Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa Claus,

First of all, thank you for existing. Because during such a crisis as this, I’ve been worrying that Christmas might also be reserved for the Chapter 11 treatment. But you’re not still dead, maybe you’re searching for money like General Motors and Chrysler are (oops…maybe you’re healthier, up there in Lapland). I’m writing you this letter in the hopes you’ll satisfy my wishes. I think I won’t pretend too much: We are talking about basketball here. This is my list:

• 24 elite teams in the Euroleague. I can’t see Panionios or Le Mans playing Europe’s most important competition. The best with the best: That’s my opinion. And Ljubljana, Nancy, Zalgiris getting 20 or more points on the road? Mentality, people. They don’t have enough to face the Euroleague, so they can stay in the Eurocup, full stop. So, dear Santa Claus, if you would carry to me an Euroleague reserved for Italian, Spanish, Greek, some Russian and Turkish teams, I’d be the happiest boy you’ve ever pleased! A recommendation: Don’t say anything to Patrick Baumann; call only Jordi Bertomeu to hear what he says about this idea.

• Less perimeter-oriented basketball. My basketball is not catch-and-shoot style, it’s not target practice. I want hesitations, spin moves, and mid-range plays back! I would see big men able to score back to the basket, getting the ball on the low post, scoring tap-ins and fighting for rebounds. I’m bored to see power forwards and centers who shoot only beyond the arc. Should I be pleased to have Ksistof Lavrinovic here in Siena? OK, you win there. But I’d be satisfied if you equipped Montepaschi with a Greg Oden-like player: That way I’d be sure of the European title. Cheers.

• Endless changes in the NIKEID Fantasy Challenge.

• New and better arenas – no more gyms. Build them on your own, ’cause my feeling is that the economic crisis could stop owners from investing a few euros in new palaces, despite Bertomeu and his calls for 9000 seats per squad.

• CSKA’s cheerleaders on every court.

• Responsible agents who are honest in managing contracts and do the best they can for their clients, rather than themselves. Brandon Jennings’ case should teach us something, because with the season going on, the thought that B.J. would develop his skills much more in the NCAA instead on the Lottomatica’s pine consistently increases. Two reasons: the great combo-guard class (UNC’s Ty Lawson, Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo, Davidson’s Stephen Curry, UCLA’s Darren Collison, Memphis’ Tyreke Evans, Kansas’ Sherron Collins) we are now admiring in college basketball, and the resignation of Jasmin Repesa. If a 19-year-old in his first experience outside the US, has two or three different coaches during the season, well, you add further confusion to your mind

• A team for Dimitris Itoudis: Zelimir Obradovic can’t stand his unstoppable talking anymore.

That’s all. Have I made requests you can’t attend to? OK then, give me the latest Air Jordans. But please, pledge yourself to help people keep their jobs, so they might forget all their problems at least while watching a basketball game.

Yours Truly,

Francesco Cappelletti

Nenad Kristic is back in the NBA

According to ESPN’s Chad Ford and Draftexpress, Nenad Kristic is leaving Russia and Triumph Lyubertsy. And since the story even ran on ESPN last night, it seems to be more than just a rumor. Sources say that GM Sam Presti of the worst NBA team so far, the Oklahoma City Thunder, is making this move to bring Nenad back to the NBA.

According to the hoop, Kristic will pay back all the money he received so far from Triumph in order to get out of his contract.

Triumph is probably tanking the season with this move, since they are already eliminated from the Euro Cup, and the Russian Cup is well behind their expectations.

Tips from the Euroleague boss: Week 7

Hello everybody, once again this is Javier Gancedo, as always from Euroleague Basketball in the last NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge blog of 2008. Looking back at the Euroleague year, it has been a fantastic one. The Final Four in Madrid was terrific; the competition system changed and it is safe to say it was an improvement; Ramunas Siskauskas was the 2008 Euroleague MVP; and we changed the website to a cooler, more stable system. Personally, I can’t complain other then about a team that never ever wins. Everyone around me knows I’m a Cajasol fan; I never hid it. So seeing my team at the bottom of the ACB table hurts. Let’s hope Santa brings some courage to those talented players that showed their skills in European basketball but somehow fail to win games in my state-of-the-art hometown Sevilla.

