Could it be the "seniority" factor? I understand seniority as in tenure in the national teams as well as clubside sometimes play a big role in who plays and who backs up. Maybe Vassilis is a back up some part a developing player, some part a "junior" (frosh.....as in less that 2 years) national team member.
That could be a factor, I have no idea who's a senior and who's not, but that could be the case. The only thing about the "seniority" factor is that I don't think it would push him that far back into the bench. He supposedly had a great season last year, so I find it weird how he's the 10-12th man.
1. Yes, he was one of Greece's (Greek League) best players last season, but he was not top 3 or something. He was one of the best, clearly not the best or anything near. He maybe even wasn't a top 3 PG in Greece. 2. He didn't play Euroleague ball last season. He participated in the ULEB Cup. But the competition is a lot worse there. He maybe was one of the best players in ULEB Cup, but he wasn't one of the best players in Europe. At least if you're speaking about the best 20 or 30 players. @ apostolic3: Give a little more respect to the Greek Basketball or the European Basketball in general. You have to consider the different styles and the different rules. If you take the Greek team and let the play by FIBA rules they probably would win a lot more than 5 games against NBA competition. And they even would have a realistic chance to beat Team USA. If Spanoulis is the 3rd PG on the Greek team then this has nothing to do with no talent. The players who are ahead of him are great players. Diamantidis is a 195 cm tall pg who is the Euroleague Defensive Player of the year. Papaloukas was the Euroleague MVP in january. And Zisis played good in the Euroleague, too. Spanoulis on the other side is still very young and has to earn his playing time. There's nothing wrong with that since he can grow with the team. V-Span has definitely talent. He is quick and he is tall. He can shoot the ball and penetrate. And he can defend. But right now, he isn't ready for NBA competition. And what's more important for the Rockets, he lacks PG skills to play full time PG in the NBA. That's why I consider him a project to be a Mike James lite. Right now he's probably Luther Head lite.
Oh and I forgot to mention that his new team in Greece is the right place for him to develope. Last year NBA players like Tracy Murray, Mike Batiste, Ibrahim Kutluay or our new backup PF Lonny Baxter played there. Baxter averaged less than 8 PPG and 5 RPG.
actually in Greece "playmakers" are the point guards, that's how they are referred to. With respect to Spanoulis, I have seen him play live over in Greece and he is an exciting talent, but still plays out of control too much. Everyone expected him to gain some control in his game, but it just hasn't happened yet. Plus, he is very streaky right now, and on those off nights it can get downright ugly. That's why he hasn't been playing very much in this tournament. The European Championship is a very big deal in Greece and they didn't want to lose any games b/c of a rambunctious "playmaker." That is what the press has been saying in Greece.
Your point is well taken. My point was under NBA conditions, talent and rules, the Greek team would be destroyed by an NBA season. They wouldn't know what hit them. I agree with you completely on Vspan. Luther Head lite sounds realistic. I'm not saying the guy doesn't have some talent, I just think his chances of being useful to the Rockets are about 1 in 10 (and that's as a reserve).
So what? If you take an average NBA team and let it compete in the Euroleague with FIBA rules it probably would not win the title, too. It's always about the style and the rules. You have to consider this to understand that the overall competition (Euroleage vs. NBA) and talent (in their respective ways) is not so much different than most people here would think. But basically this is not the topic of this thread. I just wanted to make clear that it's not as simple as saying if V-Span is the 10th to 12th player on the Greek team, he's no talent. He's young and he's talent. Give the guy some time to develop. All we really can say is that right now he wouldn't have been good enough to help this Rockets team, even if he hadn't signed his new contract in Greece.
apostolic, Please tell me you're not a scout or part of a basketball team staff. Overlooking young players on European National Teams, the quality of Greece's no less, is ... idiotic. The list of brilliant talent too young , or not experimented enough to play on those national teams, is huge. Yet there are still terrific prospects, and they should not be ashamed when compared to most NBA rookies or high school draftees.
Spanoulis's stats for the game: http://www.eurobasket2005.com/en/ci....roundID_4332.teamID_.gameID_4332-40-A-1.html 9 min 0/1 FG 1 point 1 rebound 1/2 FT 0/1 3FG 1 Foul
