Joel Freeland: ‘NBA Can Wait’

By Sam Neter on February 19, 2011

EFE/David Aguilar

GB big man Joel Freeland has revealed he is in no rush to play in the NBA anytime soon and will only make the jump if he is going to get minutes. Freeland, who was drafted with the 30th overall pick by the Portland Trailblazers in the 2006 NBA Draft, is currently playing for Unicaja Málaga in the Spanish ACB league.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper Malaga Hoy that was translated by Hoopshype, Freeland is asked the question whether the NBA is in his future plans. He responded:

“In the future, yes. I’m not thinking about it now because I signed a long contract here and I’m under contract for three more years. But in the future, of course I do. The dream of all players is to play in the NBA. All of them, and if they say they don’t, they are just lying. But if I go there, I want to go there to play, not to be on the bench.”

About a month ago, Portland Trail Blazers Director of College Scouting Chad Buchanan provided updates on the team’s overseas prospects and further gave the impression we won’t be seeing Freeland in a Portland jersey anytime soon.

He said:

“Joel Freeland is playing extremely well for his team as well. Both Joel’s team and Victor’s team are kind of middle of the pack — Victor’s team is making a little bit of a jump — but Joel’s team is kind of middle of the pack in the ACB. He’s their starting center, plays good minutes, very efficient player, high field goal percentage, low mistake guy. He’s really … his progress has been kind of gradual.”

“He’s one of the top paid big men in all of Europe. For us, that presents a challenge bringing him over because he’s in a great situation. I mean, he lives in Malaga, Spain, which is a beautiful place to live, he’s got a major role on his team, he’s making good money over there, so he’s kind of in a little bit of a comfort zone.”

“Joel Freeland is now 23, Victor just turned 22, so those guys are still very young players. We drafted both those guys when they were 19, so we’ve been able to see them develop. If they were in the States, they’d be going through their upperclassmen years of college. So we’re excited about both of those two guys.”

“In talking with Joel, Joel is in a very comfortable place. I think, long-term, he does want to be in the NBA. He’s having success right now and he likes that. He was a late-bloomer so he’s now starting to experience some success. I think he’s probably not as close as Victor is to wanting to come over.”

“Joel got to be somewhat close to Greg [Oden] when he came over to play Summer League with us, so he’s always asking me how Greg is doing.”

What do you think? Happy to see Joel getting it done in the ACB or do you wanna see him suiting up in the NBA? Drop a comment and let us know!

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