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PF/C Kosta Koufos (CSKA Moscow)

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BB73;1134267; said:
Endorsements go to star players, and Kosta is much more likely to be a star playing for a Greek team than playing for an NBA team. If he enters the draft, he could very easily be an NBA player that only gets 10-15 minutes per game. Those type of players get far less than $1 million per year in endorsements.

Also, I believe that endorsements would be more desirable in Greece since they'd be more effective - the target marketing of a local star player for millions of Greeks is much more easily accomplished than trying to market an NBA non-starter to the 3 million Greek Americans.

But I don't know if part of the rumored contract in Greece includes endorsement activities, thus making the estimation of endorsement income outside his potential contract in Greece even more of a speculative exercise.
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The only part of your statement that I would take disagreeing with this the part that you think Kosta would get 10-15 minutes per game next year in the NBA. I think he is way too soft to get much playing time at all in his rookie year plus I really don't think he has the physical stamina. I realize that those things can be worked on and increased but I just think he will have a hard time getting hardly any minutes next year if he does go to the NBA. Euro basketball is not quite that physical as I am sure you well know.
 
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LitlBuck;1134281; said:
The only part of your statement that I would take disagreeing with this the part that you think Kosta would get 10-15 minutes per game next year in the NBA. I think he is way too soft to get much playing time at all in his rookie year plus I really don't think he has the physical stamina. I realize that those things can be worked on and increased but I just think he will have a hard time getting hardly any minutes next year if he does go to the NBA. Euro basketball is not quite that physical as I am sure you well know.
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You're right - it's possible that he could get less than 10 minutes a game if he's in the NBA next year (Kwame Brown went #1 overall in 2001 and only averaged 14 minutes his first year) - but I didn't want to make my comparison a worst-case scenario for the negative side of my argument.
 
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The only two NBA rookies that I can remember seeing in any endorsements this year were Oden and Durant. Even if Kosta were to go top 8, I don't think that as a 7 ft 2 power forward for a bad team, that he is going to get much money in endorsements, if any. In Greece, he is already well known and choosing to go play there over choosing the NBA would make him an even more well-known commidity, and thus gain him much more endorsement money. IMO, he should go play pro in Greece or stay for another year. I think the worst decision he could make right now is going to the NBA.
 
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Men's basketball: Koufos' decision likely next week
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

One of the two certainties in life is likely to delay Kosta Koufos from announcing one of the biggest decisions of his life.

"My taxes are due," said Koufos' mother, Kathy, and the filing deadline is a week away.

Koufos, the 7-foot Ohio State freshman who is considering whether to stay in school or play professional basketball next season, was quoted in The (Canton) Repository on Saturday as saying he would announce his decision this week.

But his mother said yesterday that an announcement probably won't come until after her son discusses his options with more family this weekend, including her brother, who lives near Baltimore and is "one more family member who cares about him."

Kathy Koufos said Kosta -- Ohio State's leading rebounder and shot blocker and second-leading scorer this season -- has three viable options: return to Ohio State, enter the NBA draft or sign with a pro team in Greece, her native country.

"He just has to look at the whole picture, what's going to work the best for him," she said. "He needs to consider what is fully in his best interest at this time."

She said that, contrary to postings on Internet message boards, she does not think Kosta has made his decision.

"I believe he's still working through the whole process," she said.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Men's basketball: Koufos' decision likely next week
 
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Also, I believe that endorsements would be more desirable in Greece since they'd be more effective - the target marketing of a local star player for millions of Greeks is much more easily accomplished than trying to market an NBA non-starter to the 3 million Greek Americans.
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If he goes to the NBA his target market in the US will be pretty much restricted to baklava and anal sex. Not much money to made from either.
 
