And the Udrih signing starts to look better and better...

Carlos Arroyo heads to Israel, and Anthony Johnson could see significant minutes in Orlando.

4 months ago section214 Comment 22 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Guess this means white chocolate isn't going to Israel

Any takers left in the NBA?

Haha, it would be hilarious if the Hawks signed him. Too bad they need big man help, and already have two point guards on their roster.

Now I can put my pink lace bra and panties back on. - Kfan in Korea

by iashwash on Aug 3, 2008 10:14 PM PDT 0 recs

This is why the NBA needs to go international

They could do something where the teams only compete in the playoffs in brackets, kind of like what the NCAA does. Asia bracket, Euro bracket, Americas bracket, African bracket… I think there’s enough talent in the world to fill every roster, plus the market would be the world.

If the NBA doesn’t do anything about this, we’re going to see a whole lot more of these types of situations, where underpaid role players sign with huge, international contracts and see NBA benches become ever more depleted.

by CloudyEyes on Aug 3, 2008 10:17 PM PDT 0 recs

Question

If you believe that the NBA is in trouble of becoming depleted when “underpaid role players sign huge, international contracts” then how can you also claim that “there’s enough talent in the world to fill every roster”?

These two comments seem to contradict each other, but maybe I’m misreading your point.

Expansion is not usually the answer for improving competition, and the idea you’re proposing (while fantastic in theory) is expansion to the Nth Degree.

by smgmatt on Aug 4, 2008 6:40 AM PDT up 0 recs

I think I was saying that...

NBA quality players will continue to be sent overseas, but there’s enough talent in the world to fill rosters (not NBA talent, but enough to keep the games entertaining). Sure, the quality of benches will decline at first, but I think that doing an expansion around the world would generate so many fans and publicity that international talent levels would sharply raise.

by CloudyEyes on Aug 4, 2008 4:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

Being popular around the globe has worked well for soccer.

Take a look at the number of foreign players in the English Premier League. So much talent comes from outside the country that they’ve been talking about instituting a more strict cap on the limit of foreign players per team.

The question really is, would the type of tournament you speak of really increase the popularity of basketball enough to really see a difference in talent?

by cabz on Aug 4, 2008 4:40 PM PDT up 0 recs

I disagree

I think that, as smgmatt mentioned, it is too much expansion. I know that there is a large contingent of NBA fans who feel that 1 or 2 teams should be contracted so that there are fewer teams with a higher level of talent, leading to more entertaining games.

Never forget: I am a complete idiot

by Exhibit G on Aug 4, 2008 5:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

Bill Simmons had said that upteenth times

And I disagree myself, but that’s me. (I do think the league needs to be more flexible on how often teams move though. Especially since the League in ultimate wise fashion gave up on the 14th largest market—that’s just the immediate Seattle area btw, which doesn’t take into effect that there are 2 NW pro sites to choose from, and now one is vacant.)

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Aug 6, 2008 1:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

Petrie

just keeps getting smarter and smarter.

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Aug 4, 2008 12:19 AM PDT 0 recs

The Udrih deal was a no brainer

The Kings had nothing else even close to count on. They were talking about starting Cisco at point guard. :) The available free agent pickings in our price range were garbage.

Maybe if the draft had gone differently, things would have been different, but it didn’t and we went the big man route.

Once that happened, what the hell are you gonna do but lock up a guy who is already a mid-level point guard and could get to the fringes of the top 10.

by coolcatreportdotcom on Aug 4, 2008 1:14 AM PDT 0 recs

Yep.

by Ziller on Aug 4, 2008 7:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

CC, you kind of agree with this guy, and kind of don't

“Actually I praised Beno in the game thread, although I couldn’t find the post.
I like Beno and I hope we can resign him. My $3.3 million may be a little cheap, but it isn’t that far off. It’s in the ballpark, and I don’t see a lot of opportunities out there where he would walk into the situation a clear starter.

He’s also competing against a pretty decent crop of point guard free agents that starts with Davis and Calderon and at least four college players who could start at point guard in the NBA next season.”

