Spanoulis considers return to Greece, and I can't blame him

LONDON (The Friday Eurovision) - There is nothing more disappointing for me in basketball than to watch a great talent from Europe waste away on an NBA bench.

That was the case with European champion and FIBA World Championship silver medalist Vassilis Spanoulis this season with the Houston Rockets and it has to be one of, if not the main reasons why the shooting guard is considering a return to Europe.

Sources close to the 24-year-old have told me that Spanoulis wants to be in Athens again for personal and family reasons.

He's now back in the Greek capital and had only good things to say about the Rockets in his blog that was published on the popular Greek website, www.sport24.gr .

“This year was a great experience for me,” he wrote. “I keep only the positive things. The team supported me the whole year and people in Houston loved me and that was very important for me.”

Those kind words aside, we all know that if Spanoulis was given a decent chance in the NBA, he'd be staying. What must have been going through his mind after his former club Panathinaikos beat CSKA Moscow in front of more than 18,000 fans at OAKA earlier this month in his home city?

"I was just too happy watching it," Spanoulis said, "because I know these guys and a lot of my good friends and team-mates in the national team won this trophy! So that made me just happy for them!"

If there's one thing I've gathered from the Greek players, and the Greek basketball fans since moving to Europe over a decade ago it's this.

When things are going right as they are right now in Greek hoops, nothing could give a player more satisfaction.

Players often talk about finding the right situation in the NBA, and in Europe.

Jorge Garbajosa found the perfect situation in Toronto, as did top draft pick Andrea Bargnani of Italy and former Euroleague MVP Anthony Parker of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Maurizio Gherardini is the assistant general manager and vice president of Toronto, and his boss, Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo, built a team and understood how they wanted the season to play out. Most importantlyl, they are willing to give players a chance.

Garbajosa, Bargnani and Parker had fantastic seasons as Toronto won the Atlantic Division.

One would think that had Spanoulis played for Toronto, for example, maybe he could have worked his way into the rotation. Would he have been a good fit? Maybe, maybe not. But I think he would have at least gotten more of a chance.

Houston did not obtain the rights of Spanoulis from Dallas, the team that drafted him in 2004, and then sign him last summer without the intention of playing him.

Could Spanoulis be a similar to Jose Manuel Calderon of Spain, who like Spanoulis didn't do very much in his first year in Toronto but this past season excelled with the Raptors? In other words, if Spanoulis were to go back to Houston next season, with this year of sitting on the bench behind him, would he play more?

My source told me that three teams in Spain’s ACB, one in Russia and a second club in Greece are prepared to offer Spanoulis a deal.

If he goes back to Panathinaikos, which is a strong possibility, the Greek giants are going to have a very, very difficult decision to make.

The arrivals of Spanoulis, and another Panathinaikos target in Nikos Zisis of Benetton Treviso, would create a logjam in the backcourt. Dimtris Diamantidis, Milos Vujanic and Sani Becirovic are important players in the team. Tony Delk returned to America after the Greens’ Euroleague win over CSKA Moscow earlier this month.

Somebody will have to go, and it won't be Diamantidis. I can't imagine Vujanic, a favourite of Obradovic, leaving either. Becirovic has been great, too.

Switching gears, two other Greeks are being monitored closely in NBA circles - CSKA Moscow’s Euroleague MVP, Theo Papaloukas, and Pana’s Final Four MVP, Diamantidis.

Diamantidis, the best defensive player in Europe for the past two years, has no interest in playing in the NBA but Papaloukas is drawing interest from the Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons, as well as the Atlanta Hawks.

I've had many opportunities the past couple of years to speak with Papaloukas. An NBA club that wants to sign Papaloukas must clear two hurdles.

It must convince him they not only have ambition, but a clear plan to achieve success, and they must pay him at least the same amount of money he earns at CSKA. Here is my advice to any NBA club - PAY HIM! He'll be a great fit.

Another Greek who has already been drafted, 6ft 9in man mountain Sofoklis Schortsianitis of Olympiacos, has had a difficult year under new coach Pini Gershon and that could make the Los Angeles Clippers think twice before offering him a contract.

The 34th pick overall in the 2003 draft excelled last year in Europe and was a stand-out performer in the Greek national side at the FIBA World Championship. Seeing his career start to head south after a great tournament in Japan, that bums me out, too.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA