CSKA Moscow Interested in Kirilenko

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Rumors about CSKA and Kirilenko

Today morning krepsinis.net published an article about Andrei Kirilenko(2.06-F) and a potential interest of CSKA for the player known as "AK-47". This comes to pair with the rumors that circulated regarding Ben Gordon and CSKA a few weeks ago. The article says that CSKA wants to offer Kirilenko a contract to rival that of other NBA stars and what seems to be the appeal in this case for CSKA is that Kirilenko, doesn't occupy the position of non-russian player, which allows CSKA to keep him in the roster at all times, the same reason they got Khryapa and Khaun,i.e. to get ahead of the competition. It also says that this might be the reason that Kirilenko has not renewed with the Utah Jazz yet.

Kirilenko is one of the best european players in the NBA at the moment and certainly the best russian player out there at the moment. Last season he averaged 11 points 3.4 rebounds 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks in 72 games in the regular season for the Utah Jazz.

http://thehoop.blogspot.com/2008/09/rumors-about-cska-and-kirilenko.html

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

AK sucks......... I could see him going back home coz he can't do much in the NBA. Of course it's my hate for the Jazz that clouds my judgement :lol

[endrity]

Well, he certainly isn't used at his best as an outside SF in Utah's system right now. He has waited for a trade to happen but the Jazz will not allow their best defensive player to leave for another team. So this might be the opportunity he was waiting for.

[TDMVPDPOY]

dude is nothing but a stat padder

[Red Hawk #21]

At first I thought this was another thread by Kill Bill Pana lol

[Indazone]

AK-47 hmm ok lets see. Goes back to mother country for more money. Gets away from Jerry Sloan whom he cannot stand. Does not like Utah. This is a no brainer. AK-47 is going to go back to Russia.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=national+anthem+russia&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1#

[DPG21920]

AK-47 would be the perfect Bowen replacement.

[balli]

AK-47 would be the perfect Bowen replacement.

Except that he wouldn't.

[DPG21920]

Ok, please explain.

[balli]

AK gets burned all the time by perimeter players and his defense is nothing like Bowen's. AK's defense consists of weakside help leading to blocked shots. He also gets a lot of his steals by gambling. Maybe he would be a good piece to bring in (though it ain't going to happen), but he wouldn't play the same role, or have the same effect that a lockdown perimeter defender like Bowen does.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I'd see AK taking Duncan's place as a dominant weak side shot blocker before he'd be able to touch Bowen's role as a perimeter stopper. As others have pointed out, he's got weak one on one fundamentals, but he's quick off the floor and has an absurdly long wingspan. I'd take him if the price is right, but yeah, I imagine he'd rather go back home instead of hanging around the NBA where he'll probably be forever haunted by him boo hooing during the Rockets series because he was playing like shit.

[balli]

The thing is- nobody in Utah is pissed at AK, so that would suck if he left. And nobody was ever mad at him for his performance drop- we all know he's being under-utilized at the 3 so Boozer can suck ass and give no effort at the 4. Nobody was too enamored that he was a little bitch about it with the crying and all, but we love his game as a PF. If we ship Boozer's lazy ass out, or let him walk, (one of which will happen, mark it down) AK will star again at the PF.

[DPG21920]

I was in no way implying that AK would ever be a Spur, but with the Spurs funneling defense, AK would even improve. He is quicker than Bowen, he might not be the one on one defender but overall he compares about as favorably with him as any other SF. Overall effect on the defensive end would be the same plus he brings more offense.

AK bothers people defensively, that is what Bowen does. They do it in a little different fashion, but with the Spurs scheme, AK could have close to the same effect and is more versatile on the other end of the court.

[DPG21920]

And as mentioned before, AK is that perfect hybrid 3/4 player that the Spurs are looking for along with many other teams (Gist).

[balli]

edit: nevermind

[Reggie Miller]

I was in no way implying that AK would ever be a Spur, but with the Spurs funneling defense, AK would even improve. He is quicker than Bowen, he might not be the one on one defender but overall he compares about as favorably with him as any other SF. Overall effect on the defensive end would be the same plus he brings more offense.

AK bothers people defensively, that is what Bowen does. They do it in a little different fashion, but with the Spurs scheme, AK could have close to the same effect and is more versatile on the other end of the court.


Kirilenko makes over $15 million per year, and he tops out near $18 million in 2010. Duncan himself will only make $18.7 million in 2010.

He will never be a Spur, period. That money will be better spent elsewhere.

[DPG21920]

Kirilenko makes over $15 million per year, and he tops out near $18 million in 2010. Duncan himself will only make $18.7 million in 2010.

He will never be a Spur, period. That money will be better spent elsewhere.

You are your own worst enemy. Did you not read the first line of the post you quoted?

[Bruno]

Oil and Euro are dropping.
Maybe in one year or two, Russian teams won't be able to offer as much as NBA teams.

[Sissiborgo]

I think he should just go there he is not doing that good for the Jazz (my opinion)..

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Oil and Euro are dropping.
Maybe in one year or two, Russian teams won't be able to offer as much as NBA teams.

Are dropping because of US economy. Do not be fool. Russia money with big banks and petro money is in dollars They can drop this any time they feel they want to. Russia is not country that can be bully into keeping dollar or even bully to switch to euro. They will cut off petro dollars if US keeps up their works.

