Yeah, these situations are happening more and more. It's insane for Oly to offer so much money to an unproven player like Childress. It's almost the same they offered to Anthony Parker. I wouldn't rule out that this is just his agent doing his job. Similar cases had happened in the past. Just scaring Atlanta a little bit.
Another similar case they don't mention is Pekovic - he wouldn't have joined the NBA even if he was the 1st pick of the draft, so Minny lucked into him with the #31. I believe early second rounds pick will become more and more valuable in the next years because of the international players, unless the rookie scale is changed.
unproven? Childress is a fine basketball player that has shown he can compete at the NBA level. He also has played over 30 minutes a game for his career averaging over 11 points and over 5.5 boards a game. Yeah he isn't great, but he is worth every penny of the MLE which would push him over 6 million a year if he signed in the states. Given the team is in Greece I think it is a perfectly reasonable offer, especially considering his age and skill.
Yeah, the way I used "unproven" was not very clear, my bad. I meant unproven in European basketball. Sure it's the same game, and although the differences are often overstressed, they are there. A player can be very good in the NBA with a game that doesn't translate so well to the Euroball. See how some excellent players of the USA Team underperformed in the past in FIBA tournaments. Works both ways: Papaloukas is generally considered by NBA GMs the best player outside the NBA, he destroyed team USA with the pick'n'roll, yet I think they are wise in not offering him a big NBA contract. I have doubts he'd be a effective player in the NBA, except if he'd found a very appropriate environment. For example, Pietrus (Orland) is making more money than Anthony Parker (Toronto) in the NBA. But I doubt that an European team would pay Pietrus a quarter of his current salary. Or a tenth. On the other hand, Anthony Parker could almost double his salary playing in Europe. Some European teams would prefer Parker to Manú, who has also proved to be an excellent player in Europe, and plays a "FIBA style". Any chance of a NBA team thinking the same way?
So, this to say that, first of all, one has to be very carefull assessing how the game and skills of a particular player translates to each different style. The fact that a player can compete at a higher level like the NBA doesn't mean he can be more effective in European basketbal than a NBA "scrub". And vice-versa. With that being said, I believe that Childress can be a good player in Europe. Then, in European basketball individual players can't be so influential like they can in the NBA. Even LeBron wouldn't take over games in Europe like he does in the NBA, because teams have better chances of stoping players like him. This is an extremly high salary for European standards. If you're getting paid like this, you must deliver wins. And the way to deliver wins is different. Finally, there's always an adaptation period. Some American players, even those with NBA experience, take months before start producing in Europe (the same way that Scola was a 5/2 player in the beggining of the season and a 15/10 during the playoffs). They are not used to the way travels are called, to deal with the defensive zones and no defensive 3 seconds, the handchecking, the motion offenses. Perimeter players usually have a hard time, they're not so protected like they are in the NBA. If Childress signs (something I don't really believe), he'd have to overcome this. And then he'd probably leave in the end of the season. To pay this ammount of money for a player who'll only play a few months at the highest level, for a rental, is insane, IMO. Even if Childress quickly becomes a top player (and I believe he would - I believe, but I can't be sure, and I can't figure out how can Oly management be). If he signs for them and after a few weeks starts playing like, say, Siskauskas, and they proceed to win it all, then maybe he was worthy the contract. But there's a very high risk in assuming this.
Topic: Childress Might Shun the NBA to play in Europe(Article) (Read 7979 times)