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James Gist is going to Greece to play for Panathinaikos and ACB MVP Andy Panko is returning to España to play for Unicaja after today’s blockbuster deal/only Euroleague trade ever, almost.

Also, Rob Scott pretty much says Omar Cook is better than Dimitris Diamantidis and we talk about Darko Planinic to Tel Aviv (no, not Aron Baynes) and the move that has the Euroblogosphere abuzz: Je’Kel Foster to Alba Berlin.

But for starters, we talk about Real Madrid, because they’re unreal right now:

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6 Responses

  1. BrutalDlx

    Merry Christmas guys.

    Just my 2 cents on what is Pana getting out of the Panko-Gist trade. First off let me say that I HATE GIST. There, I said it.

    We, the OAKA faithful, are not used to see low-IQ players suit up for our team. Slow - OK, old - fine, can’t dribble - OK, can’t buy a bucket to save his life - no problem. But he needs to hold his position on court, know where to be at all times, so that the team can count on him to cover in D and find an open shot in O.

    Gist is not a player that is fit for that, at least in pinciple. However, you can count on him NOT BEING TRAMPLED ON by every-single-fkin-PF in A1 and the Euroleague. Panko in offence was adequate, not the ACB MVP we might have expected, not hitting all of his open threes, but a smart, useful role player. On the other hand, in D he was a nightmare, out-rebounded and out-hustled by every opponent PF, plus a walking mis-match against other players (shorter or taller) in the event of a switch. Add to that the fact that Tsartsaris is getting old and cannot (devensively) handle the PF spot any more (used as a 3rd C more often than not) and you’ll find the reason why Maciulis splits his minutes between SF-PF.

    Pana desperately needed a PF to hold his ground on the defensive end. Fotsis would have been ideal, but it didn’t happen, in part thanks to the mexican soap opera that the Giannakopoulos family wrote, produced and starred in. If Gist manages to comprehend his new role (highly doubtful imo) and not be a liability in the offensive end, then Pana might just credibly aim for another F4. As things stood though, their ceiling was top 8.

    And another thing: DD’s unbelievable TO average is largely due to miscommunication with his new teammates. Sure, he’s older than the 2011 MVP, but still a great player and compering him to Omar Cook might ignite another rally in the center of Athens.

    • Rob Scott

      Hey, thanks for the comment, On the Diamantidis / Cook comparison, of course none of us are saying they are even comparable, overall. The only reason to bring up the comparison was to say ‘look, people say Cook is shaky, he’s unreliable, but look at what he did this season so far, the stats are certainly surprising.’ Of course there’s no comparison to the great Diamantidis, who would be my second choice for MVP of the Regular Season, and should be a real contender for the overall award.

      Completely agree about the reasons for his turnovers, he has seen his role changed both in terms of new teammates in the frontcourt, and playing alongside Ukic, and now Banks. I would expect to see those turnovers come right down in the Top 16.

      I think PAO needed another C in any event, but particularly with Sofo’s injury. Baynes would be ideal (he is available for minimum €350K buyout, i.e. what Fener paid for Williams) Shermadini would have been a perfect PNR finisher to pair with DD (Oly have a steal there), and Hendrix is still on the market. But like we all have said, Gist is a high-risk, high reward move.

  2. Slam

    Thanks BrutalDlx for the words. Interesting thoughts on Panko. Agree he never exploded offensively like he had in the ACB and was more solid than spectacular. Panko though is different than a lot of PFs PAO has had. Fotsis as you say was a knockdown 3 shooter, always knew where he needed to be on the court, found open spaces on offense. Panko is more an in-between player and not a great 3 shooter. He loves the pull-up mid ranger, taking his man off the dribble, having the ball in his hands. Something he always could do with Lagun Aro but not with PAO. He thrives improvising on offense, creating his own shot, not necessarily just being a role piece. Not the fit PAO wanted. And yes defensively he now is no longer flexible and he’s old too. Not a good combo.

    Gist can be a monster on D but he hasn’t. His basketball IQ is just so low for a player of PAO that I’m really worried. He can block shots but switches, rotations, good board positioning not so much, he just doesn’t have that 6th basketball sense. And there is no Zeljko to instill it in him. In a perfect world he becomes a great offensive rebounder and creates extra possessions for PAO to make up for his bad offense, bad shooting, and bad spacing. Kinda like a worse Felipe Reyes.

    So trading in a bad fit, Panko, for the hope of a better one, Gist, is a move worth making but Gist might yet again be not a great fit. And unlike Panko being able to fit in some, Gist could be a total train wreck if he doesn’t find the right role.

  4. Huber

    Hello this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.

    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get guidance from
    someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!