Badly, I tell you. Seriously, NBA is really hurting the attractiveness of Euro basketball. Some years ago, they stole every star; last years they are stealing also the potential stars, and very soon. Basically, every talent that appeals to the public, quickly disappears. But Euro bball does the same with lower leagues, so... The law of the jungle, I guess.
I agree. His length allows him to alter shots and even block a few which makes his "downside" less of a problem. His offensive skill is rare and if he is there at number 14, I think he'd be a steal.
It is also fair to say that we absorb American players, but most times, they come here thinking in going back soon to the NBA, and in any case we recieve Nowtizkis, Gasols, Parkers, Stojakovics... (and look, I was about to name Ginobilis and Scolas...)
Siskauskas Diamantidis Bourousis Papaloukas San Emeterio And many other such players........never drafted by the NBA and never played in the NBA. Your theory is flawed and incorrect because the large, perhaps even the vast majority of the best players overseas never play in the NBA and are never drafted by the NBA. What the NBA LOVES to draft are the Rubio's, Skita's and Darkos of the world.......not by any stretch of the imagination good players. Not guys that would make an iota of difference or ever be good Euroleague players if they played their whole career in Europe. For crying out loud, the NBA drafted Nemanja Bjelica, who is the worst player in the Euroleague. He's basically the Euroleague version of Ryan Bowen. Drafted by the NBA. That is the kind of "talent" that the NBA is "stealing from from". The worst player in the whole entire Euroelague. The truth is that for example with Rubio being drafted and going to the NBA, the Euroleague just got that much better and the NBA just got that much worse. Henk Norel - NBA draft pick, scrub in Euroleague. Christian Eyenga - NBA draft pick, scrub in ACB I am just talking about very recent draft picks, but there are many, many, many such examples and this has been going on for years now. The NBA is "stealing" some of the worst players in Europe. What the NBA is actually doing is taking a lot of Europe's crap and trash and making the Euroleague much better, and making the NBA much worse. That is what is actually happening.
We all know (you included OHMSS) that the NBA and Euroleague are completely different brands of basketball. Players who excel in the NBA may not excel in Euroleague and vice versa. So, as good as some of these guys are in Europe, that doesn't mean they would be nearly as productive in the NBA. Tony Parker has been a very good NBA player, but his lack of jump shot may have limited his effectiveness in Europe. None of us can know how good any player would be in any league, and to throw out all these incendiary comments about peoples' lack of knowledge of basketball and what not is completely unnecessary and silly. We all have thoughts on what players we think will be good players in the NBA or in Europe, but until someone plays in said league, we cannot be sure how good they will be. There are plenty of examples of players people thought would be mediocre in the NBA, and for some reason or another, they were serious ballers (John Stockton, Paul Pierce, etc). There are also players who were very good players in Europe who came over to the NBA thinking they would be very good players in the NBA, but for one reason or another, their game didn't translate well. So seriously, please, stop all this, 'I know basketball, and you don't,' bull****. /rant
Absolutely special talents. Those are the stars... in absence of the true stars like Scola, Splitter, the Gasols, etc. Those are just very good players, but are not icons like Parker and Ginobili could be, like Bron, Wade and Dirk are for the NBA. Imagine an NBA without superstars... The players you mentioned are very good players, no doubt, but you don't sell jerseys with them and you don't create highlights/money/new fans with them. And yes, Bjeliça is basically a Ryan Bowen, exactly.
Hmmmm..... I wonder if Charlotte would be more willing now to trade down from #9 if they knew they could get a guy like Singleton at #14 but who would be unavailable when they pick again at #19. Just a thought.
NBA scouts will take shots on some random guys overseas, it doesn't mean they stick around. Often times, the supposed "Stars" of the euroleague do not stick around either. For instance, Juan Carlos Navarro and Silly Spanoulis got chewed up and spit out very recently. How about back to back Euroleague MVP Anthony Parker? Tyus Edney Sarunas Jasikevicius Clarence Kea Ibrahim Kutluay Fernando Martin And hundreds more... (My favorite Euroleague champion was Bob McAdoo, who left the NBA when he was washed up and came home with two Euroleague titles in 1987 and 1988. Dominique did a pretty good job of bringing home a title as an old man too...)
Thats why he'll be gone by 14 unfortunately. I wonder though, if your on the clock and Biyombo, Montiejunas and Hamilton are all there, who do you take?
I am annoyed by OHMSS as much as the next guy, but I've got to disagree with you (for the most part) about this sentence. First of all, Navarro proved to be a quality NBA scorer. He averaged double figures in scoring in his sole season with Memphis. Sure, he couldn't defend; but how does that make him any different than countless other NBA backup-caliber SGs? The reason he went back to Spain had more to do with his dissatisfaction with how Memphis was run as an organization than it did with the level of competition. IIRC, Memphis really wanted him back but refused to trade him to a better team. While I'm definitely not on the "DaDakota/OHMSS Not-So-Memorial Vassilis Spanoulis Bandwagon", I honestly think that Spanoulis COULD have become a serviceable NBA backup combo guard. As for Anthony Parker, what is your complaint? He's actually a fairly decent NBA player. Not great. But not bad, either. I would take him (circa "whenever he came back over the the NBA") over about half of the shooting guards (including backups) in the NBA today.
Well let me just say if I'm on the clock and all three are on the board, I might faint and not get my pick in on time! :grin: BUT, hypothetically speaking, I think I'd take Motiejunas. I think Biyombo has further to go offensively than Motiejunas does defensively. Also I think it's easier to improve defensively when you're seven feet tall than it would be for a raw athlete like Biyombo to improve his offensive game. Hamilton seems to be an elite scorer, but there are guys like him in every draft and Motiejunas' skillset for his size is pretty rare and deadly if he pans out. That being said, I think all three will be very nice NBA players and you can't go horribly wrong picking any of the three.
Navarro could be playing in the NBA, in fact he had some offers to continue. It was more an economic issue... Navarro was losing money while playing in the NBA. The buyout he had to pay to Barcelona to go to the NBA was about €4 millions, very expensive. He was getting just $540.000 in his first year in Memphis. When he was free agent some teams offered him a 2 per year contract, but he wanted about twice that amount. When he decided to go to the NBA, he expected: a lower buyout (more comprehension on the part of Barcelona) and to get a better next contract. But he knew from day one that the option of leaving had its risks. In addition, he has 2 little daughters that apparently missed very much Barcelona. His family was pressuring him to return and at the same time Barcelona appeared offering him a big contract (13-15 million euros for 5 years).
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http://thehoopsreport.com/article.aspx?id=741 I'd be nice if we could somehow get our hands on either pick. Not sure if we have the pieces those teams would be interested in though.
I love Kmart, but I imagine that is what we would be looking at. I would only trade Martin to move up if Williams was available at #3.
