Specializing in individual and team training, camps and instructional DVDs, Ganon Baker and the team of professional trainers at Ganon Baker Basketball host camps and clinics throughout the world. Ganon Baker’s range of instructional Basketball DVDs now numbers just under 50.

You can check out the Ganon Baker Basketball website here (especially worth doing through November 13th, with lotsa free stuff and promo items celebrating the 10th anno), the Facebook page here, examples of their work and other goodies at the company’s YouTube channel, and accolades from Kobe below.

After a meeting with Bryant’s representatives on Wednesday night, Sabatini stated that two proposals were advanced: a single-game offer and a 40-day deal.

The one-game offer was put forth, explained Sabatini, to speed things up. (“Per accelerare i tempi…”) Should Kobe take Virtus up on the solo performance, Sabatini believes he could have Bryant suited up for within four days.

“Now we just have to wait for his decision,” said Sabatini. “We can say that I have tried in every possible way to realize this project. It’s now the player’s choice.”

Deja vu in our future?

Kobe Bryant: 1/5 if you believe Claudio Sabatini, 1/1 if you’re a bit more stoic. The Kobe-to-Bologna soap opera storyline continues into this weekend with the Virtus head ever more publicly confident that the Los Angeles Laker will in fact be playing ball in Italy this season – at least for a month.

Most recently, Sabatini announced that he had reached an agreement with Bryant’s agent Rob Pelinka vis-à-vis a 40-day deal that would have Kobe playing 10 games in Milano colors. Something seems a bit amiss with this announcement, however, as the team is not playing in any pan-European competitions in 2011-12, and thus is on a once-a-week schedule. (Maybe. More on this below.)

For the record, the opening slate of games – taking place over 60 days, not 40 – includes Bologna vs. Virtus Roma, at Novipiu Casale Monferrato, at Montegranaro, vs. Emporio Armani Milano, at Montepaschi Siena, vs. Vanoli Cremona, at Banca Tercas Teramo, vs. Cimberio Varese, at Sidigas Avellino, and vs. Scavolini Pesaro.

To make matters more complicated, a last-minute decision to put Venezia in Serie A reportedly involves a reworking of the league schedule; Sabatini ostensibly went so far as to propose that games against Cremona and Varese be removed from this first 10 games in order to increase revenue. BiE’s not sure about the reportage (or possibly the logic) here, since Cremona is coming to Bologna’s venue.

We’ll see what happens, but this fictional bet will pay out one way or the other soon, as sources report that Sabbatini et al “need to get the deal signed with Bryant by the end of next week in order to get him registered with the league” in time for opening day.

Tony Parker: 5/2. Tough call here on a situation that should have European basketball fans watching suspensely. The latest news has Parker announcing his decision with regard to playing with Asvel Villeurbanne next week; the San Antonio Spur drew his demarcation for Express-News yesterday: “If the sense is we’re going to start in two weeks, I’m not going to go over there,” Parker said. “If they tell me we’re not going to start until January then, yeah, I might go play.”

And despite a pretty negative outcome to Friday’s meeting, Parker somehow maintained optimism. “I think we’ll have a season,” he opined.

Sunny side aside, Parker may choose to play for Villeurbanne based on historical notereity: After all, we’ve all heard of player/coaches, but wouldn’t Parker become the first-ever player/director of operations?

Manu Ginobili: 7/2. In the light of the NBA lockout, Ginobili would appear to be a natural to return to the club which first got him international fanfare and stated as late as last Tuesday that he would only play for two possible teams in 2011-12: the San Antonio Spurs and Virtus Bologna. While the Bryant negotiations appear to be taking up all of Virtus’ attention currently, an extended lockout would certainly make the odds of Ginobili playing in Bologna much shorter – particularly if Kobe leaves town after his own temporary contract is up.

