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Maxey: Don't Overlook Printezis And Papanikolaou In Felton Trade

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Brother Wendell Maxey writes on Ridiculous Upside that the two European players included in the Raymond Felton sign-and-trade between the Portland Trail Blazers and New York Knicks shouldn't be overlooked. ---------------------------------- Both Printezis and Papanikolaou are proven winners with Olympiacos in the Greek League and are coming off a season where they not only captured the Turkish Airlines Euroleague championship in an instant classic game against CSKA Moscow, but they turned around and won the Greek League too. The 6-foot-9 Printezis isn't afraid to take a make big shots. Just ask Andrei Kirilenko who watched as the aggressive forward hit a game-winning floater over him with 0.7 seconds left to give Olympiacos an incredible 62-61 comeback win back in May. ... Kostas Papanikolaou is in a similar situation, but at 21-years old Portland can test their patience a little more willingly. Back on draft night, Knicks fans heavily booed when it was announced New York took Papanikolaou with the 48th overall pick. But in the end those fans were only expressing their own lack of overseas basketball education. Because had they possessed even a small idea of Papanikolaou's upside, they would have salivated at the chance to watch the 6-foot-9 small forward mature within the organization -- even if it meant leaving him in Europe for the next couple of seasons. New York's loss truly is Portland's gain. We are talking about a Euroleague Final Four MVP, a star on the rise. ---------------------------------- ed: text edited, bumped to front page