I am also excited because Montepaschi Siena is in town tomorrow and that is a must-watch game. Regal FC Barcelona is playing really well lately, like they showed against Panathinaikos in Athens. It reminded of a mid-nineties game in which Barcelona demolished the Greens 74-95 in the Greek capital behind 23 points from Xavi Fernandez. Barcelona played close to perfection that way but Panathinaikos had the final say, as it won the 1996 Euroleague title - its first - later on that season amid controversy. Would I be surprised to see both teams again in the Euroleague final this season? Well, it’s a possibility.

Speaking of history, it’s CSKA vs. Real Madrid this week: The teams have combined for 14 European cup crowns and 24 top continental finals. I could tell endless stories about this, since I coordinated the 50 Years of European Club Basketball projects and had to good fortune to talk to people like Lolo Sainz and Pedro Ferrandiz. Spain was under Franco’s dictatorship and the country had no relationship whatsoever with the Soviet Union. Madrid had to play the European Cup final over there, becoming the first Spanish team in any sport to travel to Moscow. Basketball beating politics for a global world? Yes indeed.

So if I were you, I would tune in to Euroleague TV for an outstanding Euroleague Wednesday. As for Fantasy Challenge, well, again I had an OK week and moved closer to the Top 3. This time it was pure luck, to be honest. I happened not to have those players that were in mind before trading and had low scores. So as usual, I will do the trades at the same time I write the blog.

Hmm… First of all, I do believe that since Victor Sada is back, he will be all over Terrell McIntyre in the big game at Palau Blaugrana. So I am trading T-Mac. Trade number two has got to be Chris Warren, playing against a low-scoring team like Unicaja. I have to thank Vedran Vukusic for the 13.2 he gave me last week, but I don’t like him against Olympiacos.

So I am taking a risk again this week by having Mantas Kalnietis. Willie Deane is gone, so Kalnietis will be playing non-stop from now on, and Zalgiris has a home game. Kalnietis is priced at just 13 credits and the trade looks suicidal, but oh well. Tau faces a couple of must-win road games, so I’m going with Igor Rakocevic for the first time this season.

This leaves me with around 69 credits for my final trade. I don’t particularly like any of the players I see available, so I am going with Turkcan because of the rebounds, and also because Joventut is short of rebounders with Mensah-Bonsu gone and Henk Norel possibly sidelined. Plus again, Fenerbache Ulker plays at home.

So the team looks like this:

Mantas Kalnietis - the big gamble this week. Is Kalnietis ready to lead Zalgiris to its first Euroleague win?

Lynn Greer - Comes off a bad game, so expect him to bounce back. Does patience lead to fantasy success?

Jonas Maciulis - Comes off an extraordinary game. Is underpriced. Maciulis stays, no doubt.

Rimantas Kaukenas - May have an advantage in offense vs. Navarro and Lakovic.

Juan Carlos Navarro - It’s a big game and Barça plays at home. Navarro must do well.

Igor Rakocevic - A newcomer in my team, as weird as it may seem. Rakocevic has been unstoppable so far.

Tiago Splitter - The All-Euroleague center should dominate against Ansu Sesay and Adam Chubb.

Andre Hutson - In great shape and ready to keep rocking. Everybody must have him, though.

Mirsad Turkcan - He should outrebound Hernandez-Sonseca, Bogdanovic and Jagla all by himself.

Mike Batiste - With Pekovic questionable, I’ve changed my mind. Batiste stays!

Since this is my last blog in 2008, I want to wish everybody out there a happy holiday break. Let’s hope that 2009 is even better than 2008 - which, in Cajasol’s case, is an easy thing to do. Hopefully!

Tips from the Euroleague boss: Week 6

Hi everyone, this is once again Javier Gancedo, as always from the Euroleague Basketball headquarters at Palau Sant Jordi. Well, not always, since it is my day off today, and I’m at home chilling out in Barcelona.

First of all, the fact that I know nothing about basketball kills me. I come up with The Golden Rule about CSKA and you know what happened: Armani Jeans Milano downed the reigning Euroleague champions and David Hawkins had a fantastic game. I was shocked to see Real Madrid rally from a 28-point deficit only to lose on a running layup by Aaron Miles. Hopefully, Miles will no longer be missed in my hometown Sevilla since DeJuan Collins is in town. I’m already going to the game against DKV Joventut next week with stuff from KFC and some private DVDs to make sure he plays well.

