The Cavs won’t have a first-round draft pick on the roster this year. Christian Eyenga has signed a three-year contract to play in Spain, with reasonable buyout clauses in the deal after the first and second years.
This really comes as no surprise, and those who lament the fact the Cavs drafted someone who will play in Europe probably should ask themselves: Would this guy be better off sitting on the Cavs bench?
The Cavs took Eyenga over two Pitt guys, but every other NBA team passed on the Pitt guys in the first round as well. This could backfire if Sam Young or DeJuan Blair become stars and Eyenga busts, but that’s the risk the Cavs took.
With Eyenga playing for DKV Joventut – that’s one of those words that I love typing … DKV Joventut … D-K-V-space-J-o-v-e-n-t-u-t (maybe it’s the DKV, or maybe it’s the “ut” at the end that puts it over the top), the Cavs have a player on a “farm team” of sorts.
Eyenga and his agent didn’t think he was NBA ready. They liked him on DKV Joventut. It’s likely the Cavs agreed. So he plays in Spain (for DKV Joventut) while the plane flies through the rain. Or something like that.
The Cavs save the first-round money, Eyenga gets to grow and Danny Green, the team’s second-round pick, will be in camp – and not with DKV Joventut. Green has years of experience at North Carolina, a place where pretty good basketball is played. Sort of like DKV … never mind.
Had the Cavs taken Green first and Eyenga second, this news would produce yawns. The effect is the same – and the Cavs save some chimichangas in the process.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I always liked Audrey better than Kate, and she was cute in that movie – That being said for poor Kate – there are far crueler fates than being the lesser Hepburn. Like being the superior Wahlberg or something.
lesser hepburn? hey, i like audrey hepburn too but she's got nothing on kate. kate's got her beat 4 to 1 on best actress oscars. deservedly so.
little known fact about audrey hepburn-she had size 10 feet. that tiny woman had friggin' flippers on the ends of her legs!
It's the voices and the ease on my eyes.
Really? Audrey Hepburn wore size-10 shoes? I did not know that. If the same thing that holds true for guys with big feet is true for women, I feel sorry for every dude in Hollywood who took that plunge.
Drafting Green in the first and Eyenga in the second would have produced some yawns, but also some criticisms for not taking Blair or Young in the first and Green in the second.
Taking Blair in the first, Green in the second and buying another second to take Eyenga would have produced praise.
10 Years ago when the Cavs were in the NBA Lottery, the draft mattered. Contending teams very rarely are able to draft a guy that will impact the roster and make a substantial contribution. Contending teams draft role players, which are also available in free agency.
This does not matter at all. The only thing that matters is that LBJ stays and Gilbert continues to provide what LBJ, Ferry and Brown think they need to get better.
I've read this article and thread 3 times and still can't figure out how you guys got on the topic of comparing the Hepburns.
That said, Kate was clearly the better actress but Audrey was the better prize (size 10 flippers and all).
OK, now I get the My Fair Lady reference. I'm a little slow on the uptake today. Gotta start laying off the booze on Thursday nights.
This does not matter? Sure. Tell me the same thing in three years, when Blair is averaging 14 points and 12 rebounds a game, and this Nigerian guy, or wherever he's from, is selling African sno-cones at a Kenya carnival. And all because the savvy Gilbert/Ferry tandem wanted to save a couple million for the guaranteed salary combined with the luxury tax. Thank you very much.
Precisely how many times do these two guys have to hold up their middle fingers before the lemmings and sheep start to care? As long as James sticks around, I think they can do it forever.
I don't know how they got started on the Hepburns, either, but seriously, wouldn't it be something if chicks with big feet have the same giant things as guys with big feet? Who knew Audrey Hepburn was really Roseanne?
I don't know how i feel about the feet. It is a major plus for me to know that dancing would result in abject disaster and thus is totally out of the question.