With limited information so far and a lot of big name trades, some have an early draft, say a couple weeks before kick-off (sorry in EPL mode). How much weight do you put behind the stats coming from the FIBA Eurobasket? e.g. Dragic MVP, KP6 and we were able to have a glimpse at a few rookies. Could a shortened break between seasons fatigue players down the stretch? Did anyone see anything special from players that shows that they could make a leap this season?
Personally I am intrigued by a few players that did some nice things from the Eurobasket.
As close to zero as you can get without getting all the way to zero.
As far as the stat side goes I agree with Dan. Apples and coconuts.
BUT ... I do think seeing players play effectively has some value. That said, it really depends on the guy. Dario Saric excelled in international play last summer and really struggled with the speed of the NBA game early on. Bogdan Bogdanovic has showed us for a while now that he can handle NBA-level guys, and I'm inclined to think his skill set stands up a bit better vs. Saric having to feel out a role and deployment strategy. Dragic dominating is a good example of overinflated stats ... both he and BB were able to target less than NBA-quality bigs in the PnR. The difference between the two is that we know what Dragic is and we're trying to simply measure if BB can hang as a top-100 producer (I think he can). So I'd say it's not nothing on the film side.
Strictly speaking, EuroBasket will have very little true impact. What it does is affects market perceptions. Dragic, for example, is going a bit earlier in drafts than his projected end-season value would suggest. His being showcased in EuroBasket can be a misleading hype-pump.
As far as fatigue issues are concerned, I recall it having an impact on Pau Gasol, once. The more rest-friendly NBA sched should help mitigate that concern. These are athletes who do this for a living and train constantly. A month's rest should be more than adequate as long as there are now underlying injuries being dealt with. Speaking of which, I followed EuroBasket to not who tweaked ankles, who got hurt. Who was held out of it and why. More of that.
Thanks for your responses gentlemen
