Okay, so your team didn’t do so well in the playoffs. And they didn’t luck out in the draft lottery either. And they don’t even have much cap space heading into the forthcoming NBA free agent frenzy. Sounds like they’re in dire straits when it comes to improving this offseason, right? Wrong. There’s still a glut of international players that could come help your team on the cheap. Whether your team already owns the rights, via the draft, to an international player (think Luis Scola) or your GM is savvy enough to have scouted the top European talent (think Anthony Parker), there is help for those teams that can’t make a big splash by traditional means.

Not to bore you with players you haven’t heard of, but there is a serious crop of available players suiting up in the Euroleague right now, especially at the point guard position. There’s probably nobody in the group that would make as big an impact as Parker, but there are a half dozen potential back-up point guards and project big men.

Ex-NBA players like Milt Palacio, Pape Sow, Omar Cook and Aaron Miles appear ready to come back overseas. None of these are impact players, but all have honed their games and reportedly improved since their prior NBA stint. In the lesser known ranks there are potentially more valuable players, a few of which could realistically make the jump this year.

Ramunas Siskauskas is a 6’6” shooting guard who played at CSKA Moscow this past season and was ranked 18th in the Euroleague in player efficiency. He was also sixth in total points and shot 44.2% from long range. At age 29, it’s a now-or-never situation for him, and it will be interesting to see if someone takes a flier on his wingman potential.

At 6’5”, Dimitris Diamantidis seems a solid prospect as an NBA point guard. The 28-year-old of Panathinaikos shot 43.5% from three-point range and was top-25 for his position in efficiency, defensive rebounding and assists.

Moving to the bigs, former Tennessee stand-out Marcus Haislip, still just 27, is one heck of an athlete and at 6’10” has an NBA body. Spreading the floor with a three-point clip over 36%, Haislip lacks strong rebounding skill but makes up for it with shot-blocking and efficient scoring.

Theodoros Papaloukas, owner of perhaps the best name in the Euroleague, is a 6’7” swingman who can play some point. He may be a short-term fix at age 31, but he was second in Europe in assists per 40 minutes and tallies steals at a pretty decent rate.

The final major Euro-prospect to look at is a prospect in every sense of the word. At just 22, DaShaun Wood is an undersized point guard. Ho-hum, right? Not quite, as Wood fills the score sheet (to the tune of second overall in the league in scoring) and was sixth in his league in assists, all while shooting over 45% from long range. Not only could he be an NBA-ready player, he’s also an interesting project to send to the D-League to develop. Wood could end up being the best player out of the current crop of available free agents in Europe.

Don’t worry, though – if you’re team can’t afford one of these players (likely at a cost of $3M-ish per season, except for the less expensive Wood), they may own the draft rights to someone else. There are currently about 50 players with draft rights still owned by NBA teams. You can find the full list here at RealGM, but allow me to highlight a few to get your hopes up.

Tiago Splitter – San Antonio Spurs: Oh, shoot, the Spurs didn’t need another inexpensive impact player to add to the mix? Well, shucks, because they have one in Splitter. After going in the lottery on mock drafts for several years, Splitter fell to #28 last season. At 6’11”, Splitter could make a serious impact at any time now, assuming the Spurs keep his rights and want to pair him next to Duncan.

Roko Ukic – Toronto Raptors: If Ford or Calderon goes, Ukic is expected to fill the void in the back-up point guard duties. He is big for a point guard at 6’5” and has developed an impressive offensive game, making it possible that he sees time at shooting guard, too. He has apparently agreed to come to Canada already.

Fran Vazquez – Orlando Magic: There has always been a lot of controversy surrounding Vazquez’s status, but the only mistake the Magic can make is to wait. At 6’10” and age 25, Vazquez is ready to join the league as an offensively gifted power forward any time now. Meshing with Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu could be a problem, and Vazquez has long been rumored in trade talks, so don’t be surprised if he doesn’t arrive in the NBA with Orlando.

Rudy Fernandez – Portland Trail Blazers: Drafted by the Suns, this 6’6” shooting guard was dealt to the Blazers for cash. He is yet another young piece Portland could add to their nucleus. He already has seven years of international ball experience and won the ULEB Cup with Joventut Badalona this past season. How Fernandez fits with Webster and Roy is the only real question left to be answered.

Frederic Weis – New York Knicks: Just kidding. This 15th overall 7’2” center never came over after the Knicks took him in 1999. He is a cautionary tale both for drafting European talent early and for leaving these players in Europe for too long. Oh, and he’s the guy Vince Carter dunked on in the Olympics. Yeah, that guy.

Others that are impressive on the list but probably aren’t headed over soon are Marc Gasol (Memphis), Renaldas Seibutis (Dallas), Stanko Barac (Indiana), Joel Freeland (Portland) and Giorgos Printezis (Toronto).

So relax…even if your team can’t fill their holes via free agency or the draft, we’ll always have Europe.

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