What? Were those scouting reports 4 years old by any chance? Dude shot lights out his last 2 years with Olympiacos.
Surprised me too. A couple of reports found his log range shot inconsistent, and also made a point that he had trouble shooting off the dribble. Again, it looks like his shot is no longer a problem, if it ever truly was.
You are speaking a lot about his offensive talent and that's not the point with Kostas, because he would be a backup role player. Don't expect offensive talent, don't expect elite shooting. Expect elite intensity, elite defensive IQ, elite effort. He is something like the white & forward Pat Beverley. He's just the ultimate competitor at his position in european basketball, and Nba Gms think he has enough physical tools to transalte a similar game/role to the NBA. He would be a great complement to add to a contending team looking for a glue guy off the bench. Problem it would be the salary. I wouldn't bet he's accepting the biannual ($2M). Who knows, it will depend on his desire to go to the NBA.
Just to give you an idea of what kind of player profile we're talking about.... Let's say the white Battier. He is absolutely that kind of SF, with very similar body, intensity and IQ. Battier has been a 39% career 3Pt shooter. Kostas probably is not that good of a shooter. Neither that good of the post player Battier has been. But I'd say he's a bit better ball handler, slasher and cutter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>EXCLUSIVE: <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets">@HoustonRockets</a> come to Europe in order to sign NOW Papanikolaou but the player and <a href="https://twitter.com/FCBbasket">@FCBbasket</a> denied <a href="http://t.co/rPaVqbqsut">http://t.co/rPaVqbqsut</a></p>— Eurohoops.net (@Eurohoopsnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eurohoopsnet/statuses/439745403916148736">March 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Vezenkov is also very good talent ...
You got any information on this Vezenkov player? Also, can we sign him now and bring him over like we did with Pat Bev if we want to or is this more of a look for the draft or next year?
Battier wasn't a particularly good post player. Kostas looks quicker than him. I hope he can adapt to NBA speed and quickness.
Vezenkov is Bulgarian, he is one of the biggest talents in Europe ... He is a prospect and i think he will go through draft ... He is an all around player(6.8ft)... A very good 3point shooter ... In the Greek league He has 10,89 Points, 5.11 rebounds and 2.11 assists in 28 minutes ... He also dominated Eurobasket U18 .
I guess he would of got the best offer possible if he came now aswell. 2.6 million roughly to play half the year on a 100% playoff team on a team were he could still some minutes . But understandability he denied. Also why do we have to fly to Europe, hasent morey heard of a phone call?
Basically, it was a little stupid ... NO ONE player leave a big club like Barcelona in the middle of the season and when they are undefeated to change environment again(he went to Spain the summer) and try to adjust so quickly ... I don't understand why Morey made an offer... Beverley was an entire different situation.
The Houston execs were already in Europe scouting players. They are not there only for Kostas. Convincing him to move at this late in a season was always a long shot. But made sense for the team to try. The "room exception" is gone when the season is finished so they might as well use it on somebody.
This could have been an incredible recovery from missing out on Granger and Dunleavy. Was it the money or the playing time? I have a hard time believing Kostas has any real allegiance to Barcelona.
The room exception pro-rates guys. It's worth right around $1.85 million in actual dollars right now. Counts on the cap as $2.625 million but will only pay out around $1.85 million.
