If I remember correctly, Spanoulis kind of stepped up his game in the Greek league in 05/06. Related to that, he likely also stepped up his ego. I wonder if he would have been more humble and open to coaching if he had gotten to the NBA a year early.
Looks like the VSpan scouting reports are starting to kick in, or he continues to play disinterested ball. Back off him, and make him shoot 3s. That will take away his drives. I guess you could say he has NBA talent, because that's how the International teams scouted the USA players successfully in previous years. vs Angola 22:45 mins 6 pts 3-8 shooting 0-2 3s 3 assists 2 TOs 42.5% FG < 1.0 points per shot The rest of Greece shot 63.6%
HP, You can't just go by the boxscore. You need to watch the game and appreciate the subtle things that VSpan does so well. Sure he only scored 6 pts and had a 3:2 assist/turnover ratio, but he did lots of other stuff well. Did you notice how crisply he took off his warmups whenever he checked into the game? Did you see how high he raised his hand to acknowledge a foul? Don't forget that his shoes never came untied. Also,he never once got lost while changing ends of the floor. You also probably didn't notice that he was the first Greek player in and out of the locker room. What hustle! Sure he didn't have big scoring numbers today (because he didn't need to), but he was definitely the best player on the floor.
Yeah, funny, did you guys watch the game or just come in to poke fun? I watched, he played ok...Angola was lousy. DD
DD, No need to watch games anymore, I've found a better way. Just state an opinion and offer up a couple of loosly related facts to back up my point. If somebody proves my facts to be 100% incorrect, then I don't acknowlege it and just throw out some more facts. Or even better I reference some minor unquanifiable aspect of the game and claim that it makes up for all of the other shortcommings. Not having to have my opions based on any facts or tangible statistics is so much easier, it gives me plenty of time to say the same things over and over again in mulitple threads.
Interesting take, but you might want to try the facts but then realize that other people do not necessarily like those facts and use some of their own, to create a facts war, where both sides declare victory, and hopefully no one calls the other one an idiot because their facts are just as easily skewed as the next guys. Step 1 - realizing that in matters of opinion there are no winners... Step 2 - happiness DD
^step 1 - declare everything to be matter of opinion and thus unquantifiable ^step 2 - say anything you want no matter how ridiculous, then refer to step 1 for cover. ^step 3 - repeat step 2 10,000 times.
Step 4 - Ignore it if you don't agree with the opinion, or continue to post the opposite of step 2 10,000 times yourself. In all honesty, what has been proven about V-Span? That he struggled during his rookie year.....Yep, he sure did....... Does that prove he can not play in the NBA? Nope, it proves that he had a rough rookie year, which happens to a lot of players. And now that leads to our impasse......I say he is an entertaining player who can play the game, the other side says he sucks.... Both sides toss out stats to prove their side is the best and baddest. Neither side acknowledges the others facts as relevant...... So, what happens, is there a winner? Nope, just two different unquantifiable opinions. The only thing we probably can agree on is that V-Span is better at basketball than anyone posting about him in this thread. DD
Hey - it's never been proven that I can't play in the NBA either. Of course I didn't go to the NBA, flame out, then run crying back home. Step 3A - cite "can't prove a negative!" rhetorical device repeatedly when in trouble.
Well, he did earn a contract in the NBA, was paid $millions to play the game of basketball by an NBA team. He did indeed have his ups and downs during his rookie year, but a lot of people struggle their rookie years. Did he quit and run home, yep. Does that mean he was finished developing, and that he would never become a rotational player in the NBA, nope. So, there you have it, we are on opposite ends of the VSpan debate, big deal. Now let's enjoy watching him play in the Olympics, if either to: a. cheer for him b. pick him apart Clearly you and I are watching from different letters in the alphabet. DD
That's not what you are saying - you did not argue that he had a longshot chance at becoming a rotational player, you were saying and continue to say that he should be an NBA starter today over many players, including Rafer Alston. I don't even think Alston is that great and never have but he is worlds ahead of Spanoulis - that much was proven. The fact that you continue to pimp out Spanoulis as something super-awesome or even discuss him in the NBA, when he himself has given up onthis, and when a rotating corps of people tell you to just stop, we've heard it already 1000 times - this indicates to me that it has past the point of you just happening to express your opinion about one of the players you happen to like and are in the realm of just trying to be annoying. And trust me, I am a pro at being annoying on the internet so I know what i am talking about here.
What? Sam, honestly have you read my posts at all about him? I said that Rafer sucked, the team was not going anywhere, so I would have liked to have seen him play to find out if he was going to be part of the future.....that is all I have ever said.......if you think I believed he was starter material out of the box, you are wrong....I just wanted to find out if he would EVER become part of the solution because I was convinced that Rafer was not part of the solution but more a part of the problem. Yes, Rafer deserved to start, but I think he stinks and would try a 3 day old meatloaf sandwhich if they could dribble and pass the ball into the post. Nah, I actually like watching him play, and talking about him with other fans.... Don't I know it. DD
^ ^ ^ Hey, DaDakota & SamFisher, I would like it if either one of you would tell me if you think that V-Span would still be playing for the Rockets if he joined the team a season earlier. The quote inside this post from Carl Herrera just adds another aspect of him as to what could have been had he joined the Rockets a season earlier in addition to my theory about him getting to play more in 2005-06 than he wound up playing in 2006-07 due to the excessive injuries.
I have no doubt that Spanoulis could be a rotation player on many, if not most, NBA teams. His problem isn't/wasn't a lack of skill, it was a lack of patience and understanding of what it takes to make it in the NBA. I actually agree 100% with DD's assessment. I was stoked when we picked him up and very disappointed with how things turned out. I think he would have been an excellent backup PG, at a minimum.
But you have to also acknowledge the roughly equal possibility that the "lack of patience and understanding of what it takes to make it in the NBA" would prevent him from become a rotation player, despite his skill. It certainly did during his year with the Rockets. Had he been smarter and more patient, he might've worked himself into the rotation by the end of the year. In fact, that lack of patience is exactly what ended his NBA career. If he were more patient, he'd be about to start his second year with the Spurs right now. You guys can talk about V-Span's skills all you want, and though much of that is debatable, the one thing that seems beyond debate is that he absolutely did not have the mental makeup to be a good NBA player. Blame it on the Rockets, CD, Morey, Les, JVG, Keith Jones and even SamFisher, but the fact is that if Spanoulis had the mental toughness of Bobby Sura, he'd be on an NBA squad right now instead of playing second-tier pro basketball elsewhere.<BR><BR>
The dummy just tried to start some **** with 2 minutes left and greece leading by a wide margin. Why even risk it? He got mad at china's 3rd string pg for not letting him make a wide open layup? Grow up vspan! The chinese player was like wtf ur not going to do anything. Vspan is a joke.
Yeah i saw that too. I thought it was unprofessional for vspan. Should have just let it go and not try to stir up anything. Then again, i never liked his attitude even when he was with the Rockets. But you gotta give it to him though, he was unstoppable against the chinese today.
all this for a has been? err wait.... is are we talking about the tmac of greece who happen to cry for his mum after his first year outside the country? well, to put up for his tantrum, we now got a scola. Lets take him in again, maybe he somehow he can turn into another asset for rox.
VSpan made a great choice like all other NBA players going to Europe. Vspan >>>>>Alston. it is obvious.
