Kostas had an okay game with utah and many inclunding me, thought that it might have a place in the NBA. His terrible performance against the Celtics brought us back to reality. He made mistakes not because lack of concentration but because he s slow for the NBA and has very poor ball handling. He could not finish even the fast breaks and his shooting was again very poor. His rebounding is bad for a SF (2-3 per game) and even his defence on his personnal opponent was just average. Not a single Greek Player has succed to play in the NBA. Even FIBA legends like Galis, Spanoulis, Fotsis, Diamantidis,Papaloukas Giannakis. Players that dominated the International basket. Diamantidis, Papaloukas, spanoulis even defeated in 2006 the Usa team of lebron, carmelo, howard,paul etc but still were unable to play in the NBA. Obviously the body type of Greek Player is not fit for the nba requirements So kosta, you lived the experience of some NBA games, it s not shame to come back to olympiakos. Spanoulis followed that path
Hello again guys, lifetime Olympiacos fan here ( and Rockets fan also - red nation forever), got to learn Pap since he was making his name in Greek and Euro league, really glad to see him getting competitive in the NBA. Couple of remarks for you rockets' fans so that we can have more realistic expectations from him, hoping of course he really excels and makes a completely fool out of me: - The guy in euro was really good but never completely remarkable, a coaches' tool,a really valuable asset that would go off at times and provide highlights' material, as he occasionally did in preseason. For a euro fan to compare him with Scola or Delfino would be a stretch atm, but surely he has the potential provided he works hard. - He will have nights where he will really suck. Especially with the tight NBA schedule and still being a rookie his performance is going to have roller coaster peaks and curves. In FIBA he looked rather decent from an athletic point of view, easily being the 3 and stretch 4 but in NBA context he still needs to get stronger. He knows that, it's no coincidence that in reg. season games he doesn't go to the rim that much, expect him to get more confident as he feels his strength to grow- you would really love some of his dunks, i sure miss them. Him being smart, I also expect him to appear "faster" as he gets seasoned with the NBA game. That of course provided he really trains for strength and actually gets closer to NBA "athletic standards". Also coaching team, seems to realise that and that's good. I see no coincidence him being played at times at the 2 in these early season games. It looks that he could occasionally fit in that position for an NBA team. The guy has good bb fundamentals, decent ball handling and most importantly, more space, as euro game is still much tighter regarding defence tactics (more double teams, combo zone defences, traps, etc..). Yeah, bringing some high level euroleague competitive bball perception into the more loosely defended NBA ball game, could qualify him as a decent "playmaker" - for this side of the Atlantic. - Having said the above, what I noticed about him more and more, even before coming to the NBA, is that even when he's not scoring, he somehow makes the team he plays for to look more solid defensively- provided he stays out of foul trouble. That became clearer to me seeing him play for the national team during last summers' FIBA world cup. That's why he seems to be a "coaches' tool" if you allow me the expression. This is consistent with the current target of the Rox coaching staff to make the team more "defense-oriented" and that's how I personally explain the considerable minutes he's already taking in the rotation. I'm sure he's still adjusting with the NBA style but believe me, he had the opportunity to be coached and perform in the more complex euroleage defensive game by some of the best euro coaches- guys who thought " offense brings the fans but defense brings the titles", so yeah, considering the dude has won a couple or more of them, yeah that could be also a good "mental injection" for Houston bball. Bottom line: Pap was one of the best euroleague players, surely tier 1 but not at stardom level yet, solid defender, still young thus prone to development. I like the hype of the fans around him but he better get down and work more and show us and him self what he's really got. In "us" I also include so many devout greek bball fans who see in him the most representative "product" of modern greek bball in the NBA atm. A lot of eyes watching him on both sides of the Atlantic. GO ROX!
This is bizarre, his fans are hypercritical whilst the rest of us are more like "meh, he's providing what we need from a bench player", that being said, i never want to see him try and dribble through 2 defenders like he's Harden ever again.
Great post, I agree with everything. His bball IQ is so high, it's like he's a man amongst boys mentally but a boy amongst men physically, if he manages to adjust his body enough he'll be extremelly valuabe in the future.
What's with Kostas' Greek fans? You have to be strong to go through an NBA season. Here we're 3 games in, and you think this is who Kostas is. He's still learning the game. Rockets are giving him one year to adjust and one year to develop a more NBA body. Let's be patient with him.
After a season enduring Casspi as the back-up 3 and Garcia missing most of last year, believe me Kostas is quite an upgrade for our bench unit.
Having watched youtube highlights of him and a bit of the fiba world cup, I was surprised to see how different he's playing with the Rockets compared to what I saw him previously. The Rockets style is different from most European teams. They encourage players to run, attack, create. Just in general a looser system compared to what I see of international teams at the world cup. So it is possible that there may be part of his game that can still be developed despite his age. I do agree with you that he certainly doesn't have that star potential. But he can be a high end role player because he seems to be able to do many things very well.
So far that's the most important thing I've noticed, he never seems to hurt the team. Which establishes a very good floor for him as a rotation player. Even in a game like last night where he showed some very sketchy handles, he did enough other things to cover. Obviously he can't turn the ball over like he did yesterday against good teams though. Still, 6.6 Assists and 2.8 steals per 36 minutes, which is nice.
Game looks too fast for him at times and I don't think he is used to the length of NBA players yet. More experience and his high BB IQ will eventually catch him up.
I don't think it's the "body type." You can't assume every Greek player wants to play in the NBA. It's a calculated risk for them and some are obviously quite content with their teams in stable leagues in Europe. Good competition, good pay VS a pay cut and starting from scratch. I don't really know Spanoulis' story, but I know he is significantly more successful than Papa in Europe. Maybe Papa's game translates better in the NBA or maybe Spanoulis' just didn't give himself enough time, but I think Spanoulis had what it took to play in the NBA. Just look at all the adversity and circumstances Lin had to deal with before he broke out.
If Dragic can make it, then Spanoulis definitely could too. Dragic wasn't even a better player than Spanoulis until last year. V-Span just had a bad experience with SVG and instead of holding out and wasting his prime, waiting for a chance to prove himself (as you said, it took Lin almost 3 years) he elected to go back to Europe (which, for Lin, wasn't an option). Spanoulis, Diamantidis and Papaloukas have definitely been good enough at some point in their respective carreers for a rotation spot in the NBA. The point you make about players not being willing to take a paycut and start from scratch is a good one. Just look at what it took to lure Papa over. They went from 2m/year to 4.8. If you're good enough for teams like CSKA, Barca, Real Madrid, Olympiakos, Panathinaikos etc to fight over you, then your meal ticket's already been paid for. A person, any person, not just athletes, will simply not risk their job security, take a paycut and move halfway across the globe just for more "prestige".
Papa will get 'it' and be a good player for us. He doesn't hurt us while on the floor and is a 'plus'. I don't see him taking a step back in the future but improve to where he can be a solid role player.