Carlos Delfino: 6/1. After staying silent for months on offering NBA players contracts with his club, Ferdinando Minucci has finally begun wooing at least one big name, namely Delfino. Though Delfino has rejected the first offer made to him by Montepaschi Siena, club officials have promised to advance another offer this coming week.

Dirk Nowitzki: 10/1. BiE used to think this was a sure thing, but Nowitzki’s hard-earned rest period could prevent him from playing in Germany this season – if the sides in the labor talks see sense soonish.

Nowitzki has stated emphatically that “I’m too old to sit around for a whole year. I still can’t see this being a long lockout, but if it is, I’m going to find somewhere to play.” After having fans wait a bit for more information until after the conclusion of EuroBasket 2011, mid-September saw Dirk’s agent announce that his client wouldn’t be playing anywhere until January 2012.

BiE can’t blame Nowitzki for taking time off after a run of NBA season into NBA championship into EuroBasket, but such a decision must certainly nullify the dreams of Bayern Munich; even the 1998 lockout had the NBA season starting in January. Surely the powers-that-be will get things straight by then, right? Right?

Kris Humphries: 15/1. Question from SI.com to Humphries: “Would you consider going overseas?” Answer: “I haven’t thought about it yet. I think if the lockout continues then it’s logical for everyone to explore other options.” Now, if you’re Humphries, a free agent, why wouldn’t you play ball in Europe? Is it about the wife?

Andres Nocioni: 18/1 if you’re pessimistic/optimistic, 50/1 if you’re optimistic/pessimistic. Though Nocioni received concrete offers from FC Barcelona and Caja Laboral Baskonia, the Philadelphia 76er has decided to wait for now. So … are you pessimistic about the lockout/optimistic about Nocioni coming over later or the reverse? BiE can’t imagine that Nocioni would play for either of these two ACB sides later, as their rosters (and seemingly their budgets) have got to be full, but surely somebody will be calling Nocioni next month after a few injuries come visiting…

Derrick Rose: 18/1. In terms of clues, Rose is playing the overseas card to the media like a combination of Nocioni and Kevin Durant, recently explaining that “Yes, I am taking into consideration that I might move overseas. I don’t know where. There are a lot of great places overseas. I haven’t really had time to get the details of every place.”

To which MCT Information Services reportage added that “Rose said he has one concrete offer from an undisclosed foreign team and a source close to Rose said several others have inquired about his services. The source stressed those opportunities would be pursued only if regular-season games get canceled and labor talks break down for an extended period.” Again, we wait.

Kevin Durant: 25/1. The most intriguing possibility to make the jump out there is doing little more than drop in a few “maybes” to the media. Last take, from the Boston Globe: “Should the lockout linger, Durant said, he is unsure whether he would play overseas, but his representatives would pursue opportunities.” And at least one site has him linked to playing in the TBL, but this feels a bit unfounded.

Amare Stoudamire: 100/1. Remember when this was really going to happen…?

Sabatini, the deal maker

While Kobe Bryant reportedly has refused any offer from Italian club Virtus Bologna that does not entail him (theoretically) playing with the team for the entire 2011-12 season, Bologna management appears to be clearing a path to make such a signing possible.

The big news in this direction early this week is twofold: Firstly, Virtus club president Claudio Sabatini has confirmed that a sponsorship deal to pay a multi-million euro salary – an arrangement which the sanctioned Beşiktaş worked in order to pay Deron Williams’ Continent-high contract – to the Los Angeles Laker is in place. “We have a sponsor supporting us,” stated Sabatini on Sunday. “It’s an Italian company that’s known all over the world.” (Hmmm, BiE doesn’t suppose that’s Armani…)

Of course, a bit of a snag hits here, as the sponsorship deal may have been made in the framework of Sabatini’s original offer, which began at $600,000 for a single game and extended to $3 million for the season; ESPN later reported that a $6.7 million pitch (just under €5 million by today’s exchange rate) had been made to Kobe, but at least one website today claims that Bryant has shot back with a call for *$15 million* to play the season in Bologna.

