The British Basketball League played games straight through to Tuesday night this week and thus the lateness of our regular BBL roundup from BallinEurope’s man in the UK, Sam Chadwick. We await his words no longer…
Dec
Nov
0
British Basketball League wrap: Riders go 2-0; Capers debuts well; Green goes for 35 in loss
Time again for the weekly dispatch from England from BallinEurope’s man in the Things in the UK, Sam Chadwick. (Apologies for day-lateness; purely BiE’s problem with time management.) Seven BBL Championship games went down and Chadwick wraps ’em up for us. For all things BBL, read more below the break!
Nov
0
British Basketball Wrap: Glasgow Rocks win Scottish derby; Guildford lose three in three days
It was a busy weekend in British basketball and BallinEurope’s guy over there, Sam Chadwick, rounds up the action for us this morning. Read on for all things BBL!
On Friday, the Guildford Heat continued their losing streak, going down 82-75 to the Worcester Wolves behind Tommy Freeman’s 22 points. Freeman was solid throughout getting to the rack, drawing 10 fouls, converting on 10-of-10 free throws, and adding four rebounds. Also contributing well for the Wolves was Richie Gordon, who had a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds; Sherrad Prezzie-Blue added a solid all-around game with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. For the Heat, it was Mike Martin playing well with 22 points and seven rebounds; he also hit 3-of-3 from deep. Brandon Shingles had a double-double to answer Gordon’s, with 10 points and 15 rebounds; Shingle also added three assists for good measure.
One Health Sheffield Sharks lost for the second time to the Newcastle Eagles, 85-80. Joe Chapman had another good weekend for the Eagles with 18 points and five assists, but it was Andrew Thomson who led the way with 25 points and 16 rebounds. Player-coach Fabulous Flournoy had 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists, while Darius Defoe was the second Eagle to earn a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. For the losing Sharks, Justin Dobbins maintained his double-double average with 12 points and 16 rebounds but he shot a disappointing 29% from the free-throw line. Mike Tuck also contributed a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Team Britain point guard Nate Rainking had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. This game came down to just a five-point gap, and five is the same number of rebounds the Eagles had over the Sharks (47-42), proving that if you can control the glass you can control the game.
Glasgow Rocks dominated the Mersey Tigers, forcing 18 turnovers on route to a 92-62 win. For the Rocks, it was Andrew Wedemire leading the way with 20 points but not much else on the stat sheet. E.J. Harrison also added 17 points. In the first quarter, Gareth Murray put the Rocks in the lead with 17 first-half points, finishing with 19, including 5-of-6 shooting from three-point territory. For the young Tigers, Myles Hesson had 19 points and eight rebounds on 70% from the field. Kris Douse had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Devan Bailey did well on the boards, collecting 12 rebounds while putting up nine points and six assists.
The Durham Wildcats lost out in the BBL Cup, going down 88-74 to the Plymouth Raiders. Plymouth got 19 points and nine rebounds from Paul Williams, while last season’s BBL MVP Jeremy Lamb made his club debut with 17 points, seven assists and three rebounds. For the Raiders, Anthony Rowe also collected a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds but he also had six turnovers. For the Wildcats, despite a solid team effort lead by Fred Heinnenkamp (29 points including 6-of-9 on threes), Mike Capocci (14 points and five rebounds), Mario Flaherty (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Ralph Bucci (10 points, 11 rebounds), the team shot a miserable 38% from the field, compared with the Raiders’ 51%.
The Leicester Riders also managed a BBL Cup win this weekend by thrashing the MK Lions 102-67 in a brilliant team effort: Four players finished with 20-plus points, led by Cameron Rundles’ 23 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Andrew Sullivan continued his solid play with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while my other choice for player of the year, Ayron Hardy, finished with a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds. Daniel Northern had 13 points and 13 rebounds in the loss, while Demarius Bolds had 15 points and three rebounds. This game was a tale of assists: The Riders finished with 22 assists compared with the Lions’ five and the Lions also had 14 team turnovers.
