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BINGO
and i saw him playing, but as i said, FIRST he must prove that he's right player for Europe's leagues, than he can dream about NBA
Tony had 14,7 points and 5,6 assists in french proA , he was a european champion with the U18 french team. He was much more proven.
I like koponen (from what I heard, I never saw him) but he didn't prove he can play in a compe ive league yet.
If you remember the French team played the olympics finals in sydney in 2000.
4 player in that team where playing in French ProA (the others where in Spain, Italy,... ).
Last edited by mathbzh; 06-21-2007 at 07:10 AM.
BINGO
and i saw him playing, but as i said, FIRST he must prove that he's right player for Europe's leagues, than he can dream about NBA
I have seen this kid playing many times. Do not draft him, I repeat, do not draft him.
I have nothing against Petteri and I hope all the best for him. He is good player and will develop to better but in Spurs all he would be is garbagetimer even after couple of years in Europe.
-Spurs Fan From Finland
Dettman led Germany to bronze in the 2002 world championship.Notes: Made his debut in the Finnish top league Korisliiga as a 16-year old and has been able to learn the game from top international coaches????Mihajlo Pavicevic (Montenegro)???? and Henrik Dettmann (Finland)???? IS THIS A JOKE?
... Has been scouted by Rick Sheubrooks and Jerry West of the Memphis Grizzlies ... Finished with seven points (2-4 field goals), six assists and just one turnover against Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo in the 2007 Nike Hoop Summit
... Played his first game with Finnish National Team August 1st 2006 against Norway - i never heard they have a basketball team
... Played 15 National Team games in the summer of 2006, scoring 7,0 ppg...Played four games in Euro-Qualifications, third best scorer of Team Finland (10,3ppg) after Hanno Mottola (Zalgiris Kaunas) and starting point guard Teemu Rannikko (Olimpia Ljubljana) ... Netted 19 points and dished out 9 assists against Luxembourg
September 16th 2006 ... Starting point guard in U20 Division B European Championship tournament ?!... U20 team finished third while Koponen scored 12,6ppg and delivered 3,4apg ... Best individual performance in U20 games: 26 points, 7 rebounds and 8 steals July 18th 2006 against Macedonia...Was the starting point guard of 2007 Finnish Champion Honka Playboys ... Season averages in 2006/2007: 12,4ppg, 2,4rpg, 3,7apg, 1,7spg, 3,0topg while draining 54,2% of two point attempts, 39,2% of three point attempts and 84,1% of free throw attempts ...
THIS ARTICLE IS JOKE!!!
Finns were never Vikings
Our grandfathers won a war against great Soviet Union.
This thing called SISU (guts).
actually you did not win it
you lost it
but you did because famous because you were greatly outnumbered and still managed to hold them off for a long time
The Finns had some of the world's best all-time snipers during the Soviet invasion.
From Chad Ford today.
We have the Grizzlies selecting Mike Conley with the No. 4 pick in our latest mock draft, along with a note that the Grizzlies are deciding between Conley and Joakim Noah.
As of Friday, it appears that the Grizzlies, with new GM Chris Wallace in place, are leaning toward Noah. We'll make the update on Monday when Mock Draft Version 5.0 comes out.
Part of the reason that the Grizzlies are leaning toward Noah is that both Jerry West and Wallace are very high on a point guard they can get much later in the draft -- Petteri Koponen. West was the only GM in the league who actually went to Finland to see Koponen work out. Wallace fell in love during Koponen's workout in Orlando for around 10 teams.
The problem is that the Knicks, Suns and Spurs also like him as a prospect for the late first round. That means that if the Grizzlies really want him, they'll likely have to pry a pick away from a team in the 20s -- maybe a team with multiple picks, such as Philadelphia or Charlotte. Their bait right now could be Alexander Johnson -- a talented second-round pick from last year -- and a future lottery-protected No. 1 pick.
For a more detailed look at Koponen, check out my report from the workout I saw in New York.
And how 'bout this? With the Hawks leaning strongly toward taking Al Horford, the Grizzlies eyeing Joakim Noah and the Celtics looking at Corey Brewer, there's a real possibility that Florida Gators could go 3, 4 and 5 in this draft.
The Spurs are notoriously difficult to read, but a spy in the gym caught what he claims was one of two big workouts for pick No. 28.
The participants were Virginia Tech's Zabian Dowdell, Nevada's Ramon Sessions and Finland's Petteri Koponen. From what I gathered, Koponen and Sessions shined.
The Spurs will have a couple of bigs -- Nick Fazekas and Aaron Gray in on Friday.
But it sounds like they are leaning toward point guard. At this point, my guess is Koponen.
So no more Dowdell?
It's all hearsay at this point. The other two could have "shined" in the spy's estimation, but it could also just be a facade as this will have been Dowdell's second workout w/ the team.
