Take a look @ this player? he's very good during last season oversea, and he was a Spurs draft pick
http://web.legabasket.it/player/?id=SAT-ROM-81
http://www.euroleague.net/compe io...ayer?pcode=LMO
He's in his prime now.
Last edited by Bruno; 01-07-2010 at 09:32 AM.
Sato is an excellent player. Maybe the best perimeter defender in Europe right now. Solid shooter as well and a very good finisher on the open court. He'd be an upgrade over Bogans for the Spurs. No chance of acquiring him till the off-season though.
too bad he's still only 6'2".
Sato is another example of height not being everything. There are players that are taller than him that don't have his length. Nick Young, who plays for the Wizards is somewhere between 6'6 - 6'7...and he and Sato have a similar wingspan and Sato has a better standing reach.
In an interview with DX last month, Sato and his agent sounded pretty adamant about him having minutes if he comes to play in the NBA. He will need to change his en led at ude if he plans to play for the Spurs, as minutes are not just going to be given to him...he will have to earn them and not get an at ude in the process.
With all the economic woes, no team is just going to give him a contract. He will need accept a summer league invite and play well to convince a team to sign him. He seems like the type of player that the Spurs would go after with his good shooting and and solid perimeter defense. With this being the last year of his contract I would be surprised if the Spurs didn't at least contact him to gauge interest.
Height's not everything . . . that's what people said about him when he was drafted. I haven't seen him overseas, so I don't know how his game has progressed. But when drafted he didn't have the tools to be in the NBA no matter how long his arms were or how smart a defender he was. Hill has made it because he was a scorer in college and had ball skills to translate to back-up point or at least the SG spot. Sato didn't (or at least not at an NBA level at the time).
...which is why they should at least send him an SL invite. He is 28 and is likely as good as he is going to get. I'd like to hear from others that may have watched him play. Anyone?
Bump. He was mentioned on another thread so I thought I'd pick the brains of those that have watched him this year. Is he worth another shot? Mason replacement maybe?
watched the games vs. Real in the Euroleague top 16 and some summaries of Euroleague games. Sato looked very good indeed. still a bit out of control when handling the ball and not always in right position, but always good effort on defense and offense and his shot meanwhile looks very good. (also the one from the corner).
about his size. during the game I never thought this guy is 6'3''. not just because of his octopus arms. he just doesn't look small. if you tell me, hey this guy is just something like 1.90m, I would answer no, can't be. he is 1.95m. and I would bet on it. (ok, playing alongside McIntire and Hawkins can distort the perspective a bit).
however, in the NBA he would be slightly undersized for the SG spot and totally undersized for the SF spot. on the other hand, we are currently discussing Raja Bell. also not exactly oversized for a wing defender. Sato's role wouldn't be much different.
after the Euroleague out in March there were reports that Siena likely won't re sign McIntire, Sato and Domercant, so they are clearly in cost cutting mode.
no idea about the asking price, I would assume that Sato get's much better offers than a minimum contract in Europe, but I also doubt he get's much more than LLE kind money. this is likely his last chance for a NBA contract, if he really wants to play there, he has to come over right now. he would bite if offered LLE IMO.
Thanks, mountainballer.
Here's a recent video of him. I agree with you that he looks bigger than the measurements indicate.
I also agree with you that at 28 years old, this is probably his last shot at the NBA if he wants to come over. He jumper looks good and if he is as good as advertised defensively then he might be a nice LLE option if there are not worthwhile veteran guards to pick from among the other free agents.
Blast from the past. Sato would be in interesting pickup indeed! I'd be curious to see what he can do now - so I can't really comment on whether I'm for or against. But it defin ely sounds like a Spurs kind of move.
@Benefactor -- Do 29 year-old players get assigned to SL? Honest question, mostly because I can't think of a vet player who's played summer league in recent memory off the top of my head.
My opinion is that we seem to already be dealing with known quan ies when we're talking vets (making SL seem somewhat redundant and potentially disrespectful), but I'd be interested to hear why you think otherwise.
