Ball in Europe – European Basketball Blog

BiE is still internally debating whether Montepaschi Siena predictably winning the 2010 Coppa Italia was a good thing or not. On one hand, any other result might have resulted in massive match-fixing allegations; after all, Siena devotees would argue, how else could this dominant squad have possibly lost if not for referee assistance?

Tourney MVP Stonerook adds to his trophy case

On the other hand, another MPS win surely induces little more than ennui in non-Siena Legabasket fans; as Montepaschi pulls away with the six-game lead the team has amassed in league play, the 83-75 win against Bologna only confirms that Montepaschi is far ahead of the remainder in Italian club play. Worse yet, Siena’s dominance in its home country – unlike that of, say, Maccabi Tel Aviv or FC Barcelona – does not necessarily translate into serious contention for a Euroleague title, particularly if the Italians’ two convincing losses against Barça are any indication.

Whatever the medium- and long-term effects of Montepaschi winning in second consecutive Coppa (that’s in two years of the competition’s existence), those Siena dudes still play some nice-looking basketball. Highlights from the final follow the break.

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While not interested in passing definitive judgment, we think it would be useful and fair to take a look at the European basketball panorama. There will be no ratings or rankings here, just a snapshot of what the most important ballin’ countries offer us.

Ten years into the third millennium, it’s common to hear repeated concepts about European community and a sense of brotherhood, but the idea of “European basketball” elicits language only indicating something is wrong. Disunity: That’s the main word for the variety of ways to develop basketball in Europe. European basketball was well on its way until five to six years ago, when internal division began to decrease European ball’s opportunity to become a serious alternative to a NBA bereft of stories and talent to sell – yes, that was before Lebron James’ era.

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Turin's Palasport Olimpico

Congratulations go out from Ball in Europe this afternoon to the basketball-organizing folks of former Winter Olympics host city Turin, Italy, who have been awarded the Euroleague Basketball Final Four tournament for 2011. The venue will be the 16,600-seat Palasport Olimpico, which saw Eurocup action in 2008 and 2009.

Official Euroleague press release follows.

(Euroleague) – Euroleague Basketball is proud to announce that the Euroleague Final Four will take place in Turin, Italy in 2011, as one of the showcase events with which the city is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Italian state. The semi-finals and title game of Europe’s top competition will be played at the 16,600-seat Palasport Olimpico in May 2011.

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Whilst watching the Efes Pilsen-Montepaschi Siena game with horror fascination last night – probably somewhere around the Ferdinando Minucci ejection – BiE couldn’t help but wonder what Francesco Cappelletti, this website’s man in Italy, thought of it all.

Seriously. Montepaschi came into the game having looked strong in Euroleague competition this season thus far; with a good-enough win over Maccabi Tel Aviv to open the Euroleague Final 16 round and coming off a near-100 point win over Napoli in Serie A play, the visiting Italians entered the game a 3.5-point favorite.

So, to put it in a nutshell, what happened? Whither the outclassed play? And what does this say about Serie A ball, over which the suddenly visibly flawed MPS currently rules at 16-0. Managing to corner the busy Cappelletti for five minutes on chat, BiE asked a few simple questions.

BallinEurope: Okay, so basically, the question is this: What the fuck happened to MPS last night? i.e. What were the keys to their defeat, especially after that huge win the other day?

Francesco Cappelletti: So many reasons.

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Too bad he can't suit up for Italia this summer...

Italian Basketball Federation president Dino Meneghin, along with Dan “The Coach” Peterson, will reportedly be taking in the New York Knicks-Toronto Raptors game at Madison Square Garden tonight; tomorrow, they’ll be meeting with el guapo himself, NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Unfortunately, reportage – even Italian-language – on this trip to America is scanty, but according to the most recent edition of FIBA’s regular “Taylor Made” column, going to MSG is no casual night out. Meneghin and Peterson will be seeking an audience with Knicks and Raptors executives to discuss the summertime activities of Andrea Bargnani, Marco Belinelli, and Danilo Gallinari.

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So the New York Knicks took out the Charlotte Bobcats, 97-93, last night for their third consecutive win behind Danilo Gallinari’s clutch threes and overall 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. The Italian virtually produced his own highlight film during the squeaker; just take a look at this swagger…

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Gallo of the good old days?

