He gone...
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He gone...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/lakers/status/1020108338338512896[/tweet]
Wow.
I'm sure that's a little disappointing, but that's really not a bad deal at all. His game is probably a pretty good fit in Europe, but I doubt he's going to be a superstar in any of the high paying leagues. Might as well start getting paid sooner rather than later. Go make low sixfigures with a lot of perks and hope he can scratch out a ten year career and get seven figures in the bank before has to do something else .
Not surprising; it's hard enough for 2nd round picks to make rosters, let alone UFA's. He bound for overseas from the get go.
Does anybody think if he had listened to Howland from the get go that he would have more of a chance in the NBA? Or if he had came back and spent another year under Self? He seems like a guy that can shoot but peaked in high school.
I think people like to romanticize the euro basketball player's life but it really isn't that easy and this is a daddy's boy from Jackson that we are talking about. He is gonna hate the **** outta living in Croatia or Russia or wherever it is then switching to another country in two years etc.. Newman isn't cut out for a life of travel in Europe. He should have kicked his handler and father to the curb 3 years ago.
I don't think it really would have mattered. His issue is athleticism. He could have helped himself by committing to defense, but then he's still a 6-2 shooting guard that's a little on the unathletic side for the NBA. His best case scenario was probably a 3 pt specialist that plays his hard if not great D, but there are a lot of those players available who are more in the 6-5 to 6-7 range. Or alternatively find a good college coach willing to let him play the point and spend three years in college trying to develop into a pt guard.
Eurobasketball in the better leagues is still pretty good. China pays well too. It's certainly hard for some people to live in a different country, and it looks terrible compared to teh NBA life, but it's a hell of a lot better than coaching high school basketball or being a car salesman or whatever will be the alternative for most of these players. Much better to go make six figures and see the world while you can. The coaching and sales jobs will still be available when you're done and if you're smart you can come back with a good sized nest egg. If not set for life money, at least provide a supplement to a coaching salary that makes it a pretty good life.
Now if you are only good enough to be in the leagues where teams can't even be counted on to pay their players, then yes, that's a different ball game.
If this is the case, and it appears lots here say it is, then I sympathize with Malik. It would be different if Malik himself was the one making the bad decisions. Question though, Did Malik not make it due to lack of defensive effort? Anybody got any specifics on his strengths and weaknesses?
-Below average athleticism at the NBA level
-Doesn't have a clear position - not athletic enough and doesn't handle well enough to play PG, too small for an NBA 2 (the ideal SG in the modern NBA is 6'6" 200-210)
-Mediocre defense
In order of importance in my opinion, although those three factors kind of play into each other. If he was a little bigger OR a plus athlete OR played great defense, he might have been able to stick as a 3 point specialist.
From everything I've seen and read the big issue was that he was a good athlete, but he wasn't elite as he was originally billed to be. There were rumors coming from the mcdonald AA game that he was out of his league there athletically.
To make up for that you have to be an incredible shooter, like a Reddick. He wasn't that either.
so as we saw in the NCAA tourney he had the ability to be a really, really good college player, but his size combined with his athleticism was always going to make it hard for him to make it in the NBA
Did you know that the women league in Europe pays more then WNBA? Not the case for men but I found that interesting. Also many of our women try to get to Europe in the off season to play and what is more crazy the highest paid women in their league are the Women from the WNBA. Just seem ass backwards.
Nick spoon is better player
I heard them talking about on the radio. I found the info here. This is seven years old so the numbers are probably different but the effect is the same. They were talking this a few weeks ago.
https://bizfluent.com/info-8131965-a...ll-player.html