howard2
01-05-2006, 05:53 PM
Hoopsworld.com
By Adriano Albuquerque
Jan 5, 2006
Link: Hoopsworld (http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_15578.shtml)
Eurobasket 2005 affecting the NBA season
The play of some European players has garnered much attention throughout the NBA this season. Not only is Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki keeping up his outstanding work with the Dallas Mavericks, but Spain’s Pau Gasol is having his best season with the Memphis Grizzlies and France’s Tony Parker is doing likewise with the San Antonio Spurs, with both being mentioned in the MVP and the All Star races. Besides them, France’s Boris Diaw, Turkey’s Mehmet Okur and Republic of Georgia’s Zaza Pachulia are having breakout seasons for the Suns, Jazz and Hawks, respectively, and rookies José Calderón of Spain and Sarunas Jasikevicius of Lithuania are getting a lot of playing time and doing good with the Toronto Raptors (Calderón) and Indiana Pacers (Jasikevicius).
Yet, it’s not everyone from Europe who’s doing great in the NBA these days. In a strange phenomenon, it seems that the results from Eurobasket 2005 have been carried by the players to the NBA. Serbia & Montenegro’s shortcomings at the competitions followed the countries’ representatives to the States, as all of them are having disappointing seasons.
Vladimir Radmanovic is the biggest example. The Seattle SuperSonics forward has already complained about lack of minutes with the Northwest Division team and got into a conflict with head coach Bob Weiss. Radmanovic apparently won the battle, as Weiss got demoted in favor of Bob Hill, but it remains to be seen if the new coach will play him more, and if the forward will respond. So far, his stats have dropped drastically. In Eurobasket, Radmanovic also struggled at times and his clashes with Europe-based players became public.
Another player involved in those fights was Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Marko Jaric, who also disappointed at the tournament and hasn’t improved upon his stats from last season in the NBA. Jaric is still doing pretty much the same as he did with the Los Angeles Clippers, even though the club expected him to do more when surrounded with a winning atmosphere, something he didn’t experience with the Clips, and playing with two big-time scorers such as Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak.
Nenad Krstic has shown little improvement from his rookie season with the New Jersey Nets, but more was expected from him, as the Nets frontcourt continues to be under a lot of criticism for not giving proper support to the good perimeter trio of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. Another big from Serbia is Darko Milicic, who has faded out of the Detroit Pistons’ regular rotation after a promising start to the season and is now averaging about the same numbers he had in his rookie season, when he was coached by Larry Brown and racked up 48 DNP’s on Coach’s Decision. He’s only been to 18 Pistons games so far through 29, and has received warnings from head coach Flip Saunders that he needs to earn back his minutes in practice.
Even Peja Stojakovic, who took the summer off instead of playing for the national team, is down this year. The Sacramento Kings are one of the worst teams in the Western Conference and Peja is putting up his lowest numbers since his sophomore season, despite starting and playing 37-plus minutes.
Besides them, Zarko Cabarkapa, of the Warriors, and Sasha Pavlovic, of the Cavs, are also being under-utilized and struggling. The Clippers’ Zeljko Rebraca is having heart problems again.
Could it be an effect from the Eurobasket competition? Nowitzki, Parker, Diaw and Calderón seem to be just keeping up their pace from the summer, when they were key components to each of their countries’ success. On the other hand, Okur didn’t do much to help the Turkish team, and Gasol, Pachulia and Jasikevicius weren’t playing. At the same time, Croatia’s Zoran Planinic had great games at Eurobasket, but is out of the regular rotation with the New Jersey Nets, even though the team could use a good reserve to spare Vince Carter of some minutes.
