V-Span might join Spurs after friendship with Parker

Okay, so that unlinked article recommends he works as a cab driver in the US.

There's finally something I can agree with.

 

You said he was a 25% 3 point shooter in Europe, when in reality it was 38%. HUGE difference.


That's like saying Rafer is the best shooter in the NBA. The forum should not just glaze over like it always does when people are always posting things that are so blatantly off.

 

That's very debatable. Again people have this warped view of Spanoulis.

I believe Sarunas played 6 years in Euroleague, I believe he won the Eurobasket once and once won the Eurobasket MVP and he won 2 Euroleague championships.

In ONE YEAR of EuroCup Spanoulis won the 6th man of the year and the Eurobasket.

In ONE YEAR of Euroleague Spanoulis won the 6th man of year and the rookie of year.

If you look at Spanoulis as a rookie in Euroleague (year before he joined Houston) he was 7th in FIBA international player of year, he won MVP of week twice (first rookie to do so since they formed it), he was 2nd team all Euroleague (first rookie since they formed it) to the best point guard in the world outside of NBA (Papaloukas).

He finished 10th in MVP voting (highest for a rookie since they formed it). He was 6th man of the year (first rookie since they formed it) and rookie of the year.

Sarunas never did anything like that UNTIL his FIFTH YEAR of Euroleague.

In fact if you put Navarro back in Euroleague, then add Spanoulis, Sarunas isn't even a top 4 point guard in Europe.

Everyone acts like he was so great there. Really? Any Euro fan could tell you Navarro, Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Papaloukas are all clearly better than him. But hey, fans here HEARD Sarunas was the best supposedly so it's fact right?

The Greek National Team probably has 3 point guards on it better than him, but so many on this board assume Sarunas = best point guard in Europe.


Let me put it like this, Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Spanoulis on D >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>than Sarunas.

Spanoulis faster, quicker than Sarunuas >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I've even seen people say Spanoulis could not make it because like Sarunas he was
"too slow." It's great when the fastest point guard in Europe is compared to one of the slowest ones.

And really Panathinaikos is a much better team, playing in a much better league than Maccabi Tel Aviv is.

It's like comparing the Eastern conference to the Western Conference and comparing the Cavs to Spurs.

Also for comparison, Manu's rookie year was not as good as Spanoulis' rookie year.

Actually Manu's last Eueoleague year his MVP Euroleage season he had WORSE stats than Spanoulis did in his rookie year. Imagine that. How on earth Pop ever played him since some fans are "hoping" Span goes to SA where Pop is even "tougher than Van Gundy."

Really so? I wonder how a guy that had worse stats than Span and was older in Manu in Euroleague, how he got any floor time? I mean with all those wild turnovers and everything.

Think about it. Name another Euro player that gets an NBA contract after his ROOKIE season of Euroleague?

Saying Sarunas was better in Europe is a bit like arguing that Rashard Lewis should be considered better than Kevin Durant.

It's obvious this board doesn't follow Europe basketball. I've seen over and over where people said Beno was superior to Spanoulis. LMAO, ask anyone that follows Europe and they will tell you Spanoulis is light years better than Beno. It's an absolute joke.

And it was Van Gundy himself that raved about how good Beno was and how he was getting shafted for not playing during the WCF commenting.

How he would start on about 5 teams and be the 2nd guy on 25 teams. This was JEFF VAN GUNDY that said that himself.

Well get it right, actually follow Europe and you would know Spanoulis is about >>>>> than Beno, yet Spanoulis is 4th string point guard for Van Gundy, and he implies in WCF's commenting that Beno would he his 1st string if he was on Rockets?

Rockets fans can argue all they want about Rafer being better than Spanoulis, but it's only because Van Gundy benched him so they can hide behind that saying look at his poor numbers in limited minutes.

But Beno and Spanoulis have the Euro play comparison and it's not even close, Spanoulis is much better.

Van Gundy makes clear in his mind, Beno is better. Brags about how good Beno is. Fans here even think Beno is better. It's a joke it really is.

Tell a Euroleague fan Beno is comparable to Spanoulis and they would laugh their ass off.

 

Stop Stop!! You are exposing my evil schemes!!

 

actually, i don't care what happens to billy.

we traded him for scola, a better player at a possition we needed more.

would you rather have kept billy and juwon or have scola and james?

 

HUGE difference when you actually pay attention. I said he shot "something" like 25%...in the Worlds before the game vs Team USA. I thought scientists were all about details?

Since you ignored it, can I assume you have no argument with Span about him not considering himself a shooter?

 

Who cares about this guy? Hayes got playing time and so did Lucas. For all his whining and complaining when he did get his chances he did nothing. From everything we've heard he did nothing to warrant playing time either. His game is obviously better suited for the International game so let him enjoy it. The Spurs can have him for all I care. We got Scola out of the deal.

 

I'm sorry, but enough is enough with mangled mathematical
notation. We need to see your scientist license.

I mean, we real scientists have enough trouble these days,
what with all our fake global warming data, fake evolution
poorf, freaky genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark
call girls, and what have you.

As for whether Vaselinas shoots 25% or 38% in the Helenic farmyard league, the top shooters in the Greek league start over 55%. Me thinks you can talk about the shorter line and a lack of D, but in any case, 38% doesn't put you in the top 20, and maybe not the top 50. (I can't find a list of the top 50).

