It took a few days for the English-speaking mainstream media to catch up with the “Carlos Delfino to Russia” news that DBB reader Ohad sent me last week, but it finally happened. Now, Ohad passes along this translated tidbit from Ynet.co.il:
“Slovenian center Primoz Brezec (216 cm, 1979) confirmed for several Slovenian media that he will continue his career in Lottomatica Roma. He spent last 7 seasons in NBA playing for Indiana Pacers, Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors. Union Olimpija Ljubljana, AXA FC Barcelona and Real Madrid were interested in him too.
He was very disappointed in last two seasons because after some injuries he didn’t get enough playing time to show that his two good seasons with the Bobcats weren’t coincidence. He was traded two times last season and this seems to push his patience over the limit.
He will officially sign probably on Monday and will play in Roma for one year. Financial details are unknown.”
Euroleague.net has the announcement, as well, including a statement from Brezec:
“I am very happy and proud to play next year in Rome,” Brezec said in a news release. “It’s beautiful to return to Europe after seven years in the NBA with one of the best teams on the continent, with the great, successful coach Repesa and the most beautiful city in the world. The determining factor for my choice was the link with Dejan Bodiroga. With him I talked so much in these days. He explained what the objectives of the team are and I am really happy to join a project so important and ambitious like that of Rome. I hope to achieve important results. And it is great to be playing with Sani Becirovic, who is one of my best friends off the court. I’m ready for the big challenge.”
Some hilarious stories about Primoz. The league just got a little less goofy.
http://www.resignprimoz.com/anecdotes.html
Congratulations to Delfino
I just hope that
He doesn’t spend all those extra Euros on clothes and Stoli trying to stay warm in the Moscow winters.
People think that it gets cold in Detroit in the Winter. During the winter Miami is to Detroit as Detroit is to Moscow. LOL
warn all mascots abroad….
I wonder if marginal European players will start bolting en mass to Europe. For the most part, it seems like they would get more money and playing time there. What could be more interesting is if European clubs start to offer contracts to more substantial players, especially for decent players who can’t get more than the mid-level (an example would be Maggette if Golden State weren’t so zealous about overspending).
@paul: from what i’ve seen, americna players won’t leave the US if they don’t have to. that’s because a lot of them are either afraid to move to places like israel, iran and so forth or they are too attached to their families and don’t want to live far away.
For the european players its much much more easy to come back to a place where they are appriciated.
In addition, european ball doesn’t rely as much about physical traits (and the defense is played much more agressively) so if your average kobe-wanna-be comes here he will find himself having to work very hard to play with his teammates rather than shine as brightly as he used to.
Speaking of Europe, rumor is that Josh Childress is considering going overseas. (Courtesy of Ball Don’t Lie)
Honestly, I think this is part of a larger trend in which marginal players (both foreign and American) will head overseas to play if they don’t feel like sitting on the bench here in the U.S.
The fact is that many of these end-of-the-bench type of guys are very good basketball players, but know for whatever reason they lack the size, skill or playing style to make it consistently in the NBA. And with foreign teams now paying comparable salaries, what would you rather do? Spend your prime playing years sittting on the bench in Memphis or Charlotte or be a star in Barcelona or Greece? Ask yourself if you would be willing to trade your current job for a raise, a promotion and life in Europa.
Even talented young players are now considering moving to Europe. The only reason to stick around in the D League is if you’re good enough to improve dramatically and you know the NBA is your ultimate goal. Otherwise, Europe is a much better alternative. I think the only way to combat this is to expand the D League to become a true minor league system and eliminate the idiotic restrictions on how many times a player can be sent down. NBA teams should be able to have full rosters of players developing on D League teams; that’s the best way to keep the young talent in America and fix the skills gap that today’s players seem to be experiencing.
+1 Sir.
This is an obvious ploy for leverage by Childress so he can force Atlanta to trade him to the Pistons for “cash considerations”.
Hey, a guy can dream.
(re-posted from below)
NEW CRAZY RUMOR ALERT!
Pistons interested in Ron Artest.
Coming from the Sacramento Bee, by way of Fanhouse.
Links:
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/07/21/if-artest-gets-traded-to-detroit-will-earth-implode-immediately/
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/013976.html
I would take Artest IF all it costs us is two role players and a six pack.
Laughton…not if the 6 pack is Coopers or Tooheys.
I said this last year, but Artest to Detroit needs to happen. It’s like some weird, cosmic NBA itch that simply must be scratched.
As for the Euro argument, I’m not sure it makes that much sense. In a couple years, the Euro is likely to tank, both on its own and relative to the American dollar.
Presumably, a player living in Europe is going to keep his money in Euros while he is in Europe. Presumably, said player will also want to come back to America to either retire or play a few more years in the NBA. That will mean exchanging money back into American dollars.
My guess is most agents would rather keep their players here, so I’m guessing they’ll find a way to impart this particular wisdom.
