Alec Peters in the Pros

[VU2014]

Paul alludes to finances in the tweet, and vu72 did as well. Paul got an even straighter answer later in the interview (too crass for twitter?).

The goal has always stayed the same and the goal is to be the best professional basketball player that I can be and ultimately the best NBA player I can be. What route it takes to be there, there's a lot of different ways you can go. It's been proven by a lot of different players in the league right now that are having successful careers. That was the main selling point on this. Why don't we take an awesome opportunity that we have right here and let's run with it. Let's have a year of making unbelievable money and a year to see the world. It's something I couldn't see myself doing a few days ago even before this was final. Now knowing it's right here and the more I hear about how great Moscow is the more excited I get. I think it's going to be an unbelievable opportunity to further my basketball career.

I gave the whole paragraph for context, but the striking bit was "Let's have a year of making unbelievable money and a year to see the world."

Really interesting set of quotes, in the whole interview.

What I don't know is where CSKA sits in the basketball world. Alec mentions them as the best team in the country. Is that true? I'm sure Paul's correct that they have "reached the EuroLeague Final Four in seven consecutive seasons." but I don't really know where they sit in the European, Russian, or even Muscovite pecking order. Heck, I can't even reliably get the order of their initials correct!

From my understanding is that they are a strong European Basketball club and plays at the top level. The two top dogs in Russia seem to be Khimki and CSKA. Ryan's former team Loko had some recent success. There are so many different Leagues and teams in Europe it gets hard to keep track of them. As for his comments on the $, I didn't find his comments too crass. It's a business and I hope Alec makes as much money for himself and his family as possible. These guys have a short window to make money. I appreciate the blunt honesty.

[agibson]

I'm sure Paul's correct that they have "reached the EuroLeague Final Four in seven consecutive seasons." but I don't really know where they sit in the European, Russian, or even Muscovite pecking order.

Looking a bit myself through the Euroleague standings, they really have been very impressive the last seven seasons. In 12 group-stage round robins they've only failed to win their group three times (some seasons had two group stages). They've been less reliable in the single-elimination final four, with just one first place and one second place finish.

It looks like they've won the Russian league every season going back to... 1992? (Though it's not so clear how this relates to the VTB United league in the last ten years.) And I don't even know if there _was_ a USSR league in 1991, but they did fail to win that a couple of times in the late 80's.

They've won the VTB United regional league (Russian and some neighbors) for the last seven seasons, and all but one of the ten or so seasons of its existence.

They've maybe not prioritized the Russian cup, winning for the last time in 2009–10. (I think Broekhoff's team won this last year.)

So, yeah, they look pretty dominant. If maybe with some problems in single-elimination formats.

Hopefully it also means they're a big enough club to pay their players on time, etc. Though I don't know that we heard of any problems like this with Broekhoff, either (except the dispute that kept him out of his last playoffs).

[agibson]

As for his comments on the $, I didn't find his comments too crass. It's a business and I hope Alec makes as much money for himself and his family as possible. These guys have a short window to make money. I appreciate the blunt honesty.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm cheering for him. Cash in, baby! I may have problems with professional athletes in general making million dollar salaries, but I don't expect Alec to somehow fix that on his own at this point.

I was just surprised by his candor. And then a little surprised that Paul left it out of the Twitter summary.

[FieldGoodie05]

Paul alludes to finances in the tweet, and vu72 did as well. Paul got an even straighter answer later in the interview (too crass for twitter?).

The goal has always stayed the same and the goal is to be the best professional basketball player that I can be and ultimately the best NBA player I can be. What route it takes to be there, there's a lot of different ways you can go. It's been proven by a lot of different players in the league right now that are having successful careers. That was the main selling point on this. Why don't we take an awesome opportunity that we have right here and let's run with it. Let's have a year of making unbelievable money and a year to see the world. It's something I couldn't see myself doing a few days ago even before this was final. Now knowing it's right here and the more I hear about how great Moscow is the more excited I get. I think it's going to be an unbelievable opportunity to further my basketball career.

I gave the whole paragraph for context, but the striking bit was "Let's have a year of making unbelievable money and a year to see the world."

Really interesting set of quotes, in the whole interview.

What I don't know is where CSKA sits in the basketball world. Alec mentions them as the best team in the country. Is that true? I'm sure Paul's correct that they have "reached the EuroLeague Final Four in seven consecutive seasons." but I don't really know where they sit in the European, Russian, or even Muscovite pecking order. Heck, I can't even reliably get the order of their initials correct!

From my understanding is that they are a strong European Basketball club and plays at the top level. The two top dogs in Russia seem to be Khimki and CSKA. Ryan's former team Loko had some recent success. There are so many different Leagues and teams in Europe it gets hard to keep track of them. As for his comments on the $, I didn't find his comments too crass. It's a business and I hope Alec makes as much money for himself and his family as possible. These guys have a short window to make money. I appreciate the blunt honesty.

I could be misreading his comment, but the pay day came with his two-way contract and now he gets to travel Europe.  Not saying he won't get $250,000+ for his 1-year contract with Moscow but that is how I read the tweet.

[FieldGoodie05]

I'm no Euroleague expert but I have heard of CSKA Moscow. The team has a very strong tradition and is well-respected. It's a very good landing spot.

I think my familiarity with CSKA Moscow also comes from FC Moscow and the brand that comes with the parent organization.  They have a ton of sports team under their umbrella and are sort of an All Sports organization.

[VUGrad1314]

I'm no Euroleague expert but I have heard of CSKA Moscow. The team has a very strong tradition and is well-respected. It's a very good landing spot.

