BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

BallinEurope’s man in England, Sam Chadwick, today takes a look at the recent performance and future prospects of one of his new favorite players (What can BiE say? Chadwick’s a Chicago Bulls fan): No. 23 overall 2011 NBA draft pick and current Real Madrid basketballero Nikola Mirotic.

Name: Nikola Mirotic
Born: Montenegro
Country: Spain
Club: Real Madrid
Position: PF
Height: 6’9” (2.09 meters)
Age: 20 (born in February 1991)

As a Bulls fan, I’m happy the NBA Draft happened when it did; back then, people had lots of question marks surrounding Mirotic as to whether he was ready, if he was a complete player, if he needed time to develop, if he could come in and contribute in two to three seasons’ worth of time when he’s ready… If the draft were held today, Nikola would be a lottery pick.

Why?

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He’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. After a sojourn of a few months, BallinEurope’s man in England, Sam Chadwick, is back to contribute on matters Britain- and NBA-related. Today, Mr. C. takes a look at the performance of Team Britain in the recent FIBA U20 European Championship along with some salient suggestions on how FIBA might reorganize such tournaments.
 
Despite all the hype, promise and huge amounts of talent in this year’s Under 20 GB squad, the tournament as a whole ended up as a complete failure; the team’s hunt for Division A promotion ended in a 13th place finish despite wins over Israel (who finished in 11th place) twice and the Czech Republic (third-place finishers) once.
 
With a final record of 7-2, it seems strange to think that 13th position could be awarded to this squad and that they should not have been higher, but should they? Last year’s GB U20 finished at a similar 6-2 and managed sixth place with a win over no. 3 Poland. Is it odd that a team with this record could finish so low two years in a row?
 
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Congratulations go out from BallinEurope this morning to Team Spain, winners of the FIBA U20 European Championship with an 82-70 win over Italy to cap an undefeated run through the tournament.
In so doing, notice has been served to the world that Espana has apparently produced yet another generation of ballers to someday soon act as a force throughout the world – and Real Madrid fans (not to mention forward-thinking Chicago Bulls backers) can take note that their Nikola Mirotic was named tournament MVP as well.

Official FIBA Europe writeup and highlights follow the break.

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The FIBA U19 World Championship closes out today, and BiE is proud to say that two of Europe’s finest basketball powers, Lithuania and Serbia, will be meeting for the title. Following, a few links, video clips and the like serving as a preview for the big youth match.

• The biggest audience in North America for the final game may be in Toronto, as the Raptor Nation considers their first-round draft choice Jonas Valanciunas; FIBA’s official website asks what may be a theoretical question: “How do you stop Valanciunas?” The Lithuanian has averaged tournament highs at 21.4 points (second-best is Team Croatia’s Boris Barac with 19.0), 14.6 rebounds (topping Assem Ahmed of Egypt’s 12.2), and 3.2 blocks (topping the 2.9 logged by Lucas Nogueira of Brazil) per game. The duties today will be handed to Nemanja Besovic, to whom BiE wishes best of luck.

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Congratulations this morning go out to Team France, who delivered a brilliant upset in taking out Greece and another golden generation in the 2010 FIBA U20 European Championship men final, 73-62.

For the second consecutive year France and Greece met in the decisive match of this tournament and, despite a complete roster makeover, Les Bleus also handed the Greeks their only loss in the competition for the second year running.

The team dedicated the win and the tournament to former teammate Jonathan Bourhis, who in September was killed in a car accident.

Team France wasn’t particularly well-esteemed going into the U20s tournament, starting the competition without big man Jeoffrey Lauvergne and bringing in an entirely new bunch to transform the squad that finished second in 2009, but any lack of height was made up by the dominant backcourt of Paul Lecombe and Andrew Albicy, the latter of which deservedly took the tournament MVP award.

Highlights and official FIBA writeup follows the break.

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In a (sort of) repeat of the 2009 final, the 2010 FIBA U20 European Championship Men final game will pit France against Greece in Zadar tonight.

France got past Spain 86-83 in yesterday’s thriller in Croatia, while the host nation’s team lost to the Greeks a bit earlier, 71-56.

Team France gave its U20 roster a 100% makeover, completely regenerating a roster that last year boasted the likes of Kevin Seraphin, Antoine Diot and Thomas Heurtel. No matter: La Republique found plenty of talent kicking around in the country and assembled a quick, fun squad for the 2010 FIBA tourney.

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After getting caught up in a week’s worth of hitting the refresh button for news ‘n’ rumors about big-money men on both sides of the Atlantic jumping teams, BallinEurope today takes a brief look at a pair of FIBA youth basketball championships going on in Europe: the FIBA U17 World Championship and the FIBA U20 European Championship.

At the FIBA U17 World Championship tournament in Germany, Team USA and Team Poland have dominated the competition, each putting together a streak of seven consecutive wins and so fittingly will meet in today’s championship game.

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It’s a question on the mind of those teeming masses of French and Atlanta Hawks basketball fans: Who is Pape Sy, this citizen of La Republique that the Hawks selected at no. 53 overall?

The fans’ wishes are BallinEurope’s command, so here’s the book (and the YouTube) on Monsieur Sy; apologies for allowing the Pape to fly so far under the BiE radar. As we run down his résumé, however, the reasons why may become evident.

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Euroleague officials announced one re-signing and one free-agent deal on Wednesday: Former NBAer and current Team Czech Republic swingman Jiri Welsch will be staying with Unicaja for a fourth season, while Bojan Bogdanovic has hooked up with Cibona Zagreb on a four-year contract.
Unicaja was certainly pleased to retain the 29-year-old Welsch, who has played nearly 60 games per season with the team since joining the team for 2006-07. In 15 Euroleague games during the last campaign, Welsch advertised 8.5 points per game.

Bogdanovic was last seen playing for Team Croatia in the FIBA U20 European Championship Men, where he averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He spent most of the 2008-09 season with Real Madrid’s second team; Bogdanovic has called Spain home since 2006, when he first signed with Madrid after spending much of the 2005-06 on loan to the team from HKK Zrinjski Mostar. Welcome back to Croatia, Mr. Bogdanovic!

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Over at heinnews.com runs an interview with Donatas Motiejunas, the center touted as the next international superstar to come out of Lithuania. The site contends that Motiejunas is “projected as the number three pick in the 2010 NBA Draft” in leading an interview that took place during the FIBA U20 Championship Men.

When asked about the prospect of entering the NBA Draft, Motiejunas said in part:

In Lithuania, they are all talking about that. But [...] I’m concentrating on the European Championship. And about teams where I will play next season, nobody knows because I don’t know either. I’m waiting for after this tournament. Then I will go back home and decide where I will play next season. And all Lithuanian journalists are waiting, writing that Donatas will do this or that. For me it’s silly. I’m sitting right here, I’m playing with the team. And they’re writing that I’m rejecting some offer from Zalgiris or some other team. It’s ridiculous.

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