Hi Stathis - thanks for the interesting point of view.
At 07:31 PM 4/2/2004 , Stathis Avgoustiniatos wrote:
Most players who come from Europe (I'm not saying "European" to include
Ginobili) and make a big career in the NBA were already huge stars in
Europe.
I think this is changing in the same way that US draftees are no longer
necessarily college stars. US players who made big NBA careers used to be
4-year (or at least 2-yr) college grads. Now they're declaring way early
and skipping school. Most are are a good 2 years away from getting off the
bench (J.O'Neal, McGrady). One reason is that they don't have the skill
set required to play effectively. That used to be learned in college. We
hear that the young Euros play tons more organized games, and get solid
training in fundamentals from an early age. That rarely happens here. So
we assume that the Euros declaring for the NBA draft, even if they aren't
stars back home, are definitely more game-ready than their US
counterparts. They can pass, shoot, get postition, run pick&rolls, etc. --
they just need to grow into their bodies. The US high schoolers can run,
jump, dunk, block shots, and make passes that teammates may or may not be
able to catch.
This year's crop of Euro draftees are tagged with plenty of potential, and
they're much more unproven than Petrovic or Sabonis were in their day.
I do so wish the NBA would adopt a true baseball-type farm system. Or at
least expand the roster size so there is room for a few projects without
shortchanging the working roster. It would solve so many problems (age
limitations, development, keeping the kids more supervised and out of the
nba lifestyle arena at age 17). I favor the farm system because it gets the
kids playing in game situations. On the NBA bench they may get tutelage and
practice scrimmages, but there's no substitution for having to hit your
free throws when you're truly winded and all eyes are upon you. Actually,
one of the advantages in drafting young Euros is that you don't have to put
them on your bench for two years -- you can leave them playing in
Europe. Not sure how the contract/cap $$ works in those cases...
That said, I like Roko Ukic, Dorrell Wright and Humphries in green.