Monday’s cigarettes

Here we go for a new week with Euroleague action. But today, we have a very special women’s cigarette for you…

• …because Sylvia Fowles came up with a breakaway dunk in the Euroleague game between Spartak Moscow and Schio.
• KK Split and Cibona Zagreb met this weekend in the Adriatic League. And the least we can say is that it was a hard-fought game.
• A crazy scoring weekend in the Spanish ACB where DKV Joventut scored 116 points on Bilbao’s court.
• Only eight minutes of play this weekend for Brandon Jennings, but it was enough to score five points.
• ALBA Berlin registered its new low in attendance for the season, with 8175 spectators for the game against Trier. But that’s still enough for an average of 12,036, an increase of 70% over last year.
• Panathinaikos wins the first derby of the season against Olympiacos.
• In Italy, everything looks as though the legendary Dino Meneghin will take over the basketball federation presidency.
• You know Guy Dupuy? He is generally considered the best dunker in Europe. Watch this new video from a show where he comes up with several spectacular dunks jumping over a car or going for a between-the-legs dunk off one foot.
• Ricky Rubio is still injured, but you want to see him in action? Check out this video of the Spanish sensation when he was playing with the Catalonian selection at the age of 14.
• A very bad story happened in Turkey last weekend; a basketball fan was shot dead before a game. Our Turkish friend Kerem expounded some on the incident:

The fan killing that occurred before the game last week was between the fans and the owner of a gas station. He was killed due to the disagreement between the gas station’s owner and group of fans which ended up with the owner shooting a fan with a shotgun to end the argument. The killing had nothing to do with either team’s organization but rather an unfortunate and a sad conflict between a group of fans and a gas station owner. The fan who was killed was a young university student who was traveling from Izmir to support his side Karsiyaka at Bandirma against Bandirma Banvit. Karsiyaka fans are known for their loyalty and passion for their team, but I guess too much of anything is a bad habit.

• The financial problems have reached Turkey, as Kerem also reports. Besiktas is facing financial problems but will be competing in the Eurocup this season. The team is currently 13th in the Turkish League. They’re a sad story this season, as two of their foreigners, Mario Austin and Jovo Stanojevic, have already left and there is talk that Mire Chatman might leave as well.
• The surprising story in Turkey, though, is Aliaga. Aliaga, who beat Besiktas last week, followed the victory up by beating another Euro contender at home, Fenerbahce Ulker, with Americans Chuck Davis and Aubrey Reese combining for a total of 58 points.
• Finally, Turk Telekom, who will also be facing Eurocup competition, is unbeaten in the league and will play Fenerbahce next week away at Istanbul. Their classic team play has brought them great success along with positive contributions from new additions Kennedy Winston, Rod Blackney and Turkish scorer Serkan Erdogan. It will be very fun to watch the team at a higher level, as they’re starting out their mission for a Eurocup Final 8 bid this week in Israel.

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.

The Currywurst-with-French fries trade explained

We’ve already talked about what happened to Marcus Slaughter in Bremerhaven a few days ago, but the story has now somehow come to a crazy conclusion. But let’s start from the beginning.

Marcus Slaughter is a young US player with a lot of talent. Born in 1985 and after a great campaign with San Diego State in the NCAA, Slaughter landed his first professional contract in Turkey at Pinar Karsiyaka, where he played under coach Okan Cevik and together with Rashard Griffith. After a short stint with the Miami Heat, Slaughter moved to Israel to sign with Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem. He played only a few games for the Israeli team, as he was released after meeting with a girlfriend in a hotel room on a ULEB Cup trip to Strasbourg in France – At least that’s his way of telling the story; the official team version says Slaughter met with a call girl and was cut immediately after this. Up to you to judge.

Later that season, Slaughter played in France at Gravelines, and we don’t know if the girl was still somewhere in the story.

