David Andersen signs with FC Barcelona.

[raleigh]

http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/basquet/temporada07-08/06/n080621104657.html

FC Barcelona’s basketball section has agreed basic terms with centre David Andersen and the ex-CSKA Moscow player will sign for three seasons after having his medical.

CSKA_FCB_3.JPGAndersen is 2.12 m tall and originally from Australia though he holds a Danish passport. He has spent the last four seasons at CSKA Moscow where he won four League titles, two Cups and two Euroleagues. Before his time in Russia he was at Montepaschi Siena for one season and at Virtus in Bologna.

If last Thursday’s big story was Juan Carlos Navarro signing for five seasons, this Saturday it’s the turn of David Andersen, one of the top players in European basketball. Nonetheless, the section’s coaching staff are still looking for more ways to build a competitive team for the 2008-09 season.

[Hawks]

Time to look for another option. I read in an article at HS that said he wanted $5 mil per.

[parson]

If he'd been willing to come in, work hard and gain 20 lbs of muscle, he might have become a poor man's Brad Miller.

On his site (http://www.davidandersen.com.au/forum/v ... c.php?t=49), I found a quote from him saying he wanted enough money from the Hawks that they'd have to play him.

No self-respecting GM could make such a promise.

[evildallas]

One last thing for me to blame on Billy Knight. We've had his rights for years and should have come to the realization that the money was too far apart to get him over here. As such his rights should have been traded last off-season while another team that might have been willing to pay the price to get him into uniform. 3 more years under contract means he will never wear a Hawks uniform. His rights could have at least got us a warm body, maybe some bench help.

This actually saddens me but I understand both sides. If I was successful at the highest levels in Europe I would want a contract that acknowledges that and isn't taking a tremendous pay cut to prove myself here. By the same accord I can understand the Hawks not willing to commit the entire MLE to a player who hasn't played in the NBA given the spotty results lately from European league players. Andersen looked real good in the European Final Four this year and I thought he would add some needed skill sets to the team. He seemed a lot more skilled big man that Zaza ever will be. I was expecting a drab summer for us, but it just got worse. Andersen was my hope for a go to offensive threat for the 2nd unit. Now I suspect we don't add one at all.

The team seems content to skip the draft because it doesn't want to get younger although this is a good year to try and add a talented player cheap to develop. We can't be much of a force in free agency because of our cap situation and we aren't close enough to the top to be attractive to the veteran free agents that Woodson covets. I now have my hopes pinned on a pair of trade targets that probably won't happen and a selective MLE signing that also seems like a long shot.

[tbhawksfan]

I'm not happy about this either. DA would have become at worst our third BIG behind Smoove and Horford, he would have streched the floor and added needed size.

To get nothing for him is sad.

I also think he was our best chance at upgrading the roster without giving up anyone.

Looks like the Hawks weren't willing to pay the MLE for a solid back up PF/C.

[killbuckner]

If he wanted the full MLE then bringing him over probably meant that Childress would be allowed to walk. I don't blame him at all for wanting real money from the Hawks- I don't get why guys should be expected to take a paycut to play in th NBA.

[dms269]

My biggest problem with the international prospects is that they all say they want to come over and play and that their dream is to play in the nba...yet they want insane amounts of money to play. Calderon came over for a reasonable deal, then exploded and got payed. Sarunas got payed 4 mill per year for 3 years and sucked. It is a gamble and these players need to know that. If they want to become nba players they have to take a smaller contract than what they will get overseas because of the huge risk on an unproven player.

[playa_lev]

I am sad about this step, but at the same time I think this indicates that Sund (it's strange that I didn't type BK ) will resign both of the Joshes. Witch will be a strong move for this summer.

I hope that he will look at many opportunities to upgrade this roster, because this roster needs an upgrade. I think an early second round pick would be grate possibility to add a solid bench player, this draft could be very deep, and you can easily buy or trade (future pick) a pick from Portland who will have at least 3 rookies (Oden, Fernandez, #13 pick) not counting the second round picks.

[evildallas]

The thing is reading the comments from Sund and Woodson it doesn't seem like adding a player via this draft even just to upgrade the 9th man affordably is a part of a plan. While it could have been a smoke screen I doubt it. Andersen wouldn't have been a normal rookie given his amount of game experience albeit in Europe.

There is another element possible in this and that is timing. Maybe Atlanta was willing to pay a competitive salary, but wanted to wait until after resigning the Joshes to negotiate. That would have required a big leap of faith from Andersen as well as the major international bucks would have been spent by that time.

[tbhawksfan]

I would've seen him as the second guy off our bench. That makes us deeper and probably would have been a good upgrade over Zaza. Zaza moves to secon BIG off the bench in a contract year. He might learn to accept his role to prove he can have one.

[HMFFL]

David's wanted 5-6 million a year since he was drafted.

If he wanted the full MLE then bringing him over probably meant that Childress would be allowed to walk. I don't blame him at all for wanting real money from the Hawks- I don't get why guys should be expected to take a paycut to play in th NBA.

Technically since he was a second round pick he doesn't deserve the amount of money he wants. He needed to come over and prove himself he wanted a bigger payday waiting for him, but obviously he didn't want to take on that type of test, and he opted to the easy money.

[ATLfan]

Looks like David was never serious about coming over to the NBA and all he was trying to do was get a bigger pay day from some euro team.

[Retrovision]

The year of hating the foreign player.

[HMFFL]

The NBA and so many of the fans seems to think that these players are just waiting to come to the states to play ball. This is just one of those cases that shows you it's not true. With David, we have known he's wanted first round pick (or top pick money), but I just don't think he's ever been comfortable with the move to the states, and that's one of the reasons why he could careless. Along with the money and fame he's already receiving overseas.

Oh well, it's time for us to focus on other euro players and for our scouts to find away to build them into our system.

[mattlanta]

Time to look for another option. I read in an article at HS that said he wanted $5 mil per.

If that was the case, then Diop might be a better option right now.

[D21]

The reality is that lots of players wanted to play in NBA first, before salary view.

But since some Euro teams are talking about contract where taxes are paid by the team, and since a Dollar is only 2/3 of a Euro, it makes too much difference to not be the most important factor, especially in sports where you career can end any year.

The decrease is more than that (taxes paid by the team) in the last two years:


Having a low Dollar is good for US exports, but it also give some Euro teams to be able to offer more to some good players (who show they can play great in Euroleague).

Now, I agree that Andersen could have try.