Like I said, I am still fortunate to keep my spot here at BallinEurope. OK, I choked with the CSKA Golden Rule thing, but I think that my team is doing a pretty good job this season. It’s not easy to anticipate what you do and still be one of the top teams in the private league. Making it to the Top 3 will be difficult: There are very good teams out there. First of all and above all, keep in mind that THE DEADLINE IS ON TUESDAY AT 19:00, because Alba Berlin has an early game this week. You have been warned…

As for my team, let’s see what we have - I always do the trades live as I write this article, I think it makes it fresher. You don’t know how many times I erase parts of the text and come back. Anyway, Mirza Begic has to go because I think he reached his maximum level already and this is a little bit like the stock exchange. Let’s see what happens with the new coach and then Begic may be back.

I’ll stick to my CSKA Golden Rule, so Aaron Miles is my second trade this week. I’ve already opted to release Mirsad Turkcan because Semih Erden is back and so Turkcan will play fewer minutes. The game against Alba is a good one for him, however, but I want Tiago Splitter in my team no matter what; not because I think he will do well against Olimpija - Begic is tall and Vladimir Golubovic is aggressive and tough - but because I want to keep him for the remainder of the season.

My second trade is Terrell McIntyre, even when he will play against Barcelona in two weeks’ time and I don’t expect a big game for him then. Still, he should play well against Zalgiris this week. I have very limited money for the third trade, so I’m going to shock you all: Vedran Vukusic. He’s coming off a couple of good games and playing good minutes lately. He faces Cibona, so he can open the court with three-pointers. If they fall in, I will strike gold. If they don’t, well, erm… What’s next? Ah yeah, my team looks like this, then:

Terrell McIntyre - should be a good game for him against Zalgiris. A bit afraid that Mantas Kalnietis guards him.
Lynn Greer - Would have traded him if I had a fourth. That game against Unicaja in Malaga doesn’t look good.

Jonas Maciulis - The Bull is ready to go against the entire Montepaschi backcourt. He played well vs. L.Rytas this weekend.

Rimantas Kaukenas - I don’t like to have players that face each other, but I expect Kaukenas AND Maciulis to do well.

Juan Carlos Navarro - It’s a make-or-break game for Barcelona to win its group. Expect “La Bomba” to deliver.

Chris Warren - Well, I had other priorities, to be honest. Warren is solid and plays at home against a high-scoring team.

Tiago Splitter - Chose him over teammate Igor Rakocevic. Should stay in my fantasy team for good.

Andre Hutson - Has been rock-solid lately and is still underpriced. He’s had good games in Badalona before.

Vedran Vukusic - The big gamble. Hopefully he will read the game well and bomb Alain Koffi and Pape Badiane from downtown.

Mike Batiste - Honestly, I would have prefered Nikola Pekovic, but Batiste should do well against Regal FCB.

As usual, good luck, make wise choices and see you next week!

Tips from the Euroleague boss: Week 5

Hello everybody, once again this is Javier Gancedo, as always from Euroleague.net. What a Euroleague week it was, friends! First-time winners Union Olimpija and AJ Milano, the best Real Madrid show of the season, an impossible end to that Partizan-CSKA showdown, TWO overtime thrillers in Zagreb and Le Mans and above all, an instant classic between Tau Ceramica and DKV Joventut: If you have Euroleague TV, check it if you can, if not, well… there are ways and ways to get DVDs all over the continent. The Eurocup has also begun and we’re happy that our new game, the Eurocup FabFive Challenge, has got some positive response from people out there. It’s too early to say but all the favourites - in the Eurocup, that is, not in the game - are already showing their credentials.

To be perfectly honest - and back to the NIKEiD Euroleague Fantasy Challenge; that’s what I’m here for, after all - I think I’m playing beyond expectations, with few mistakes and too much luck. I got almost 160 points this week, climbed to the fifth spot in the BallinEurope private league and suddenly I feel I’m running out of stamina. This week was the hardest one for me to trade in the entire season. My guess is that since this is the first week of the record round of regular-season games, you can always look back and see what happened back then.

In Week 1, Will McDonald of Tau Ceramica was the MVP, but he didn’t have Tiago Splitter in top shape back then. Rawle Marshall of Cibona was second with a 29 index, but his stock had dropped a little, especially since that Adriatic League fight we don’t want to remember. D’or Fischer of Maccabi has a 28 index but he has not been playing that much since that game. Same with Mirza Begic of Union Olimpija and Ersan Ilyasova of Regal FCB, who completed the Top 5 that week.