This summer, after having played NBA Summer League ball for the Mavericks, Slaugther moved to Bremerhaven and his discipline-focused head coach Dr. Sarunas Sakalauskas. After putting up incredible numbers to start the season, Slaughter was surprisingly missing on the team’s road trip to Cologne. No reason was officially announced but a local newspaper talked about disciplinary reasons because the player ate currywurst (spicy German sausage with curry sauce) with French fries 30 minutes before an official game. Other sources say that relations between Sakalauskas and Slaughter were not that great because the basketball philosophies of the two were too different. After the game in Cologne, Bremerhaven officially announced that Slaughter was injured.

However, this did not prevent Slaughter from visiting a game of the local ice hockey team in Bremerhaven. But as the visit was not enough, he got some kind of farewell show at the ice rink, according to people present at the game. Only one day later, Slaughter was officially released by Bremerhaven and had already signed a contract with Le Havre … in France. Now once again, we don’t know if the French girl from Strasbourg was the reason Slaughter’s return to France; however, Slaughter looks pretty happy about the signing as you can see in his presentation picture below.

Image Source: Official website of STB Le Havre

So I guess you recognize the gear he is wearing? Yes: It’s still the Eisbären Bremehaven stuff. So we won’t be surprised to see Bremehaven management suing Slaughter for stealing their jacket. We’ll keep you updated.

After the Olympics: What’s the future of France?

In the line of various articles I have written about the future of national teams, I will today discuss France. Or let’s say, I will try. When I say “try,” I mean in fact that it is very difficult to discuss the future of a team that has no players (who still want to play for the national team) and no coach. Rumors about Ettore Messina, Sergio Scariolo or even Bozidar Maljkovic were relayed but for the moment, nobody has been signed. Or did I miss something?

The situation in France is currently very sad. After years of good results in youth categories which provided the nation with an amazing amount of talent, most young French players have now “arrived” in the NBA because to “arrive” in the NBA is the main goal among the current generation of French youngsters. And if all of them combined don’t even score as much as Tony Parker alone, they are satisfied and use their status as NBA player as an excuse for not playing qualification rounds in the Ukraine or wherever.

But what could be even more important is the fact that the French basketball federation is in coma. It has now been 16 years since former referee Yvan Mainini (among the top 50 most important figures in Euroleague history) was president of the FFBB. During his reign, France won a silver medal at the Olympics and a multitude of medals in both men’s and women’s youth basketball. Additionally, the French national team was a force for years while the women’s national team enjoyed some success as well. What looks bright at first sight is generally considered a nightmare for most observers of French basketball.

It looks like a change is coming, though. While the government decided to make its impact in sport federations by changing election rules and limiting the number of years of presidency, two new prospects have announced their candidacy for presidency of FFBB during the next elections. Thanks to Pascal from I Love Basket, I had access to the email that one candidate sent to the press in order to inform them of his candidacy. And the least one can say is that Jean-Pierre Dusseaulx knows how to get the media on his side: He has created a blog on which he will post his opinions and where you can follow his race to FFBB headquarters at Château des Rentiers (literally, “Castle of the Pensioners”).

So here are some of this retired journalist’s ideas:

Today, we are at the bottom of the bottom, destroyed by rugby and even passed by handball. We don’t exist in the national media where only the NBA counts. We could not profit from the Dream Team effect in Barcelona, which was only a flash in the pan compared to what happened in Spain. In 1995, we had 454,040 licensed players in France; in 2008. we have 455,117 if we really count everybody. An increase of 1077 in 13 years. What success!

Because of the concentration of our young players (at INSEP), France has had very good results on the international scene. But after, it is a collapse and all these young players are absent, with a few exceptions, from the professional teams of our league where the official language is now English. What a French Championship!

We can continue like this. Meeting and creating groups to think…with the same people that failed. French basketball cannot fall deeper but nobody is pointing out the errors. We can continue to accept with esteem the financial power of the NBA, we can accept the diktat of the Euroleague with batting an eye, we can remember sometimes that there is an international federation (FIBA) that is lying in deep coma and a European federation (FIBA Europe) which has no influence on anything. We can continue to make people think that we are important. Around a table with some good wine…

As you can see, Mister Dusseaulx is not very happy with the current situation and even goes for sweeping swipes at every body involved in federation basketball. The least one could say is that his name is now known, even by our readers. We’ll see if his ideas of change find the necessary support among the electors of the French federation’s governing body.

