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On to Troy.
Is v-span planning on signing with same team the spurs will be playing in pre-season? I hope so, that way we can all thank him for clearing a roster spot for our younger players.
On to Troy.
The rest of the off season should go as followed:
- Spanoulis waived
- Thud signs for about same amount as Vaughn
- Trade Beno to Cleveland for Wesley (only if retiring) or trade exception
- Sign Ian and Sankidze to cheap contracts which I believe would fill out roster (15)
Hopefully with these moves they stay under luxury tax
Pickings are getting very slim if we want to replace Beno with a free agent.
Why would the Spurs want Troy Hudson? As a 3rd string PG? I can't see that being very helpful to him or the team. Vaughn has proven himself to be adequate as Parker's backup, and he is signed for two more years. I would rather see the Spurs add a young prospect with potential as the 3rd PG, or just keep Beno so fans have someone to make fun of.
If Spurs waive Spanoulis as reported :
I'm a little disappointed because Spanoulis could have been a good nba player but I can understand that he wants to come back in Greece with his family problems. It seems that he badly wanted to go back in Greece and keeping an unhappy player makes no sense for Spurs. I wish him the best in Greece.
I will be curious to see what Spurs will do with Beno. With Udoka signing, Spurs are in the luxury tax area and Beno will be expensive ($3.5M)
If Spurs want to save some money, they will have to trade him for nothing or to buy him out.
The problem is that there aren't a lot of teams to dump him in (Cleveland, Charlotte and maybe Golden State) and that it's not sure that Beno will accept a buyout to sign a contract with an European team.
It looks like Beno will spend one more year with Spurs. i have nothing against that as long as he doesn't complain and hurt Spurs' chemistry.
His nickname is Kill Bill? That's way better than Flight White, for an end-of-bench warmer guy.
So.....
CJ Watson or Cheyne Gadson?
Cheyne Gadson will play in Italy next year.
Maybe the spurs will play Beno some early in the season, in an effort to tempt another team to take him.
CJ it is then....
That would be too bad. I really wanted to see V-Span make it in the NBA on some team somewhere. Well..I'll wait to see if there's an official press release before I buy into the V-Span has been released bandwagon. BTW, here's some video of the player you could have gotten or may get.
http://www.youtube.com/v/cEpqq6I3WB4
CJ Watson?
God no....
Unless Hud is in the pipeline, I don't see much happening with Beno. Someone would really have to wow them in a workout or training camp to let go of the bird in hand. Most of the guys worth a crap from the D-League last season have gone to Europe. Hopefully some other guys are ready to come back to take their chances at camp.
So that means 2 spots are open?
It's comical to me the wizened heads on this board believed:
1) Spanoulis had any NBA-level talent whatsoever.
2) Spanoulis has more credibility on any of his 'feud' with Jeff Van Gundy, who has actually had success in this league and a good reputation and is well-liked.
3) Spanoulis's diva, crybaby behavior was in any way justified and would somehow vanish as a Spur.
4) That Spanoulis would rather take an about-face and chose an iffy, back-up role with no guaranteed minutes with the Spurs, in a league that is too fast and talented for him, where he'd be stuck deep behind the reigning Finals MVP, over a starring role with a team and a fanbase that is crazy about him, and in his homeland.
5) That somehow it is worse for him leaving without a trace than him being on the squad.
You guys have been crazy about this whole ordeal. The only way the Scola trade made an iota of sense is if Spanoulis vanished forever. I only hope he's not actually 'waived,' where I believe the contract still counts against the cap, but is instead walking away from it completely.
Spanoulis: Ptui.
If San Antonio manages to sign Hudson for cheap, they may force Cleveland to trade the exception for Udrih. Otherwise it's Beno again for us.
I just now got through to call Billy. I told him about talk here on Spurs board, he only knew Rockets board before.
He looked here and told me to tell Mr. Body that when pre-season starts he will now own Rockets and Spurs.
He will dominate both and his team will win. He will then post on here and make Mr. Body own up just like Jeff Van Gundy.
Yes! And then we'll have a fist fight! I'll smash a bottle of ouzo in his face and make him shave his manly stubble! Then Billy will cry!
V-Span's expectations before he came to the United States. You can see clearly that there were a lot of expectations of Vasilis's side. JVG - Lets glue him to the bench damn euorookie!
Rockets aquire Greek player, Spanoulis If Vasilis Spanoulis sat behind the wheel of a car for a living, it wouldn't be a Formula One racer hugging the curves gracefully or a sleek Ferrari hitting top speeds out on the autobahn.
He'd be a taxi driver, just barreling his way into places and not worrying about picking up a few dents or scrapes. Spanoulis wouldn't follow the road, but make his own path, zigging, zagging, jumping curbs and getting around or going through the pedestrians who got in his path.
His nickname with Panathinaikos in Athens is "Kill Bill," taken from the Quentin Tarantino movie and it only takes a few trips up and down the basketball court to understand why. He takes no prisoners.
One of the first times he got his hands on the ball in Greece's opening elimination game against China, he head-faked once, dribbled to his left and then took off straight for the basket against 7-6 Yao Ming. Then there were his assaults on the hoop in the win over Team USA.