In the ‘Cup, the Worcester Wolves moved onto the next round with a win over the Guildford Heat, who played for the second time this weekend, by a final score of 88-77. Prezzie-Blue led the way for the winners with 20 points and five assists, while Arnas Kazlauskas had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Tommy Freeman had another solid performance with 18 points, four rebounds and five assists. For the Heat, Mike Martin again carried the majority of the load with 16 points and six rebounds, but Julius Joseph top-scored with 27 points including 88% from three-point land. As has been the case in many Heat games, turnovers were again a problem: Guildford had 16 turnovers compared with the Wolves’ five, while the Heat also committed 24 personal fouls.
After a loss to the Riders in the BBL Cup, the Milton Keynes Lions came out strong against the London Leopards, advancing to the next round with a 93-65 win. Unfortunately, stats are currently unavailable on the BBL’s official website.
In a battle for Scottish pride and what could become a bitter rivalry, the Glasgow Rocks defeated the Edinburgh Kings, 78-60, in BBL Cup play. The Rocks used their 50-31 advantage on the boards to grab the win while getting some good stats from the likes of E.J. Harrison (22 points, nine rebounds, five assists), Mychal Green (19 points, nine rebounds, three assists) and lastly Andrew Wedemire, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. For the Kings, it was Edgars Rekis leading the way with 17 points and five rebounds, while Mike Kirkpatrick also contributed 16 points and eight rebounds.
The final game of the weekend saw the Guildford Heat lose for the third time in three days, going down 90-84 to the Cheshire Jets. For the Heat, Tayo Ogendengbe put up 27 points, six rebounds and three assists. Martelle McLemore had 17 points and eight rebounds, while the ever-consistent Mike Martin added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Jets got some very good contributions from all over, with Adam Brown totaling 27 points and eight assists; Colin O’Reilly hitting 3-of-3 from deep on his way to 19 points, five rebounds and six steals; Matt Schneck putting in a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds; and Bill Cole adding a double-double of his own with 15 points, 13 rebounds to go with three assists.
That wraps up the weekend’s BBL games here in the UK; check back soon for more British Basketball news.
Sam Chadwick is the co-head coach of the Solent Kestrels U14 basketball team, along with dividing the remainder of his time among an assistant quantity surveyor job, university studies and sportswriting. You can follow him on Twitter at @chadwick9.
Aug
0
Get ready, Chester: Artest planks in L.A., prepares visit to U.K.
You’d better steel yourselves in Chester and beyond, folks, for none other than Ron Artest, a.k.a. Metta World Peace, arrives on Thursday. And though according to his publicist Courtney Barnes in an ESPN Los Angeles piece, “There’s no deal in place for him to play,” World Peace-watching will certainly be a popular spectator sport through next week in the U.K.
When a deal is discussed, Artest will certainly find a distinctly un-Beşiktaşesque offer on the table from his prospective new British Basketball League club, the Cheshire Jets. In a much-repeated quote from ESPN Los Angeles, Jets director Peter Hawkins has stated that “We are honored that Ron has even mentioned the prospect of joining the Jets. Financially we have nothing to offer him, but it would be so significant for UK basketball, we have offered him a stake in the club and all the love in the world!”
All you need is love, eh?
Surely as part of some psychological warmup for his trip to Britain, World Peace was recently photographed while practicing the newfangled art of planking. And only Artest could do it like this – check out ol’ Metta in the middle of an L.A. street below. You gotta be in pretty decent shape to hold that position, BiE would think. And a bit, um, different.
Aug
0
Metta World Peace to Cheshire Jets: “UK, here we come!”
Tweet of the week? That’s an easy one. Here’s something from Ron Artest, a.k.a. Metta World Peace, from about 12 hours ago as of this writing:
“Go Jets!!!!! UK, here we come!!! Jets are the best!!! Jets are the best!!! New chant!!!!!!!!!”
Yes, it turns out that one of the wackiest rumors surrounding the NBA lockout and players’ concomitant interest in signing with European teams in the interim has turned out to be true, as the Los Angeles Laker has accepted an offer to play with the British Basketball League’s Cheshire Jets; he’ll reportedly be joining training with the side next month. The decision comes despite agent David Bauman denying Artest would play in the U.K. less than one month ago.
