If they are good enough to play in the NBA and be a factor on the court, then they will find a way to get them over. There is a 7footer that is going to be playing for the Rockets here in about 6 weeks who might not agree with you. The main reasoning for these aquisitions is to get another asset in the toolbelt that doesn't hurt the teams salary cap. So if a team wants to trade with the Rockets without taking back assets they can trade for a player that they know WILL NOT be coming over to the NBA its actually beneficial to the team that is making the trade with the Rockets because they can unload salary without taking back salary. So when the Rockets aquired the Turkish Dwight Howard with a purchased draft pick, thats why they didn't really try to sell him to their fans as a future part of the rotation. Because they knew what he was aquired for.... NOT to play in the NBA, but to be a nice trade piece at the very least. At the most he's actually the Turkish Dwight Howard and the Rockets get a steal in the 2nd round.
The thing is, the article that talks about that 6 (?) year contract with Madrid, it never mentioned anything about an out clause. Perhaps there could be one? But yeah ... it's better not to waste time thinking about this. Though Llull would certainly fit the mould of this Rockets team, and can play the position combo guard with Lin and Harden well.
In 2009, Real Madrid exercised a club option to extend his contract for another 2 years. In 2010, Llull extended his contract with Real Madrid through the year 2014. He was named the MVP of the final of the mid-season three game 2012 Spanish King's Cup tournament. This is according to Wikipedia. Is this correct?
With the question thus being does Llull have a buyout clause in his contract and if so, how much is it. Maybe the guys from 790 can ask Morey this some time when they have him on. I guess most people don't care, really, but I'd be very much interested in finding out. Statistically Llull is having his best season yet. Numbers are pretty much up across the board. I've only seen highlights myself. On another note, I think Mirotic is going to be pretty good whenever he'll come over. Looks like he put on some muscle this off-season. Very smooth offensive game for a "stretch-4".
Oh, I know. I just brought him up because both he and Llull play for the same team and watching some highlights of their games this season he looked to be noticeably bigger than last year.
Llull's contract does have an out, I'm told, but I have no further details on it. My guess is that it's unlikely he comes over next year at least. It'll probably be 2014 at the earliest. And no, I don't think Llull would be sent down to the D-League in his "rookie" year. He'd be plenty developed by then.
Good to hear. I've been trying to find out on this, but no luck. He would possibly be getting 20 minutes/game this year, backing up Lin and Harden as combo guard. And would fit in the transition game very well.
Couldn't agree more as to how well Llull seemingly would fit with a Lin-Harden backcourt as that third guard, especially because of Harden's ball-handling skills. Llull's game seems fairly similar to Lin's as a push-the-pace, score-first PG who has enough size to slide over to SG as well. In retrospect, had the Rockets known they'd end up with Harden (and not Dwight Howard), I think they would have brought over Llull before he agreed to his latest extension with Real Madrid. Of course, there's no way anyone could have known that.