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Kostas Future

Guys I?ve been reading regularly whats written in this thread and I have my own personal opinion on what Kostas should or should not do.
I am living in Greece and I follow basketball over here as well as the NCAA and NBA very closely. Just to mention that I watched quite a few NCAA games the past 4 weeks even if this meant that I had to wake up at 4 in the morning. I am stressing this out because after watching the big schools play I understood why Kostas has a problem in adjusting his game in this run and gun pace. Colleges play so fast and anorthodox game which clearly favours some type of athletes and makes others life hard.
Brains are used less and athletic ability matters more and more in offense and defence.
I have realised after watching many of Kostas games why things this year were not as good as he (and we) expected. First the roster has very very poor guards, which have difficulty in passing the ball to the big guys down low. Except Bulter who is a good guard (not a traditional point though) all other guards in the team would be lucky to be sixth men in any of the schools who made the final 16 this year. No wonder why Kostas ended up not giving the ball back to the guards, (simply because he would never get the ball back either because guards couldn?t pass or wouldn?t wanna pass it).
Now going into the next step, in my point of view Kostas feels he can do better in the NBA or Europe than from College and I think he is right (even though getting a degree and maturing in College is always a good think to have in your career).
I personally think that there is no way that Okur, Barniani and Nesterovic can get a game and even make the playoffs and Kostas couldn?t.
Its as simple as that, when the game comes down to a man to man defense and skills, Kostas can play any of these guys both in offense and in defense. I mentioned these players names because we will see what Kostas is worth in the pre olympic and olympic tournament in the summer where I think he will make the team and compete against these guys.
(don?t worry I will keep you posted : ) )
Now when it comes to Europe and coming over here I think it might help him for one or two years to stay because basketball in Europe is all about FUNDAMENTALS and not mambo jumbo (yet exciting and fun to watch) College basketball.
I know Mambo Jumbo is harsh but when the way Memphis lost comes back to my mind and the fact that they didn?t foul in the last 15 seconds when they were 3 points ahead shows a lot about the way these boys learn the game. In Europe this would have been done without even a timeout from 15 year olds (I am not kidding).

So Europe could be a good thing for Kostas.

Now I read some comments regarding money, endorsements etc.
Kostas wants to play ball guys, I don?t think money is his issue right now.
If money was his issue he would have been in a plane last year when 2 Greek teams offered 3 million Euro for 3 years (by the way one of these teams is coached from the National team coach (Giannakis) who even visited and convinced Kostas to play for Greece) so there might be something there.
I think Kostas feels that in the College game he cannot show what he is capable of (at least from what he did this year). If though he played for Davidson this year I am pretty sure these guys would have won the title. : ) Amazing defense, slow tempo, set plays, close sample of European game by the way.

Regarding endorsements, Kostas will get pleanty of endorsements this summer when he plays for Greece. He did some ads already
last year over here ( I cant recall the product). If he plays for the senior team regardless if he stays in college he will be marketable, not to mention if he makes it in the NBA.

I think Kostas will do one thing at a time and wont rush things since he is a down to earth guy.
However this will depend on how much he feels he can develop as a player and a character by staying in Ohio. If he feels that the NBA will be hard but will help him more to develop his game he will go for it.

If Kostas ends up going forward with the draft which is quite possible, he?ll try to do well in the Pre-olympic tournament where he will play against players like barbosa varejao nesterovic.
He will try making it to the National Team for the Olympic games and do well playing for them. I think that if Greece makes it in the final 8 of the tournament and Koufos plays well then he stands a good chance of being chosen by the NBA team that will pick him in June.
If National team doesn?t work out he could come over to Greece for a year or two get to play for a one or two years under the guidance of one of the 5 best coaches in the Europe and then be ready for the NBA.

One person Kostas should certainly ask for advice is Greece National Team coach Panagiotis Giannakis who is one of the very very few elite players who became elite coaches and I think Kostas has already asked.
 
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Hunded Lane, good to hear he is going to classes. Dispatch article today showed that OSU might lose a scholarship because Greg Oden did not do that, and so counted against the program based on NCAA rules. I hope that regardless of what decision Koufos makes, he will finish the spring quarter in good standing for the sake of the program.

Now, since I know that Koufos postponed his decision because he hadn't heard MY take on things yet, here goes nothing... I think he is in a win-win-win situation, but I would like to see him stay at OSU one more year. With Mullens coming in to play traditional, back-to-the-basket post, Koufos will have a chance to show that he can create off the dribble as a four. The team will have a true point coming in next year and guard will be a much improved position in terms of skill level and depth. And I see the Buckeyes making a deep tournament run led by Koufos as a major scorer. A year from now, he could be a top-10 NBA pick.
 
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