How would I know? The consensus opinion of the NBA teams that have been scouting Europe heavily for years -- successfully. They identify the young talent - dirk, gasol, ginobili, parker, peja - and get it out of there. THey don't always hit, but it's not like successful Euros never get a look. I'm sure scouts have looked at this guy before; if he were that good, he would be here by now.
I watched the replay of the game on ESPN at night. The SG drained lots of 3s, but the Italion PG was blowing by Iversion, or whoever was guarding him, all night long, even though he got some nice picks. He would dribble into the paint and US defense would collapse on him and then he would diss out to the SG and the PF and count another 3.
And Oscar Schmidt never saw a min in the NBA. Thanks for the great example. I don't know. But I am sure all those NBA Euro scouts DO know and thats why hes never a) Been considered a draft propsect and b) Been invited to an NBA training camp And the reasons usually are that they aren't good enough. You are fairly sure. just like told me "how would you know?", Ill give it right back to you. How would you know?? Recent results?? His career averages are 11 pts and 2 assists and around 37% 3 pt shooting.
They don't always hit, and also, they might not always get all the talent out of Europe. Some players just stay where they are because they are satisfied with their earning opportunities or prefer to be a star on a European team instead of having the risk of being a bench warmer in the US. Plus, the scouts usually go for very young guys because logically, they expect those to have more upside. However, this means that guys who are 29, 30 might already have been 24, 25, when the trend of drafting European players became stronger. The scouts were looking for guys who were 18-22 at that time, though. Does it mean that the guys who were 24 or 25 were worse than the 18-22 ones? No, just that they were less attractive to the scouts, and therefore, were less likely to be drafted than the younger guys who might even never have gotten better than these older guys. Thus, especially when it comes to players around that age, the fact that the guy does not play in the NBA does not necessarily have to mean that he would not have the skills to play in the NBA.
Only 7-15 behind the arc? It felt much worse. Seriously, international players shot long jumpers much better than NBA players.
8 assists, zero turnovers, in 23 minutes! That extrapolates to more than 16 assists per 48 minutes. I know every dog has his day, but d@mn. That said, unless we start instituting motion and cutters, there are other NBA teams who could better use his services. And if he can't hit the 3, it wouldn't be a good fit for the Rox.
He probably has a contract with the Italian league worth millions dollars of buyout. You don't have to be in the NBA to make a million a year and NBA is not the only league that offers contracts more than a million. I am not talking about Kobe or Shaq's contract but just miminum wage might not be enough. Playing at home for some player is priceless. There is something that money can't buy. NBA eventually will become NHL, which is the top league but the top players are international.
Great example for what? He was actually drafted No. 6 by the New Jersey Nets, but decided never to play in the NBA. Are you trying to say he could not have played in the NBA? He also thrived in international competition including in 1987 when he scored 46 points for Brazil in an upset of a David Robinson-led American team in the Pan American Games. http://www.interbasket.net/players/oscar.htm I have no idea how good the specific guy we are talking about is, but see my previous post - it CAN happen that the scouts miss a guy, plus, I think there is a generation of players who might have been good enough, but at that time, NBA teams were not scouting Europe as heavily as they do now, so someone in Europe who is now 30 might not have been scouted as much as a guy who is now 22-25. The only reason that I am fairly sure is the fact that Moochie Norris and Howard Eisley are pretty horrible and that point guards of some national teams manage to perform very well against guys who are clearly much better than these two guys. I deduce from that that they would stand a good chance of outperforming someone like Moochie. It doesn't have to be that way, but I think there would be a certain likelihood that they would. Would you rather have Raul Lopez or Moochie Norris? How much did you know about Raul Lopez before last year? I never pretended to know anything about this particular guy and made it pretty clear that I was not talking about him - I was merely responding to your statement (I'm paraphrasing) "if someone was not drafted, it must mean he is worse than an NBA backup point guard, because otherwise he would have been drafted". Oh, and while the other stats are completely unimpressive, the 3-point % is not that bad .
Gianmarco Pozzecco torn the US D apart but he is ONLY the backup PG on the Italian national team. Their starting PG is Massimo Bulleri. Should we sign both PGs since Pozzecco proved he is light years ahead of AI and Starbury, and Bulleri is a better player than Pozzecco based on their plays in the Italian league?
See Rigaudeau, Antoine. It doesn't mean that he doesn't; but apparently teams haven't felt he was worth it so far. There's been roughly 8-9 drafts that this guy has been eligible for. The latter half of which have been filled with international players. NBA teams are not shy about taking longshot european prospects with late round picks. He wasn't one, that tells me something. While no scout is always right, I trust that their collective opinion is pretty accurate.
LOL... let's first figure out what his name is, THEN sign him. this man is an international man of mystery!
Sample size of 1? Name any other player from overseas that came to the NBA when he was like 30 or so...there aren't many, and that probably makes sense, because they are used to a different style, and it gets harder to adapt when you are older. And to respond to your example: See Milicic, Darko. See Turkcan, Mirsad. I agree that no scout is always right. Sometimes, they are right, sometimes they are wrong - as these two examples show. I also agree that the collective opinion of the scouts is probably relatively accurate - after all, they are experts and that is what they get paid for. Also, the scouting of European players has surely improved in recent years. The argument "if someone has not made it to the NBA at the age of 30, it means he doesn't have the talent to play there" is still incorrect, though, and cannot be cured by citing the example of one guy that came over at that age and failed.
Un, no he wasn't. He was drafted in the 6th round. Oscar Schmidt on his NBA potential - "I know my limitations, my defects,” he said “but I could never play 10 minutes a game." Again. Thanks for the great example. Against a buch of our college players. He wasn't the only international player to play well against us. I can happen, but not very often. If this guy was a legit NBA rotation player, his age would not prevent an NBA team from bringing him over for AT LEAST a tryout. All based on 1 exhibition performance. Lopez was drafted in the 1st round and was talked about at least 2 years prior to being drafted as an NBA prospect. Its my opinion and I fully stand by it. I am sure they are guys with US ball experience who shoot just as well and are much younger.
Just to clear things up, were not talking about the 7-15 3 points guy, were talking about number 9 the one that bowed to the crowd. Poezecco or whatever.
Okay, he was drafted in the 6th round...but you apparently don't really know much about the guy and are implying he could not have made it in the NBA. That's pretty ignorant. How many times will I have to repeat that I am not talking about the particular guy (whatever his name is) for you to finally understand that? And your point (with this statement) is?
The fact that you cite European busts like Milicis and Turkcan indicates that NBA scouts are, in many cases, overestimating European talent. That doesn't exactly help your case. The argument "if someone has not made it to the NBA at age of 30 it means he doesn't have the talent to play there even though NBA teams have been scouting, drafting and signing European players in his league heavily for the last decade " does make sense, at least to me.