Sato won MVP in italian league. And he's going off from his contract to a free agent summer...
Pop would play this guy 5 minutes, he'd up somehow and then never see court time for the rest of the year, same as what happened to Haislip.
LOL @ spending LLE money on a guy who would play 5 minutes.
It is usually reserved for young players, but I'm pretty sure anyone can play(Devin Green played last year at 26 yrs old, which is an age that most NBA players are pretty well established). I don't see anything wrong or disrespectful about the Spurs wanting him to play if they wanted him to get his feet wet on American soil again. But they didn't make Haislip play, so perhaps they wouldn't.
This guy has always peaked my interest, and I've always wondered how he'd fare in the NBA. If anything, I think he'd a decent fit with the Spurs. I really hope he comes over. Either here, or with another team.
The Spurs could do worse. They could spend 3.8 million on a guy that can't dribble or play defense...then suddenly forgets how to shoot. Oh wait...
It's hard to compare him to Haislip because it is two different situations. Haislip came to the Spurs already sitting no higher than 5th in the big rotation behind Duncan, Dice, Blair and Bonner. He was going to have to really shine to earn even limited minutes. Sato would come into a situation where the only other real backup guard behind Parker and Manu is Hill.
Sato is probably worth the LLE(lol "LLE money". It was less than 2 million last year and will be less than that this year), but I'm not sure the Spurs would give it to him purely based on the events that transpired with Haislip last year. This year is in all likelyhood the last year of the championship window so that makes me skeptical that the Spurs will spend guaranteed cash(plus tax) on a player that hasn't played meaningful minutes in the NBA. Well...unless that player is Tiago Splitter, of course.
I think his defense alone makes him hard to ignore. I can see him being what we needed from Bogans defensively (at least as far as sprightly D, goes... not so much against bigs, obviously), and offensively from RMJ.
@tjastal the fail bemoaning the loss of Marcus haislip
Amare Stoudemire played the summer league the year after his microfracture surgery.
I believe Ron Artest played it the year after his suspension.
Vet players playing the summer league is not common, but not unheard of.
Clearly NBA material. Not even sure how can be argued otherwise. This guy plays well above his size. Tony Allen with a jump-shot.
I don't see him playing in the SL (but yeah, there are plenty of veterans who play there), I think a team wanting to sign him needs to send guaranteed money his way, but the entire LLE would be above his asking price.
From what you guys are saying it does sound like he's ready for the NBA.
However I wonder if the Spurs feel like they're undersized enough as is with Hill and Blair.
Spurs need a perimeter player that can defend the 2/3 and you need size/height for that. Length is good but that won't stop guys like Dudley from grabbing offensive boards if you can't put some weight on him.
Hopefully he gets an opportunity to prove himself but I agree with a poster earlier that demanding minutes is definitely not the Spurs way. Don't need another Finley or Mason Jr. situation.
Last edited by Cane; 05-18-2010 at 05:34 PM.
He is not quite as athletic seemingly as a Tony Allen, but from his highlights, he reminds me of a less athletic Jason Richardson.
Sato could be a very solid NBA role player but I've a hard time seeing him playing some SF. Even if he has long arms, he is only 6'3". He will be strictly a SG. So if Spurs sign Sato, they will be very small in the perimeter with Manu playing a lot of minutes at SF. I rather see Spurs going after a player who can play SF instead of signing a SG and playing Manu out of position.
I'm the furthest thing from a cap-ologist, but couldn't we use the LLE to sign him (to fill Mason's shoes as a potential starting SG, with Manu returning to the bench as the closer 2)? That still leaves us with the 20 to either draft or swap (as Mountainballer stated elsewhere) for a long 3, and the MLE for Splitter and another spare part (Bonner? DeColo?).
Our starting sg next season will be hill...I dont see the spurs going after starters (except splitter) this offseason.
TP-Hill-RJ-TD-Splitter will be our starting 5 I think next season.
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