[Lost In Translation] Most Worth The Player: SERGIO LULL

Didnt he just sign a long extension last offseason?

 

Maybe he could be the backup SG we've been looking for?

 

"the rumors for Houston sound very strong for him next year". Thats probably just saying the rockets will try hard to get him, but it doesn't mean he has interest in leaving.

 

Hate it when these guys enter the draft but decide to stay..

 

Does anybody know how much his buyout is?

 

Here's my attempt at a translation.

 

Sorry, doesn't sound like anything but a blogger's speculation to me...

 

If Sergio Llull had a brain, he could be a more athletic version of Kirk Hinrich, but he doesn't have a brain, so..........

He's definitely not a PG. He's a much better player than Beverley though.

 

And here is English.....it's really not hard to find guys, the Euroleague has a huge English website.

http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/112829/180

 

-Everything is negotiable-

Yes, Llull just re-uped with Real Madrid last Summer, but that doesn't mean the Rockets wont at least have conversations with him, and his agent about negotiating a buyout regardless of how tricky it might be.

Like alot of things did, the Harden trade changed alot of things in the court of public opinion for this team, and I guarantee you Llull took notice.

Morey & Arturas will probably sell Sergio on the role of potentially playing a 6th man/Manu type of role in year one as the resident "irrational confidence" scorer off the bench. Sounds like a pretty decent gig in year one, and is exactly what Houston needs especially with the heavy minutes log Harden took this year.

Im not saying its likely because frankly Sergio has a pretty sweet gig over there in Europe. He's playing near his homeland, getting paid decently, with a first class franchise, and is a bonified star. The Rockets are going to need to make it work his while financially to get him over here in the end.

Signing Llull might be contigent mostly on what moves the Rockets make first before they go tie up salary in Llull, and cost Les millions in a buyout with Real Madrid.

So getting Llull over here next year will be quite the challenge, but its not necessary impossible. Its just going to be contigent on more than a few things happening first.

 

He has no chance to start here unless Lin is traded, and barring that I don't expect we'll see him coming.

 

Lull is not a better player than Bev. End of story.

 

First of all, Llull is not a bonafide star in Europe.

Now, on the issue of how likely is it that he signs with the Rockets next year......

salaries in Europe are net (after taxes and agent fees), and the club pays the agent fees and the taxes for the players. Plus, in Spain they pay in euros, which are worth more than dollars.

Considering that, plus a buyout cost...........the Rockets would have to pay quite a damn big salary to Llull just to equal what he would make in Spain with Real Madrid.

So I would say the chances of him taking a pay cut to ride the bench in Houston are very small, and next to none.

After some big name Euroleague players like Arvydas Macijauskas, Vassilis Spanoulis, and Juan Carlos Navarro took pay cuts to play in the NBA, and then did not get the roles or treatment they were promised to get when they signed - well, since then established Euroleague players have a whole new outlook on it.

They don't even consider the NBA as an option unless it is going to pay the same or more money in those cases now. Llull is not as good as those players and he's nowhere near that big of a name in Europe, but he's still making very good money and has a nice role on a big club.

So it's very hard to get such players like that now to come to the NBA and take a pay cut. It's almost impossible. All such guys leaving Euroleague to go to the NBA in recent years, demanded as much or more in salary as what they were getting in Europe.

I figured what I think Llull might get in salary in his next contract, and the buyout, and I figure the Rockets would have to give Llull $14+ million to match it.

If they want to spend that kind of money on a Euroleague player, there are a whole bunch of guys in Euroleague that are better than Llull is.

 

Actually, he is. He definitely is.

 

He has leverage. The Rockets would have to guarantee playtime.

 

Just when it seemed like we were done, somebody brings up the myth that is Sergio Llull coming to the NBA.

Dude has signed 2 or 3 contracts to stay in Europe, blame Rudy Fernadez for telling him or his coach horror stories about becoming a small fish in a big pond, but we are more likely to sign a backup PG or SG on some current playoff team then pry this guy out of Europe where he is a big or second tier star. Frankly, I'm fine with that, he probably recognizes his own weaknesses and doesn't want to get exposed.

At the very least he offers Morey and some of his scouts a reason to vacation in Europe while calling it business.

 

The guy was named MVP for the month of April, and has been pretty well known for quite some time. He might not be a household name like Juan Carlos, but he's certainly not just an everyday scrub over there either. He is a top player on one of the best teams in Europe. He might not be a bonified star, or a household name, but he's pretty damn good regardless.

second, when did I say that it was likely or that it would be cheap for Les to pay for him to come over? If I can read correctly, I said it would be quite the challenge.

However, I did say that everything is negotiable. Also things can change on a dime for this Rockets team. So its foolish to think that its impossible for things to break in a way where it creates a path for Sergio to come to the NBA for the Rockets.

However, yes I agree it would be probably be-

A. extremely expensive & could hamper cap flexibility
B. there would be questions about his role
C. Real Madrid would have to be accomidating
D. Sergio would have to desire to come to the NBA
and
E. The Rockets would have to want to go through major headaches to bring him over.

Still... things can change quickly with this Rockets team so dont just forget about him over there accross the pond.

 

That's saying alot, as I haven't seen him play. Peak Hinrich was solid and Beverly is already at this stage of his career an excellent backup PG/lower end starting PG.

 

He's just one of the players on Real Madrid. He's not a star there. He's just another player there. There is a big gap between star and scrub. Llull is in that gap.

To be perfectly honest, he's nowhere near as good as Rudy is.