|
An interview with Rocket guard Vassilis Spanoulis was published on Saturday by Eleftherotypia, a daily newspaper out of Athens, Greece, and the 6-foot-4 point was not kind to the Rockets organization.
It's all Greek to us, but according to a translation provided by ClutchFans BBS member Tauntaun13, Spanoulis says that he was convinced to come to Houston with a promise of guaranteed playing time and admits he's not enjoying himself to the point that he might return to Europe.
"The GM of the team was in Athens frequently, they were calling me on the phone every day," says Spanoulis of Rockets GM Carroll Dawson before he signed with Houston. "So much money, so much attention, so much interest -- just for me to play for one minute or not at all?"
Spanoulis, who teammates and coaches started calling "Billy" in training camp, suggested that Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy and upper management may not be on the same page.
"Even now, they approach me all the time, they tell me they believe in me, they encourage me, they show me that they love me," said Spanoulis. "When I talked to Van Gundy, he told me that the GM chose the players and not him. 'I'm just coaching the team' he said. This sounds like a lack of communication between him and the administration, like they're playing ego games."
Spanoulis also said that Van Gundy doesn't know what kind of player that he is and that he wants to make him a "spot shooter", which he says is not his game.
In fairness to Van Gundy, the Greek guard has not produced in limited action in his rookie campaign. Spanoulis is averaging 2.6 points on 31.1% shooting to go with 1.1 assists and 1 turnover in 10 minutes a night. However, in the last 18 Rocket games, Spanoulis has played just 8 minutes combined spread out over 4 games.
"The situation irritates me," added Spanoulis. "There has to be a solution but I don't know what it will be."
|
