Fran Vazquez Reminds Us What Could Have Been...

Written by Philip Rossman-Reich | 24 August 2010

Fran Vazquez and the Spanish National Team were back in the spotlight Sunday as they took on Team U.S.A. in a tuneup for the World Championships beginning this weekend. The game was really exciting-- if not ultimately meaningless -- that featured Derrick Rose making a couple clutch plays including the game-winning free throws and Kevin Durant blocking two shots as time expired to preserve the win.

Spain is widely recognized as the biggest threat to the U.S. in any international tournament. They pretty much have everyone back, except for Pau Gasol, from the team that nearly upset the Redeem Team in Beijing. Of course, the U.S. is fielding a young, largely unbalanced roster that should make things very very interesting in Turkey. The tournament starts Saturday as the U.S. takes on Croatia.

Spain is unique in that respect then to a lot of NBA teams. The ACB League right now might be the only league that has talent the NBA wants and can't get.

Everyone was ogling over Ricky Rubio during the game Sunday. Rubio was drafted fifth in the 2009 NBA Draft by Minnesota but leveraged that selection into a new contract in Spain -- and possibly a ticket out of Minneapolis. The Timberwolves really did think he was going to be their savior. And now, like its sister team in Orlando, Minnesota is sitting and waiting for him to come over.

The Magic have been waiting on Fran Vazquez since drafting him with the 11th pick in 2005. Vazquez was an unknown commodity when Orlando picked him up, but his talent and potential made him by far the best player on the board. But the reason he dropped to the Magic were concerns about whether he would actually come to the U.S.

Vazquez has been to Orlando once. And that was to receive his ceremonial jersey for being drafted.

The Magic still hold his rights for whenever he comes to the NBA. But that should not be any time soon (this summer was supposed to be the one... and it is not happening).

Vazquez has proven he can play with NBA talent. He scored six points in the friendly Sunday against the U.S. and has been a very good contributor for Regal Barcelona the last few years. the talent is unquestionably there. He just may never want to play in the NBA. Tough break for the Magic.

Watching him play Sunday, he reminded me a lot of Marcin Gortat. A much more coordinated Gortat with a jumper. He was definitely not afraid to step out and shoot when the opportunity presented itself and he has a good feel of where to be on the pick and roll. He was open more than a few times when running with Ricky Rubio.

In other words: man this guy would be perfect in a Magic uniform right about now.

But all we have now is the tantalizing promise that Vazquez could one day deliver.

I, for one, have always been optimistic that Vazquez will play in Orlando. At some point, the NBA's buyout restrictions will be changed allowing teams to spend a little bit more to bring over foreign players. You imagine that has to be part of collective bargaining next year, right? And it is probably something the players do not want to see.

But as each year passes and Vazquez moves further and further away from the team's plans -- not to mention gets older, even though he is still relatively young now -- the dream of seeing Vazquez in an Orlando uniform seems to die quicker and quicker.

You can argue Orlando finally brought over Marcin Gortat as insurance when Vazquez spurned the team. Gortat's big body ably filled the role of athletic backup center to Dwight Howard. Now that Gortat's value has skyrocketed, it seems Daniel Orton is now slated to fill this role.

Vazquez is out of place out of mind for the Magic. But these brief reminders tell us Vazquez still has a lot of promise.

Who knows, maybe in a couple years when his contract expires and the Magic (under the current collective bargaining agreement) can offer him the fair market value Vazquez will feel ready to leave his homeland and play in the NBA. At this point that seems extremely unlikely.

Orlando seems to have given up hope that Vazquez will ever come. He is certainly not part of the every day planning of the team. If he comes it would only be icing on the cake.

Until then, Magic fans -- especially the ones starving for an impact player to put the Magic over the hump right now -- can only watch from afar and wonder how much the 6-foot-10 Spaniard could have helped this team this year.