Perhaps more compellingly – or perhaps merely representing an investment – is the rumor that Kobe is reportedly seeking to buy a house in Montecalvo, leading to the natural speculation that he could well be moving there soon.

Kobe in Italy? Whoa. The only problem for most basketball fans, of course, is the fact that Bologna will not be playing in any pan-European competitions in 2011-12 (not even the FIBA Eurochallenge!) and thus will be difficult to find on all but the biggest network-grabbing satellite dishes.

Either way for his sake, let’s hope Kobe finds house-hunting in Montecalvo a tad easier than it reportedly is in Tuscany.

Using euros as the currency, and figuring for net income, i.e. after taxes, as of September 25th, 2011, the top 10 highest-paid players in European professional club basketball for the 2011-12 season are:

1 (tie). Mehmet Okur, Turk Telekom Ankara – €3.5 million net income
1 (tie). Deron Williams, Beşiktaş – €3.5 million
3 (tie). Nenad Krstic, CSKA Moscow – €3.0 million
3 (tie). Rudy Fernandez, Real Madrid – €3.0 million
5. Ersan Ilyasova, Efes Istanbul – €2.7 million
6. Juan Carlos Navarro, FC Barcelona – €2.5 million
7. Vassilis Spanoulis, Olympiacos – €2.4 million
8. Dimitris Diamantidis, Panathinaikos – €2.0 million
9 (tie). Mike Batiste, Panathinaikos – €1.9 million
9 (tie). Milos Teodosic, CSKA Moscow – €1.9 million

Now the key is to use the formula that NBA agents use for converting this into the equivalent salary in the NBA. They use 1.42 as a yearly average to convert euros to US dollars and a 2.0 mark is employed to convert the salary into gross income terms (again, before taxes), as NBA contracts are listed in gross terms. European contracts are listed in the amount of money earned after taxes are deducted, and the European clubs also cover tax and accounting fees for the players.

This figures in that NBA players have an average of local taxes deducted from all 30 NBA cities. (Yes, even players that playing in areas with no state tax still pay the local taxes from where they play a given game is played.) In North America, federal taxes are deducted and players pay their agent fees (as opposed to policy of most clubs in Europe, which pay agents for the players), NBA union fees, and fees for the NBA retirement fund.

So, you take the net euros income and multiply by 1.42 for average yearly conversion into US dollars and then by multiply by 2.0 to figure the net income difference as opposed to gross income contracts like in the NBA.

Then bonuses received by European players such as living quarters, car and/or driver, maids, expenses/utilities paid by the club, etc., may be added. These perks vary from club to club, but we can figure in that amount in addition to salary because NBA teams do not pay for such amenities.
The 2.0 multiplier is actually in most cases a conservative estimate as in most cases, it is actually even higher than double in terms of difference between gross and net income. Using these bonuses from particular clubs, applying multipliers, and rounding the figures (as is customary among NBA agents), we get the following as the top 10 NBA salary equivalents in European pro club basketball.

1. Deron Williams – $10.3 million per season NBA salary equivalent
2. Mehmet Okur – $10 million
3 (tie). Nenad Krstic – $8.9 million
3 (tie). Rudy Fernandez – $8.9 million
5. Ersan Ilyasova – $8.1 million
6. Juan Carlos Navarro – $7.5 million
7. Vassilis Spanoulis – $7.2 million
8. Dimitris Diamantidis – $6.1 million
9 (tie). Mike Batiste – $5.8 million
9 (tie). Milos Teodosic – $5.8 million

Bryant did not participate in the celebrity match at the event, though he did present the “Man of the Match” award to Man U’s Nemanja Vidic after his side’s 2-1 victory over Barca. BallinEurope has yet to find anything definitive vis-a-vis the all-important negotiations between Mamba and Beşiktaş, but below runs a video featuring the nattily-attired Kobe netting a penalty shot at halftime. Perhaps he’ll be getting offers from Premiership clubs soon…?

