The Ones That Got Away: European Edition

Since the season is over we now have so much free time to dissect and discuss what the Front Office has done right/wrong in the past few years. The Spurs have been one of the more "Euro" centric franchises in the past decade. Overall they have drafted 10 international players since 2001. But how many of those players have actually made it over to the NBA? Well that's what I'm here to tell you.

2001 Draft:
28th pick - Tony Parker
56th pick - Robertas Javtokas aka The Beast aka Shark Man aka Savior of the World

Robertas Javtokas

What a sexy beast

With the third to last pick in the draft the Spurs selected Javtokas. They actually acquired that pick from the Lakers. The players selected around Javtokas were Maurice Jeffers and Alvin Jones. I would tell you the order of those picks but it doesn't matter. Less than a year after being selected in the draft Robertas had a horrible motorcycle accident. They say doctors were skeptical that he'd ever play basketball again. Thanks to money from the Spurs organization he had the best recovery money could buy. It took him two years to come back and once he did he wasn't as athletic and spry as he had been before the crash. How athletic was he before the crash? Oh well he could dunk on a 12 ft basket (one that was actually 12 ft Dwight Howard). No biggie. He's been doing fairly well in Europe but hasn't really broken out and impressed enough to warrant the Spurs (or anyone else) bringing him over to the NBA. If you watched the Olympics last year you may have noticed him playing for his home country of Lithuania. He played pretty well against Dwight Howard but his offensive game is quite limited against players that are bigger than him.

Chance we ever see him in a Spurs jersey: 10%
Spurs need ANY big they can find but I think his time has passed.




2002 Draft:
26th pick - John Salmons
55th pick - Luis Scola

Luis Scola

Not such a sexy beast

Another late second round pick (from the Lakers again) that promised to yield help for Tim Duncan in the frontcourt. Scola was only 22 when he was drafted but even then he was seen as one of the best players in Europe. There has been a lot of shit flung around regarding Scola and what did and didn't happen during his negotiations with the Spurs. From what I hear, the Spurs actually chose Oberto then Jackie Butler then Bonner over Scola. There may have been some less than cordial words exchanged between Scola (or his agent) and R.C. Buford. Whatever the case may be, the buyout from TAU was around $3 million. The most the Spurs could have paid directly to TAU was $500,000. That means that Scola himself would have had to pay the $2.5 million difference. Guess how much Oberto and Bonner get paid. There were rumors that the Front Office didn't think Scola's game would fit in with Duncan's. I think that is pure bullshit. They're both post players but I think we can see what happens when you only have one post player on your team (4-1 series losses come to mind).

Chance we ever see him in a Spurs jersey: 20%

Scola is a Restricted Free Agent in 2010. Hey Manu Ginobili, make it happen.

2003 Draft:
28th pick - Leandro Barbosa

Leandro Barbosa

sulk sulk sulk sulk sulk

The Spurs were picking for the Suns. End of story. Barbosa was NEVER going to be a Spur. Nothing to see here.

Chance we ever see him in a Spurs jersey: <1%
He doesn't play defense and jacks up stupid shots. Since his name isn't Michael Finley, I doubt we ever see him wear Silver and Black.

2004 Draft:
28th pick - Beno Udrih
*42nd pick by Atlanta Hawks - Viktor Sanikidze*
52nd pick - Romain Sato
57th pick - Sergei Karaulov

Viktor Sanikidze

From the Shaun Livingston Diet we bring you...

Sanikidze was drafted by the Hawks but it was most likely directly for the Spurs. There was a draft day trade that sent a second round pick (turned into Cenk Akyol!!!) and cash to the Hawks for Sanikidze. The good thing about Sanikidze is that he's still young. He just turned 23 last month. The bad news is he hasn't progressed since he was drafted 5 years ago. He has the athleticism but it's a big question whether he has the skills and IQ to be an NBA player. On the plus side he just won a dunk contest! Woooo! Of course that means Pop hates the guy and will trade him to Dallas for a stale fart and Mark Cuban's toe-nail clippings.

