James
Scrub
Ex-GM
Posts: 2,398
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Post by James on Jul 10, 2008 18:52:31 GMT -5
Btw Martinez, Spain > World in sport atm.
wd, gw espana
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Post by duceisinmyheart on Jul 10, 2008 20:04:28 GMT -5
I know... Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Handball, MotoGP, Formula 1, Roller Hockey.
We've either one it all in all those sports or we're in the top 5 in them.
Has been a great 2 years.
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James
Scrub
Ex-GM
Posts: 2,398
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Post by James on Jul 10, 2008 20:29:48 GMT -5
Start a soccer thread ASAP.
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Post by duceisinmyheart on Jul 11, 2008 9:27:34 GMT -5
He’s been thinking about it for over a year now. A blog on his website dated somewhere around 8 months ago talks about it.
I mean how bad can he flop? How is this any bigger of a risk then when the NBA allowed players to enter the draft straight out of HS? I think this can only improve his stock because he will be playing against professional competition, and I don’t think any team he goes to will play him more than 15-20minutes a game.
He’s probably going to play on an Italian team and the Italian league is probably the second best league behind Spain. He’s rumoured to either go to Armani Jeans Milano (Danilo Gallinari’s former team) or Locomatica (Allan Ray former UConn basketball player’s team) Both have two great coaches who are great at grooming young players Attilio Caja and Jasmin Respesa.
He wants to play in Italy, but even then, in Europe, they have a big tournament where the best teams in each league play against each other in a sort of playoff so you have some teams from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, etc. So even if the league isn’t great but he chooses the top-team in that league(which is going to happen because he want’s a six figure deal, a lower level team doesn’t have the cash to give him that) he’s going to be playing against some good competition.
As I listed above with Allan Ray playing for Locomatica there is an abundance of non-European players, especially American, playing on those teams. Armani Milano has about 3 or 4 American born players.
I haven’t heard of one American who hasn’t loved the culture in Europe. He’s going to be a “star” no matter where he goes. He might love it so much he’s going to want to stay, lol. But in all seriousness his problem is if he’s going to behave and not get into trouble because the nightlife in Italy, Spain, Israel, etc can get pretty intense.
As I said above, I don’t think he’ll have a hard time dealing. Homesick? Sure. Though the way he’s got to think of it, it’s just going to be a year. He can almost call it a really long vacation.
European basketball practices are serious. There are mandatory curfews, team meetings, etc etc. It’s a lot more stricter than here. You won’t here no Allen Iverson’s going “Practice? It’s Practice, Man!” over in Europe because they’ll cut your ass so fast it’s ridiculous. And I doubt he’ll be sitting at home playing games. There’s no 21 and over to get into places in Europe or any of that crap. My biggest worry is him staying out of trouble. Sure he may catch a couple of pranks or even a few insults from a few teammates, but don’t NBA rookies go through the same thing?
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Post by duceisinmyheart on Jul 11, 2008 9:27:44 GMT -5
come on krupinski where's your rebuttal
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Post by Phoenix Phil on Jul 17, 2008 12:00:06 GMT -5
sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3491998I don't know much about European basketball but with an English-speaking coach and with his brother potentially coming over,it seems like a OK situation. Pretty sweet to see Allan Ray on the same team
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Post by duceisinmyheart on Jul 17, 2008 12:01:52 GMT -5
sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3491998I don't know much about European basketball but with an English-speaking coach and with his brother potentially coming over,it seems like a OK situation. Pretty sweet to see Allan Ray on the same team He’s probably going to play on an Italian team and the Italian league is probably the second best league behind Spain. He’s rumoured to either go to Armani Jeans Milano (Danilo Gallinari’s former team) or Locomatica (Allan Ray former UConn basketball player’s team) Both have two great coaches who are great at grooming young players Attilio Caja and Jasmin Respesa. I called it.
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Post by duceisinmyheart on Jul 17, 2008 12:04:45 GMT -5
and Krupinski still hasn't answered me.
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James
Scrub
Ex-GM
Posts: 2,398
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Post by James on Jul 17, 2008 18:23:55 GMT -5
The situation actually sounds really good. He is earning A LOT more $$ overseas, he is playing against a lot bigger and more physical players who no doubt will be a lot more intelligent, he is getting mdia training, tutoring and will have no problems at all next year if and when he enters the draft.
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