Update: According to U.S.-based Sporting News, at least three sportswriters in-the-know have reported that Bryant did not in fact meet with Beşiktaş officials in Washington and there appears to be little chance at present that the Los Angeles Laker will play with the Turkish team this autumn.

To kick off the week, the Greek players’ union PSAK formally announced what has been rumored through this season and in seasons past: Namely, that most EΣAKE clubs are delinquent in payment.

In a stark post on the union’s official website Monday, PSAK representatives showed the results of “an investigation conducted by members of our association.” The numbers are indeed staggering.

Exactly half of last season’s top-division clubs owe 50% or more in back salaries to players. The chief offenders are, not surprisingly, the just-relegated AEK and, a bit shockingly, 2011-12 Euroleague qualifying-round squad PAOK. The only clubs managing to balance their payroll for 2010-11 are Greek league/Euroleague champion Panathinaikos and SA Icarus Kallithea.

Best of the worst in the first division were Ilysiakos, with seven of 10 months’ worth of back salaries paid; Panionios Athens and Maroussi BC at 6½; Aris and Olympiacos, six. One can only imagine what will become of the latter’s players’ pay with the big-money management having just cleared off…

PSAK noted, however, that all foreign players on top-division clubs have been paid in full for 2010-11.

In Greece’s A2, no team has paid its domestic players in full and nine of 14 clubs owe at least 50% of wages for the past season. And in the lowest-tier B division … well, you get the idea.

BiE will now ponder the long-term ramifications of this for Greek professional basketball, another problem this country’s league and federation really don’t need.

BallinEurope’s gut reaction, at least on a visceral Eurocentric level? Cool! Bring on the empty stadiums and bring in the players to Europe! Whisperings since 2010-11 tipped off had some top clubs claiming to be stockpiling cash for NBA players should the lockout happen; combine this awareness with the desire for some of these guys to, you know, just *play* somewhere, America’s loss could truly prove to be The Continent’s gain – at least after the 2011 FIBA Eurobasket tournament, for which, not so incidentally, the NBA may also have a profoundly negative affect.

During this offseason, BiE will definitely have one eye on the NBA lockout, passing on news and speculation regarding NBA players to (and, in some cases, back to, Europe). In all seriousness, while it would be a shame to see an entire season fall by the wayside (and brutal to see another 50-game season, though BiE’d certainly bet the Miami Heat couldn’t take a title in such circumstances), a year in which the indisputably top professional basketball was being played in the Euroleague would be, basically, awesome.

Yesterday, writer John McMullen of The Sports Network concluded that “Europe is no panacea for locked out NBA players” in a look toward The Continent. CSKA Moscow addition Nenad Krstic is quoted heavily in the piece after a Boston Herald story, with the key lines going as follows.

“I don’t think you will see a lot [of NBA players] coming here … Europe is not in a great situation financially. There are only four or five teams now that can offer much to NBA players, and those teams right now are almost full.”

Here’s to guessing Krstic’s four or five might be FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, CSKA, Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahçe Ülker … maybe…? However, outside the Red Army, few of these rosters appear “almost full.” Hmmm…

But perhaps a sheer cash outlay isn’t the point for some. In recent NBA times, some veteran players – a few not even named “Shaquille O’Neal” – have shown the willingness to shed a few million off the contract for a chance at a ring. In the post-2011 lockout world, the willingness of NBA players to come to Europe for the upcoming season depends on their seriousness to stay fit and/or national pride. And possible a chance at a triple crown somewhere.

Gasol flashback: 2000-01

“But I know I don’t want to have [and empty] year if the season is suspended, something that would seem very strange to me, given that the NBA is in a good period.”