Now, this is all guessing. Could Serbia’s present pressure status be causing stress to its players? It could be a factor. For Radmanovic and Jaric, the whole stress and fights obviously had an impact, but they’ve been struggling with new coaches and new situations – Jaric is in a new club, and Radmanovic is in another contract year. For Krstic, I think it is more about fatigue for playing over the summer and possibly struggling at finding his role in the team. With Milicic, it’s probably too much anxiety that killed his chances to make it in the rotation. Also, he still has some bad attitude, and that can be because of the Serbian team’s dysfunctional behavior that he picked up over the summer.
Stojakovic is probably affected. Think Serbian Kobe Bryant: Peja has probably been criticized a lot by Serbian media, fans and basketball minds for taking the last couple of years off from the national team (he also didn’t play at the 2004 Olympics). The disappointments in both competitions have probably made the criticism even louder. There have been some rumors in the past also about him being responsible for the break-up of the Sacramento Kings, and he has to adjust to new teammates who apparently are also struggling. It makes sense for him to have a lousy season.
Nowitzki’s great season also stems from the confidence he picked up at the European competition. Think German Kobe too, but think Kobe on the court: Nowitzki was taking almost all of Germany’s shots and winning it all by himself. Parker and Diaw also got confident over the summer, and that was even a factor with Brazil’s Leandro Barbosa, who played well enough in the Tournament of Americas to carry it over to the season and convince Suns’ coach Mike D’Antoni to play him off the ball, until he got injured. He was able to do something that Planinic wasn’t able to do, and I can’t really put my finger on it. The Croatian should be seeking more minutes as an SG than as Jason Kidd’s back-up. He showed plenty of moves and great scoring ability playing as a 2 in his national team’s games. But maybe he still lacks that confidence.
Guys like Gasol and Jasikevicius also got affected because there is growing pride among European players to excel in the NBA. The way scouts, GMs and coaches seemed impressed with this year’s competition has surely reached their ears, and they have been trying to prove, once and for all, that European players are not soft. Gasol especially has done a lot to prove that by himself, with all the hard work he’s put in his game and in his conditioning during the offseason. It’s showing right now, as he’s playing like a true post player and quickly dismissing his soft rep. Averaging nearly a double-double, ranking seventh in blocks per game and fifth in total blocks, Gasol also leads the toughest defense in the NBA at this moment. His contributions to this team are huge and I sense he’s going to prove he’s worthy of MVP consideration now that Damon Stoudamire got injured, as he’s gonna have to hold the fort and make sure Memphis doesn’t slip.
To me, he should be the MVP and the most improved player. I’d give him co-MVP with Chauncey Billups. It’s easy: think of Memphis pre-Pau. Before the Spaniard came over to the States, the team flat-out stunk. Since his arrival, the team has evolved together with him, making him the dictionary definition for franchise player. That’s what it should mean.
Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko should also be held as proof that Europeans aren’t soft and just needed some time to adapt to the American style of play. Jasikevicius is also proving that his own way – with strong play in crunch time.
***
While Europeans took a step forward this season, South Americans are having bad luck with injuries this season, especially Brazilians. Anderson Varejão, Nenê and Leandro Barbosa are all out with injuries, leaving only the God-awful Rafael Araújo to represent the country. Luckily, Varejão has started practicing with the Cleveland Cavaliers this week and could be back this month – but he still needs to find room at the Cavs’ crowded rotation.
Of all the Latin players in the NBA, only Barbosa and Esteban Batista played in the summer. Batista doesn’t have too many chances with the Hawks, while Barbosa has showed his evolution and even managed a starting spot before picking up two straight injuries.
The continent’s brightest star, Manu Ginobili, has also struggled with injuries, even though this was his first summer off in years. Fabricio Oberto barely plays off the Spurs bench and Andres Nocioni has been putting up nice numbers for a convoluted and troubled Chicago Bulls team.
The greatest surprise right now from Argentina is the play of Carlos Delfino, who’s cracked the Detroit Pistons’ rotation and has been playing serious minutes, guarding players such as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and showing progress both on defense and offense. Look for him to make this writer’s dreams true and take a turn at guarding compatriot Ginobili when Detroit next faces San Antonio.
