Leave the
kids in Europe! |
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Article
<by> Luis Fernández - Deputy Director of Scouting @ DraftCity.com |
December
24, 2004 |
It’s impossible not to notice the massive body
of Pavel Podkolzin sitting just behind the Mavericks' bench. He’s the latest
representative of the big wave of international guys who arrive to the NBA with
a load bag of promises and very few chances to crack his team’s rotation.
And despite his situation, or despite what is
happening with players like Andris Biedrins, Nikoloz Tskitishvili
or Darko Milicic, it seems this year’s draft crop might feature another
bunch of heavy candidates for prolonged benchwarming status, like Nemanja Aleksandrov, who has already declared,
Martynas Andriuskevicius or Johan Petro. I’m sure I’m not the
only one here who believes this can’t be good for anyone, but for the players’
(and agents') short term bank account. The team is investing a high draft pick
and paying a guy who doesn’t contribute at all, while the player himself can’t
play and sees his development as a basketballer limited.
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Pavel Podkolzin (photo: Lega Basket) | | In Podkolzin’s case, it’s
even worse. We have here a guy with some skills, like a decent shot and handles.
The kind of skills you get practicing on your own. He’s also quite strong and
has some decent athleticism, rather good if we consider his huge frame. To put
it clearly, hitting the weight room isn’t a priority for him. But he has little experience as a basketball
player, and he’s still learning the game. Therefore, his priorities should be
to learn the five-on-five game, to get some real playing time, and to make the
best of the team practices. And that’s exactly what an NBA franchise can’t do
for him.
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The story for other Euro youngsters isn’t much
different as much more polished as they might be. Those guys have barely played
against grown men, or they are midway through the process of adapting to it. It’s
true they are usually even rawer from a physical point of view, but the difference
maker for them to be able to contribute to a NBA team is far beyond a number of
extra pounds of muscle they could get with one of those intense weight training
programs. So why not leave them overseas? It seems that the NBA teams
are afraid of leaving their investments in the hands of strangers. They fear that
the kid won’t develop as he might by practicing with the pros. In the words of
an NBA scout, “On an NBA team he’ll be taught by the best coaches in the world
every day in practice to play in the right way.” Now I wonder
which is the way basketball is taught in other parts of the world. So let’s
take a look at the international guys without NCAA experience that have fully
succeded in the NBA lately: |
| Predrag Stojakovic was selected in the
1996 draft, but didn’t make the league until the 98-99 season. Meanwhile, in the
previous season playing for PAOK, he averaged 23.9 points at the tough Greek League,
leading his team to the finals with a buzzer beater trey in the fifth and last
game of the semifinals against Olympiakos, just to lose in the finals against
Panathinaikos, but forcing all five games to be played. |
| Dirk Nowitzki had helped his team get
promoted to First German Division right before being selected in the 1998 draft.
During the lock-out, he kept on playing with his old team at the new division.
When he left he was the league’s top scorer with 21.4 ppg and third rebounder
with 8.4 rpg. |
| Pau Gasol's dominance in the ACB League
during the 2000-2001 season has very few precedents in Spain, none since Arvydas
Sabonis departure to Portland in 1995. He earned MVP honours at the King’s Cup,
repeating achievement at the ACB Finals, leading F.C. Barcelona to a perfect 9-0
record during the playoffs. |
| Andrei Kirilenko earned MVP honours during
his last season in the Russian Superleague. He also averaged 19.2 points and 8.7
rebounds for Russia at the European Championships in the summer of 2001. |
| Yao Ming was having Chamberlain-esque
stats in China the season before he was chosen by the Rockets with the first pick,
averaging 32.4 points (with 72% on FG), 19 rebounds and 4.8 blocked shots, and
leading the Shangai Sharks to their first CBA title. |
| Manu Ginobili won all kinds of tournaments
(including Euroleague, Italian league and Italian Cup) and MVP trophies during
the couple of seasons he spent in Bologna playing for Virtus, just before joining
the Spurs in 2002. That very same summer, he led Argentina to a silver medal in
Indiannapolis, getting probably just an injury short of the gold medal, but making
history after beating USA badly. |
| The odd man here might be Tony Parker.
