 During Spanoulis' first NBA season, there was a dispute between him and Rockets head coach, Jeff Van Gundy, over playing time.There was an issue between the team's management, Spanoulis, and the coach as well, over the contract that Spanoulis had signed.In order to sign with the Rockets, and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NBA, Spanoulis took a considerably smaller contract than the one that was being offered to him by his Greek team, Panathinaikos Athens.