From: blip@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Bryan Lip)
Newsgroups: aus.sport
Subject: BASKETBALL : Vlahov for Europe ??????????
Date: 14 Oct 1992 02:36:56 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: tartarus.uwa.edu.au

news??????

well i can say it was the biggest story in the sports section of the
west australian newspaper today..... in perth

as most would know the only wildcats captain since 1982 has been mike
ellis... now with his retirement at the end of this nbl season to a job
in the wildcats front office, a space is left for a new player to take
the job of captaining the perth wildcats.... well who could it be?

well i thought james crwaford would be good, however, with only a
limited playing carrer remaining it would be best to appoint a captain
which will bring about the evolution of the club like ellis had done

anyway, after the wildcats owner , kerry stokes annonunced at a luncheon
yesterday, andrew vlahov has been nominated as wildcats captain...

vlahov accepted however.... he said he cant guarantee to be with the
club for the entire future... stating that   :

1. he has had two offers from european basketball teams and:

a) the first offer was for his entire basketball career with no access
to new clubs or competitions unless outside that europeans club season

b) another offer from a club in europe but nothing concrete as yet

2. with the european season already underway, european sides can still
change their import rosters up to december.... so vlahov still could
play in europe this season

however, he would have to break a contract with the wildcats valued at
over $100,000 a year (est). and probably one of the biggest in the nbl

for offers in excess of $250,000 in europe more than double his current
salary...


vlahov said... that he loved the wildcats and admired them, originally
from south perth he was an avid wildcats supporter since young, and
would really like to continue playing for them..

but stipulated that unless... the nbl made its season smaller etc as to
fit in the european and nba off season it was unlikely that vlahov would
come back to australia to play if he was given a much better offer in
europe

but he said he would like to continue playing in australia if the season
did not clash with the european compeition.

obviously in my view, i agree with vlahovs ideas, as expressed in
basketball week  and various perth newspapers.. stating :

1. shorten the nbl season
2. up the salary cap to $750,000 for players, and more than $200,000 for
coaches. and etc.
3. more games 

then at least you could attract a better calibre of player, otherwise
the nbl could lose lots of great talent , australan and american and
european.


at only 23 , vlahov still has lots of improvement to go, and by the age
of andrew gaze he could well be a powerhouse, if not better than gaze..
he now leads the wildcats in scoring
his 92 stats in the nbl were approx

22-23ppg, 10-11rpg
and lots of assists..something like 5apg
and has had 1 triple double and been very close on many many occasions
to more

just think if you give him a few more years...



bryan

comments welcome

blip@tartarus.uwa.edu.au

reply in here so everybody can see.....