BTW, the Hawks offer is apparently just above the midlevel. That would probably mean this is just leverage, but it also means that Childress isn’t coming to the Pistons.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080722/SPORTS03/307220002/1051
hey “aol.com sports writer matt watson”, do you extra cash when the freep reposts yr virtual blood, sweat and tears on their site? hoping you do.
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/53696/20080722/okafor_ready_to_move_on_away_from_charlotte/
Okafor wants to leave and Charlotte wants to sign and trade him. A sheed plus something for Okafor swap?
Matt Gibson: Isn’t plus something going to end up being a lot of money sent back to Charlotte? I mean, unless the plus something you’re thinking is like Amir. I dunno what plus something you mean. I think that might work cap-wise (Sheed/Amir for Emeka) if we gave Emeka around $13.5 million per year. I’m not going to even call that particularly steep (maybe mildly), but I doubt Joe ties up that much (though I’d welcome it). We’ve obviously dealt with Rod Higgins before, sending him Nazr last season. That one seemed to go well for both teams and Rasheed loves Larry Brown and could move to a his natural PF inclination w/Nazr producing in Charlotte, so I don’t see why this couldn’t possibly have some legs if both teams wanted to go in this direction.
I’d be super geeked for a Rasheed-Amir for Emeka deal if it went down. We’d lose the possibility of Amir’s boundless energy in the paint, but we’d gain a proven, legitimate threat there on both ends. I’d like to see at least one second rounder come back to us in exchange that has to be exercised before 2010 if we only get Emeka, but we may need to take another player back (I’m thinking Adam Morrison) to get this more in the realm of realistic possibility salary-wise (Emeka is really probably worth more like $11 million per to us but I’d be happy for us to pay him $13-$14 per if it made things work in a 2 for 1). Adding Morrison to the deal (what’s the risk, really?) flips my request for any future picks and I might suggest us giving Charlotte a future first-rounder if we went that route. It’s not like Charlotte even has any awful contracts (Morrison gets $4 mil. this year then expires) they can dump though.
One of the other stories on RealGM had the Clippers interested in tossing Emeka $10-$12 million per year (before the Camby trade). If that’s what Emeka’s going to be getting (probably his worth), we’d definitely need to tack on Morrison (or if we want someone who has no documented health issues, Matt Carroll, Pistons killer) and I also think a future first-rounder, in any scenario. Carroll, 27, is basically owed $4-5 mil. per season through 2013. Not an ideal contract length in five more seasons, but at a below MLE price to get Emeka? Um, done, done, done!
If we think Emeka’s going to stay healthy, I say do it a million times over. Wondering if he’s going to stay healthy makes for quite the caveat to try to anticipate though. He’s had some nagging ankle/calf issues in the past, but he did play in all 82 games this past season so I like that outlook. If we could acquire him and Arnie could keep him on the straight and narrow, this is a no-brainer to me even if they saddled us with Carroll’s 6 year/$27 million deal that runs through 2013 (I think it’s frontloaded, fortunately).
Emeka’s apparently just an all-around awesome dude with good skills to boot. He strikes me as very Pistons, hard-working, good defensive instincts, high quality/character guy. He went to high school with a friend of mine and used to drive her to school (she’s quite cute, naturally) and she said he was really smart, humble and polite. Dude did everything you could ask for at UConn, including winning the Final Four MOP and national championship. He’s a double-double guy and a legitimate post presence.
Ugh, now I’m getting so excited and what are the odds this actually happens? *single tear*
I’d be interested in Emeka too for many of the reasons LB talks about above…true center who lives in the paint, plays great defense, and he’s only 25.
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but if we were to do a sign and trade for Emeka (or any other RFE) he’d count as a BYC player right? So if we started a deal at say 12 million per year, his actual trade salary that we’d need to match up with would be half of that at 6 million. So if we sent Sheed (and other parts) we’d need to take back Emeka and somebody else in order to get the salaries to match up.
Some one made a comment about how there are more smart GM’s now with Stefanski, Presti, Pritchard, etc., but fortunately for us Charlotte does not have one of those GM’s. Let’s see if Joe can make MJ look silly twice in one year.
I thought Emeka didn’t want to play Center. Wasn’t that one of the reasons they got Soup Nazr?
QD: Let McDyess “play center” for all I care if Emeka is on this team. Emeka’s offensive game is on the block and so is his defensive game, really. If he doesn’t want to take jump balls, defend the opposing team’s biggest player, or go on the stat sheet as “C”, that’s fine by me. We have enough personnel to make the adjustment. Just get him here!
plus something I was hoping like draft picks. I think I’d die a little (or alot) inside if Amir was traded.
ok I think I got this right…maybe. If Emeka was to get 13 mil a year from us that means his byc would be 6.5mil. But his qualifying offer is larger so I think that’d be used as his salary instead. His qualifying offer plus adam morrisons contract would be worth enough to trade to detroit for sheed. Then the Pistons throw in a 1st round and torontos 2nd rounder and that might be enough for them.
