In this forum, a lot of people repeat a falsehood that in Euroleague teams, young players that are listed on some NBA mock draft somewhere don't get playing time and get benched just because of that.
That's repeated here all the time and always came up in any discussion about Hezonja, now Bender, etc.
Not only is that 100% false and untrue, in actual truth, the exact opposite is true. Players that the NBA has interest in ALWAYS get preferential treatment and MORE playing time than they would otherwise. Because their teams are trying to secure the best possible buyouts for them, and to be able to continue to establish that as a business model in the future, by continuing to have other young players sign with them to be showcased, and for them to get a buyout back.
And to say that Saric would be playing 30 minutes a game in Euroleague, if not for going to the NBA is truly absurd. Players play in Euroleague based on what is best for the team as it relates to winning games. Saric would not play 30 minutes a game on any good Euroleague team, and that is regardless of whether any team ever drafted him. And that is an absolute stone cold fact. You can't name a single good Euroleague team that exists, where he would get 30 minutes of playing time, under any scenario.
It is the NBA that has lottery teams playing young players more minutes than they should be playing, so they can tank, lose games on purpose, and get good draft picks. And the cycle keeps repeating and becomes a huge mess once teams get into that.
That simply does not exist in the Euroleague, where the sole motivation and reason for the teams to be there is to win games, and do whatever is best in order to win games. The NBA is where lesser young players get a special handicap and get to play more, even if they are not good enough to deserve it. That's not the Euroleague, where you get punished for losing, while in the NBA you get rewarded for losing.
It is one thing to just promote certain young European players all the time here, but it's another thing to totally distort reality and truth to fit agendas.
UcanUwill wrote:I just don't understand what people are expecting from a guy who can't even crack Eurocup caliber rotation?
That's totally irrelevant. Eurocup is a higher level than the power NCAA D1 conferences or the D-League. An 18 year old kid is not going to do jack at that level. And these players like Doncic that everyone keeps hyping up here, because at 16 had some good games in Euroleague...if you put him in Eurocup and actually made him play without a star laden team all around him - he would get destroyed immediately at Eurocup level, against even mediocre teams.
The issue is not Eurocup level or cracking a rotation, the issue is he's in the wrong team. He should be in a team where he gets to play, if he really intends to go to the NBA next year and comes off as a top 3-5 pick. Because he's going to be totally unready and the team drafting him will expect him to play immediately and to perform. Add that pressure to the fact that everyone in USA treats European players with a double standard, and it could become a bad situation for him, as thinly veiled xenophobic "Euro bust" labels will come extremely fast and hard from everywhere. Nikola Vujcic is doing him no favors right now.