So how about the future of the National team? Well, I’ll come back to that as soon as a national team coach is named.

Basketball fight: Arizona WILDcat strikes in Russia

Ilya Kalyagin, our source from Russia, lives in Rostov. On Tuesday, Spartak St. Petersburg played Lokomotiv Rostov in the Russia Cup quarterfinal. Just to let you know who players are on these teams:

Spartak St. Petersburg:

• head coach Yevgeny Pashutin, former assistant coach of Ettore Messina at CSKA Moscow
• Zakhar Pashutin, Yevgeny’s brother and former CSKA player for Ettore Messina
• Joseph Blair - US player who played for Armani Jeans Milano and attended University of Arizona

Lokomotiv Rostov

• D.J. Collins, who will always be remembered as the “chicken and porn guy” with the funniest interviews
• Fred House, US guard, who won the ULEB Cup with Lietuvos Rytas in 2005

Seems to be a pretty good matchup, right?

Well, the game was anything but good. It seems as if the Arizona Wildcats players in Europe have one serious issue: punching other players on the court in the face. About two weeks ago, it was Loren Woods who swung his fist, now - Joseph Blair - and let me tell you I would not want to be the one receiving a straight fist from a guy like this. The guy who got hit now looks like this.

Sixteen — 16! — players were removed from the court and play resumed. First it was a 4-on-4, before ultimately becoming a 3-on-3 match.

Here is video footage of the fistfight. It looks like the two Russian players were arguing when the guy in white was pushed. It seems like he wanted to get back at the assailant, but, well, Blair delivered first.

Ilya also has footage from the 4on4 4on4 as well as the 3on3. 3on3 It turns out that Blair and the Russian guard Visnevski will be disqualified for at least 5 games.

Aftermath cigarettes

• The first Euroleague game day of the 2008/09 season is in the books - all the home teams won their games besides Avellino (Italy) who lost to Olympiacos, and SLUC Nancy (France) who got killed at home against FC Barcelona.

• Player that impressed me the most: Loren Woods. I know Will McDonald is the Euroleague MVP of week 1, but with all the big problems in Kaunas, money problems, Loren hitting people on the court and then facing Panthinaikos, Loren pulls off a game with 17 points and 16 rebounds in 33 minutes, which means 28 ranking points for Loren. Good job!

• Player that disappointed (me) the most: Ibrahim Jaaber - come on man: you’re on my Euroleague fantasy team! I chose you for your steals and defense last season…and this time not one steal, not one assist and not even one point in 18 minutes. Thanks for your -3 ranking.

• Euroleague TV comments: I watched at least 10 minutes of every game during the first gameday to find out if the pay-more-money-for-fewer-games thing works out. I have to say that the stream works really fine and I had no problems following the games even switching between them all the time. What I did not like is the resolution offered. The windows are clearly too small to really enjoy a game and by switching to full screen you can’t even read the score because of the bad resolution. Also new this year - as far as I remember - EL.tv stays online during halftime and offers a closeup of the bench during timeouts.

• Brandon Jennings watch: Evin Demirel talks about it: It’s obvious Jennings is learning to adjust to the European game. 9 points on 3-of-7 for threes and 0 assists - not sure if this is what European basketball is about. I am sure, though, that it won’t take too long for Brandon to show his real potential and we really are looking forward to this.

• The 31st overall draft pick for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Pekovic, in his first Euroleague game out of Serbia and for Panathinaikos: 14 points in 14 minutes in a 78-51 win against Zalgiris Kaunas in front of 12,000 visitors, according to Euroleague statistics.

• Speaking of Euroleague statistics: Marques Greens (Fenerbahce) played 30 minutes and had 5 points by making one two-pointer, one three-pointer and two free throws. Please tell me that this still would equal 7 points.

• Same game, same problem - Gasper Vidmar: 1-of-2 on free throws equals 3 points right?

• Josh Childress watch: 14 points, 8 rebounds in 25 minutes with a ranking of 22. Josh, learn to look at these ranking points - This is what Europe, especially Euroleague fantasy players, will judge you for. Here are the highlights.

