Fran Vasquez Signs Huge Deal With FC Barcelona 26th July, 2006 - 11:32 am Mundo Deportivo - A Spanish sports newspaper is reporting that 2005 Orlando Magic lottery pick has signed a long-term contract with a large buyout sum with FC Barcelona. The deal is a four-year contract. He will earn 1.4 million euros ($1.75 million USD) per year and he will have an approximately 8.5 million euros ($10.75 million USD) buyout. http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060726/NOTICIA225359669.html
He stated numerous times before the draft that he would probably not come over, pretty much ever, but that's Weisbrod for ya.
Guys they could have picked insteaed: Sean May Rashard McCants Danny Granger Joey Graham Gerald Green Hakim Warrick Nate Robinson Pretty terrible job by their scouts. According to what I've read, they never even made direct contact with Vasquez or his agent. Evan
Hopefully CD is on the phone offering them Howard for Turkoglu and JJ. They definitely need a big to take the minutes that would have been Fran's.
I'd hang up if that deal got offered to me. Hang up laughing on the floor. They think they've got a good thing going with Darko/Howard, and I think they may be right. Evan
NO big deal. The guy's like 21 or so, let him play out his 4 years, and then bring him over when he's an international superstar stud when he's 25 or 26.
I thought they were making pretty decent money in the Euroleagues now. He'd have gotten more from a rookie scale contract if he had come over, with plenty more to come if he turned out decent.
Those guys are automatically entered in the draft. The Magic was just dumb enough to pick him even though he talked about staying there all of the time
from http://www.dimemag.com/smack_sub.asp?id=1898 "... The Orlando Sentinel had a piece yesterday documenting the Fran Vasquez situation with the Magic. The report hinted that Fran may wear the shorts when he’s balling, but the Spaniard may not be wearing the pants. The report insinuated that Vasquez’s girlfriend had a heavy hand in the Magic’s top pick deciding to stay in Spain. ... " Man, in the NBA all the other girlfriends he coulda been having. Now THATS a waste...
Salaries wouldn't match and I doubt they have a trade exception large enough to cover something like Howard's contract. Either way, that would leave us with Chuck Hayes and no one else and I'm not so big on that.
Is he a super-athlete? Correct me if i'm wrong, but FC Barcelona stands for Football Club Barcelona doesn't it? He's good enough to be signed long-term with one of the premier soccer clubs in the world AND be an NBA lottery pick? I hope this is a case of mistaken identity and there's a basketball club with the same name ...
In Europe the sporting clubs (which we recognize by their soccer name) also play basketball, tennis, even auto racing. Its an interesting system, especially for Barca, as the club is owned by fans who buy shares in the team. The only thing here that comes remotely close is that the Packers are owned by the city, but even that isnt that close. I personally like the idea a lot of trading teams on a stock exchange.
How can you replace minutes that were never there to begin with? Wisebrod might have made that trade, no current GM would even listen to that deal.
I get it now, thanks for the explination. I wonder how trading on the open market would affect clubs' ability to function with only one team, as we have it in the United States. It seems like NBA stocks would fluctuate wildly or personnell decisions would have to factor in market value of team stock before a trade/acquisition to keep their constituents happy - unless they have a vote before acquisitions, which would be really cool. So as a stock holder on the Houston Rockets, you could vote on the Shane Battier trade, after a company presentation. I wonder if you'd automatically assume the title of GM if you hold enough stock to reach a plurality decision. What craziness that would unleash.
The Celtics were on the NYSE for several years -- and the stock tanked. Because of that I can't imagine anybody else trying it in the US.
There's an Orlando Sentinel report, from around last August or September, that really details Vasquez's whippage-ness and how the Magic dropped the ball on him. Dave/Otis really just assumed that the cache of playing in the NBA would be enough for him to come over -- it's not that they didn't do all their homework; if Vasquez and his agent are to be believed, they didn't do ANY homework. Not just the, "are you going to come over?" stuff. Any half-hearted conversation with the kid would have informed you that he had no NBA plans, didn't think he was good enough for the league, barely thinks he's good enough for the league he plays in, and that his girlfriend pretty much rules the roost.
