Did OKC mismanage the former Euroleague MVP?

[DCasey91]

The real question is, did other teams mess up by not trading for Micic considering how cheap he was?

23mil over 3 years isn’t cheap for a backup PG that’s 30 with no NBA exp. If you weigh up the pros and cons it’s basically a wash.

[EmpireFalls]

Opportunity, scheme, and fit is almost everything in this league, and I constantly have to remind myself of this.

[BHF]

Probably not, a lot of these euro MVPs aren't really playable in the NBA; Juan Carlos Narvarro, Vassilis Spanoulis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Nando de Colo

Not one of these guys you mentioned have their last name end with ic Players from former Yugo are just on a different level. If Ibrahimovic picked up a basketball he would have been a NBA superstar.

[KGtabake]

Probably not, a lot of these euro MVPs aren't really playable in the NBA; Juan Carlos Narvarro, Vassilis Spanoulis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Nando de Colo

Not one of these guys you mentioned have their last name end with ic Players from former Yugo are just on a different level. If Ibrahimovic picked up a basketball he would have been a NBA superstar.

To be fair. Jasikevicius was a genius.
I believe he would have been perfect in today's NBA.

[oldtimer28]

Watching the games, Micic adjusted better to the nba as the season progressed. He always looked good to me. Challenge is he is ball dominant but OKC now plays through SGA, Williams, and occasionally Giddey.

Micic on the current Spurs might make the play in. He seems that good a floor general and his pick and roll with VW would be tough to stop.

[DrModesty]

Micic started the year off entirely out of the rotation. Then he started getting sporadic minutes where he wasn't hitting any shots at all (sub 30% FG) but the playmaking talent was immediately obvious. After that he started getting a somewhat consistent 12 mpg and his percentages went up a bit. Still not efficient, but better.

The Hornets should suit him far better than the Thunder did, but as far as the scoring and shooting, well it is tbd. However the playmaking is super legit.

[Bologna Smasher]

The quick emergence of Cason Wallace kind of buried Micic on the depth chart from the get go. I was actually expecting something like this to happen with him if he got traded. Hornets are the perfect place for him to really show what he can do on NBA level.

[Nuntius]

Nobody was saying that about Luka Doncic tho, he literally would have been the #1 pick had Sarver didn't prefer the guy from his alma mater so saying people argued against drafting him because he is European is nonsense.

But people WERE saying that about Luka Doncic before the draft. Let's not try and rewrite history here. This is the kind of stuff that we heard before the draft:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Ayton was the consensus #1 pick during that draft process. He was the one that most people expected to go number #1. Let's not pretend that this only happened because "he was from Sarver's alma mater". Ayton was the pick that most people expected at #1.

And, yes, Luka playing in the EuroLeague, a league that nobody in the American media respects, absolutely played a role in him being underestimated during the drafting process. This is just a fact. And the American media did learn from that, by the way. It is why Wemby was treated a lot different than Luka was.

How was I wrong, did those guys have successful stints in the NBA under different aliases or something?

2 of the 4 players you called EuroLeague MVPs were not EuroLeague MVPs prior to their NBA stint. So, yeah, that's getting half of your sample size wrong.

You guys have an insane persecution complex and just running with your favorite narrative even tho its not what I said at all.

The post you are quoting was 28th post of this thread. Here's post #26, literally two posts before mine:

no and Euroleague is a joke and the awards winners are not actually indicative of anything.

Tell me about this persecution complex again

Look, man, I get it. Mirotic12 has said a lot of crap on this board and has inflamed you all. I understand that. But let's not pretend that there isn't a vitriolic sentiment by a number of GB posters against the EuroLeague. It's a similar sentiment with the one that people have every time the WNBA is mentioned. Some GB posters just react strongly to any mention of a non-NBA professional league. There's no point denying it.

You don't think there is a different type of athleticism especially at the guard position needed in the NBA? Mayyyyybeee that's why these 6'3" unathletic short armed guys tend to struggle, IDK that's speculation you tell me.

