Thursday, December 11, 2008

NBA Prospects in Europe

Two of the most hyped point guards in the world went head-to-head in the Euroleague on Thursday. Ricky Rubio, the young PG who was the sixth man for Spain in the Olympics this summer, went head-to-head against Brandon Jennings, the first prominent high schooler to go straight to Europe (and supposedly ranked as the #1 high school prospect).

The game was not televised in the United States, but I will formulate a story based on a number of sources:

1) Rubio had been injured, so he only played 8 minutes. So, this hyped matchup was not exactly what it was supposed to be (extensive court time for both).

2) Jennings' coach sounds crazy and ended up resigning earlier in the week! The ESPN article I cited states that the coach would change his starting lineup every half of every game and that sometimes, he wouldn't even play Brandon Jennings. Basically, it sounds like he should write a book on how to get fired.

3) Brandon Jennings actually is playing SG over there while Rubio is playing PG. Jennings got 23 minutes of playing time, 12 points, and two assists. Rubio was held scoreless but did get 3 assists and his team won.

The most educational thing about all this? That in Europe, "According to NBA scouts, 3 assists in Europe are the equivalent of roughly 5.5 in the NBA because a European assist requires no dribbling by the scorer, whereas NBA players are allowed as many as two dribbles."

It sounds to me that while there is a conversion rate between Euros and dollars, the same is true for Euro assists and American assists! Who knew?!?

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