There isn’t much reference there, is there? That’s why I think it is so tough to trade this week. I’m not alone in this, as BallinEurope editor Christophe (http://www.ballineurope.com/fantasy-leagues/euroleague-fantasy-challenge/fantasy-challenge-follow-your-own-tips/) is also going absolutely nuts. From now on, a whole different game begins. It’s not about accumulating money, but analyzing opponents, injuries, considering if your player is going against high-scoring teams … Stuff like that.

So this is what I did, and remember, I could be perfectly wrong. First of all, Emir Preldzic has to go. He was a great buy for a while, but his underachieving performance added to the fact that Pete Mickeal is back and ready to give any defender a LOT of trouble make me consider that Preldzic should be traded - no matter that I think he’s one of the most exciting players to watch in the entire continent. I am also selling Chris Warren, because Avellino plays Olympiacos on the road and that is always tough. Plus Warren is quite expensive and gives me some room to improve my team a bit.

I have decided to keep Begic to cash in the credits, so I am trading Mike Hall. Yes, he is way underrated and yes, he did very well against Panionios On Telecoms last week, but there is the golden rule. Oh, I hear you asking, what is the golden rule? One I follow each and every time:

THE GOLDEN RULE: NEVER USE PLAYERS FACING CSKA MOSCOW THAT WEEK!

So Hall has to go, too. I am buying Juan Carlos Navarro, a good player at just 55 credits, going against SLUC Nancy this week. He may face a hypermotivated Michel Morandais going against him, his former teammate, but I will take the risk. Trying to buy a center that I actually like is virtually impossible. Everyone is going against tough opponents, is very expensive, I don’t like them that week… so I’ll go for the obvious choice: Andre Hutson, Lottomatica Roma, just because he’s underrated and is in great shape. I ain’t going to think too much about the other SG/SF and take the most expensive player available: Rimantas Kaukenas. Montepaschi faces Prokom Trefl Sopot, with no Lithuanians to battle against this time around. Well anyway, I will take the chance.

So my team goes like this:

Aaron Miles - in great shape. Facing Real Madrid without Pepe Sanchez in the house. He should be solid.

Lynn Greer - coming off a great game and Olympiacos faces Avellino. Big lefties showdown against Travis Best!

Jonas Maciulis - The Bull keeps playing solid minutes. A huge game from him is just a question of time.

Juan Carlos Navarro - It is always good to have “La Bomba” in your team. Especially playing at home.

Sani Becirovic - Sometimes I wonder how can I be 621st without Igor Rakocevic. Well, he’s the reason why.

Rimantas Kaukenas - Apparently, it’s a good game for him. And Siena hosts Zalgiris in Week 7, too…

Mirza Begic - One week, no more. I love Begic though, the biggest moneymaker in the game this season.

Andre Hutson - Lottomatica faces Alba Berlin and he should post up solid numbers against Sesay and Nadjfeji.

Mirsad Turkcan - Semih Erden is back, who the hell decided that there are ONLY three trades per week?

Mike Batiste - Again, who is the big brain that limits my team to only three trades each and every week?

…shit, it was me. Oh well, wouldn’t the game be way more boring with unlimited trades, anyway?

Greetings from Nottingham, where I am this weekend: Land of Robin Hood, Nottingham Forest and anything but basketball!

What’s wrong with Americans in Europe?

Dario from basketbalcentral.it just sent me an email on Rawle Marshall, who plays for Cibona and also in the Euroleague.

Rawle got into a fight in a domestic league game against Split.

These fights of Americans have happened very often in recent weeks. I had to check immediately if Rawle is also from Arizona, as are his fight buddies Loren Woods and Joseph Blair, but thank god he is not: Rawle went to Oakland University, although he had a one-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

Here is the video evidence, thanks to Dario:

EuroCup LIVE - Bamberg vs. Turow

Dave Hein of heinnews.com is live in Bamberg to present us the first game of the EuroCup, EuroChallenge or old FIBA Eurocup mixed with the ULEB Cup - I don’t know what it actually should be, but it’s the next level after the Euroleague.

The game starts at 7.30pm local time. Meanwhile the game between Khimki Moscow and STB Le Havre will be shown on Eurosport.com LIVE and for free starting at 5pm. This is a good opportunity to follow Carlos Delfino and Jorge Garbajosa.