Chance we ever see him in a Spurs jersey: 25%
He's back on track it seems so at the very least we can hope he gets invited to the Summer League (as he was in 2007).

Sergei Karaulov

jesus christ...

The 2004 Draft was a whole lotta crap for the Spurs. We all know what happened to Beno. Romain Sato looked promising but never made it to the team (and didn't technically make the list because he played at Xavier. Don't you dare look up Javtokas' record). The culmination of the suckitude was the third to last pick in Sergei Karaulov. Another big man that was supposed to help Tim Duncan but never panned out. At least this guy was never good enough to fight over ala Scola. Word is Karaluov pissed off some Russian Mobsters and is now a bouncer at a seedy Moscow nightclub. I'm just kidding. No one has any idea where this kid is or what he's doing.

Chance we see him in a Spurs jersey: 0%
He sucks.

2005 Draft:
28th pick - Ian Mahinmi aka Jesus

Ian Mahinmi

whoops sorry THIS is Jesus

The ultimate "who?" selection in the past decade for the Spurs (or any other team) is Mahinmi. No one knew who he was before the draft and very few knew who he was after the draft. Yet another example in the long line of "We're getting Tim Duncan frontcourt help". He made his debut for the Spurs early last year (2007/2008 season) but was sent back to the D-League affiliate Toros shortly thereafter. He was supposed to make the rotation this past season but a pre-season ankle injury ballooned into a season long ailment. He recently had surgery to repair some debris that had settled in his ankle. The Spurs are hopeful he'll be healthy by the start of training camp. However, he could become a salary casualty if they feel he won't be worth the $1 million he's due over the next few seasons. He showed signs of decentness when he played those 6 games with the Spurs in 2007. As long as he can stay healthy I think he can become the team's starting Center. Whether it's this year or not depends a lot on his health and Pop's willingness to be a good coach.

Chance we see him in a Spurs jersey again: 99%
He's good enough to be in the NBA. We'll see if the Spurs pockets are big enough for him.

2006 Draft:
59th pick - Damir Markota *traded to Milwaukee*

2007 Draft:
28th pick - Tiago Splitter
58th pick - Giorgos Printezis *traded to Toronto*

Tiago Splitter

Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me.

Hey look, another big man that has yet to see a Spurs jersey. Shocking. Of all the draft picks he has the most potential to be another Luis Scola. He's seen as one of the best big men in Europe right now. And it took a colossal fuck up by the Spurs Front Office to assure he wouldn't sign with the Spurs after being drafted. Instead of making sure Splitter wanted to sign with the Spurs, they just drafted him willy nilly. Well guess what Spurs FO, Splitter wanted more money (to help a sick sister so you can't be THAT mad at him) so he signed with TAU Ceramica. As with Scola, the Spurs could only contribute $500,000 towards his buyout. Since Splitter would still be on the Rookie Pay Scale, he wouldn't be able to make enough to pay the buyout on his own. However, the Rookie Pay Scale won't be an issue in a year (for the 2009/2010 season). It looks like the Spurs will try to get things done after next season and get Splitter over here. Economic troubles in Spain have made it possible that the Team will need money very shortly. It's still doubtful Splitter can make it here before 2009/2010.

Chance we see him in a Spurs jersey: 85%
It would be 100% if the Scola situation wasn't handled so poorly. Now I have doubts Splitter comes over.

What did we learn from this? Well for one, second round picks rarely make it to the NBA. We also learned that the Spurs aren't infallible. While the front office decided to sign Oberto, trade for Jackie Butler, and keep Bonner, Scola was 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting and is currently giving the Lakers all they can handle in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. The Scola trade might go down as one of the worst front office moves in Spurs history. Let's hope they can rectify things by getting Splitter over here before Tim Duncan's knees fall off.