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[QUOTE="Orangutan, post: 2688949, member: 4946"]
The whole article is so phony.  He's talking out of both sides of his mouth.  He says he gets that franchises can't afford luxury picks but then says it "defies belief" she wasn't picked earlier.  Well, which is it?

We've already had Americans skip the WNBA to focus on playing in Russia.  Now we're going to expect a young Russian to come every year?  He makes some mention that there are fewer scheduling conflicts now for European players.  In the past, Euro players (and Americans with Euro citizenship) have missed huge chunks of games due to Eurobasket happening right in the middle of the season.

Meeseeman's not playing WNBA this year.  Cambage has skipped several seasons.  There is very serious risk in taking a Euro player when you don't know if they will show up.  The teams in the lottery need help now.  They can't gamble that Vadeeva will be there.  I'm sure she is saying she will play now.  What happens if she spends a summer flying coach around the US for a fraction of her Russian salary and decides it's not for her?  You're screwed.

Established, talent-rich teams like Sparks can make these kind of gambles.  Vadeeva doesn't show up and it's no sweat for them.  They've still got Parker, Nneka and Lavender.

He's pretending not to understand what is quite obvious.
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First name of men's bb coach