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I had a feeling this would happen...wasted draft pick!

CLEVELAND -- Christian Eyenga, a raw shooting guard drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers, will stay with his Spanish club rather than play with LeBron James next season.

The 20-year-old Eyenga thanked Cleveland for drafting him with the 30th overall pick, but said Thursday he doesn't feel ready for the NBA. The 6-foot-5 Eyenga chose to sign a three-year contract extension with DKV Joventut. Terms of the deal were not available.

"I think the best option for me this season was to play here, and we'll see what happens in the future," said the Congo native, who spent last season with Prat Joventut, the Spanish franchise's junior team.

Eyenga plans to play at least one more season in Europe. Cleveland was impressed by his performance during the recent summer league in Las Vegas, where he averaged 8.8 points and 47 percent shooting in five games. He scored 17 points in a loss to Washington on July 14.

The Cavs agreed to let him develop further before he attempts to make their roster.

Eyenga is not the only Joventut player with NBA ties. Minnesota Timberwolves president David Kahn was in Spain this week, attempting to negotiate a contract buyout for point guard Ricky Rubio, the No. 5 draft pick overall.

The Cavs have been assured by Eyenga's agent that they would not be subject to a future buyout.

I can understand why Ferry might have seen the potential, but these foreign players always have some baggage. I really would've preferred to take a college player, over this guy...looks like I was right.

Who cares? Guy was a waste of a pick all along.

I care. That wasted draft pick, didn't have to be. But this is newsworthy, which is why I posted it. I feel your anguish, though. I feel the same way...we could've had Blair, and definitely been favorites to win the East again

The kid is still young... let him go over and develop there. He sure wasn't gonna get the same kind of money here this year, so why not? Let them pay for his development. Unless I'm mistaken, we retain his NBA rights, gain a roster spot and save some cash while they pay him to grow into being able to play for us.

Face it, it's the NBA Draft... at pick 30, there generally isn't anything there that isn't a major project.

i could be wrong, but isn't this the exact reason why we drafted him?

we knew he probably would not play for the cavs this year, so therefore you draft him and still save a roster spot, instead of drafting a guy who may be more nba ready.

Sorry, I didn't mean like "Who cares? Why are you posting it?". I meant like "Who cares that he's staying?" lol.

You honestly think that getting Dujuan Blair would have put us over the top as favorites to win the East?

good grief man...

There wasn't a single player in the Draft, period, that would have done that for us this year; and there certainly wasn't anyone at #30 that was going to be of any use this year.

This is exactly what we could of hoped for. We get to keep the rights to a good prospect who will stay overseas for 3 years of "minor league" training that the Cavs don't have to pay for. And this was a raw prospect anyway ... 3 years of skill development will help him immensely, and he won't take up a roster spot in the process.

I think Ferry has 4 or 5 guys in the Euro league like this. Might be a very shrewd plan indeed. Draft prospects ... let them play in Euro league to improve their skills ... bring them over when they're ready ... let Europe foot the bill. In a few years we might have a few NBA ready prospects, that we won't have to fight over in free agency.

Do we hold the NBA rights to these guys indefinitely??


KING

As far as I know ... yes. I don't know what the rules are for getting a team to waive/lose your rights, but it probably involves sitting out a year or two.

I'm not sure exactly what the rules are but didn't Manu Ginoboli and Tony Parker both play overseas after getting drafted by the Spurs? I think there are quite a few other players that have done this...

Although I thought I heard something about Ricky Rubio sitting out a year and re-entering the draft so again I'm not sure how it goes...

I'm happy with the pick after watching him play his last 3 games. I think all along they wanted a player from overseas to get away from the guaranteed money that a 1st round pick gets.

Well, I skimmed through the CBA: http://www.nbpa.com/cba_articles/article-X.php#section5

According to section 5, if I'm reading it right, a team has one year to sign a draftee. If the draftee decides to sign a contract with a non-NBA team, then the team that drafted them retains the draft rights until that new contract runs out ... at which point, they'll get another year to resign the draft pick. Which means a player needs to sit out a year completely to get re-entered into the draft ... they wouldn't even become a free agent.

Which is great news for us ... we get a guy that has good potential, and he'll get three years of practice and training before we need to re-evaluate him. Almost like sending them down to the minors, except we don't have to pay for it.

When the Cavs made the pick, the ESPN talking heads said this was a future development. If you were expecting immediate results on this kid this year, then yes it looks like a waste. If the plan by Ferry & Co was to let him play a few more years and then bring him over, it's going as planned.

The cavs are developing sascha kahn (sp?) and ejike ugboaja overseas also.

Looks like the Heat have declined to match our offer for Moon.

People know nothing about b-ball....going back to Spain doesn't mean wasted draft pick.

Maybe for this year, but there wasn't much help left at 30 that would have played minutes on this team this year