Now say “Queensbridge,” Jets fans!
Mar
5
NBA in London: High production values, sellout crowds, and Mikhail Prokhorov of course
The Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets played the first of their London twinbill last night, capturing the imaginations of observers from both sides of the Atlantic to various degrees. In advance of game two (or game 62/63, depending on how you look at it), BallinEurope brings you some bullets’ worth of highlights, factoids and reportage on last night’s show.
• The numbers say that the Nets pulled out a 116-103 victory over Toronto who, in their years-long guise as the Euroraptors, were an obvious choice to play the NBA’s first regular-season game in Europe. Representing the Continent nicely were Team Italy’s Andrea Bargnani and Team Spain’s Jose Calderon; the former went for 23 points while the latter dished 12 assists to go with six points. DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 30.
• The Nets’ Dan Gadzuric took a DNP for the game, which ESPN noted “was a shame given that his mother Dragoslava and sister Gloria had made the journey over the English Channel from their home in Den Haag in the hope of seeing him play.”
• But now to the YouTube highlights! Here’s a clip of some nice individual efforts, including lots of snazzy work by Brook Lopez on some wicked drives … and all of it overdubbed with the interesting choice of “Black Dream” by Prosperous.
Oct
5
Around the world with NBA Live, Euroleague American tour
The NBA Live Europe tour begins tonight when the New York Knicks visit AJ Milano; tomorrow sees the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in London and Maccabi Haifa visiting the New Jersey Nets. All in all, the exchange program between the two big leagues will see nine games played in four countries, with the headline game certainly the informal world championship pitting Euroleague titlists FC Barcelona against the Lakers on Thursday.
BallinEurope collected a few stories, links, YouTubes and such for your perusal this Sunday.
Jun
0
Stern: NBA will play regular-season game in England. Soonish. Maybe.
Stern: "Right, we'll have a game in London if things don't get too silly."
The Guardian newspaper today published a brief piece on NBA Commissioner David Stern, with a special focus on NBA games in ol’ London.
Sportswriter Paolo Bandini asked Stern if the league would be holding a regular-season game in England (Let’s face it, London. At the O2 Arena) in the near future, Stern replied: “The answer to that question is yes. I don’t know what you would call imminent, but there is certainly some chance that there will be an announcement by the beginning of next season.”
And that’s about that on the subject, really. Make of it what you will…
May
8
Official 2010 BallinEurope mock draft, version 2.0: Round two
BallinEurope today presents round two of our 2010 NBA Draft mockup; there’s a pleasing European accent to the list, with the big Belarusian Artsiom Parakhouski figuring to go in this round (see to whom in this projection and quiver) and the tantalizing possibility of Kevin Seraphin potentially becoming the 12th French player in the NBA.
And then there’s Ryan Richards. Much to the chagrin of BiE’s man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, Richards seems personally hellbent on proving wrong those who, ahem, assessed him as just another European designed to waste away on NBA benches.
In any event, we present the official BallinEurope 2010 NBA mock draft 2.0 round two below. Round one can be found here.
Mar
0
Club profile: The Solent Kestrels
Joining Ball in Europe as a contributor is Sam Chadwick, a youth-team assistant coach and aspiring sports journalist/head coach (so call ‘im the BiE intern, then) based in Great Britain. Sam’s home team is the British Basketball League division three team Solent Kestrels, his favorite team is Unicaja Malaga (“as Joel Freeland plays for them and he used to play at my club,” he explains), and his favorite NBA team is the Chicago Bulls (“a consequence of growing up in the 90s”). Sam also writes his own blog on all things basketball-related at BehindTheB.blogspot.com.
When I was first contacted about writing for Ball in Europe, editor Os Davis told me to try and keep the focus mainly on European players and specifically (as I live in England) on British players and teams. Straight after I started looking for a story, a player or a team that I could base my first column/article on. In the end, I simply decided to write an article on a team that I know the most about: the Solent Kestrels, née the Solent Stars, a team that I personally have played for and the team I learned the game from.