 

So did Spanoulis outperform Jasikevicius in the Euroleague? The answer is clearly NO. The only thing you can do is say is if Spanoulis were given 6 years, perhaps he might be better than Jasikevicius. That does not mean he played better than Sarunas. Sarunas was a superior player in Europe when he came over than Spanoulis when he came over. If you're going by raw physical tools... well then by raw physical tools Stromile Swift blows Yao out of the water. Who's the better player? I don't think any sane person would say Stro.

Beno has outperformed Spanoulis here in the NBA, and that's not saying very much since both of them have played poorly, just Spanoulis much more poorly. We're interested in their performance in the FREAKING NBA, and since we have data about their performance in the NBA, we can use it. Why should we even care about how they played in the Euroleague if they did indeed play in the NBA and have numbers?

 

In fairness to Spanoulis, he was a rookie last year, and Euroleague rookies need both time and proper coaching - both of which were not made available to Spanoulis last season.

 

He had coaching and time. I definitely don't want to start a JVG discussion but everyone here I think would agree that Rafer played too many minutes because we lacked a backup pg. We had no viable option behind Alston. Our situation was so bads it forced Luther (who can't set up an offense or throw an entry pass to save his life) to play pg. Lucas got time. Trust me, Rafer wasn't on the floor all that time because JVG was in love with him and VSpan wasn't on the bench because he was hated either.

Our coaching staff saw him practice every day and still elected to play a guy out of position instead of giving him minutes. Not to mention a guy who had no business at the point. VSpan simply isn't a good player in my opinion. he may be overseas but not here. He also didn't endear himself to anyone with his crap attitude. i would say he was simply a mistake but he netted us Scola (who I'm confident will be a good player) so I'm happy we signed him. i don't feel bad for VSPan at all.

 

This kid was just deluded from the get-go. He had tasted success in Greece and just assumed that the NBA wouldn't be appreciably better. When told by JVG (either in words or by lack of playing time) that he wasn't ready, he sulked. Then he whined. Then he quit.

If he comes back with the Spurs, it'll be interesting to see if he's changed his attitude any considering the ego-spanking he got with the Rockets. Like JVG, Popovich isn't going to give VSpan playing time just because of his solid play in a foreign league -- he'll have to work hard and earn it.

That whiny friggin' slacker gets absolutely no respect from me.

 

yep, and I hope this guy is different

Luis Scola:

After making what is probably the most important decision in your sports career, leaving the Tau for Houston, is it easy for you to have your mind present set now with the national team?

Yes, after all it’s still basketball.

 

yeah, people can blame JVG for a lot of things but VSpan is not one in my opinion

 

I would be 100% on the other side of that argument.

JVG ran off Boki, hardly gave V-Span a chance, and pissed away playoff chances....

JVG was the weakest link....good bye !

DD

 

Ya, can't really think of a Euro that JVG gave half a chance to y'know.

 

This is even starting to sound plausible heh!

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=133523&page=1

They intended all along not to sign him because they wanted Spanoulis. They've been on his jock for years. I told CD specifically that I didn't want any Euro trash on my team and that the guy sucked. Dennis (??) made me watch tape of him and I was so pissed off when I saw how good the guy was. So I decided to make it a point that I would bench the fu**** just to piss off the management so much that they would never go against my player requests again. Even though Spanoulis is clearly much better than Mike James I had to make a point to them and I did."

Per Spanoulis' story Morey then told him that Van Gundy would be fired and that his antics were so out of control and had caused so many problems on the team that it was "beyond disastrous." Spanoulis claims Morey told him that he could not even stand to be in the same room with Van Gundy and called him the "Napoleon coach."

 

So... he has a problem with Europe, but not Asia or Africa?

Perhaps his intense regionalistic hatred is as focused as southern and southeastern Europe (Bokiburger and Spantastic).

If only he was still coaching, we could figure out if he hates Argentina.

BEXAGERATE, you should really not quote that site -- as I understand it around these parts, it's against accepted protocol on CF.net. There is ZERO verification or substantiation that JVG said anything like what you're posting. At least if you made something up yourself, it could be more entertaining.

I can't believe I'm posting this, b/c I've always thought JVG was overrated. I just don't happen to believe he's any of the following: an idiot, a Naismith-worshipping nationalist, or an acid-spewing balrog from the underworld. Um, call me crazy, or even bald, but you'd be wrong on those counts also.

 

I think he has a problem with risky players, guys who are high risk high reward types.

I believe that he would rather take a chance on guys that are low risk, and low reward....thus his love for Rafer.

Whereas the GREAT coaches realize that to win, you have to play risky players, guys who can do things when all else fails.

Most of the great players are high risk, high reward.......

IMHO, JVG is too concerned with minimalizing risk to ever be truly successful. I love him as an announcer though....

DD

 

I think you're on the right track here, DD. But to me it seems JVG's main irritation is with guys who make dumb mistakes. Say what you will about Rafer's shooting prowess, or lack thereof, but he played a pretty solid game otherwise. If Rafer had done a better job of hitting his shots, we wouldn't be having these conversations.

That's why JVG doesn't like playing rookies: Too many mistakes. Yao was different, and apparently Chuck Hayes was, too, probably because he stayed within his limits offensively.

Kill Bill was a mistake-a-minute kind of guy, since he was a rookie who was also adjusting to a very different variation of the game than he was accustomed to. Same with Boki -- the adjustment took quite a while.

Would VSpan have improved with more playing time? Sure. But from what I've seen of him, I don't think he'd ever be any better than Alston as an overall player.

So the choice was Rafer or Vanilla Rafer.

I don't think either of them gets us into the finals.