During his last season in France with Paris Basket Racing (2000-2001), he only
averaged 14.7 points and 5.6 assists. While those aren’t bad numbers, it wasn’t
a MVP performance. The summer of 2001 in the European Championships, he scored
just 8.7 points per game. He didn’t really have his coach’s confidence. I had
the chance to see him that summer, in a preparation game for that tournament against
Spain, and as soon as he got on the court, he drove Raul López absolutely crazy
with his quickness. We have to consider that Tony Parker, like the majority of
French prospects, was a very good athlete, more in the mold of an American player. |
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Anyway, it’s easy to see a pattern here:
we have a bunch of big accomplishers, developed guys contributing to their overseas
teams, even making them win, while generally facing very good competition. They
surely haven’t learned to play the game in the NBA, and it doesn’t seem like they
had been playing or developing in the wrong way. I won’t even start mentioning
national team competitions.
| | | Nikoloz Tskitishvili | Darko Milicic | Primoz Brezec |
What’s the point of adding a ‘former Euro
benchwarming star’ like Nikoloz Tskitishvili to your roster if you can leave
him developing somewhere else? You’ve guessed it: none. What about Darko Milicic?
Yes, he was far readier than the Georgian, but he still wasn't in the position
to see barely any playing time in Detroit. Can anyone really think that he has
improved more during the last season with the Pistons than he would have done
staying in Europe? Yeah, I know. He practices day-in and day-out with
the best players of the world in Detroit. If that were true... The NBA teams barely
have time to have real practices with so many games and long trips, while in Europe,
teams only play once or twice a week and much more frequently near home.
When you sign such underdeveloped youngsters that likely won’t step on to an NBA
court anytime soon, you risk cutting the player’s progression, undermining his
spirit with an endless bench status and losing the player just to see him blossoming
somewhere else, like Primoz Brezec is doing in Charlotte, for example.
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Martynas Andriuskevicius (photo: Lega Basket) |
| I know; you can’t miss the next Dirk
Nowitzki, you can’t ignore those kids’ inmense potential. But are they going
to be capable of living up to it being thrown to the NBA with their inmaturity? Let’s
make the bold movement, let’s go ahead everyone. I wanna see some team draft a
guy like Andriuskevicius or Aleksandrov, and have the guts to leave him in Europe.
The NBA franchise should talk with the kid’s club and reach some kind of agreement.
For example, the players would remain in Europe for a couple of seasons at least,
while the NBA team would have something to say about the player’s developing,
like the position he should usually play or the skills to work with.
The Euro team would retain the draftee for some extra seasons, and likely would
enjoy one huge year of the player, while cashing in on the buyout when the kid
is gone. The NBA team would have its investment gaining experience, improving
the way they want him to, saving all kinds of headaches caused by benching the
high pick, while not expending one single dollar on unproductive years. Even for readier players,
it would be the better move if they are in the right situation.
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| Take Tiago Splitter for example. He’s playing for Tau Vitoria,
the club where Andrés Nocioni came from, and where Luis Scola plays. It’s
well known the great reputation this team has for coaching its players. The team
itself is a powerhouse in Europe, and they face the best competition playing in
the Spanish ACB League and in the Euroleague. Why not leave the Brazilian there
for another year? Instead of a bench replacement, you could receive a solid starter,
or even a young star. |
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I know it can’t always
be done. Sometimes the player's eagerness to start his NBA career is too strong.
Other times the competition he faces overseas is too weak. Or it's just agents
wanting to get the clock started on their client's 4 year rookie contract so he
will be younger when it (hopefully) comes time for that big payday. But as complicated
and difficult as it may be to get it done, just ask yourself this question: do
I really want to deal next season with a player like Andriuskevicius who is currently
averaging 1.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in the Euroleague? Let’s get real,
let’s face the situation. This strategy of drafting and signing inmature European
teenagers will come back to haunt many teams.
I say, let them learn the
game first. I suggest leaving the kids in Europe. |
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