UcanUwill wrote:If you speak about Spanoulis, I backed you many times that Spanoulis could have made it, I just call you out when you ignore every other evidence that he isnt some kind of NBA level star, which he wasn't, he lacked NBA level bounce, shotmaking ability SGA or ANT showed, natural tools and everything of the sort, he had talent to be rotation player, but not a personality or play style. Dude commanded half court offense inteligently on the inferior level and thats who he was.
And the only difference here, is that Grigonis is proven at Euroleague and FIBA level, so what are you even talking about? I am not claiming he COULD be good, he WAS good. He was star on Zalgiris and was Star and stacked Lithuanian teams, our top 3 players in few tournaments now have been clear as day /Jonas, Domantas and Grigonis, Grigonis often being even the best out of the 3. But you still come to me and say he is not that good, based on your sample, when entire picture clearly states the opposite.
I hate to break it to you, but Spanoulis had a recorded 40 inch vertical. How is that not enough bounce? At some point he did stop trying to dunk the ball, because his trainers told him it would extend his career, because he was having ankle and knee injuries from landing in the wrong way. But I remember even when he was like mid 30s or something he had a put back dunk on Real, where he was like a foot above the rim. If you had ever seen him play when he was younger, before the trainers told him to stop dunking for injury reasons, I am thinking like age 25 and below, something like that, he had some huge dunks. At one of those youth tournaments, he was dunking all over 7 foot guys in the lane. He had an actually extremely impressive vertical, even for the NBA.
Even as an old player, way past 30, he could hang in the air and still get his shot off, and his elevation on his jump shot was the best in Europe. He had the by far, and I mean not even close was the next player, highest elevation on his jump shot of any player in Europe. Even at like 35 he had the highest elevation on his jumper in Europe. I mean come on. If you are going to rate players based on scouting their physical traits, you at least have to be right about it. Spanoulis was a very explosive athlete and you sound like you never saw him play once in your life.
Sure, some great or very good EuroLeague point guards that went to the NBA were not very athletic, like Jasikevicius, Teodosic, or Huertas, guys like that. But Spanoulis was extremely athletic. Blowing by Team USA guards and wings left and right, not one of them could stay in front of him on defense. He would just blow past them like child's play. And he was incredibly quick and fast with the ball, could go half the court in a couple seconds or less. He also had a tremendous motor, stamina, and endurance. Probably the most of any player in Europe in all three categories. I remember Carrol saying Spanoulis was the most conditioned athlete he ever saw in Europe. And I forget which center it was, it might have been Batiste (not sure), but they said he was stronger than the centers on the team were and out lifted everyone in the weight room. If anything, Spanoulis was 10 times more suited for the NBA from an athletic side, than he was for the EuroLeague.
And what in the world do you mean by he lacked shot making ability and personality? Every year they did that survey in Europe the coaches said he was the best shooter in Europe (Navarro always came in second) and they always said he had the biggest personality in Europe (Diamantidis usually came in second).
And I wasn't even talking about Spanoulis specifically, just in general terms. I am saying that, not you specifically and/or specifically on the case of Spanoulis, but there are players that go from EuroLeague and deal with this same thing, and pretty much across the board are labeled as unable to play in the NBA. Even when many far, I mean FAR WORSE players from EuroLeague become starters in the NBA.
But seriously though, you are completely and totally incapable of being able to properly judge anyone's athleticism if you think Spanoulis wasn't athletic. The NBA scouting reports from the youth tournaments and rookie camps said he was an absolute freak level athlete. If Spanoulis wasn't athletic, then someone like say Chris Paul for example, would be the worst athlete to ever touch a basketball, by comparison.
