Happy New Year
December 31, 2007
I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all our readers, but I prefer letting the Euroleague stars do this job for me. Check it out and tell me what is the problem with Lazaros Papadopoulos? Read more
Defining moments for European Basketball
December 31, 2007
So this is it - 2007 will be officially over in a few hours. But what happened in 2007? I could try to go through the whole year now but I want to summarize what the interesting, funny and sometimes even sad stories that we covered here on BallinEurope since late September 2007.
- It all started with one topic which is kind of important to European Basketball:" How to get a passport of an European country". We had several examples, starting with J.R. Holden having an American and a Russian passport. But why is it so important? I am sure I don’t have to explain this to our experts but some might just be wondering. Since almost every league has a restriction on how many foreign, esp. American players can be on a team, having an European passport just multiplies your chances to play on a Euroleague team. You don’t take up a foreign spot - it is a as simple as that
- Next interesting story: with all the "old" NBA stars like Reggie Miller or Charles Oakley thinking about a comeback in the NBA’s off season one guy, who also wanted to play in the NBA again, got a one game contract in Finland: Scottie Pippen
- One of the top stories on BallinEurope was the switch from some NBA players to the Euroleague - first was Sarunas Jasikevicius - guys like Lynn Greer followed
- Our first official event we went to as BallinEurope was the NBA LIVE tour in Rome. It was really nice to follow the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors. It was obvious that the Celtics will have an impact on the NBA with the BIG 3, but nobody thought the impact would be that huge - nice move by David Stern to bring that team over to Europe. It was also fun to meet some people from the media - like Michael Grange from the Globe and Mail
- What would be a cool and entertaining blog without some hot girls? We where lucky to combine Basketball with some hot girls like Ilaria Capponi, who played first division basketball in Italy and also got third place for Miss Italia
- This is where our "battle" with Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell started - somehow it never ended - I whish I could talk to Sam soon in person..
- I told you that European passports are a nice thing to have - Spanish newspapers found out too
- After Chris Webber told us that he is "an NBA guy" and not interested in Olympiakos’ money, Marc Jackson joined Olympiakos
- We also tried to make a top-10 list of the best NBA players ever to play in Europe - as you can see in the comments some people did not agree
- How do you know that our blog is a European blog? Some people say you can see it in the logo, some people might say because of the content - We think this makes us European - posting naked girls without censoring. BAD Europeans!
- One thing people love on BallinEurope: Euroleague fantasy league talks - it all started with this post
- Also on BallinEurope: A French guy saying that "being French sucks!"
- Until there is a global league, the discussion, what European basketball is like and how much better (or even if) the NBA is better will go on - Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach from Italy explained what European basketball for him is like
- Any suggestions for the "picture of the year 2007"? This was the "06" winner - Euroleague and NBA
- This was how we started the Euroleague season: asking 24 journalists to write a short summary on their team of the Euroleague - what a success! People even asked us how much money we gave these people to write them. I can promise you - they did it just for "the love of the game"
- By know we all know that Delonte Holland had to leave Virtus Bologna - but it all started much earlier - I am sure some Virtus’ people wished they could see into the future..
- Who makes the most $$$ or EUROS in Europe - here is the Top 10- list for Basketball salaries in Europe
- One more thing about asking the 24 journalists about the Euroleague teams: "100% of the experts will lose a bet if CSKA doesn’t reach the Final Four" As of now CSKA is the team with the best record in the Euroleague - we have true experts I guess
- Another thing where you can see that some things can be said in Europe - but Americans don’t like that at all
- We also did some live blogging - it started like that - thanks to the CoverItLive tool it looks very professional now
- I whish I saw that game - headline: "How to lose a close game"
- If you still doubt that people like our Fantasy posts - just read this
- Should I mention the Kerry Gibson story? Well, it is definitely worth reading - hence even his mom posted a comment on our blog!
