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Hey, did ya hear? John Wall's got a max contract. Some of you are in the "yippee!" camp. Others are in the "Thanks a LOT, Ernie!" school of thought. And wherever you sit, that's probably a lot closer to the action than Tomas Satoransky.
You may remember Tomas as the second-round draft pick from the Czech Republic in 2012. The Wizards added him as a draft-and-stash player, and many believed (and still believe) that he could make his way over to play in the US. Most of you diehards know all about it, so I won't bore you too much with details about him. Up until recently, Wizards fans seemed excited about his potential, and Satoransky himself felt excited about his future chance to play in the NBA.
When the Wizards drafted him, they needed a bit of point guard depth. However, with Wall's new contract, it seems like Satoransky isn't so excited anymore.
#Satoransky on #Wall's contract e.: "He's a franchise player PG, a no. 1 draft pick, a star of the team who plays 40 mpg. If I ever . . .
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) August 1, 2013
. . . play for #Wiz, it's not an ideal situation 4 me - sitting on bench would stunt my development.I'd not like sitting on bench all game."
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) August 1, 2013
RE #Satoransky's quote: Got asked if it's the most ideal situation to get playing time in the NBA - he admitted "It's clear that it is not."
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) August 1, 2013
So... yeah. Looks like Satoransky is viewing Wall's contract as a sign that either he's not coming over to the Wizards, or he's seeing playing for the Wizards as no longer an ideal opportunity for him. And you know what? He's probably right. A max-salaried point guard does play 40 minutes per game. And Eric Maynor's going to sop up as many minutes as he can take as well. Satoransky might only get garbage-time action. If he wants to get better as a player, maybe coming to play for the Wizards isn't the best avenue to pursue that.
Alas, I guess those are some of the side effects of signing a point guard to a max contract.
Thanks, as always, to the indispensible @Luke_Mellow for his translated tweets.
More from Bullets Forever:
- John Wall, Wizards agree to 5-year maximum contract extension
- John Wall says he's never been more confident, ready for max-contract pressure
- The Eastern Conference playoff picture is muddled
- Bullets Forever's Summer Skill checklist: Bradley Beal
- NBA free agency 2013: Why Eric Maynor was an underrated signing