CSKA Moscow women’s team withdraws from Euroleague

The official statement comes as no great surprise to BallinEurope, since we discussed the problems at CSKA women’s basketball team a few days ago. As basketcentral and the official CSKA website just informed, CSKA will drop out of Euroleague play.

It was said that even the CSKA men’s team tried to help out the women’s team financially to augment assistance from the Russian federation, which was trying to find new sponsors for CSKA, but player contracts have been just too much. Don’t forget that CSKA signed Becky Hammon, who has a Russian passport, for two years with a €1 million contract. Besides Hammon, there are also WNBA stars such as Katie Douglas, Janel McCarville, Ann Wauters and Edwige Lawson.

Compared to men’s basketball, this is as big a blow as if the men’s team of CSKA pulled out of the Euroleague: A pretty huge deal!

Crisis reaches Russia - Delfino refuses to play

Our contact in Russia has informed us about some major development in Russia. According to him, the global financial crisis is having a direct effect on the Russian basketball. If you really think about it, it just makes sense and critics of high-paying Russian investors are finally proven right.

He also explains why Russia is having problems:

Much depends on the value of the dollar. If the oil prices keep dropping - the ruble (Russian currency) will fall. It is expected that the ruble will fall. From there, everything will get worse. Many Russian basketball contracts are in dollars, but sponsorship of the clubs and salaries is in rubles, meaning the clubs will have to pay more money to their players.

If you take a look at the sponsors and their stocks, it is obvious what clubs will or already have problems.

CSKA Moscow, Dynamo, Khimki, Triumph Lyubertsy and CSK VVS are not paying salaries right now. While CSKA and Dynamo are just going through long delays, Khimki’s and Triumph’s situations are much worse. The CSKA women’s team is on the edge of bankruptcy: Its main sponsor sold his business and the new owner does not want to have any relationship with the club.

But that does not mean that CSKA will have any problems with players, though there has been a delay to payment of more than a month. CSKA CEO Andrey Vatutin said that there are difficulties, but the main sponsor of the team, Norilsk Nickel, has assured it would continue to fully meet its financial obligations. It is not clear why CSKA has problems, because Norilsk Nickel stocks have not fallen significantly for the year.

There are more problems with Khimki and Triumph: Yesterday, Carlos Delfino refused to go to play in the third quarter. Head coach Kestutis Kemzura said that he doesn’t want to see a player ignoring his instructions.

I am sure Carlos doesn’t want to see his team not paying him, either.

Americans investing in European basketball

When I read the news here, I had to check today’s date. OK … this isn’t an April Fool’s joke or bad journalism - this looks like legit news.

During a secret meeting between two American investors, Henry Feinberg (shareholder of Technology Crossover Ventures) and partner Steven M. Julius (president of Workplace Solutions), it was decided that they would want to invest in a basketball team in Hamburg, Germany.

Since they seek to invest a budget of €12 million, which is about 50% more than the current budget of the German champion and Euroleague participant, it seems that the partnership wants to invest into a top European team.

Hamburg right now doesn’t have a first division basketball team, but it does have an arena that would be perfect for top European basketball. Now guess who owns the Color Line Arena in Hamburg: Anschutz Entertainment Group, the same group that owns the O2 arenas in London and Berlin. With about 14,000 seats, the arena would be another top venue for the Euroleague and European basketball.

The Americans probably saw the huge success of O2 World in Berlin, where more than 10,000 people follow Alba Berlin each game.

As for the German league, Feinberg and Julius want to start their venture with the 2009/2010 season; I am sure the Euroleague will consider another wildcard spot for Germany and Europe if the team is really investing that much money. I’m also sure that Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu liked the news on his desk this morning.

What’s our take?

Of course , we’re as surprised as anybody in European and American basketball, but this is more because of the opinions you get about German basketball. First of all, people tell us that German basketball is not that attractive and not top European quality. We’ve  also heard a lot that there is not enough interest in basketball within Germany - which is not true at all.

Checking our statistics, we get a huge part of traffic from Germany and our partner schoenen-dunk.de is on of the most visited Web sites in European basketball.

Another big reason is the attendance statistic from Berlin: With over 10,000 fans per game, Berlin is within the top ten of European basketball. Nobody expected this huge success.

Sometimes you have to form your own opinion to make sure you don’t follow a standard that other people set…

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