You know who’s enjoying some schadenfreude and slightly salivating in anticipation of a cancelled 2011-12 NBA season? FC Barcelona fans. Gasol has clearly had a 2011-12 season in Barcelona in mind for some time, having stated in a Marca.com interview in May that “Barcelona would be my first option…”

And then there’s Nowitzki. Since February or so, three German clubs have been thought to be in the running to land the big Maverick in case of this lockout: Alba Berlin, just-promoted Bayern München, and 2011 BBL champions/2011-12 Euroleague contender Brose Baskets Bamberg.

With Alba Berlin not guaranteed to play in the big league in the upcoming season, this would empirically seem to be a dead option; however, the always-excellent Germany-based heinnews has Bayern president Uli Hoeness stating yesterday that “We could get [a Nowitzki contract] done.”

Hoeness is being quite conservative publicly any such giddy notions, though: “…the signing of German superstar and NBA champion Dirk Nowitzki is not really an issue at the moment. ‘That is not planable. We don’t need to talk about unlaid eggs,’ said the Bayern boss, who added, ‘Naturally we would very much like to see Dirk here. And if we had the opportunity we would also get it done.’”

Finally, a Britain-based website sees much darker and more expensive implications of the NBA lockout for international ‘ball, based on … insurance policies.

According to the MVP magazine website, the lockout temporarily suspends a compact between FIBA and NBA with regard to insuring against career-ending injuries. National organizations from all over Europe will have to provide this money for their NBA-associated national players.

For Team Britain, this is crucial, with key members Luol Deng and Ben Gordon now needing this coverage. MVP notes that in 2008, Deng alone cost British Basketball some £272,000 (approximately €354,550/$540,000) and, according to the ‘site, “British Basketball performance director Chris Spice admitted that the governing body has now begun its quest to ensure the pair are cleared to play.

“‘We’re trying to secure insurance coverage,’ Spice revealed. ‘FIBA Europe has also looked into it on behalf of all the nations who have NBA players. We’ve look at their coverage as well as taking one out independently. The issue is that we have two players. The thing now is that we’re taking to insurers about what the conditions would be to bring the premiums down.’”

In their (apparently philanthropic) run with the Reds going back to 2004, the pair have become known as running one of the freest spending operations in Europe – yet never won a Euroleague or EΣAKE title, while rival Panathinaikos amassed a combined 10 such championships during that time span. Today, the team is rumored to be in the poor financial shape currently plaguing more than a few European clubs – though in a bigger way, for sure.

In a scathing statement announcing their decision, the Angelopoulos Brothers touted their own accomplishments and the good Olympiacos had achieved by adding a whopping $50 million to government coffers. And then the positive was no longer accentuated…

The brothers went on to decry “behind-the-door mechanisms,” “unethical attacks” and, that oft-used allegation of Greek basketball, referee corruption. “Once again this year the decisions of the referees and the usual manipulations determined the champion,” stated they.

(One wonders what exactly EΣAKE officials and team owners would have to gain by rigging the championship into the same team’s favor for *nine straight seasons*. Could it be that, in the 2011 championship series, rampant whistle-blowing in game two aside, Panathinaikos generally spread the offense around better and dominated the Reds’ D in the halfcourt game?)

The official statement from Giorgios and Panagiotis Angelopoulos, courtesy Eurobasket.com, runs below.

“We got involved in Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus BC exclusively out of love for the club and for basketball. We never sought any business profit, publicity or other benefit whatsoever. In 2004, we decided to financially support Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus without any return or guarantees. In the summer of 2006, we took over the management and in July 2009 we acquired the shares of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus BC.

“During these years many things have happened that we are proud of:

“- Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus regained its credibility in the basketball world, nationally and internationally.

“- We invested in top notch players and first rank coaches; thus, after many years, the team became highly competitive and is generally accepted as ranking amongst the best European clubs.

“- The team participated, after many years, in two consecutive Euroleague Final Four and, after 13 years, in the final of the 2010 competition. It scored a record number of wins in the Greek league twice (2009 and 2011) – it actually came through undefeated in this year’s regular season – and won two Greek Cups.

“- Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus BC paid to the state a total amount of approximately $50 million in taxes alone; we wonder if there is any other team which has paid any such amount of money [to the federal tax collection agency] in the last 20 years…

“All these years we chose and consistently followed a specific path, very different from the one of our opponents.

“- It is our conscious decision not to be involved in any way whatsoever in behind-the-door mechanisms controlling and influencing circumstances, teams and championships. We did not want to do it and did not do it. As far as we are concerned, any success which is the result of manipulations and referee favoritism is not real success. End of story.

“- It is our conscious decision to communicate with basketball authorities (the state, the Hellenic Basketball Federation/EOK, the central refereeing committee/KED, the Hellenic Basketball League/EΣAKE) directly, openly under our name and through official channels only.

“- It is our conscious decision to reject the model of creating, financing and supporting team-associated press or influencing any media; instead our interaction with journalists has remained at a strictly professional level without commitments and dependencies.

“- It is our conscious decision our relations with the fans of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus to remain healthy and in a context of mutual respect.

“- It is our conscious decision to do everything in our powers in an effort to contribute to the quashing of violence, wherever its origin. This year, we, with the support of our fans, succeeded.

“Once again this year the decisions of the referees and the usual manipulations determined the champion. One does not even know where to start or end when it comes to the Greek refereeing establishment…

“Not only those who have repeatedly and flagrantly wronged Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus have never been punished, but are on the contrary rewarded and provocatively promoted. It is no wonder that they have become audacious to such incredible levels as the world record of 18 versus 2 free throws during the second period of the second game in the finals at a point when Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus had a 10-point lead!

“The last game of this year’s finals has taken place under conditions which should not have even allowed it to start in the first place: inadequate security measures, thousands of fans entering illegally without ticket, security zones violated, masked persons and henchmen presented behind the team benches and the officials desk in full TV-broadcasted view under the tolerance of the police, and as a highlight, the unmanly and unprecedented criminal attack against the players and coaches of our team.

“We are not going to shift our responsibilities to anybody. We have never done so and we are not going to do so now. [Along the way] we have certainly made mistakes. We have been criticized many times. Criticism made in good faith, even harsh, has never disturbed us. With regard to unethical attacks, the only way available is to resort to justice.

“This is our philosophy, what dictates our actions. We are proud that throughout the years that Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus was under our leadership we have never forfeited our values.

“[Along the way] we have demanded the self-evidence, namely legality, equal treatment and transparency. We intervened and protested in public and made specific proposals.

“During all these years we fought off a system that reacts tenaciously and undermines persistently our efforts to achieve what our team and fans deserve.

“Taking into account all the above and having exhausted all options which are consistent with morality, legal order and common sense, feeling disgusted, we step out, heavy-heartedly, from our team, Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus, and Greek basketball.

“We would like to thank all those that during all these years believed in us, supported us and fought with us.”

While it seems the Wolves’ intentions may be to get the wunderkind to sign for the 2011-12 season now, a few sticking points remain. There is, of course, that $1 million fee attached to Rubio’s contract and “his family [doesn’t] want it to appear as if he already has a foot out the door to the NBA before his team’s season concludes.”

On the other hand is a huge asterisk made possible by labor issues on which the incipient NBA strike is based. Explains Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “A provision in the NBA’s soon-to-expire labor agreement with players allows him to sign under the current rookie scale by May 31 rather than gamble on what a new Collective Bargaining Agreement might look like for rookies, whenever they might be hammered out.”

As a no. 5 overall pick, this is truly a multimillion dollar decision for “La Pistola.”

On Wednesday night, Kahn and co. witnessed Barcelona clinch first place in the ACB with an 84-76 win over Meridiano Alicante; in 22 minutes, Rubio managed just four points on 0-for-3 overall shooting from the floor.