Lorbek reiterates he likes the Spurs own his rights
On a draft night trade that sent San Antonio Spurs fan favorite George Hill back home to Indiana, the Spurs inherited not only the rights to soon-to-be rookie Kawhi Leonard, but Slovenian player Erazem Lorbek as well.
Lorbek was drafted by the Pacers in 2005 but was never able to be brought to the NBA. Now that his rights are owned by the Spurs, the idea of joining the team in the future is more interesting said Lorbek.
"Now that San Antonio has my rights, the NBA option is more interesting," he admits.
But with the NBA currently in an on-going lockout, it's unknown if basketball could return today or this year at all. For now, Lorbek is happy playing overseas.
"For the moment I'm happy to be in a big team in Europe and play to win everything."
Lorbek had very consistent production over the fall in the FIBA Eurobasket where he played against NBA level talent and still made an impact. With the Spurs still missing some needed height and size in the front line outside of Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter, Lorbek could be an option after next year since this season is predicted to be a shortened season should there be a season at all.
However, he will remain in Europe for at least another season making and at the same time he will be older and be carrying more mileage. But should he decide to make the leap to the NBA, he might be a serviceable player for San Antonio. He is currently averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds, shooting 72% from the field in 25 minutes for Regal FC Barcelona in three games.
What do you have to say Spurs fans? Think he will ever be wearing the silver and black?
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Perhaps as a sort of bridge between TD and Ryan Richards... I have great hope for uber-athletic RR given a few years of seasoning...
I don't see him playing a lot in the NBA, especially with the Spurs... He will at best be a 10~15 minutes bench player from the bench to give stars some rests... much like a Primoz Brezec role... or Semih Erden... or Omer Asik.... He is not a rebuilding block for us.
I don't know Jeff but I like what Rasho did for us back in the days. He was a hard worker doing little things to help this team and it wouldn't show on stats sheet. Rasho would be a much better defender than Lorbek while Lorbek is scoring better. They are just different type of players. The best case for Lorbek would be Okur, a scoring bigman without much defense; However, I see him sitting on the bench most of time if he plays for the Spurs; which is the worst case for him.