Excellent catch Jim. I feel really dumb. Man, the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement is beyond confusing and intricate. Yeah, I guess Carroll or Morrison (though Carroll more likely, having an extra million on his deal) would now be a necessity without us even attaching a 2nd player from our roster to send to them.
I do know that on ESPN’s Trade Machine, Nazr and Carroll (Nazr’s $6.05 mil and Carroll’s $5.05 mil) works straight up for Sheed. If Charlotte would sign and trade Emeka to a reasonable deal at approximately $12.1 million a year (hence the use of Nazr in the example) and send him with Carroll or Morrison w/another play added like Jared Dudley or newly drafted Alexis Ajinca, we could send them Sheed and anyone at Cheikh’s salary or less (ie: the new draft picks) plus the rights to whatever future draft picks we agreed upon. That’s the only way we accomplish it without the Bobcats adding a higher contract (Gerald Wallace) into the mix w/Emeka Okafor. Of course, we’d need to tack at LEAST Amir Johnson w/Sheed to get Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor. If the Bobcats would be willing to part with Gerald Wallace and Okafor for Amir Johnson, Sheed and future first-round pick(s), I can’t find ANY reason to turn that down.
Just for fun, with Nazr representing Emeka (for contract purposes) in this hypothetical trade on ESPN’s Trade Machine, I discovered that we could trade Chauncey and Sheed for Nazr (Emeka)/Wallace/Felton/Jemareo Davidson (need his extra $700,000 in salary). I’m not championing this, or really anything beyond trying to make a reasonable effort at acquiring Emeka. It’s Joe’s job to evaluate and do what’s best.
I’d like Emeka and echo LB’s comments. I think part of the reason Emeka didn’t like playing center is because he never got the ball because they didn’t run very many plays for him. I think Emeka has to realize he’s coming here to play center, Dyess at the four (on the defensive end anyways) with Max substituting. If we trade Amir, I’m a bit concerned about our depth in the front court. Chiek?? Plastaid?? Sharpe is 6′9″ or 10″, but that’s asking an awful lot for him to play the 4. Not saying he couldn’t do it, but I think it stunts his growth. The guy is a 3 in a 3-4 body.
Gerald Wallace, athletic and can back up Prince or play a bit of 4. I like the trade if we don’t do a 3 for 2 or something like that. Hell, give them a first rounder, it’ll be a 25+ pick.
In more concrete, something that actually happens, news … this put a slight smile on my face:
http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2008/07/bynum_pistons_putting_finishin.html
Even though we have the best Israeli scoop breaker in Ohad, Joe apparently doesn’t agree with the Israeli contingent, and sees something he likes in Bynum. I think I saw what Joe was seeing in the summer league, but we shall have to wait and see how this minor move pans out.
Also, Marcus Williams to Golden State takes some pressure off Monta Ellis, and puts some on poor C.J. Watson (I hope they keep him on their roster). And apparently we’re close to finalizing a two-year deal with Walter Sharpe.
In non-speculative news, Joe D. is likely to disappoint our favorite Israeli scoop breaker, Ohad, with the transaction listed at the top of mlive.com/pistons.
Apparently Walter Sharpe’s gets the next two-year deal very soon.
*Walter Sharpe … yeesh.
Also, Marcus Williams to GSW for a future first rounder, Telfair re-signs with the T-Wolves, and Kurt Thomas re-signs with San Antonio. Just putting the daily news out there.
I’m an old UConn fan and I’ve seen a lot of Okafor. He’s a brilliant guy (finace degree in 3 years at Connecticut) who built himself into an elite college player by doing all the little things, mainly on defense and on the glass. He’s got a kind of intellectual intensity that you find in successful entrepreneurs, not necessarly athletes. That’s kind of been the knock on him, he’s not the chest thumping type, but he’s plenty intense. I wouldn’t be suprised if Dumars sees a bit of himself in Okafor - smart, quiet, intense, leads by example.
Okafor is younger than Ben Wallace was when he arrived in Detroit and that was a pretty good run. I’d say Okafor will give you 90% of the defense and 190% of the offense of Big Ben and that’s not bad.
OK, although I’m still a ‘Sheed fan when many around here aren’t, potentially getting Okafur would be pretty cool, and it’s hard to argue that he wouldn’t be an upgrade. But giving up Amir and ‘Sheed? I have the same question MarkButter has: our starting frontcourt is ‘Dyess and Ekafor, and coming off the bench is Maxiell and ?
Okafur, I mean.
Sheed for Okafor is a no-brainer, but I think they would almost certainly ask for Amir as well. That said, if they make the demand, and we call their bluff, they are left with the specter of us simply taking Okafor outright after next season.
I’m with Kevin here. Let’s swindle them! It’s not like they have any idea what they’re doing. Sheed for ‘Meka straight up.
@Jim: Little Creatures, Rogers. Damn that’s a nice beer.
Sheed for Okafor in a jiffy!
Don’t know if this was already mentioned somewhere else, but Childress really is bolting for Olimpiakos.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3501488