Magic first round pick 11th overall wont play for the team

I think it's a good thing that NBA now has Euro leagues competing for talents, so that Stern cannot just sit on his azz dictating everything. NBA is becoming WWF jumping.

Also, the player has right not to play after drafted. There is still contract. Before that, it's all free. It's hard to imagine someone would turn down NBA gurantee contract 3 or 4 years back, but euro leagues are catching up. It's a good thing IMO for the basketball. It will be awsome to have series between Euro champion and NBA's before call it world champion of the world prematurely.

 

This is more of the toilet splash that occurs when a large brown object hits the water and water splashes back up against the orifice that disposed of the large brown object. You get my drift... It's an unpleasant splash, to say the least....

 

NBA draft eligibility does NOT operate this way. From a legal perspective, there is no privity of contract between the potential draftee and the NBA without some form of agreement. The NBA can only restrict what teams and the people who want to play for those teams do.

But the bottom line is this . . . the Magic would not have drafted this guy without bringing him in for workouts and meetings. By hiring an agent (make that two agents) and attending those workouts and meetings, he was obviously declaring himself eligible for the draft. He just went back on his word. This is no different from being bamBoozered in my book.

 

Agree. Unless this guy is the 2nd-coming TD, he is going to have a hard time and bad karma in this league due to this episode.

 

He would have been in the draft no matter what, with the 22 year old automatic eligibility rule. But like I said, if he had told all the NBA teams that he wouldn't be coming over to the NBA right away, it would have been fair to everybody know where he stands, and it would have affected his draft position. So the bottom line is that I agree with you to an extent.

 

I am not sure I understand your post - but I will state that the Orlando Magic did not workout (privately) or intensively interview Fran Vasquez according to some Florida papers and Orlando forums I gleaned.

Otis Smith wanted to draft either Granger or Green but Twardzik pushed for Fran and got his wish. Twardzik was basing drafting him on what he saw watching him play but never and assumed that Fran was totally comitted to playing here. Maybe Fran was earlier leaning towards playing here but it is likely the cultural divide and language barier is what is giving him cold feet now.

Twardzik shout be fired imho for drafting a Euro player who he never worked out or bothered to really know what was in his mind especially considering what happened to the Nuggets in the Niko Skitsa base. Though Fran was believed to be the most NBA ready of all the draftees, the risk of him staying back in Europe would have been enough for the Magic to pass on him.

 

all i can say is payback is a b*tch

 

Let's offer Juwan Howard and a future #1 for him-- if he'll sign with us!

 

Looks like his decision is final..He is going back to spain....

Updated article from the previous one.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2119473

ORLANDO, Fla. -- First-round draft pick Fran Vazquez has decided to remain in Europe instead of joining the Orlando Magic this season.

The 6-foot-10 power forward from Spain was the 11th pick in the June draft and the first European player selected. He was expected to play right away for the Magic, but surprised the team and his agent with his decision Thursday.

"I've said no because I was afraid to adapt to the American way of life and of not giving the level they have asked," Vazquez told the Spanish newspaper Malaga Hoy. "I'm not a coward, but I prefer to stay in Spain, progress, and who knows? Maybe jump to the NBA in a few years."

The team is expected to send Dave Twardzik and Otis Smith, co-assistant general managers, to Spain on Monday to talk to Vazquez, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday.

The Magic knew Vazquez had a $650,000 buyout clause in his European contract when they drafted him, but they insisted it wouldn't be a problem.

"Yes, we're a little surprised," Twardzik said Friday. "The message we've been getting all along -- before the draft, after the draft -- was that he was excited about playing here. He said it was his dream to play in the NBA."

The team expected to sign Vazquez shortly after the league and the players' union formalized a new collective bargaining agreement next week. Under the already agreed-upon salary scale, Vazquez was slated to sign a guaranteed contract worth more than $5 million over three years.

The Magic have not spoken to Vazquez but only to his European agent, Jose Cobelo. The team had been in almost daily dialogue with either Cobelo or his American-based partner, Marc Cornstein.

Cornstein issued a statement Thursday.

"I was shocked and dismayed to read over the Internet that Fran is reconsidering his earlier decision to join the Orlando Magic," Cornstein said.

Even though Vazquez said he won't join the Magic this season, the team will retain his NBA rights indefinitely and could sign him in the future.

 

Doesn't surprise me, the Spanish are known to withdraw from any challenge...including Iraq

 

They are passsssssssssionate people who are not embarrassed to cry or show emotion. In Vazquez's case not only did he cry (err show passion), but he quit alltogether. The idea of banging in the post against Shaq tends to make people even more passionate to the point that they become so patriotic that they go back to the country they came from.

 

A bad move by the Magic front office? NEVER!

 

That's just Orlando scouting at it's finest! I expect these kind of mishaps with the Clippers or Hawks, but the Magic are really starting to seperate themselves from the rest of the league.

This happens all the time in baseball, but i've never seen this in basketball. At least in baseball you get like 100 draft picks, no big loss in one. You still have to wonder how his family feels that he just passed up 5 million dollars and could of set them up for life.

 

Looks like Fran screwed Real Madrid too while he was at it; he signed a four-year contract to remain in the ACB league.

He's taking being a punk tool to new heights!

 

could his statement be any weaker? not only can he apparently not hang with the american lifestyle, but apparently doesn't wanna play at the level they might ask him too? wtf? i'd rather not play hard so i'll just chill in spain. whatever floats your boat, but have somebody write some lie that doesn't sound as ridiculous.

 

Actually, it is safe to conclude that he will be getting (making) more money there at least within his rookie contract scale years (4 years).

As a legit star, he will get at least [roughly] 1.5M Euro (about the same this same Girona agreed with former Jazz Raul Lopez) which is close to $2M or thereabout (Euro is currently stronger than dollar albeit slightly).

But as the 11th pick in this year's draft, he would have made only about 1.5M his first year.

Remember that many of these Euro contracts are [can be] usually tax free. Also the Spanish ACB league play only about 34 league games per season + continental games for the top team that qualify (Girona will not be playing in Europe this season - they finished 16th of 18 teams last season).

Also being a big star over there, there is also the very likely possibility of lucrative non-basketballing income which he could make from endorsements and the like.

So financially, Fran is better off now in Spain that coming to America. Well better (more lucrative) long term financial propect is likely more favorable here (arguably). But that [money] is not what is keeping him back according to his words.

 

Here comes the spin machine

 

Are the orlando papers on the Magic payroll. It's weird that they can't seem to ever just come right out and say, "What the heck are the Magic doing. The fans have a right to be upset." I'd be pissed as hell if I was a Magic fan.

 

did we not make the same risk with Ming? Suck it up. Get over it.

 

I like the way this article chooses to only spotlight the 11th player taken. I think the fan's argument would be "We could have had someone else". The writer should have used 11th and later picks to justify his argument.