This is from an ESPN Insider artcile John Hollinger wrote projecting performance for foreign players if they join the NBA. link to entire article (first post) I think Eliyahu is still at least a year away, but he's pretty high on both of them. It's kind of puzzling that the Spurs couldn't get more for Scola. This seems almost too good to be true.
Right, but they couldn't get a better offer from another team? Do you they like Spanoulis THAT much? Dennis Lindsey must have really convinced them that Spanoulis is going to be another Parker/Ginobili for them.
It's already been said before a few times but this was strictly a cost cutting move for the Spurs. Scola would only draw interest from playoff teams (what you see is what you get with him), and among those teams Houston is the most desperate for a PF with Scola's abilities. The Spurs have much more faith in Oberto and will spend the extra money to sign another overseas project --- Ian Mahinmi.
Not to crap on Scola, but Hollinger's projected PER of spanoulis last year was about a billion orders of magnitude off, and it didn't take a scientist to gauge that. Now you can argue that the sample size was too small - but it was small for a reason - he sucked.
hahah well thats under the assumption that he plays.. tho i think v-span is gonna be suspect and magically fall in love with san antonio.. and then be the greek T-Mac..
My only guess is that they are planning on making a move that would send them into the Luxory Tax range.
I don't think Dennis Lindsey had anything to do with this trade. I believe the Spurs owner wants to save some cash.
It almost seems disrespectful that the Spurs were willing to give us two players for basically nothing. Like they don't see us as a threat regardless.
The luxury tax threshold has been set at 67.9M Spurs team salary is 61.8M (not including Butler) Bonner and Vaughn were re-signed. Bonner got 9M/3yrs, roughly around 2.7M I think. Vaughn got 2.5M/2yrs, around 1.2M. That would take them to around 65.7M. Spurs are going to sign Ian Mahinmi a previous first round 28th pick. He will cost them 782k. New total is over 66.48M. Butler's salary is 2.3M. Butler would put them over with a total at 68.78M.
There wasn't a way for them to shave off a couple million from their team salary without significantly strengthening a division rival's weakest position?
They could trade Butler to a team under the cap, getting a trade exception in the process. Right now, that would be Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Atlanta. All of them could use a backup C, but I doubt they'd want to spend money on Butler when he looked so terrible last year. It's like "Here, why don't you pay this guy 2 million for us?" At least this way they get a second rounder. And they must be pretty confident that we won't be able to lure Scola over.
All hypothetiocal here... Butler played 11 games, only 4 of those games weren't garbage minutes. Everyone else on their roster contributed. So if Spur's primary goal was to dump Butler's salary. Charlotte, Seattle, and Golden state are the only teams I know of that are either under the cap or have trade exceptions to absorb salary. Bobcats and Sonics are both loaded at the 4/5. While GSW a seemingly logical choice as they need frontcourt help haven't signed their draft picks and could be waiting out the Yi saga or they mightn't want to break up their 10MTE should a team come calling with a deal they like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vasileios_Spanoulis&oldid=141756980 NBA Scouting Report From San Antonio Spurs October 2006 While most competition in European basketball is considered to be either at the NCAA division one College basketball level or lower, competition in the Spanish league Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto, Italian league Serie A (basketball), and Greek league A1_Ethniki is considered to be one step above the college level, even one step above the NBDL level. The Greek league is more recently considered the top competitive level of European basketball. Spanoulis' success at that level, combined with his success in the 2006 World Basketball Championship and the 2004 Olympics, which are considered to be near to NBA level competition, shows that he has legitimate NBA talent. This was highlighted by Spanoulis leading the Greek National team to a victory over the United States National team team during the 2006 World championship final four round. Spanoulis scored 22 points in that game and regularly abused NBA point guards Chris Paul, Kirk Hinrich, and Dwyane Wade on both ends of the floor, offensively one on one, as well as in the pick-and-roll, and also on the defensive end in one on one assignments. Spanoulis is a lightning-quick play-maker guard that can play either position in the back court due to his size at 6'4 3/4" in shoes (1.95m) and at a training camp weight of 203 pounds (92kg). Generally considered to have been a more talented prospect coming out of the European level to the NBA than Manu Ginobili was. Can get into the lane and penetrate at will. Incredibly dept at running the pick-and-roll offense. Will pick up fouls at an amazing rate, even better than Dwyane Wade will. Excellent finisher around the basket and excellent free throw shooter. Tremendous open court and half court abilities on offense. Can create open layups/dunks and open 3 point shots for teammates at will. Breaks down the opposing defense whenever he wants to. Outstanding one on one defender at either guard spot. Can swipe it from any guard when he wants to. Even though his wingspan is only 6'5" (1.96m) he more than holds his own in the post on defense against bigger and stronger guards. A lock down defender against point guards even on the NBA level. Not a great team defender at the NBA level yet, but has all of the tools to be one and should learn this under Jeff Van Gundy's tutelage in Houston as he has amazing lateral quickness with his feet, great hand speed, and a good solid NBA body, as well as a high basketball IQ on the defensive end of the floor. Not a good shooter from NBA 3 point range, but has an excellent jump shot from 18-21 feet and has the ability to shoot 37% to 41% from that range. Needs to add about 5 feet of range to his jump shot in order to succeed on a team that features both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Unbelievable court vision and passing ability. A highlight reel assist waiting to happen. Very reminiscent of Steve Nash in his passing and play-making abilities. Like Nash, basketball IQ is off the charts with the rare ability to connect on passes that no other players besides them would even dare to attempt. Should take some time for his teammates to learn to play with him because of this. A drawback of this is that he will always have a high number of turnovers. Very turnover prone much like Manu Ginobili. Tends to play out of control and helter skelter in a fashion similar to Ginobili at times and like Ginobili also has this defect in his game. However, also extremely competitive and willful in game situations much like Ginobili. Also excels in big-game moments and in the highest levels of competition like Ginobili. Also similar penetration and finishing ability to Tony Parker, although not as good of a ball-handler as Parker. Superior point guard instincts and court vision to Parker. Like Parker not much NBA 3 point range, but is a better shooter than Parker is from 15-21 feet. Not a great athlete by NBA standards, but a solid one. More than athletic enough to lock down defensively on the perimeter and get into the lane and finish or dish off at the NBA level. Incredible first step, even Leandro Barbosa like. Won't dunk on anyone but will finish in the paint like Parker. Very intriguing point guard prospect with a huge upside. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vasileios_Spanoulis&oldid=141756980
Milwaukee have Bogut + Gadzuric at the 5 and potentially Charlie V + Yi at the 4. Atlanta have M&S Williams at the 4 and Horford + Zaza at the 5. Hawks have been publicly stated that Horford will play at center for them.
Spurs gave Rockets permission to talk to Scola 3 days ago to allow us to find out if he would come. So when Morey pulled the trigger, they sure know that we can sign him. Span(2mil) + Bulter (2mil) + cash (<3mil) + 2nd rounder, not that bad. Sometimes when you have your own problem to solve, you can't think too much about how solving your issue will benefit others.
I think Scola had something like 3 days to tell Tau Ceramica whether he would be back or not. I think this trade was sort of a last resort for the Spurs to get something for Scola after their other options fell through. Although that "something" appears to just be $avings.
This is the biggest load of crap I have ever read....Spanoulis is not an assist waiting to happen, more like a turnover or a brick waiting to happen.
