[chron] Spanoulis gets ready for NBA

My favorite quote from the article:

"He is wild. I'll tell you, people in Houston will love him."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4159801.html

Rockets' new addition gets ready for NBA
Spanoulis playing with confidence

By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

SAITAMA, JAPAN - If Vasilis Spanoulis sat behind the wheel of a car for a living, it wouldn't be a Formula One racer hugging the curves gracefully or a sleek Ferrari hitting top speeds out on the autobahn.

He'd be a taxi driver, just barreling his way into places and not worrying about picking up a few dents or scrapes. Spanoulis wouldn't follow the road, but make his own path, zigging, zagging, jumping curbs and getting around or going through the pedestrians who got in his path.

His nickname with Panathinaikos in Athens is "Kill Bill," taken from the Quentin Tarantino movie and it only takes a few trips up and down the basketball court to understand why. He takes no prisoners.

One of the first times he got his hands on the ball in Greece's opening elimination game against China, he head-faked once, dribbled to his left and then took off straight for the basket against 7-6 Yao Ming. Then there were his assaults on the hoop in the win over Team USA.

Aggressive style
"Yes, yes, yes. Aggressive," Spanoulis said, nodding. "That's something that I like. It's how I play — aggressive and fast. It's my style."

One that he says he'll bring in a few more weeks to Rockets training camp to blend with Yao and Tracy McGrady.

"I think those two, obviously, are the superstars on the team and in the league," Spanoulis said. "Great offensive players. I will put my aggressiveness to the team to make them something better."

Oh yes, he's confident.

"Adjustments to my game?" he said. "None. This is the basketball I would like to play in the NBA. I think I will be ready for the league from the first days. I believe I will not have a problem. No worries. I believe so much in myself and I'm ready to play there. It's why I'm making this step in my career."

The 6-4 guard looks like a fire hydrant, plays like a fullback and attacks the hoop like a pit bull going after the postman's ankle. He squeezes through cracks in the defense that others don't see or he creates openings.

Plays hard
He bumps and bangs people all over the floor. That is, when he's not diving onto the floor to chase a loose ball.

"In Greece, we have a term for him," said Yiannis Fileris, a journalist who writes for the website Sport 24. "We call him a 'basketball maniac.' All he ever thinks about is the game and how to win it. He is crazy on the court.

"He is wild. I'll tell you, people in Houston will love him."

Whenever, eventually, he gets onto the court. Spanoulis is not Yao, a No. 1 overall draft choice who had all of the tools to be an NBA All-Star. This is a second-round pick, No. 50 overall, trying to break into a league where few players taken that low succeed.

"I just worry a little about the expectation level that people might have for Vasilis when he first gets here," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, who's been following the World Basketball Championship on TV from Houston.

Making adjustments

"He's got to adapt to a new culture, a new role and new teammates. He's got to find out if the things he's done over there in Greece can carry over to the NBA. You know, this is a very, very hard, tough league."

For every tale of a Manu Ginobili or Andres Nocioni coming from abroad to stake a spot and claim a measure of stardom in the NBA, there is an Arvydas Macijauskas of Lithuania, who wasted away all of last season at the end of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets bench.

Spanoulis shrugs. He went from a nice guard playing for second-tier Greek club Maroussi into a star player for Panathinaikos and the national team in a little more than a year.

Plays with passion
"I have passion," Spanoulis said.

And he wears it on his sleeve. Along with an air of imperviousness.

Spanoulis talked about the fun he had playing against the U.S. team. He spoke of the gold-medal game against Spain as a day in the park.

"I am always happy to play in these types of games," he said. "There is no stress. No pressure. Just confidence and you play."

Van Gundy cringes every time he hears big things predicted so early and had to know that everything just got ratcheted up another notch when Spanoulis led Greece with 22 points and made so many big plays to beat the U.S. team.

That was Spanoulis going end-to-end for driving layups. That was Spanoulis pulling up to hit three 3-pointers and twice drawing fouls on long jumpers, then going to the line and burying six straight free throws.

He ran the pick-and-roll offense and whipped slick passes inside to his big men for layups.

"I am very happy he leaves Europe, so I don't have to guard him this year," said Greek teammate Theo Papaloukas, who plays for Moscow CSKA in the Russian Superleague. "He's very strong. He has a winning mentality and deserves to go to the NBA. I think he's going to fight for this."

Spanoulis practically crackles and pops like a downed power line and can be just as dangerous.

"There are many ways to succeed and fail in the NBA," Van Gundy said. "One of the ways is to be in the ballpark talent-wise and make up for what you lack with a love for the game and competition. I'd always bet on guys with passion."

In the first telephone conversation that the player had with his new coach, Spanoulis told Van Gundy, "It's just basketball."

Culture shock
It is and it isn't. It's culture shock and a new league and new teammates and so many different things that maybe only Yao — who went through it at warp speed under a much greater microscope — can clue him into.

"Basketball is the same everywhere, in Europe and the States," Spanoulis said. "Now it's up to me to play the same basketball. When you have better teammates, you can play much better.

"This is what I expect."

You watch him bounce around the court like a pinball against the Americans, finding ways and making plays. You stand next to him and practically feel the electric current.

"I watch a lot of NBA on TV," Spanoulis said. "I know most of the players and how they play. I know the league. I like this type of basketball. I am ready to go to Houston and start with the games. This will be fun."

That's "Kill Bill," coming soon to a theater near you.