SomeBunghole wrote:Okay, so Vezenkov isn't a star. Who was the star on that team then? Who did offense revolve around and how come that guy didn't come to the NBA instead of Vezenkov then?
Are we talking Walkup here? Papanikolaou?
There is no "star" on the current Olympiacos team, as in what a "star" is in NBA terms. They are all role players. In the history of Olympiacos, they only had a few players that would be "stars" in how the NBA views it.
Zarko Paspalj in the '80s, Walter Berry, Roy Tarpley, and David Rivers in the '90s, and Vassilis Spanoulis in the '10s.
With that being said, even then Walter Berry was a second option (behind Paspalj) for one season, and a role player after that, and Roy Tarpley was also a second option (behind Paspalj).
Paspalj and Spanoulis are the only two that were really "stars" for any consistent length of time, and Spanoulis would be the only one player in the team's history that would be in the NBA style of the offense being built around them. There's only been one Olympiacos player ever (Spanoulis), that had an offense featuring him, with help role player specialists around him, like you might see in the NBA.
The other players in the team's history are all role players, in the way the NBA has always defined a role player.
sunsbg wrote:The guy has bias against Vezenkov based on past comments as well. Probably a Panathinaikos fan who hates the rival Oly is my guess. Vezenkov had the stats and wins last few years, the criteria in any league, to be called star of the league. Debating this is laughable and clearly shows an agenda. Yes, EL is inferior league talent-wise. It's true Vezenkov's skillset and mindset is more of a role player though when tasked to lead Bulgarian team in EU Cup that included NBA stars, he was up there in the stat leaders.
NBA is just a different league. FIBA stars coming over at late 20s even need to unlearn things and become more selfish to be successful. Then being below average athletically doesn't help with getting used to the pace of the league. On the other side, a lot of NBA stars don't look as shiney in FIBA tournaments under different rules either.
I've been a Vezenkov fan for years. I've never once unfairly criticized him. In fact you can look through the threads about him before he came to the NBA, and I was one of the most positive people on him in the whole forum. I most certainly do not have any bias against him at all. Absolutely not, and absolutely not based on "past comments". Very few people in these forums have been as positive on him as a player as me.
But he was always a role player in Europe. That's just a fact. His whole career he was a guy that stood behind the 3 point line and waited for a pass, then he just shot the ball. He's always been a role player. It's not even debatable. That doesn't take away anything from him as a player. As his game is just designed to be a role player, and he's a great shooter with unlimited range and good size.
