Viacheslav Kravtsov: No longer a team player

There’s no I in team, but there is one in Viacheslav Kravtsov.

Kravtsov’s name was spelled Vyacheslav when the Pistons showed interest in him, Vyacheslav when they negotiated with him and Vyacheslav when they signed him. Unfortunately for Detroit, sometime between now an then, per his official NBA profile, he began going by Viacheslav.

Everybody knows that only players without an ‘I’ in their name – guys like Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Jordan Crawford – play unselfishly. I had looked forward to a no-nonsense Vyacheslav protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds without sucking up valuable possessions with low-efficiency shots. Instead, he’s going to chuck up shot after shot like ‘I’-first Chris Paul, Andre Miller and Greivis Vasquez.

That, or this speaks to how unknown Kravtsov was before the Pistons signed him – so unknown that the English spelling of his name hadn’t been established yet.