Parker's alot quicker I would say but the kid knows how to defend. I think he could defend all but the quickest pg's and alot of 2's as well.
The real question is, how much are we willing to pay him? I can't find a link anywhere as to how much he's making in Europe, but I'd surmise that we'd need to pay him at least Bob Sura money to come over; considering he's a star right now, and seems to be quite happy about it, as well as the fact that his contract right now is untaxed, and he gets to play at home. Certainly I'm all for bringing him into the rotation, especially with Van Gundy's comments about needing a third point guard, but at what price are we willing to gamble?
But the key to him is his bball IQ is off the chart....if Span is the same type of player, we should get him over here STAT ! DD
we could very concievably come into camp with 3 rookies competing for time. a top 10 pick, V-span and the 2nd rounder.
ive seen span play once. and from the descriptions he drives it in a lot. almost every play. ginobili drives in almost every play as well
If I remember correctly V-Span is making around Euro 500K-600K. With rates of exchange, no taxes, extra benefits euro players get, this equates to around USD 1.4M NBA dollars. His buyout is slightly above the NBA buyout max so it shouldn't be a problem. If V-Span is not on the team next year JVG needs to have his eyes poked out.
the only thing i'm worried about is how jvg is goign to play him next season. lets say that we still have rafer... wat if he plays rafer for 30-40 minute? i'm worried that v-span is going to have a rookie season like chucky... only reason head is playing is because of the injuries and when he had his chance.. he showed he can play... hayes... when he has the chance he shows he can be better than howard or swift.. but jvg dont' play him at all. i think v-span might just want to stay there. if thats the case...
Man we seriously need fresh blood in this team, buy out his contract and let's see what he can do. That tendency to drive in habitually is a concern though, let's hope he doesn't visit the injured list often like the rest of our team. And it's a little premature with the Gino comparisons right now.
I watched most of the game today, he looked pretty good. they lost the game and the chance to knock Tau out of the playoffs but Span had 20 points. Here's my take: Good penetrator to the basket. Not afraid of contact and seems to know how to draw the foul on defenders when driving the lane Solid passer, not going to confuse him with Larry Bird or Magic Johnson but he passes were crisp, accurate and on time, he even hit his team mate in the head with a pass since the guy wasn't looking (that is kinda Bird like... Ball handling is good, not many TO's and doesn't mess around dribbling the clock down, he either passes the ball or drives to the basket Has a descent shot, still needs some work but he didn't seem to take stupid shotss from the perimeter, appears to be a fairly good free throw shooter I think it heard it on the sports radio that he is planning on coming to training camp next season to try out
Might as well add that the NBA-TV game's color announcer for last week's V-Span game compared one of his crossovers to Wade on a play where V-Span drew a foul splitting a double-team. Granted, that guy probably has a tendency to overstate to make international b-ball look better, but it was still nice to hear.
I like guys who can attack the basket and finish which isn't something that can be learned. It requires guts to take on athletic and physical defenders and we don't have many players who can do that on our team. It will be good to see what V-Span can do in the pre-season.
i think span is a really quick guy. im not sayin he's the next ginobili or faster than him, or slower than him for that matter...im just sayin he drives in a lot. creates a lot of contact and gets to the line. his game reminds me of a lot like ginobili's game. plus i think he's on the best team in europe.
I'd be more bullish if I didn't remember all I'd read and heard about Sarunas Jasikevicius -- who played collegiately in US. He's done ok, but... BTW - how is his command of American English, and American hoopese?