I will be happy with alot of picks and I certainly think Koponen could be a valuable role player in a year or two, but I am less in love with this pick than others.
To me, the backup PG position is one where a domestic prospect could come in and effect the game right away. I wouldn't be suprised if it is Kopenen, but I think there are better options...
This is based on your viewing of Koponen's play I guess?
No Pic, you're right, I have never seen him play. I am, like most of us on alot of these prospects, relying on various reports. Most reports indicate that he would likely stay overseas for at least a year and be brought in afterwards. Most seem to indicate that he's not ready to contribute to an NBA team right away.
Again, IF the Spurs don't feel that he is ready to contribute as a backup PG, which is an area where a drafted prospect might actually be able to come in right away and give valuable minutes, I think there are better options. It says nothing of his talent or play, but based on what I've read, he isn't ready.
My position on him is more a factor of team need, versus actual talent, but I can certainly see him being the pick.
Here's the Koponen workout that Chad Ford was referencing in the Pic post....
Fair enough. I'm more interested in them getting the talent that will prove the best in 2- 3 years. The probability based on the past that a low first round PG pick would come in and be better any than Vaugh or even a Miles is not that high. Certainly not worth going into another season hoping and counting on having solved the back up PG issue by plugging in Dowdell, Session, or Pruitt.
Clearly I think higher of Pruitt and Dowdell than you do, or clearly I think lower of Jacque Vaughn than you do.....or both.
I honestly think either could contribute next year.
As far as who will be the best prospect down the line between Pruitt, Dowdell, and Koponen....I'll let that one be sorted out in the future, because I can't predict it.
My comments are based solely on probabilities derived from past drafts.
As a rule, I think you should take everything that Chad Ford says about a foreign prospect and divide it by two.
I didn't think Koponen was the Spurs pick but Ford might be right. His "spy" in this case is probably dead on, seeing as the guy who is working out Dowdell (David Thorpe) writes for ESPN.com.
I'm not sure Koponen is going to be on the board when the Spurs select. I'd say there's a good shot he's selected in the 20's before it's the Spurs' time to pick. If he is on the board when the Spurs pick, after reading this Ford article, I have to think the Spurs pick him.
The even bigger news to me is this pretty much eliminates the idea that the Spurs have a promise in place at 28. If they had a promise, they wouldn't be working out Koponen -- who won't be there at 33.
And now if Sessions has jumped over Dowdell, I wonder if this makes Sessions an option at 28 or just 33. Plus with Fazekas and Gray coming in for a workout today, that jumbles matters even more.
Perhaps the Spurs have 33 ready to be used on a foreign prospect like Marko Tomas and are now trying to figure out who to take at 28.
Or this could all be a CIA Pop smokescreen.
I thought I had started to figure out what the Spurs were up to now I'm back to square one.
I know nothing about this kid Koponen other than what's been written. I just like the idea of being able to pair Parker on the floor with a bigger, potentially strong playmaking PG, particularly now that Parker is starting to develop a more reliable J. Parker was coing off screens effectively with LeBron chasing in the finals. A Williams, Kidd- type PG would add damn great versatility to the Spurs attack.
If the Spurs really love Koponen, they can trade up to perhaps 17 by offering something like 28, 58 and Scola to New Jersey. Or perhaps 28, 33 and a future second.
I hope the Spurs get their guy, even if he might turn out to be Beno Udrih part two
I see where you're going with this, by putting a distributor on the floor you space it and allow Tony to go into scoring mode without necessarily stagnating the offense....
BUT, let's not throw out names like Kidd or Williams just because Koponen is a pass-first, tall PG. I know you're not comparing them, but I would hate to see someone make the assumption that we're drafting a foreign J-Kidd....
17 to get Koponen...are they really THAT impressed with him? Giving up Scola?If the Spurs really love Koponen, they can trade up to perhaps 17 by offering something like 28, 58 and Scola to New Jersey. Or perhaps 28, 33 and a future second.
I hope the Spurs get their guy, even if he might turn out to be Beno Udrih part two
I'm against all that. Trading up to get a guy that will eventually be a backup PG, and backup two-guard....yikes.
Here's the thing. If the "spy" truly was David Thorpe, then it's possible that he was just giving his opinion of how the workout went. If you notice, in the article Chad Ford says "the impression I got was that Koponen and Sessions shined."
It may certainly have been the case that Dowdell had a poor workout and the other two were good/great, but I don't know if that meant the Spurs felt the same way, or if it happened to sway them in one direction or the other....
Wouldn't the Spurs know who David Thorpe is? Wouldn't they kick any known persons of interest out of the workout site, especially if they work for ESPN? Why do we trust what Chad Ford says?
... And for the record, I'd hate the Spurs to trade any two assets (28, 33, Scola) just to get Koponen. Yech.
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