Freeland staying in Spain?

[Rastapopoulos]

Well, he showed a big improvement between his first Summer League and his second, despite the fact that his Spanish team gave him ZERO minutes. Since then, however, he has emerged as a very solid rotation player who has one of the highest PERs in the ACB (second best Pro League in the world, probably). They like him over there.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Am I the only one who doesn't really care about this guy or Koponen? I saw this thread and didn't care, but was curious what you guys thought. The only time I've seen him play was in Vegas and was NOT impressed. (I could say the same about Batum too though) I could care less if this guy never plays for us. If he was good enough, KP would have already had him over here.

Koponen - No
Freeland - Yes

Freeland has made huge strides in getting better and is apparently all the rage in Europe and KP has said that he is really impressed with Freeland. I hope he at least brings him over to fill the spot of Randolph or Ruffin, and if he proves himself I would love for him to get some PT.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Looking at his numbers and how efficient Joel was this year, combined with all the hype he's generated, I wonder if Freeland would have been a top-10 pick in this years draft.

 

[Ed O]

Am I the only one who doesn't really care about this guy or Koponen? I saw this thread and didn't care, but was curious what you guys thought. The only time I've seen him play was in Vegas and was NOT impressed. (I could say the same about Batum too though) I could care less if this guy never plays for us. If he was good enough, KP would have already had him over here.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am extremely interested in both of these guys... not because I think that they are going to be franchise saviors, but because they are both very young guys who have potential.

Your last sentence does NOT make sense, though. KP can keep these guys in Europe to develop and also to keep them further removed from NBA free agency. Why give a 19 year-old who might never be good enough a guaranteed first round contract? It makes a TON of sense to let the kid cut his chops in Europe--with someone else paying his salary--and then bring him over when he's more ready to contribute.

Ed O.