Ok, yesterday, the majority of the greek press reported that Span's manager was in the US and he stated that he will do what he can in order for Span to go back to Europe... Personally, I thought (and still think) that this is simply his manager's wish and that Span does NOT want to leave the rockets this year. I still believe the same thing, however, the following article was published today in a respected greek sports site. It has not been reported anywhere else yet and in general, I'd take it with a grain of salt. I'm posting it for information only, so I'd prefer it if people did not start going on about Span b****ing to the press again since this story has NOT been confirmed and even then it would be his manager's words rather than his own... I still believe Span will stay... With that being said: "Vasilis Spanoulis' manager,Misko Rasnatovic has been in the US since yesterday in order to discuss the end of V-Span's contract with the Houston Rockets. The greek national team player wishes to end his 3-year contract with the Texas team since he is very dissapointed with his treatment by the team's coach, Jeff Van Gundy. It is given that Spanoulis does not wish to continue wandering around the NBA and can't wait to return to Europe and Greece with Panathinaikos being the obvious favourite. The player from Larisa decided 8 months ago to take the big step in his career and cross the Atlantic but right now he believes that the Rockets did not adhere to what was agreed. When the NBA team approached the player last summer the ymade it clear that he cas counted on to actively help this season. Although he never had the greatest expectations he feels disappointed that until now he hasn't received the chance he was waiting for. The guard from Larisa has not been given the time on teh court by his coach that he expected and has only received a few minutes which have not allowed him to display his multiple talents. It should be noted that the team's fans have urged the coach to give more chances to V-Span on multiple occasions but that hasn't hapenned. Coach Van Gundy seldom uses more than 7 players in his rotation anyway. Therefore, the ex- Panathinaikos player is very disappointed and is looking for a way to leave the NBA in order to move to a European team that will provide for his ambitions."
Spanoulis has a terrible attitude. Instead of trying to practice and work hard and improve himself, he whines about the coach, about nebulous promises which had no chance of being fulfilled (who the hell can promise playing time?), and angles to return to Europe. Michael Redd played 6 games and 35 minutes in his rookie year as an unheralded second round pick, where is he now? Did he get there by whining and moaning like Spanoulis is? Absolutely not! I say let him go back to Europe. Give him a buyout of half his contract or so, and get him the heck out of here. He can be the McGrady of Greece or whatever he wants. He is clearly deadweight here.
Thanks for reading how I introduced the article. Also, you have no idea if he practices or not (neither do I, but I dont go round saying :" aw, poor span, he practices so hard but doesn't get a chance"). He might or might not be. Also, it isn't a question of whether the promise was fulfillable down the stretch but a question of whether it was made to entice him over. I tend to believe the promise was made because it was reported over here from when Span was still in talks with the rockets early last summer. Also, the size of his contract could indicate that he was counted on more. Still, I don't think this article today is valid so again, it doesn't matter.
If he had a good attitude, HE WOULD NOT HAVE PUBLICLY BASHED HIS COACH. Even when superstars bash their coach, they are criticized for it. When scrubs do it, they usually never see the court again. I have no idea of how he practices. But his public statements indicate to me that his attitude is horrible, and I can extrapolate from that to predict that he doesn't work hard. If he were a hard worker, and had as much talent as you Spanoulis partisans claim, would he be on the bench, with Rafer struggling and JL3 having size, passing, and defense issues? I think not. Either he doesn't have much talent (i.e. he sucks) or he doesn't work hard. Pick your poison.
I see your point. However I saw the whole situation (from the beginning until now) with a different eye, regarding what was said, how it was meant, possible misunderstandings from the fans etc. Span's comments on an earlier blog of his about how things and his relationship with the coach were misunderstood/misrepresented on the press supports that. The truth is I could report all the comments made by both sides (translated in the case of Span since the whole thing started with an interview on a greek newspaper) and point out what I'm talking about but I don't think it's worth the effort...I mean...I could be wrong in the end and I'm not here to change people's minds, just report some Rockets related news that we get in the greek press and state how I see things. I'm sure everyone makes up their own mind in the end... Let's just agree to disagree... I will only point out that he was always known as a tremendously hard worker with a very good attitude while he was in Europe and I'm quite certain that if this has changed, there must be a reason for it.