By Adriano Albuquerque
Jan 5, 2006
Link: Hoopsworld (http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_15578.shtml)
Eurobasket 2005 affecting the NBA season
The play of some European players has garnered much attention throughout the NBA this season. Not only is Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki keeping up his outstanding work with the Dallas Mavericks, but Spain’s Pau Gasol is having his best season with the Memphis Grizzlies and France’s Tony Parker is doing likewise with the San Antonio Spurs, with both being mentioned in the MVP and the All Star races. Besides them, France’s Boris Diaw, Turkey’s Mehmet Okur and Republic of Georgia’s Zaza Pachulia are having breakout seasons for the Suns, Jazz and Hawks, respectively, and rookies José Calderón of Spain and Sarunas Jasikevicius of Lithuania are getting a lot of playing time and doing good with the Toronto Raptors (Calderón) and Indiana Pacers (Jasikevicius).
Yet, it’s not everyone from Europe who’s doing great in the NBA these days. In a strange phenomenon, it seems that the results from Eurobasket 2005 have been carried by the players to the NBA. Serbia & Montenegro’s shortcomings at the competitions followed the countries’ representatives to the States, as all of them are having disappointing seasons.
Vladimir Radmanovic is the biggest example. The Seattle SuperSonics forward has already complained about lack of minutes with the Northwest Division team and got into a conflict with head coach Bob Weiss. Radmanovic apparently won the battle, as Weiss got demoted in favor of Bob Hill, but it remains to be seen if the new coach will play him more, and if the forward will respond. So far, his stats have dropped drastically. In Eurobasket, Radmanovic also struggled at times and his clashes with Europe-based players became public.
Another player involved in those fights was Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Marko Jaric, who also disappointed at the tournament and hasn’t improved upon his stats from last season in the NBA. Jaric is still doing pretty much the same as he did with the Los Angeles Clippers, even though the club expected him to do more when surrounded with a winning atmosphere, something he didn’t experience with the Clips, and playing with two big-time scorers such as Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak.
Nenad Krstic has shown little improvement from his rookie season with the New Jersey Nets, but more was expected from him, as the Nets frontcourt continues to be under a lot of criticism for not giving proper support to the good perimeter trio of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. Another big from Serbia is Darko Milicic, who has faded out of the Detroit Pistons’ regular rotation after a promising start to the season and is now averaging about the same numbers he had in his rookie season, when he was coached by Larry Brown and racked up 48 DNP’s on Coach’s Decision. He’s only been to 18 Pistons games so far through 29, and has received warnings from head coach Flip Saunders that he needs to earn back his minutes in practice.
Even Peja Stojakovic, who took the summer off instead of playing for the national team, is down this year. The Sacramento Kings are one of the worst teams in the Western Conference and Peja is putting up his lowest numbers since his sophomore season, despite starting and playing 37-plus minutes.
Besides them, Zarko Cabarkapa, of the Warriors, and Sasha Pavlovic, of the Cavs, are also being under-utilized and struggling. The Clippers’ Zeljko Rebraca is having heart problems again.
Could it be an effect from the Eurobasket competition? Nowitzki, Parker, Diaw and Calderón seem to be just keeping up their pace from the summer, when they were key components to each of their countries’ success. On the other hand, Okur didn’t do much to help the Turkish team, and Gasol, Pachulia and Jasikevicius weren’t playing. At the same time, Croatia’s Zoran Planinic had great games at Eurobasket, but is out of the regular rotation with the New Jersey Nets, even though the team could use a good reserve to spare Vince Carter of some minutes.
Now, this is all guessing. Could Serbia’s present pressure status be causing stress to its players? It could be a factor. For Radmanovic and Jaric, the whole stress and fights obviously had an impact, but they’ve been struggling with new coaches and new situations – Jaric is in a new club, and Radmanovic is in another contract year. For Krstic, I think it is more about fatigue for playing over the summer and possibly struggling at finding his role in the team. With Milicic, it’s probably too much anxiety that killed his chances to make it in the rotation. Also, he still has some bad attitude, and that can be because of the Serbian team’s dysfunctional behavior that he picked up over the summer.