Aggressive style
"Yes, yes, yes. Aggressive," Spanoulis said, nodding. "That's something that I like. It's how I play — aggressive and fast. It's my style."
One that he says he'll bring in a few more weeks to Rockets training camp to blend with Yao and Tracy McGrady.
"I think those two, obviously, are the superstars on the team and in the league," Spanoulis said. "Great offensive players. I will put my aggressiveness to the team to make them something better."
Oh yes, he's confident.
"Adjustments to my game?" he said. "None. This is the basketball I would like to play in the NBA. I think I will be ready for the league from the first days. I believe I will not have a problem. No worries. I believe so much in myself and I'm ready to play there. It's why I'm making this step in my career."
The 6-4 guard looks like a fire hydrant, plays like a fullback and attacks the hoop like a pit bull going after the postman's ankle. He squeezes through cracks in the defense that others don't see or he creates openings.
Playing hardball
He bumps and bangs people all over the floor. That is, when he's not diving onto the floor to chase a loose ball.
"In Greece, we have a term for him," said Yiannis Fileris, a journalist who writes for the website Sport 24. "We call him a 'basketball maniac.' All he ever thinks about is the game and how to win it. He is crazy on the court.
"He is wild. I'll tell you, people in Houston will love him."
Whenever, eventually, he gets onto the court. Spanoulis is not Yao, a No. 1 overall draft choice who had all of the tools to be an NBA All-Star. This is a second-round pick, No. 50 overall, trying to break into a league where few players taken that low succeed.
"I just worry a little about the expectation level that people might have for Vasilis when he first gets here," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, who's been following the World Basketball Championship on TV from Houston.
Making adjustments
"He's got to adapt to a new culture, a new role and new teammates. He's got to find out if the things he's done over there in Greece can carry over to the NBA. You know, this is a very, very hard, tough league."
For every tale of a Manu Ginobili or Andres Nocioni coming from abroad to stake a spot and claim a measure of s om in the NBA, there is an Arvydas Macijauskas of Lithuania, who wasted away all of last season at the end of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets bench.
Spanoulis shrugs. He went from a nice guard playing for second-tier Greek club Maroussi into a star player for Panathinaikos and the national team in a little more than a year.
Plays with passion
"I have passion," Spanoulis said.
And he wears it on his sleeve. Along with an air of imperviousness.
Spanoulis talked about the fun he had playing against the U.S. team. He spoke of the gold-medal game against Spain as a day in the park.
"I am always happy to play in these types of games," he said. "There is no stress. No pressure. Just confidence and you play."
Van Gundy cringes every time he hears big things predicted so early and had to know that everything just got ratcheted up another notch when Spanoulis led Greece with 22 points and made so many big plays to beat the U.S. team.
That was Spanoulis going end-to-end for driving layups. That was Spanoulis pulling up to hit three 3-pointers and twice drawing fouls on long jumpers, then going to the line and burying six straight free throws.
He ran the pick-and-roll offense and whipped slick passes inside to his big men for layups.
"I am very happy he leaves Europe, so I don't have to guard him this year," said Greek teammate Theo Papaloukas, who plays for Moscow CSKA in the Russian Superleague. "He's very strong. He has a winning mentality and deserves to go to the NBA. I think he's going to fight for this."
Spanoulis practically crackles and pops like a downed power line and can be just as dangerous.
"There are many ways to succeed and fail in the NBA," Van Gundy said. "One of the ways is to be in the ballpark talent-wise and make up for what you lack with a love for the game and compe ion. I'd always bet on guys with passion."
In the first telephone conversation that the player had with his new coach, Spanoulis told Van Gundy, "It's just basketball."
Culture shock
It is and it isn't. It's culture shock and a new league and new teammates and so many different things that maybe only Yao — who went through it at warp speed under a much greater microscope — can clue him into.
"Basketball is the same everywhere, in Europe and the States," Spanoulis said. "Now it's up to me to play the same basketball. When you have better teammates, you can play much better.
"This is what I expect."
You watch him bounce around the court like a pinball against the Americans, finding ways and making plays. You stand next to him and practically feel the electric current.
"I watch a lot of NBA on TV," Spanoulis said. "I know most of the players and how they play. I know the league. I like this type of basketball. I am ready to go to Houston and start with the games. This will be fun."
That's "Kill Bill," coming soon to a theater near you.
Why did you post this?
Can someone verify for me when his father died? The article about Tony says he died recently, but I thought he died a while ago. I ask simply because I want to know the story to understand. If his father died and the Rockets did not let him go, then I understand his being upset, but I do not think that is accurate- is it? It seems more like his mother still has not handled it all and relies very much on her sons, and he should have never signed with the NBA in the first place. That situation is not going to change, even if he was with the Spurs. It sounds like he wants/needs to be close to his mom.
Father died in 1997. So it's been 10 years. Needless to say, Spanouilis mother doesn't do well without Vasilis and vice versa. Vspan if his comments are true is a big Mamma's boy. Unless he's telling a story to the press as an excuse not to come back to the Rockets.
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