Boston Celtics draft pick E’Twaun Moore heading to Italy – NBA Update
E’Twaun Moore is close to inking a deal with Italian team Cimberio Vares. Insiders believe that pen has already been put to paper and the announcement will follow in a day or two.
Moore was a second round draft pick for the Boston Celtics this year and is yet to play in an NBA game. The player was a good guard in college, representing Purdue University and averaged around 18 points per game last year on
the NCAA circuit.
Due to the NBA lockout, no deal has yet been offered to the youngster by the Boston Celtics. Cimberio Varese has now stepped in to take advantage of the situation and would likely take the player to Italy. There is though, a get
out clause inserted in his contract, for the event that the lockout ends and Boston decide to make him an offer. This was confirmed by the president of Cimberio Varese, Cecco Vescovi,
"The NBA escape is a bit risky for us, but the game's worth the candle”
Moore joins an increasing number of U.S based players heading to Europe or elsewhere to play professional basketball. These include Europeans like Nenad Krstic and Timofey Mozgov as well as American born players like Deron Williams
and E’Twaun himself.
The situation arose after the NBA decided to lockout its players, pending a solution to the current labour dispute. The Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA, expired on June 30 of this year and a new one is yet to be formulated.
This is the basis of the labour dispute and consequently the lockout.
The NBA owners and Commissioner David Stern want the players to take huge cuts in salary and benefits so that the owners share of the Basketball Related Income, BRI, can go over the 50 percent threshold, and beyond.
The players understandably oppose the proposal. They appear to be prepared to take some cuts, especially in light of the NBA allegedly losing around $300 million last year, but have outright rejected the cuts demanded by the league.
With the standoff continuing, the National Basketball Players Association, the representative body of NBA players, openly started to encourage its members to look for work abroad. Since then the number of players linked with moves
overseas has grown rapidly.
Super stars like Kobe Bryant, Amar’e Stoudemire and Kevin Durant have flirted with the idea while Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets has already agreed a deal.
The trend of lesser names going abroad has also picked up with Moore being the latest. As a second round draft pick, there is a chance that the player might never get to play on an NBA court, therefore his move abroad makes sense.
If he is able to perform well and get the Celtics to make an offer, he will be set for life, while if that doesn’t happen he can still play his trade in Europe.
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