With that said, I truly believe he jumped to Europe too soon. He has been in the NBA mix for about 5 months, and he would have been entering this season at the top of the call up list. The Euroleague is great, but it does not compare to the NBA, and Oliver is a NBA player. I understand the lure of the money being offered, but I hate to see him give up on the NBA so soon. Unfortunately, his NBA prospects are gone for this year, because once you are out of sight in Europe, you are out of mind.
I am sure we all are very happy for Oliver and wish him the very best. He is always welcome here back with the Mad Ants, and we will be rooting for Partizan this season!
welcome Oliver Lafayette the N1 club with bes fans PARTIZAN BELGRADE SAMO PARTIZAN I MAJKA SRBIJA
ReplyDeleteOR he could play for a legitimate team in Europe, get payed 10x more AND be scouted more by NBA scouts than he could in the D-League rather than play for a ridiculous team called the "Mad Ants"
ReplyDeleteFinally!!! Partizan got excellent player, and still looking for position 4 player. When they complete their roster, I am sure that they will have good team for this season in euroleague.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.worldofbasketball.org
Anonymous number two -- you have it right on the legit team and the pay, but not the scouting. He would get seen far more by NBA teams here than there. As for team name, you wish you could be a part team with as clever a name as the Mad Ants!
ReplyDeleteDo you worry about Oliver, No European team or NbaD team has given as much players in the NBA as Partizan did and they have always been the trademark of the country which was multiple European and World basketball champion.Thanks for Oliver and and good luck to you further competition
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you guys too! Trust me, I am now a huge Partizan fan!
ReplyDeletePartizan has a player by the name of Jan Vesely who will be scouted by every NBA decision marker this year. How many of those guys will watch a D-League game live? 5? 10? I am not talking about scouts, but actual decision makers. Seems Oliver is smarter than you are giving him credit for...
ReplyDeleteJeff is right in the sense that going to Europe will hurt Oliver's chances in many senses of NBA action, particularly this year.
ReplyDeleteYou really can't do a 10-day with a guy playing internationally. That said, for a kid like him, who had a circuitous route to get to where he is today, you can't blame him for taking money. Nothing has ever been sure for him, he's always been an underdog. The opportunity to guarantee himself some wealth (that may be half or more of the NBA minimum) was probably too great to pass up.
Yea, he'll be scouted over there... by international NBA scouts, not the personnel staff in the U.S. If he plays well he might be able to get himself a partially or fully guaranteed offer in the NBA next year, but he's basically putting the NBA thing on hold.
A lot of times this works for players and Europe proves more lucrative (look at guys like Mike Batiste or J.R. Holden). Sometimes this approach isn't always the best - no league in the world has the upside to make a ton of money as the NBA does. With the NBA, the right opportunity can eventually lead to a free agent contract that is multiple times what guys like Bastiste and Holden are making. Or it just leads to another opportunity (playing time) that lands such a contract.
It's not clear what the right decision are in these instances - it comes down to the personal decision of the player. How long he is willing to play for very little money (when he may have nothing) in order to pursue an NBA career vs. taking deals that may be less than an NBA minimum contract, but still nonetheless lucrative.
For a lot of guys, once you are a pro, it's about earning as much as you can over your career (playing days are short), and from a risk-reward standpoint, just going to Europe and building a career. In the States, success is binary - either you are or you aren't - there is no between. So it often the value of being able to achieve a dream that keeps one chasing the NBA, not necessarily money.