I think Agent 0 put it best... <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5Giw8rKT4Dg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5Giw8rKT4Dg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> As far as I can tell, this is not Spanoulis's attitude. His attitude is "WTF, I was promised playing time, why am I not getting it? I was McGrady in Europe, I wanna go back!"
He has every right to terminate his contract and go back home. I think it shows poor character, but it is his right.
Can we PLEASE stop with the misrepresentation of that quote? I have no other issue with this discussion. You have every right to voice your own opinion. We can discuss as much we want if we feel like it. But that quote has REALLY turned people against him for no reason. First of all, it wasn't Span's quote but JVG that said it (although I'm not saying that Span didn't use the comparison himself when speaking to JVG in order to explain what his game is). And it was as a response to Span saying what his STYLE (NOT quality) of play was. JVG meant that basically Span can't play like that in the Rockets because that's McGrady's position.
Didnt he recently say in he's blog or something he plans to stick around for the duration of he's contract?
He hasn't said it straight out but yes, that's the impression everyone got from his recent blogs. I made a comment the other day when I translated his latest blog about how it seems like his manager wants to convince him to leave.... Maybe his manager convinced him or maybe he figured there is no way he's playing any more this year and got even more disheartened or maybe (most likely in my opinion), this article was based on his manager's words rather than his own and he probably won't leave. The article states that he and his manager will meet with the rockets staff today so we'll probably know more later on ... I will translate as soon as i have more info...
VSpan's agent should think of a better reason to end VSpan's contract with Rockets. VSpan could have his own agenda, representing his nation in European games and Olympics games are legitimate. Lack of playing time did have an impact to his development and his position in Greece National Team should more or less be affected. This is one good reason to be put onto table for negotiations but yet they choose the worst excuses to bargain. They even shut down the opportunities for Rockets to trade VSpan with other interested NBA teams. If I were VSpan, I won't give up at this point of time. If I left Rockets this season and went back to Europe, I would be a proven-loser in this league. No matter how successful I played in Europe, people would just remember in my career, I never competed to the level to play in NBA. Vassilis, don't give up!
Thanks for the clarification. Span should understand it usually takes more thene a year or some caeses even 2 years to crack into a rotation of a good club like houston. if he were say on a lesser team, should he would get more time, but we arent a rebuilding franchise, were in a win more now. hence the coach is not gonna gambel on a rookie. Span should have thought about all this stuff before he came here. what he should do in the offseason is to take the spects of he's game that needs fimne tunning and just concentrate and fixing those issues and the minutes will follow. it takes time.
Manu Ginobli or Tony Parker didn't take that much time to just get some playing time on the Spurs... I wouldn't call them a club that is rebuilding.
But they are much better players. were better players to when they went to the spurs. span still has issues with he's Turnovers and shooting. he will get better once he has an offseason to work on those issues. also having a full season of NBA experience under he's belt, it will do him the world of good. in the NBA nothing is a given.
I agree that the season experience will do him a world of good. I agree that he should work hard. I agree that in the NBA, nothing is given. However, both the FIBA expert panel and the fans voted him AHEAD of Tony Parker in the player of the year awards. Most people agree his turnovers were a matter of adjustment and he has had 6 in his last 59 minutes of play. A lot of people have commented that he has improved on it. My personal opinion is that he has adjusted to the game to a large extent (he also comments on his penultimate blog how he hadn't in the beginning but feels like he understands the rockets/nba game much better now.) I also think that when he is allowed to play slightly more to his strengths (driving/penetrating etc) his shooting stats are much better.. I mentioned this in another thread...we're talking about someone who averaged 71% on 2pt attempts and 43% on 3pt attempts at the latter stages of last years Euroleague on 29 mins per game... I refuse to believe he forgot how to shoot...