We all know the NBA needs specialists, and that this is a request asked particularly of non-American players who haven’t the status in the ‘States to claim balls and minutes while they’re newly arrived from Europe. Then, by fighting for minutes against and using smarts beyond the US players, young European players soon present more balanced games week to week to increase their stay on floor, even if sometimes months are needed before someone notices.

Now that European basketball has grown up, these rules are no longer necessarily valid, because the gap between a Dirk Nowitzki and a Kevin Garnett – technically – isn’t as wide as 10-15 years ago. It’s easy to see a European star going to the NBA and playing the same basketball played before, with nearly the same minutes and responsibilities: This was the case with Pau Gasol, Hedo Turkoglu, Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, and Luis Scola.

In contrast is Danilo Gallinari. As the no. 6 overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, Gallinari came to New York as probably the best 20-year-old swingman of his class, with a Euroleague 2008 Rising Star Trophy on his résumé. A mixture of height, sweet hands, quick feet and impudence, we used to say the former Milano forward was ready to follow in the footsteps of Turkoglu, the player he most closely resembled in skill. After a bad season characterized by his own back problems and the Knicks’ continuing struggles, Gallinari is today a new man.

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Whoa, 90s flashback! On Friday, Serie A club Martos Napoli announced the signing of 37-year-old Travis Best, perhaps best known for his play with Larry Bird’s Indiana Pacers, the NBA championship-contending team of 1999-2000.

Best was a first-round draft choice of the Pacers in 1995. The point guard stuck with Indiana until 2002, when he was involved in the big seven-player trade that landed Ron Artest and Brad Miller with the Pacers while Best and Jalen Rose went to the Chicago Bulls.

Best’s success (and, in a lot of cases, playing time) decreased significantly in three more seasons in America with three further teams – the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets – creating the impetus for him to jump the Atlantic. Since 2005, Best has logged time with Unics Kazan, Virtus Bologna, Prokom Trefl Sport and Air Avellino.

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BallinEurope yesterday received the following email and today we’re appealing to fellow readers for help:

Dear Os,
I really enjoy your website and read it every day from Israel.

I will be in Milan this coming week and I have been trying to get tickets for a League game AJ Milano on Sunday December 6. It is being played at the Palalido. I was wondering if you know how I can obtain tickets or perhaps one of your readers or if you could direct me to a supporter site.

I have only found what is on the AJ Milano website but it seems the tickets are not yet available and I don’t understand Italian.

Thanks for your help!

Josh

After more than an hour of surfing and checking bookmarks, i could do little better than Josh in his quest for tickets. He is correct in that, while lots of tickets are being offered at Italian outlets and by the team itself (working in conjunction with an outlet called BookingShow.com), tickets for this particular game are proving elusive.

One decent website for international sports tickets is SportsEvents365.com; however, at present, this one in basketball terms seems to be limited to hawking Euroleague tickets. Another decent place is TicketsFC.com, but again, it’s mostly about football over there.

And so, Ball in Europe now appeals to the fans, especially those in Italy. Any ideas on how Josh might score a couple of tickets to the AJ Milano-Martos Napoli game? You would have our undying gratitude, to be sure…

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Montepaschi's main man McIntyre

Can Montepaschi still improve? That’s the question many fans and even Euroleague 2007-2008 Executive of the Year winner Ferdinando Minucci put to the team. It’s easy to talk about windows of opportunity, but never has it been so appropriate, as Montepaschi looks at perhaps its final opportunity to get to the top of Euroleague. In 2008, the team arrived in the Final Four and was eliminated by a controversial refereeing against Maccabi Tel Aviv; last year, only eventual champions Panathinaikos Athens prevented Terrell McIntyre’s bunch from returning to the Final Four.

This year, the cast of characters is nearly the same, because coach Simone Pianigiani (currently wanted to serve as Italian national team coach) could count on McIntyre to Ksistof Lavrinovic agreeing with Siena instead of taking huge offers from Olympiacos and Real Madrid. Pianigiani also compensated himself for the loss of Rimas Kaukenas with newcomer David Hawkins, a Euroleague virgin likely to become part of the rotation rather than the “Hey, pass the ball to David!” player more representative of less-organized teams like Roma and Milano.

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