I think my familiarity with CSKA Moscow also comes from FC Moscow and the brand that comes with the parent organization.  They have a ton of sports team under their umbrella and are sort of an All Sports organization.

Right, I believe CSKA also fields a soccer club and a hockey club.

[agibson]

I'm no Euroleague expert but I have heard of CSKA Moscow. The team has a very strong tradition and is well-respected. It's a very good landing spot.

I think my familiarity with CSKA Moscow also comes from FC Moscow and the brand that comes with the parent organization.  They have a ton of sports team under their umbrella and are sort of an All Sports organization.

Yeah, for me too they're (only) a known name for their soccer. CSKA Moscow has been in Champions League each of the last five years.

But, I don't follow pro basketball, home or abroad, to speak of.

I've grown to assume that multi-sport clubs are the norm in Europe, but I don't know how often that's actually the case.

[Pgmado]

I don't know the dollar amount, but I'm guessing Alec will be making significantly more overseas than he did with two-way contract. His comments were that he needed it to be "worth his time" to even consider moving overseas. Our conversation was recorded for USH purposes, but the audio quality isn't great, so not sure if I'll end up using it. It was a good conversation with a guy who has experienced a lot in his first professional season.

[valpotx]

Sergio Rodriguez and Nando de Colo are on the roster.  CSKA Moscow is definitely Russia's top team, and one of the best in the world, outside of the NBA.

[crusadermoe]

Is this Putin's favorite team (Moscow)?  Good to be on his side I would guess. 

[historyman]

Just don't mess with any Russian hookers in case you want to run for president one day.

Why? It hasn't hurt Trump one bit. People like Just Sayin will support him no matter if he pays off dozens of women for not talking about their affairs with him. And their reasoning is that Bill Clinton did it too and the Democrats overlooked his transgressions.

We all know Alec isn't that kind of guy so he would not be a good choice for US President for the Republicans.

[historyman]

Is this Putin's favorite team (Moscow)?  Good to be on his side I would guess. 

CSKA Moscow was the Sports Club of the Red Army when the Soviet Union/Communists were in power. After the Soviet Union lost power CSKA Moscow was not as popular due to being so closely associated with the old out of favor Soviet government. When Putin came to power it became okay to like CSKA again and they were very successful. So it probably is Putin's favorite team although soccer is his favorite sport because of the World Cup being held in Russia this summer. It probably wouldn't be surprising if one found Putin rooting for Alec to hit more threes this season. It would be like Obama (please forgive my mentioning the hated former President because the Republicans hate him so much) hoping a Russian player does well because he plays for his favorite team, the Bulls.

[agibson]

Wikipedia claims he supports FC Zenit in soccer; from St. Petersburg, evidently his home city. He does also play ice hockey
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/10/vladimir-putin-ice-hockey-exhibition-game

[bigmosmithfan1]

Didn't Alec have one year left on his NBA deal? Can we assume CSKA Moscow just bought that out?

[VUBBFan]

I believe it was an option for the second year and the Suns didn't renew it and just released him from the contract making him a free agent

[Pgmado]

Didn't Alec have one year left on his NBA deal? Can we assume CSKA Moscow just bought that out?

Most two-way deals were two-year contracts, but I believe Alec signed a one-year deal and was betting on himself.

[VUfan]

Get your long underwear before you go.  get your pay in cash!!!

[wh]

Get your long underwear before you go.  get your pay in cash!!!

...and don't comment in public about how oppressive their "utopian" socialist government is.

[justducky]

Get your long underwear before you go.  get your pay in cash!!!

...and don't comment in public about how oppressive their "utopian" socialist government is.

Putin is a control freak killer and thief. On the best day of his life I doubt he was honorable enough to be a "utopian" socialist. Actually I would now call him a capitalistic thug who makes and then breaks all the rules so that all the goodies slide his direction. I think that is what Trump admires about him. 

[VU2014]

Let's stop with the political undertones in the basketball forum. Please and thank you.

[humbleopinion]

Get your long underwear before you go.  get your pay in cash!!!

There is the story of when Robbie Hummel played in Russia.  The owner of his team offered a reward for success in a tournament.  After the game, Robbie met the owner at a hotel and left with $10,000 in a suitcase.

[VUBBFan]

Alec's new home.
https://twitter.com/cskabasket/status/1025465557691387906

[M]

Suitcase is an acceptable way to move cash. Personally prefer a sack with a dollar sign, but a suitcase is sufficient.

[VU2014]

A interesting signing. AP and Bolomboy play the same position. Both guys are coming over from the states and are roughly the same age. It could turn out to be a position battle for playing time.

https://twitter.com/cskabasket/status/1027201478958751744

[VULB#62]

From Wikipedia:

Bolomboy was born in Donetsk, Ukraine to a Congolese father and a Russian mother, went to high school at Keller Central High School in Fort Worth, Texas, and chose Weber State for college despite interest from larger schools such as Clemson, Auburn and Florida State. During his college career, Bolomboy became the all-time leading rebounder in Weber State and Big Sky Conference history.

While always a strong rebounder, Bolomboy increased his scoring average in the 2015–16 season, averaging 17.9 points per game to go along with 12.8 rebounds per game. Following the season, Bolomboy was named first-team All-Big Sky Conference, as well as the league's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Though approximately the same height (6-9) he is mentioned as a 'center' in the tweet  And it seems from his Wiki bio that he is a different kind of player from AP -- i.e., defender, rebounder, in the paint kind of scorer.  Might be complementary rather than competitive?