[anakha]

I was in no way implying that AK would ever be a Spur, but with the Spurs funneling defense, AK would even improve. He is quicker than Bowen, he might not be the one on one defender but overall he compares about as favorably with him as any other SF. Overall effect on the defensive end would be the same plus he brings more offense.

AK bothers people defensively, that is what Bowen does. They do it in a little different fashion, but with the Spurs scheme, AK could have close to the same effect and is more versatile on the other end of the court.

The error here is that you seem to be misjudging Bowen's role in the Spurs defense.

Bowen's skills as a one-on-one defender mean that he does more than just funnel his man towards the Spurs bigs defensively. His role is more intensive than that - he's basically called on to be a lockdown perimeter defender on his man, and to not depend on having Duncan behind him as much as possible.

Simply replacing him in the Spurs lineup with Kirilenko is going to make the Spurs a worse defensive lineup overall. As Kirilenko has shown in the times he's been called upon to play SF, he does not have the lateral quickness to stay with opposing perimeter players, and his defense at the SF spot has been pretty much him letting his man get by him, and relying on his athleticism to recover and block his man's shot attempt afterwards.

That kind of 'defensive presence' on the perimeter for the Spurs means more pressure on Duncan and the other bigs to ensure that they rotate to defend whoever Kirilenko lets by him. And that makes the Spurs defense worse overall.

While Bowen is able to play as close to his man as he can thanks to the security of having Duncan behind him, Duncan is also able to be the defensive anchor in the lane that he is thanks to Bowen being able to ensure that Duncan has one less guy to worry about defensively.

[Reggie Miller]

You are your own worst enemy. Did you not read the first line of the post you quoted?

Yep. I was actually amused that we agreed on something.

The officials allow Bowen to hand-check, at least some of the time. They don't allow Kirilenko to do that, nor does he have the speed or technique to guard someone as closely as Bowen does. If AK tried to play that close, you could just fake and drive around him every time, as anakha mentions.

EDIT: AK's problem is that he doesn't play "tall," yet he isn't nearly as quick as most small forwards. He needs to play the PF position to mask some of his problems.

[DPG21920]

Yep. I was actually amused that we agreed on something.

The officials allow Bowen to hand-check, at least some of the time. They don't allow Kirilenko to do that, nor does he have the speed or technique to guard someone as closely as Bowen does. If AK tried to play that close, you could just fake and drive around him every time, as anakha mentions.

EDIT: AK's problem is that he doesn't play "tall," yet he isn't nearly as quick as most small forwards. He needs to play the PF position to mask some of his problems.

Thats funny! We did agree finally. I do not buy the hand-check logic. That is like saying that Wade is only good because the refs let him take a large amount of free throws. Bowen does funnel. That is not to say he is not a great one-on-one defender, but I think that AK in a funneling system would greatly improve his effectiveness. He can play SF/PF, which is nice.

I never said that AK is better than Bowen defensively, but I said in the Spurs system, the overall defensive effect will be negligible and the offensive gains would more than off-set that.

[balli]

I never said that AK is better than Bowen defensively, but I said in the Spurs system, the overall defensive effect will be negligible and the offensive gains would more than off-set that.

No, I don't buy it one bit. You hypothetically replace Bowen with AK and the Spurs points allowed goes up. Dramatically. Maybe you get better on offense... maybe, but you'd also miss that corner 3.

[DPG21920]

Well thats where we disagree then. Just like some people call Camby a bad defender and some say he is excellent. I would be willing to bet that if AK became a Spur (theoretically) that many other teams would be worried.

[Reggie Miller]

Well thats where we disagree then. Just like some people call Camby a bad defender and some say he is excellent. I would be willing to bet that if AK became a Spur (theoretically) that many other teams would be worried.

Camby blocks a lot of shots. He is not a good one-on-one defender, even in the post. He is fairly average as a help defender, which is pretty lame for his size. He is only a "good" defender when compared to guys like Kaman, Okur, Chandler, etc.

It's just to difficult to project what would happen if AK were on the Spurs in place of Bowen. The defense would be inferior, but Bowen's "offense" consists of wide open set shots. IIRC, Bowen makes something like $4-$5 million a year, so he's definitely a bargain in the grand scheme of things.

It's very difficult for me to forget about Kirilenko's ridiculous contract and discuss him in the abstract.

[DPG21920]

Camby blocks a lot of shots. He is not a good one-on-one defender, even in the post. He is fairly average as a help defender, which is pretty lame for his size. He is only a "good" defender when compared to guys like Kaman, Okur, Chandler, etc.

It's just to difficult to project what would happen if AK were on the Spurs in place of Bowen. The defense would be inferior, but Bowen's "offense" consists of wide open set shots. IIRC, Bowen makes something like $4-$5 million a year, so he's definitely a bargain in the grand scheme of things.

It's very difficult for me to forget about Kirilenko's ridiculous contract and discuss him in the abstract.

Ya, this is just a purely hypothetical. I always thought players like AK who are long, athletic and focus on defense, that can guard multiple positions (even if he guards pf's better than sf's) would do well in the Spurs system. Like Prince from the Pistons. I also think Ronnie brewer would be a nice fit.

[balli]

I also think Ronnie brewer would be a nice fit.
Hey man, if we stupidly extend Boozer then all our money will be gone and Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap will be up for grabs. I bet every good GM in the league is keeping their eyes on the Boozer situation, not because they're hoping to sign him, but because they're hoping we don't sign Brewer and Millsap.