Stojakovic is probably affected. Think Serbian Kobe Bryant: Peja has probably been criticized a lot by Serbian media, fans and basketball minds for taking the last couple of years off from the national team (he also didn’t play at the 2004 Olympics). The disappointments in both competitions have probably made the criticism even louder. There have been some rumors in the past also about him being responsible for the break-up of the Sacramento Kings, and he has to adjust to new teammates who apparently are also struggling. It makes sense for him to have a lousy season.
Nowitzki’s great season also stems from the confidence he picked up at the European competition. Think German Kobe too, but think Kobe on the court: Nowitzki was taking almost all of Germany’s shots and winning it all by himself. Parker and Diaw also got confident over the summer, and that was even a factor with Brazil’s Leandro Barbosa, who played well enough in the Tournament of Americas to carry it over to the season and convince Suns’ coach Mike D’Antoni to play him off the ball, until he got injured. He was able to do something that Planinic wasn’t able to do, and I can’t really put my finger on it. The Croatian should be seeking more minutes as an SG than as Jason Kidd’s back-up. He showed plenty of moves and great scoring ability playing as a 2 in his national team’s games. But maybe he still lacks that confidence.
Guys like Gasol and Jasikevicius also got affected because there is growing pride among European players to excel in the NBA. The way scouts, GMs and coaches seemed impressed with this year’s competition has surely reached their ears, and they have been trying to prove, once and for all, that European players are not soft. Gasol especially has done a lot to prove that by himself, with all the hard work he’s put in his game and in his conditioning during the offseason. It’s showing right now, as he’s playing like a true post player and quickly dismissing his soft rep. Averaging nearly a double-double, ranking seventh in blocks per game and fifth in total blocks, Gasol also leads the toughest defense in the NBA at this moment. His contributions to this team are huge and I sense he’s going to prove he’s worthy of MVP consideration now that Damon Stoudamire got injured, as he’s gonna have to hold the fort and make sure Memphis doesn’t slip.
To me, he should be the MVP and the most improved player. I’d give him co-MVP with Chauncey Billups. It’s easy: think of Memphis pre-Pau. Before the Spaniard came over to the States, the team flat-out stunk. Since his arrival, the team has evolved together with him, making him the dictionary definition for franchise player. That’s what it should mean.
Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko should also be held as proof that Europeans aren’t soft and just needed some time to adapt to the American style of play. Jasikevicius is also proving that his own way – with strong play in crunch time.
***
While Europeans took a step forward this season, South Americans are having bad luck with injuries this season, especially Brazilians. Anderson Varejão, Nenê and Leandro Barbosa are all out with injuries, leaving only the God-awful Rafael Araújo to represent the country. Luckily, Varejão has started practicing with the Cleveland Cavaliers this week and could be back this month – but he still needs to find room at the Cavs’ crowded rotation.
Of all the Latin players in the NBA, only Barbosa and Esteban Batista played in the summer. Batista doesn’t have too many chances with the Hawks, while Barbosa has showed his evolution and even managed a starting spot before picking up two straight injuries.
The continent’s brightest star, Manu Ginobili, has also struggled with injuries, even though this was his first summer off in years. Fabricio Oberto barely plays off the Spurs bench and Andres Nocioni has been putting up nice numbers for a convoluted and troubled Chicago Bulls team.
The greatest surprise right now from Argentina is the play of Carlos Delfino, who’s cracked the Detroit Pistons’ rotation and has been playing serious minutes, guarding players such as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and showing progress both on defense and offense. Look for him to make this writer’s dreams true and take a turn at guarding compatriot Ginobili when Detroit next faces San Antonio.