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Re: news on Songaila

At 03:15 PM 5/6/2003 -0400, Shawn Niles wrote:
I actually found this link as well after I sent the question.

http://www.eurobasket.com/RUSplayer.asp?PlayerID=20259

Outlook:
Strong. Versatile player, who is good at 4 and 5 positions. Very good moves close to the basket. Soft touch, but could be better middle-range shooter. Very good attitude. A physically and athletically gifted player with a number of frontcourt skills ... possesses a strong low post game with the ability to score inside and out ... also capable of challenging bigger opponents off the dribble ... a battler inside who doesn't shy away from contact ... plays with great intensity ... needs to reduce his number of personal fouls


Sounds like just what we need.
Yeah, but it's WRITTEN to sound positive. Ever seen an NBA profile trash a player either?
Doesn't mention the primary criticism when he was drafted, which was that he reportedly is too slow. And people complain a lot about Antoine, who honestly isn't slow *for his size*. He's just not a particularly graceful runner, so people make that mistake about what they're seeing. It's also different competition. He's listed as a C/F and he's 6'9" tall. While a little digging found a cached article mentioning that he's been injured a lot and had some problems with management, at least one time getting suspended because of that:
try http://tinyurl.com/b4uj
Now problems with management don't always mean it's the player's fault and there are injuries and then there are injuries, but I'm not so sure he IS what we need from the description, especially when you look at who he's going to take PT from. I see a lot of Pot redux in the above description.

Kim








From: Kim Malo <kimmalo@mindspring.com>
To: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>
CC: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: news on Songaila
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 15:07:48 -0400

At 02:46 PM 5/6/2003 -0400, Shawn Niles wrote:
Thanks Kim. I think that answers my question except for one part of it. Can Songaila opt out of his contract over there since we still have rights to him? Or is he bound to it for the length of the contract?

Anyone know what team he plays for over there?
CSKA Moscow
Yeah, he's under contract. It might well be for only one year, from the way his player blurb reads:
http://www.euroleague.net/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=BCP
indicating he just went there for the 2002-3 season, while we know that it was not his first choice to go over there.

As to whether he can opt out if it's longer, kind of depends upon the terms of the individual contract, which is a bit tougher to find for European players. OTOH experience has shown that it's also likely to be possible with sufficient greasing of the wheels, whether or not there are terms in there to let it happen.

Kim

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