Absolutely. Just like there is a major difference between the type of athleticism that NCAA ball requires. What's your point here? It doesn't change the fact that every player should be judged individually, based on their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Want me to get more detailed on each of these players? Fine.

Navarro didn't really flame out. He played a single season in the NBA, had pretty good numbers for a rookie, made the All-Rookie Second Team and the Grizzlies extended him a qualifying offer to keep him. He just rejected it and went back to Barcelona. One thing that people have to understand about Navarro is that he freaking lives and breathes for Barcelona. Other than this one year he spent with the Grizzlies, he has spent his whole life in Barcelona. He never played with any other team. What was the first thing he did after he retired? He started working in Barcelona's front office. That guy's love and loyalty to his team cannot really be questioned. He annoyed me to death every time my NT faced Spain but neither I nor anyone else can deny his love for his club and his city.

Sarunas did flame out. Based on what my fellow Pacer fans who watched him when he was over (I started following the league after the 2011 lockout) it was primarily due to his lack of athleticism, especially on the defensive end. It was also a much different NBA back in 2005-2006. The game was slower, the 3-point shot wasn't as prominent as it is now, teams were allowed to be more physical on the perimeter than they are now. I am fairly certain that if Sarunas (or someone like Sarunas) was to come over now, he'd be a lot more successful. That's why I think that Micic will do better now. The current NBA's focus on team play, passing and 3-point shooting is much more suitable for pass-first PGs with a good 3-point stroke like Micic and Jasikevicius than the iso-ball era of the mid-00s was.

As for Spanoulis and De Colo, their stint to the NBA predated their great years in the EuroLeague.

Nando De Colo came over to the NBA when he was 25 years old. He played for the Spurs, a contending team with a lot of depth. He was a 25 year old rookie playing behind Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and a veteran Stephen Jackson. So, yeah, he was never really able to carve out a role for himself. He got traded to the Raptors in the trade deadline of his sophomore year and then decided to return to Europe after he received a contract offer by CSKA Moscow. That proved to be the right move for his career, as he was finally able to have the ball in his hands in CSKA and showcase his offensive talent. At the NBA level he never really got the chance to have the ball in his hands a lot and that's fully understandable given how stacked the Spurs team he played for was. Oh and just to showcase how deep this Spurs team was. That team's 14th player was a 24 year-old Patty Mills. Its 15th player? A rookie Aron Baynes. Both of them elected to remain in the NBA and ended up carving long careers for themselves as dependable rotation players. De Colo could have carved out a similar career for himself as well if he remained in the NBA but he preferred to return to Europe and became a star over here after his NBA stint. All 3 of them managed to make a lot of money playing basketball so I'd say that all 3 of them had successful careers.

Now, Spanoulis. He is the one that played the least games and least minutes out of those 4 players. He clashed with his coach in Houston, Jeff van Gundy, and couldn't adapt to an off-ball role. The Rockets team that he played for was led by Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and, naturally, this meant that the 24 year old rookie wouldn't really have the ball in his hands. And that was simply never the player that Spanoulis was. Spanoulis always needed to have the ball in his hands to thrive and that wasn't really going to happen in Houston. So, he returned to Greece in 2007 and 6 years after that, in 2013, he won the EuroLeague MVP. That last part is pretty important, by the way, and it's why I said that you were wrong earlier. The fact is that the Spanoulis of 2012-2013 that won the EuroLeague MVP was a much, much better player than the Spanoulis of 2006-2007 who fought with his coach and couldn't adapt to the NBA.

So, as you can see, there can be a number of reasons why some players worked out whereas others didn't.

Navarro played well in the NBA but didn't like living in the States, he wanted to return to his beloved Barcelona (who can blame him, right?).

Sarunas Jasikevicius lacked the athleticism to play in the mid-00s iso-ball era of the NBA but would probably be fine in this current era.

Nando De Colo was in the NBA at early stages of his career and never really got the opportunity to establish himself in what was an extremely stacked team that went on to make the NBA Finals.