Disclaimer: This post may be a complete and utter waste of your valuable time.
by coolcatreportdotcom on Feb 22, 2008 6:51 AM PST up actions 0 recs

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Aug 4, 2008 7:48 AM PDT up 0 recs

My opinions

do not stand still with time. They change as circumstances change.

If you look hard enough, you’ll figure that out, maybe even in regard to Beno.

Definitely the fact that we did not get one of those “four college players” changed the discussion. Two of the players, Collison and Lawson, opted to go back to school months after the post you cite.

by coolcatreportdotcom on Aug 4, 2008 1:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

If politicians can do it...

... then i guess its only fair.

Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal

by 27freethrows on Aug 4, 2008 9:29 PM PDT up 2 recs

Your motto must be

Never let the facts stand in the way of a good photo op :)

by coolcatreportdotcom on Aug 5, 2008 10:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

Love that picture Twenty-Seven

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Aug 6, 2008 1:24 PM PDT up 0 recs

It'll be interesting

It will certainly be interesting to see what Beno can do. I’m still not convinced that the 5 year deal was worth it, but I’d be happy to be wrong. If nothing else, Beno will have the ball in his hands a lot more with Artest gone. I’m hopeful that we see improvement that warrants the contract.

by Carl on Aug 4, 2008 10:53 AM PDT up 0 recs

Beno

Will at least be solid – maybe more. I thought that 50-60 odds games in a contract drive wasn’t a clear enough sample for a five yr contract – but I also thought the pickings were pretty slim out there.
I think he’ll be competant, occasionally exciting, and hope that now that he’s got his contract he distributes a bit more.
Reggie setting him the goal of 6-7 assists per game was the right move as well.

I hope Beno buys into that.

eternal skeptical optimist

by lietothegirls on Aug 4, 2008 8:42 AM PDT 0 recs

And they get paid in Euros, right?

A relatively weak American economy doesn’t help… I think we all know how much a dollar is worth compared to a Euro right now.

Seems like I saw something about how Stern has a vague plan for adding a handful of teams in Europe within the next five to ten years.

Now, that probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in terms of further diluting the talent pool in the NBA (although European basketball has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years).

It does however probably make economic sense for the league. It’s a huge untapped market of fans with expendable cash in their pockets. Once there are five or six relatively proven strong markets with suitable arenas in Europe you can just about bet the NBA will go there.

"When the going gets Weird, the Weird turn professional."
(Hunter Thompson)

by Mucho Moss on Aug 4, 2008 8:15 PM PDT 0 recs

Next up!

Earl Boykins will learn to speak some Italian this year.

Your Sacramento Kings: Another day, another drama.

by KK on Aug 5, 2008 8:21 PM PDT 0 recs

He remains proof that NBA basketball is not a 2 way street

If Boykins has the opportunity to play over in Europe/Middle East, but not in the NBA, and especially since Boykins was at one time a NBA caliber player, then it might be reasonable to note that the competition is not good enough to make FIBA/NBA a 2 way road.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Aug 6, 2008 1:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

You could be right,

maybe it is (in most cases) a natural decline in talent and lack of contracts available in the NBA to these players. Only time will tell, and it’s hard to gauge what the future will bring (dismissing the Kobe and LeBron comments today as media fear-mongering).

Boykins’ signed for 2.5M (no word on whether those are US dollars or Euros) and no word on whether or not his new team picked up the taxes on his salary or not, Childress’ and Arroyo’s teams are also picking up their taxes (no idea whether or not they pick up their IRS obligations too), so I still see these signings as interesting developments.

Only time will tell, but I think these are interesting times…and I don’t feel like they are the kind that are fun.

The best friend of out of the country sports fans is MyP2p.eu. Go to the forums for daily listing of streams. -Kfan

by KK on Aug 6, 2008 11:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

If you like simple eazy peezy type of stuff

Then no this is not fun. If you like the world that is pretty much like this everywhere, than it’s not very different. To me the Childress signing proves how intractable the Hawks thought they were, but nobody else in that FA group clamored to sign elsewhere. All those other guys were looking to sign deals. Unless Smith signed in the last 3 days, he’s pretty much the exception. And he’s nowhere near what he’s asking for.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Aug 9, 2008 10:21 AM PDT up 0 recs