One year with Mike Brown destroyed him 😀

and scene. we shall call this episode “international assassin.” now back to the big bad. frank plays on saturday.

Rokas officially rescinded his contract with Barcelona (https://x.com/FCBbasket/status/1815659400150786057) and then signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv (https://sports.walla.co.il/item/3679707).

It’s a 2-years contract with a team option for the 3rd year.

No details so far about buyout and NBA escape clause, but they’re standard elements in international contracts.

Looking at the current roster he’s projected as a starter, in my opinion a good news for his development (between Zalgiris and Barca he did start only 9 times in 165 EL games, even if he usually starts for Lithuania in international competitions).

NBA regular season — 3.26
Euro basket — 1.7
Spanish ACB — 1.52
NBA D-league — 1.21
ACC NCAA — 0.76 (other NCAA leagues are lower than this)

https://fansided.com/2015/11/06/deep-dives-measuring-level-of-competition-around-the-world/

I am not arguing that Rokas needs to be in the NBA so he can develop into an NBA player in three years I am arguing he is ready right now. He is just green and needs to acclimate to the NBA . There is no huge jump that is needed in my opinion. Give him a year on an NBA roster and I think he will be ready to play real minutes for a real NBA team. I don’t think he is some future star but I do think he is pretty close to being a useful player right now.

I already acknowledged that you don’t see him that way and that is fine but since we are pretty far off in our assessment of his skills, readiness, and potential then it makes sense that we wouldn’t agree about what the best usage of him is.

But the idea that we should banish an NBA quality player back to Europe rather than signing him or trading him because he will be even better in a couple of years makes no sense. Of course he’ll be better but if he is good enough now then he should be brought over. Better to start using him now so he can either help us win games or play well enough to become a trade asset.

If he is truly an NBA quality player then playing against NBA competition will 100% be beneficial. All your examples were of players not ready for the NBA so lesser competition was actually more beneficial but Rokas isn’t those players. He is much further along than Ntilikina or Hayes and much more ready for the NBA than they ever were.

This is not a logical point.Teams almost never draft and stash first rounders due to various contract/cap considerations as well as different expectations. So I would agree that it would have been better to draft Kolek with #25 and Dadiet with #34, and then stash Dadiet in Europe so that he could develop on an infinite timeline. My guess is that the Knicks didn’t think Dadiet would be available in the second, otherwise they might have done that. As it stands now, Dadiet would have to agree to defer his guaranteed salary and stay in Europe. He apparently didn’t want to do that, so he signed a deal that is lower than 100% of the rookie scale deal.

Sarr, Risacher and Salaun are lottery picks, so we’re talking about a whole different level of expectation.

The Knicks are “developing” Rokas at zero cost and without a cap hold, and can do so indefinitely, to my knowledge.

I agree that we should consider Payne to be ahead of Rokas for this year, but it is not clear to me that Kolek is going to be better. I feel that Kolek will be better served on the G league and get used to the size and physicality, and Rokas on the team and get used to the NBA style of play.

You are actually making my point! Exum did not develop at all in the NBA in 7 seasons (injuries were a big part of that, but still), he went over to Europe, developed, became a starter for his Euro team, and came back at age 28 and played well!

“Satoransky has played almost 9000 minutes in the NBA and was an effective and useful rotation player.”

The Satoransky that Rokas played with is out of the NBA because he was diminished and no longer an NBA rotation-level player. He was drafted in 2012 and did not come over for 4 years until he was 25 years old and a starter leading his team in mpg in Europe. You are once again making the case that Rokas is better served staying overseas and developing there.