Romain Sato

Batiste has now been with the team for eight years, and can pretty much be granted honorary Greek status by now. He started fairly slowly this year, and his 12.9ppg average in Euroleague play trails his 16.9ppg of last season. Nonetheless, he has crescendoed as the season has gone along, and is back to scoring in the more or less unstoppable way he's practiced now for the best part of a decade. Nicholas, meanwhile, provides the team with a consistent outside shooting threat. Were it not for his presence, the team would lack for such a characteristic, as outside shooting is the one thing at which prized incomer Romain Sato does not excel. Sato drives, posts, defends like crazy, rebounds, and tries to run the court, yet jumpshooting is the weakness in his game. By no means is he a non-shooter, but he is not a natural at it. Drew Nicholas is a natural at it.

Romain Sato - Sato never played in the NBA after being drafted by the Spurs back in 2004, and has spent his time since then playing for Italian dynasty Montepaschi Siena. However, Sato might leave Siena in the summer; the team is facing budget cuts at the most inopportune time, coincident with the expiration of contracts to many key players. If Sato does leave, he could command big money on the continent as a star player, whose offense has caught to his defense. Sato shot 43% from three point range last year in addition to his Mr Tickle-like wingspan, and if he wants to give the NBA one last chance while in the height of his prime like this, then I'd happily accommodate him. As long as he takes the minimum.

- Romain Sato

Another former Spurs draft pick, Romain Sato has been with Italian powerhouse Montepaschi Siena for four years now. He's one of the best players on the best team in arguably the third best league in the world, averaging 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in 26 minutes per game in Serie A, alongside 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 27 minutes per game in the Euroleague, while playing his usual awesome defense. Sato is also shooting 44% from three point range in Serie A play, and shot 40% from there in the Euroleague; he's the player the Miami Heat thought Yakhouba Diawara would be. In fact, since Sato's contract with Siena expires this summer (conveniently concurrent with an ownership mandate to cut the team's budget), the Heat might even look to Sato as an option in the summer. Sato will return to the NBA if he gets promises of playing time, because as a star player in Europe, he could stay here and get paid without any problems.