“@ESPNSteinLine: RT @SportandoBasket: OFFICIAL: Caja Laboral announces signing of Rockets guard Goran Dragic for the season w/NBA out if/when lockout ends”
That's good. I hope he hones his skills a bit more. I wish more players would sign contracts with NBA out-clauses just to show they're not that dependent on the league. Of course, injury's a risk but Euroleagues don't seem as physical.
They world be playing for a fraction of their NBA contracts and vacancies will be limited. Half of the NBA owners that would lose less money in a lost season, would be more resolved to wait it out, and tell the players to get a better deal elsewhere.
Not sure that this is a good choice by Goran. He will share the position with 2 players (Prigioni and Heurtel). And at the SG, Oleson is starting and Ribas is his backup. Both are playing well. This is the problem that NBA players -who want to play overseas- are facing, right now the rosters are completed and the clubs have spent all-most of their budgets. In most situations, the NBA players will have to accept below normal salaries and below normal minutes... Still there are better scenarios, for example, Splitter signed for a club that had his backup center injured. Also there are some other american players around the league performing below expectations who could be waived and substituted by better NBA players, but that's only a possibility to contemplate with the richest clubs, obviously.
Prigioni is still good but he's really getting old. He's not the same player he was at all. Ribas is just an average level Euroleague player. Huertel is talented and nothing more. Oleson is a scrub by Euroleague standards. There should be at least 20 minutes of PT for Dragic in that team. And it's basically the Mike D'Antoni system they play there. He can run all over the court throwing wild passes and taking crazy 3 point shots all game long in that team. He will be in heaven.
I think that a player like Dragic should have his 20 minutes -at least- on every european team. Still, he's arriving to a team already done, with the season started and coached by a particular coach (definitely very different to Mike D'Antoni, on the playing style and on how to coach the team day to day). I trust in Goran's talent anyway to gain playing time and help the team.
Every time a player takes a deal overseas, the NBA's leverage is chipped away a little more. They may not make multi-millions, but they'll make enough to help make ends meet while the owners are hoping to starve them out. The owners aren't as immune to a lockout as most think. All of the new owners that put together investment groups to purchase a franchise with a huge loan are still on the hook for repaying that loan. The vacant arenas still have operating costs. Good for each and every player that takes a deal across the pond.
Ivanovic let's players shoot as much as they want, whenever they want, from anywhere on the court - any kind of shot, anything. Hell you can take 15 3 points a game if you wanted to. He also plays favorites and uses strange rotations. He is 100% the Euroleague version of D'Antoni. Once again you are arguing over basic facts of Euroleague.
Funny, I never viewed D'Antoni as a defensive coach. I seriously question your knowledge of Ivanovic's history and coaching philosophy. No where close to D'Antoni's.
In my opinion normally Dusko's teams play very good basketball, but this doesn't mean that he gives total freedom to the players, in fact is more the opposite, everybody knows that he's very methodical and disciplined, yugoslav school. Go tell Luis Scola (or a countless number of American players who didn't stand him). For those who don't know him, I found an interview to Andres Nocioni where he speaks about Dusko. http://p69.webcindario.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&forum=4&topic=199 I don't have time to translate it, so get funny with google. http://translate.google.com/transla...?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&forum=4&topic=199 From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du%C5%A1ko_Ivanovi%C4%87 If you search on google you can find a lot of material.
Ivanovic has never been anything remotely resembling a "defensive coach". Shall I dig up a quite where D'Antoni said they ahd to play better defense? Give me a break. This guy that has as his FAVORITE players guys like San Emeterrio, Teletovic, Rakocevic..guys that have hardly ever played a lick of defense in their whole careers? Um.....sorry, but no.
Dude, I have been watching Baskonia games for YEARS. He is the Euroleague version of D'Antoni, which is precisely why he always has players like Scola that never play any defense on his teams. He is not a disciple coach. He is a coach that either likes you or hates you. You either play big minutes, or never see the court. EXACTLY THE SAME as D'Antoni.
