That's not ture. Schortsanitis did sign a new 3 year contract but I doubt it's for more than 3 million Euros. The highest paid player in Europe is Papaloukas who recently signed a 3 year contract for 7 million Euros. The taxes in Europe are paid by the club and are not included in the salary, so I would say that 7 mill. Euros are about the same as 13 or 14 million dollars for an NBA player (in other words a little less than the MLE). And still it's very rare for a player in Europe to make this kind of money. Papaloukas was the MVP of the Euroleague last year and there are only 4 or 5 players in Europe who make money close to what he does.
Papadopoulos is making somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million Euros. He was the highest paid center in Europe when he signed that contract two years ago, but some others like Javtokas and I think Vujcic have passed him now. Personally I expect him to go to the NBA when his contract in Russia is over. BTW about the game, I know that a lot of people feel really bad for losing to Greece, a team with no NBA players, but that's more the fault of NBA scouts rather than an indication of the talent of the greek team. All the players on the greek team are Euroleague stars or at least contributors, which is why most europeans agree that Greece was the team with the most depth in the World Championship (other than the U.S. that is). Can anyone claim that guys like Papaloukas or Diamantidis cannot play in the NBA? As for the US team, people say that the team needs role players but I honestly don't see how that will change anything. Unfortunately this is american basketball. In the NBA all teams have a star who takes 20 to 30 shots per year and is the messiah of the team. That's what the US team did in Japan. Guys like Wade or LeBron or Carmelo haven't learnt to play without taking all the shots, but basketball is a team sport and that's not the right way to play the sport. Do people really think that Kobe would ake the team improve? Of course not. The american defense had no clue what to do against Greece because there weren't just 1 or 2 players that take all the shots (which is how it is done in the NBA). Unless Stern and his philosophy changes, american basketball will suffer like this and people will wonder how a team with Wade and LeBron cannot win the World Championship. Just my two cents.
Evidently, the USA team should have played Greece like Spain did. I admired their defence especially during 1st Q. I don't think I have seen something like it before, maybe the best of Yugoplastica(Kukoc, Radja etc) played like that in a final, excluding that the Spanish team didn't block much. Garbajosa played well. But considering his position, I don't know his use for the NBA. Doubt it will be much of use for a long range shooter for frontline. He should have stayed in Europe were we can use this kind of player not as an 8' substitution. Hope they'll use him more though. We shall see.