Spanoulis clashed with his coach and couldn't adapt to an off-ball role.

This simply isn't a one-size-fits-all issue. We always have to actually apply our critical thinking skills to analyze why something happened. Throwing out a silly stereotype isn't really an answer. It's just lazy and a horrible way of judging talent.

[Nuntius]

FWIW the Thunder will need to keep making more difficult decisions as they still have a ton of draft picks and not nearly enough rotation spots or minutes.

Yep. It's definitely a good problem to have an and an intriguing situation to have happen but OKC has so many assets that they cannot possibly make good use of all of them.

[durden_tyler]

Scrubs will be scrubs but this is his best chance to pad up those stats and see if he really can play long-term in the NBA.

[Sixers in 4]

They didnt mismanage anything. His play didn't warrant more minutes the playmaking was there but the shooting was atrocious.

I am sure OKC fans wish him the best but he was given opportunities what he wasn't given was a guaranteed role and minutes because quite frankly it wouldn't have been fair to the younger players who were playing better behind him. He'll get that with Charlotte because they don't have nearly as deep roster.

Will that work out for him? Who knows but 1 game won't tell us much.

[slick_watts]

the thunder had rotation quandaries the first couple of months before stumbling on micic/jdub reserve units that started the 2nd and 4th quarters. micic was an excellent secondary handler on resets and an elite pnr playmaker. he couldn't score on his own in pnr but he was finding open shooters and dunkers with regularity. the micic-jdub reserve units were +16pp100 for the thunder, and those units gained a reputation for building leads or closing gaps to start 2nd and 4th quarters. he was more important to those groups than his numbers would indicate. giddey/jdub and jdub solo both did not work nearly as well.

[LuDux1]

Did ZGK mismanage the former Turkish MVP?

They bench him in favor of Canadian with questionable hairdo and then he becomes top player in AEI

[PlatinumState]

Looking forward to see what he can do in the last 30 games of the season. Id imagine 15/7/4 isnt out of the question

[Pokuokic]

Nah Micic is the one that mismanaged the whole thing by agreeing to come over to play for the Thunder instead of asking them to move his draft rights to a team that needed his skills. He just pissed away more than half a season for nothing instead of asking to go to a team that needed a primary/secondary ball handler (e.g Hornets/Philly/Miami). This mistake is on him and his manager OKC already had SGA/JDub who are beasts to handle the ball and try develop that scrub Giddy as well not to mention the emergency of Cason Wallace who looks great as well.

[LuDux1]

Micic - president of basketball operations killer

[_jin]

No they didnt mismanage the situation. I'm a big Micic fan as I support all the euro players in the NBA but they made the right choices.

They're fighting for the 1st seed in the West and that's the most important thing for them.
Also Cason Wallace came much more NBA ready than they expected and quickly contributed. At this point you can't blame them for investing in a promising 20yo over a 30yo vet when they have a very young squad they can develop for the long term.
And Micic didnt shoot the ball well. He needs to have the ball in his hand and run the offense, he's not a spot up shooter that can stand in the corner but OKC has several guys who handle the ball.

Ironically, the 2 former Euroleague MVPs that came in last summer would have been better off switching teams.

[bbms]

i don't know what happened exactly but i disagree with okc on micic's evaluation

underutilized on the first few months of the season, underappreciated on the few months before the trade

i think it also tells there's a preferrence towards team building, willing to go for a more pacient and maybe passive team development route.

[timO]

Opportunity, scheme, and fit is almost everything in this league, and I constantly have to remind myself of this.

maledon was a good fit for tanking

as micic now

[timO]

Today, as basketball players, Micic>>>>Giddey. Ppl get in love with their high picks/youngsters and sometimes miss the obvious.

micic was shooting sub 40%TS for a long period, he makeup his stats in okc in last 10/15 games for a still atrocius 49.8TS%

Giddey is shooting badly and is 51.8 now

so micic is even worst than giddey at shooting, giddey do some isos and passes are better and he rebounds very well

josh 33% from 3, micic 24.4% wtf

and is 9 years older