Josh Childress started for an NBA team. Von Wafer played significant minutes on an NBA playoff team. Linas Kleiza once scored 41 points in an NBA regular season game (this ain't no summer league, man!) And they're all members of Olympiakos B.C. Now since Childress decided to taste the awesome flavor of Dolmades, there has been no great exodus. However, that's now three NBA-quality players that aren't even the huge stars on OBC. Which begs a question. We know the NBA elite boast teams that could defeat them pretty handily, but how would Olympiakos do against the low of the NBA?
You've got to figure that the Clippers would be able to take them down, what with Baron Davis working over Papaloukas and the bigs overwhelming the rest of the Greeks. The Kings might be a closer match, but Tyreke Evans might end up going to the line so much the entire team fouls out.
But what about the Grizzlies? Papaloukas is an upgrade over Mike Conley. O.J. Mayo is going to get his, but you can sick Kleiza on either him or Gay and that's a big body muscling them up, which they don't like. Childress brings big long defenders to pressure the Grizzlies in and out, and Von Wafer is a superior player to anyone the Grizzlies have on the bench.
Here's a scary thought. The line between the Grizzlies and being sacked like Troy may be Zach Randolph. And that, in and of itself, seems like some sort of perverted joke.
Okay, okay, fun's over. In actuality, Marc Gasol goes crazy and eats everyone, Grizzlies win by a dozen. But still! It could happen!
This is probably what the longterm result of Europe will be, though. As opposed to a place strictly for fringe and castoffs, it may become the development ground for RFAs that can't quite get the big payday. And in the meantime, Europe benefits from a slight influx of talent while the elite of the elite still play stateside.
But in the last few years, we've lost Juan Carlos Navarro, Jannero Pargo, Von Wafer, Linas Kleiza, Josh Childress, and Shawn Kemp. Okay, that last one was a joke. But still!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-11-2009 @ 2:51AM
Giles said...
I think you are seeing, appropriately enough, in events like the Olympics, that even when the US sends the best all pro teams it can muster, it isn`t automatically winning the gold anymore. And in the all star game, guys are or have been from the Virgin Islands, which can`t vote in US elections, how democratic is that?, but isn`t free and independent either, Germany, Canada, China, France, Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria, etc. And the dregs of the nba regularly "make their season" by beating the champs in a single game. Basketball has become an international game, maybe baseball and football will follow. But basketball could hold a REAL World Series, and already does. America and one city in Canada may be all the world which matters to some, but it isn`t nearly all the real world.
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8-11-2009 @ 11:49AM
GL said...
i think baseball already is kind of an international game, altho basketball has more universal appeal.
the way they've gloablized is different though. i don't think the Major League stars are very well-known anywhere else, but the biggest NBA stars are even more popular overseas than they are here.
As a game, baseball made the leap abroad first, but as leagues, the NBA has it all over the MLB in that department.
BTW, my name is Giles too. That's crazy to me.
8-11-2009 @ 5:09PM
Giles said...
This relates to Greece a bit, though not basketball. Giles is an old family last name. As you probably know, it means Bearer of AeGis, the Shield and/or BreastPlate Zeus shared with his wife/daughter, Metis/Athena, and two of his sons, Hermes and Perseus. Hercules (he appears to have been the Greek Thor, using a bronze color mace which may have been a hammer/aze, since it cut off the heads of Hydra, which appears to have been the MidGard Serpentess which Thor killed, and was killed by, as Hercules killed and was killed by the pythoness/witch Hydra) served the family of Perseus, who name links to Iran/Persia, so the heritage involved isn`t purely Greek. I think Alexander is a more common name, linked to the name Giles. The oldest known story is that of Gilgamesh, which I think translates as the tragedy of Giles. I think it is the part of the story of Alexander the Great left out when it was updated for Alexander III of Macedonia. I think Mt. Everest/Oopalanga Feng was Mount Olympus, and the 3 or more thousand BC, Giles ruled from north of Olympus, TiBet, west thru Turkey, south, and east thru India, south of Olympus. Alexander (who was born a male Paris in the Trojan update) means Defender of Man/Defense Man, and LeGis, linked to Aegis, means the law, the written shield of God`s Holy Word provided to defend Man (in the estimation of believers). God being Zeus to the Greeks, Ziu in Mesopatamia, Dyaus in India,Jeu in Roman, Teu among the Teutons (though his half brother Thor shared the Storm God traits while he was demoted to a war god), Tu in Polynesia, etc. Very ancient, very wide spread name, but not very common anymore. William and/or James may be a common update variant of the name Giles. Obviously, police still use bullet resistant vests, but otherwise, shields and breastplates aren`t very common any more. Not much protection against hackers, or H-bombs. Have a nice day, Giles! () :-)
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8-12-2009 @ 12:00PM
Mike Schmitz said...
I wonder how Wafer is going to do overseas. He is a kind of a head case and the last head case that went overseas (Brandon Jennings) didn't fare too well. I heard a Suns Rumor that the Phoenix Suns were talking to Von Wafer, but obviously that never surfaced. I would love to see him in a Suns uniform running the break, spotting up for threes and finishing with highlight dunks.
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