About the game vs. Caja Laboral

[temujin]

America > Europe

Unproven.

US > any european national team.

[temujin]

Splitter has never ever been close to be Euroleague MVP.

[scola4]

Popovic interview in local newspaper in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Caja Laboral Baskonia city

http://baskonia.elcorreo.com/noticia...-20101017.html , in spanish

[ogait]

Splitter was MVP of the Spanish League not the Euroleague witch he never won. He won the Spanish League unexpectedly beating the actual Euroleague Champions Barcelona in the finals but the level of play in the Euroleague is a lot higher.

About the game there are a few reasons why Caja Laboral wasn't that great of a test for the Spurs. Besides the obvious fact that loosing your best player makes you a weaker team, they were quite tired because the ACB league has already started and they played compe ively on the 12th then travelled to the US to play against Memphis on the 14th then facing the Spurs 2 days later and on top of that they basically had a 7 man rotation to a game that means nothing to them since there real season already started. Also they did miss a lot of open shots that they usually don't as Pop himself said on the post game interview.

So to answer the OP, neither the European leagues are as weak as advertised here nor Splitter is that good. In reality Splitter will inevitably suck just because of re ed high expectations Spurs fan have on him.

[scola4]

Splitter was MVP of the Spanish League not the Euroleague witch he never won. He won the Spanish League unexpectedly beating the actual Euroleague Champions Barcelona in the finals but the level of play in the Euroleague is a lot higher.

About the game there are a few reasons why Caja Laboral wasn't that great of a test for the Spurs. Besides the obvious fact that loosing your best player makes you a weaker team, they were quite tired because the ACB league has already started and they played compe ively on the 12th then travelled to the US to play against Memphis on the 14th then facing the Spurs 2 days later and on top of that they basically had a 7 man rotation to a game that means nothing to them since there real season already started. Also they did miss a lot of open shots that they usually don't as Pop himself said on the post game interview.

So to answer the OP, neither the European leagues are as weak as advertised here nor Splitter is that good. In reality Splitter will inevitably suck just because of re ed high expectations Spurs fan have on him.

Splitter was both MVP of the regular season and the play-offs, the only one since Sabonis many years ago and I don't want to raise you hopes high. If he sucks, give him back to us. Last year Splitter missed some games in Euroleague and the team couldn't get to the Final Four.

The only strong league in Europe in the spanish with 5 teams in the Euroleague: Madrid, Barça, Unicaja Málaga, Valencia and Caja Laboral Baskonia, the other countries only have two teams, planning their seasons for the Euroleague instead of their domestic leagues.
http://www.euroleague.net/compe ion/teams

Spain is the only country that has opposed to the new Euroleague with permanent teams, but that doesn't interest you.

And finally, you're wrong about the open shots, that's not the way they usually play, but right now Barac is their only center and Dejan Musli, 19 years-old first pick in second round in 2012 mock draft played his first minutes this year.

[ohmwrecker]

That center of yours sure is tall and really good at eye pokin'.

[scola4]

That center of yours sure is tall and really good at eye pokin'.

Boo hoo

[ogait]

Splitter was both MVP of the regular season and the play-offs, the only one since Sabonis many years ago and I don't want to raise you hopes high. If he sucks, give him back to us. Last year Splitter missed some games in Euroleague and the team couldn't get to the Final Four.

I didn't say Splitter sucks, I like him and I don't need your insight about him because I already seen him play a lot in Europe. I'm saying expectations on some Spurs fans are too high for him to perform at a similar level in the NBA right now.

The only strong league in Europe in the spanish with 5 teams in the Euroleague: Madrid, Barça, Unicaja Málaga, Valencia and Caja Laboral Baskonia, the other countries only have two teams, planning their seasons for the Euroleague instead of their domestic leagues.
http://www.euroleague.net/compe ion/teams

Spain is the only country that has opposed to the new Euroleague with permanent teams, but that doesn't interest you.

Dude I was like the only one in this thread that somewhat agreed with you about the level of European basketball not being so far apart from the NBA level, but are you really suggesting that the ACB league is more compe ive than the Euroleague, cause that's all I really said.

And finally, you're wrong about the open shots, that's not how they usually play

Oh ok I should have figured this out this early. You don't speak English too well right?
I didn't say anything about how they played, missing open shots is not a "way" of playing it's just what happened in this game. They made their plays and missed open shots they normally make.