Staying Greece? It's for insiders only... Any members that would like to facilitate the information within? link
Here it is. Makes me wish someone would get the story straight. He's under contract with the NBA; does he have this choice? Is someone putting out smokescreens? Or is it true? --------------------------------- Staying Greece? Jun 19 - The Rockets are not having much luck convincing Billy Spanoulis to give the NBA another chance. He seems resolute on remaning in Greece and continuing his basketball career there. He is under contract to the Rockets next season, but that hardly matters. Yao Ming has telephoned him at least twice. Rick Adelman and Daryl Morey have called or sent messages through his agent. Last week, they were down to asking him to join the summer league team for three days to get a sense of what life will be like under Adelman's offense. -- Houston Chronicle --------------------------------
Cant help....but i can tell you there is absolutely no news in greek press since the last stuff i reported here regarding Span
His team just won the championship... and he missed out. He sat on the bench in Houston when he could have been cheered on by his fans at home. I don't blame the guy. I think by our trading Juwan for Mike James, he knows he's not on the fast track to stardom in the US.
I have no link but I bet it's old news. When I reported in the big Span thread that at breakfast with CD we were told he is under contract and will be talked into coming back I took it as 95%+ Span would be back with the Rockets. None of us know what he is thinking but with everyone talking to him he should be back IMO. Time will tell I guess
What ****ty is that him staying in greece is a breach of contract. but if he's released he'll probally get his 2 mil out it. which further affirms my theory that he is nothing but eurotrash.
or #3 the report has no substance and nobody really knows what is going on. Bottom line is Span is under contract and through the agreement with FIBA he can not play anywhere but Houston while under contract per CD. He will/should be forced back here and if things don't go well then the Rockets can do him a favor and not pick up the team option third year. My .02
yea its pretty much the same...still no definitive answer from Billy...I am not sure why this takes so long to be cleared up, it does bother me a bit, but I know that he wanted to take a vacation from all what happened in the past it's just that the rockets would like to move on as soon as possible and he makes it a bit hard now
Dude is under contract. He either plays for us or gets dealt. It's my belief that he's not over there in limbo.The Rockets brass have talked to him and Spanoulis almost asssuredly knows whether he will blossom into that upper tier NBA PG here or someplace else already.
The euroteam may be able to buy out his contract with the Rockets. Unless Billy is guaranteed at least 15 minutes a game, I dont think its very likely Billy will be back. Just put yourself in his shoes for a minute. You left your hometown where they won a championship without you to sit on the bench in a very alien city/country. If you dont feel youre appreciated, if you dont feel like youre going to make an impact, if you dont see a bright future ahead of you, why go on with it? Billy also has a safety net in that hes respected by his hometown team... hes not a typical NBA player who have to play for their contracts for fear that they will be forced to the D-League and possibly out of basketball for good.
Dude i dont know why you have any right to defend him, he's been a primadona since he came here with nothing to back it up. i know he gets garbage time but that man is a PROFESSIONAL basketball player and should at least look comfortable on the court. Yeah right i would PAY the rockets to give me a chance to play with them.
Man i am the #1 vspan hater. Mainly because so much of this board is wasted talking about him. Sorry if i think he's eurotrash. You all think rafer's trash when i dont think he he is.
Nothing too new here, but if V-Span doesn't come back, it may not impact his trade value that much. 08-09 is a team option, so basically he's a $2 million contract that expires in a year, and if a team likes him, they can enforce the deal and possibly convince him to come. After landing Mike James, I think either V-Span or Rafer is not in the Rockets plans, in my personal opinion.
