one of the best players in europe.amazing shooter cold blooded and the best pick and roll pg.he can pass like rubio shoot like a machine.i had the chance to practice with him once and the guy just couldn t miss.but he was never a great athelete that s why he couldn t make it to the nba
printezis is an ok athlete with awful shooting form.can shoot decently when left open but can t shoot at all when under pressure.for close range he s affective and can use both hands.i wouldn t count him for a solid nba carrer
good players to watch out are
tomic from barcelona (2.17 guy with good shooting)
obviolusly mcalleb but he s not getting any younger
diamantidis is now old and almost washed up.used to be a great player and amazing defender
teodosic is the westbrook of europe without his athleticism.he s very good but damn he s an idiot
spanoulis would fit to the nba.fast slasher amazing first step but lacks the mentality and the iq to make a career in the nba
another guy i like for the nba is papanikolaou.long fast athletic with decent shooting(new york drafted him last year )
others to look out from europe are
papagiannis is another greek talent (15 years old 2.10 cm)
Rudy Gobert from france
giannis adetokoubo from greece

all these players i don t say that they will play nba but they are young and have room to develop
if you have any questions just let me know

[ZenMaster]

in the nba and europe there are different standards of how we judge players.for example pietrus was considered great defender and good player in nba but not so much in europe.in europe the game is more basic.what i mean by that is that almost all players have good fundamentals can shoot.the coach has a bigger role.you can play zone so you can take advantage of the others team poor shooting.what you won t see is high flying dunks,super athletes and showmanship
by sofo you mean schortianitis.he has a mini size shaq body type but he s lazy.prefers going out and partying than getting in shape.in 2006 he played very good against.he made howard bosh etc look like fools.but he got fat and out of shape
jasikevicius was one of the best players in europe.amazing shooter cold blooded and the best pick and roll pg.he can pass like rubio shoot like a machine.i had the chance to practice with him once and the guy just couldn t miss.but he was never a great athelete that s why he couldn t make it to the nba
printezis is an ok athlete with awful shooting form.can shoot decently when left open but can t shoot at all when under pressure.for close range he s affective and can use both hands.i wouldn t count him for a solid nba carrer
good players to watch out are
tomic from barcelona (2.17 guy with good shooting)
obviolusly mcalleb but he s not getting any younger
diamantidis is now old and almost washed up.used to be a great player and amazing defender
teodosic is the westbrook of europe without his athleticism.he s very good but damn he s an idiot
spanoulis would fit to the nba.fast slasher amazing first step but lacks the mentality and the iq to make a career in the nba
another guy i like for the nba is papanikolaou.long fast athletic with decent shooting(new york drafted him last year )
others to look out from europe are
papagiannis is another greek talent (15 years old 2.10 cm)
Rudy Gobert from france
giannis adetokoubo from greece

all these players i don t say that they will play nba but they are young and have room to develop
if you have any questions just let me know

Have you seen the big kid Larsen from Denmark?

[alexd]

Have you seen the big kid Larsen from Denmark?

you mean the 7 footer?

[outbreak]

One thing to remember though is that if a player has grown up dreaming of playing in the NBA chances are that they would have come over for college or at least declared when they were eligible for the draft.

If they've already established themselves in Europe chances are they will have a family and will already be making a couple of mil a year. Coming to the NBA means moving their family and possibly taking a pay cut as NBA teams usually don't throw money at a player who's an unproven rookie in the NBA. Plus they risk going from being a star to being a scrub riding the bench.

Yeah there's exceptions to this but for the majority I think it fits.

I think we'll keep seeing more and more euro kids in the draft though as for this current generation they would have grown up with MUCH more access to following the NBA through league pass. A lot of the vets in the Euroleague would have followed euroleague over NBA as it was hard to follow the NBA due to time differences and it not being on tv. If a kid grows up following the NBA he's more liking to want to come play college ball and try to be in the NBA.

[ZenMaster]

you mean the 7 footer?

Yeah, what you think of him?