- I almost forgot Euroleague TV - it wasn’t working to well in the beginning - but hey, they just started and it is the best thing to have now - if you are interested in Euroleague basketball. One thing they might want to improve - this commentator
- Marco Belinelli started with 37 points in the NBA’s summer league for the Golden State Warriors. Now - nothing is going on for him - it is that bad that even Italians tell us they don’t like his style - things can change quickly I guess
- 5 overtimes in Berlin - even US media outlets talked about that event
A lot more happened since we started this blog in September 07 - but one thing will stick out for me - BallinEurope’s meeting in Spain. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the whole BallinEurope crew - even though we paid too much money for a dinner 
Have a good start for 2008 - 75% of the people think this will be a good year! OK - 75% of the Germans.
Monday cigarettes
December 31, 2007
- After the much commented Kerry Gibson story, it is good to see that there are also Americans that adapt well and are happy to play in such strange places as Lappeenranta, Finland
- Omri Casspi, one of the top prospects in Europe, has a dad that is a little bit too much into the development of his son
- After having demolished Real Madrid in "El Classico" this week, Barcelona got hammered by Vive Menorca this Sunday. Up and down…
- The French All-Star game this Saturday was the worst one I ever saw. At least, some of the dunks of the Contest were good
- Signing frenzy in Germany: Kimani Ffriend to Brose Baskets, Chad Prewitt comes back to Artland Dragons, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje extends his contract with Oldenburg and Jason Miller signed with Jena
- After having beat Spain during Eurobasket with a big 3, Marko Tomas wins it again, but this time in traffic
- You know 1-on-1, you know 2-on-2, or even Streetball 3-on-3 action? If so, in Berlin was this weekend the final of the German 4-on-4 challenge
- The French LNB League is celebrating its 20th anniversary. And they just published a Top 10 of the best blocks of the Finals history. I hope they come up with more…
David Vanterpool anybody?
December 30, 2007
Does this name ring any bells for you? Yes, David did play of CSKA Moscow last season - well, until he got injured and Oscar Torres (now with UPIM Bologna) replaced him. What is going on with David? Has he signed somewhere we just don’t know? Well, Ettore Messina explains what David is up to. Read more
What a wise guy thinks of today’s basketball
December 29, 2007
Darryl Middleton is probably the oldest professional player in the top European leagues. Just imagine, he has been drafted in 1988 by the Atlanta; a date when Ricky Rubio was not even born. Darryl is blogging for Solobasket.com (in Spanish) and I just checked out a bit what he is telling us.
Are you ready for "El Classico"?
December 28, 2007
Because tonight will be the eternal match-up between the two Spanish powerhouses, Barcelona versus Real Madrid, or even Catalunya versus Castilla. If you have not done your homework, here are a few interesting facts to be prepared for tonight’s game.
A legend returns to Varese for the last time
December 27, 2007
This Thursday night, Gianmarco Pozzecco will play his last game of his career in his former home, the PalaWhirlpool of Varese. This is a good reason to come back a bit on his great career as the “bad boy” PG of Italy.
Who wants to be Vitaly Potapenko?
December 27, 2007
The serious news first: NBA “veteran” Vitaly Potapenko just signed with the Spanish club MMT Estudiantes (Madrid). Is this really worth some news on BallinEurope? Well, of course, since Madrid is in Europe and Vitaly is an NBA LEGEND - yes, this has to be written in capital letters. I remember from my youth team in Germany, if you made these jokes, that you will make it to the NBA, your friends always would say :” Sure you will, and it will look like Vitaly Potapenko!” Everybody wanted to be in the NBA - but more like Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, hell some people even wanted to be this guy - but Vitaly Potapenko? Read more
No Holidays in Spain!
December 26, 2007
I was lucky to get away from Basketball for at least four days. It did get on my nerves a little bit to be honest - well, Basketball here in Italy. I was rather talking to friends from back home, thinking about writing a post with an iPhone .. things like that - as you can see not very thoughtful things. Read more
My wishes for 2008
December 26, 2007
After Julien already exposed one of his wishes with an European All-Star game, I thought about what I would really like to happen in 2008. Here are a few thoughts (without any order) about what I really would love to see.