• Finally our thoughts on the Euroleague TV commentators. Overall judge - funny and entertaining - with insightful comments in a true European/Italian way (in terms of pronunciation and passion). Really disappointing is the only guy who seems to be an American. His English might be perfect but the way he commentates a game made me fall asleep while Unicaja and Le Mans were actually playing a very interesting game. We know that he had problems with European names: problems with European names in the past, but I am sure, if you prepare a little bit for a game you can see that David Bluthenthal is not spelled David BLUMENthal, which in German means David Flowerthal, by the way.

What to do when a bum throws coins at an NBA star

I never knew that Tyson Chandler was such a good writer - really. Maybe I should follow him more often, since he seems to be a very cool guy telling interesting stories. Tyson was in Berlin and Barcelona during the Hornets’ NBA Europe trip and will be able to tell his grand kids the story of a bum trying to rob him. But read it yourself:

…I’m taking pictures and all of a sudden, I hear somebody start cursing at me. I’m looking through my camera lens at the time, so I can’t see anything but the pictures I’m taking. I come from up under, and this dude walks up to me, cursing me out.

I put my camera down and I’m like, “Am I not supposed to be taking pictures here?” He starts yelling in Spanish and I can’t understand him obviously. He looked homeless to me, and I’m saying, “Oh, I’m not supposed to be taking pictures here. I’m sorry.”

He’s just screaming at me and I put the camera away and walk away. But then he’s still going off and I see like 10 more homeless people up against the wall with dogs and stuff. It looked to me like the other 10 people were asking him what he was doing, but they were speaking Spanish, so I don’t know what they were saying.

The guy’s walking toward me and I’m putting my hand out like, “Stay back.” I walk backwards and start to turn around, but then, in the corner of my eye, I see him reach back to throw something. I kinda ducked and all these coins hit me.

He threw a bunch of coins at me.

At this point, I wanted to just go at it. This dude just hit me all over my back with coins, and he’s still screaming at me. But I told him, “Listen, you had better stay back.”

How do you know if somebody can tell you a good story? Well, when you read it or hear it, you totally can picture it, and I really just can picture everything that happened, but I do wish Tyson or somebody else would have taped that!

To read Tyson’s story about his Euro trip in full, click here. Make sure you read the first comment - Hilarious!

Marcus Brown to Maccabi Tel Aviv?

It looks bad - really bad - for the only Lithuanian club still playing in the Euroleague. Rytas has been out of the Euroleague since last season, and it now looks like Zalgiris has big problems, which we have already discussed. After we thought Zalgiris was fine, we’ve gotten the news that Marcus Brown, one of the top Euroleague players, has left the club.

After head coach Rimantas Grigas left the club yesterday, it looks like Marcus Brown is also leaving and will fly to Tel Aviv to talk about a possible contract with Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, according to Lithuanian and Israeli sources.

If Maccabi gets Marcus Brown, they will have a player with the title of “All-time Leading Scorer of the Euroleague.” Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Zalgiris Kaunas stays alive and what a story!

We heard lots of stories and rumors about Zalgiris Kaunas and its eventual bankruptcy these days. But now it’s official: Zalgiris Kaunas has been saved and will continue to exist. No players will leave the team and the Euroleague retains its participant from Lithuania. But what has really happened that the traditional green powerhouse has come into this situation?

The long story began in spring last year when Lietuvos Rytas, archrival of Zalgiris Kaunas, lost in the Lithuanian league finals against Zalgiris, meaning that Zalgiris was sure to be at the top of the national qualifying ranking for the Euroleague and would earn the license for the next three years to play in the best European competition. With the proposed new Euroleague system currently under discussion, this would have meant that Zalgiris would get the license as the permanent Lithuanian team in the Euroleague. Lietuvos Rytas would of course not like this to happen.

The summer went on, and Zalgiris awaited their annual payment of 5.2 million Litas from the municipality of Kaunas to ensure their budget. But the money did not arrive. The city of Kaunas budget was also not in the best situation and so was forced to take a bank loan in order to fulfill their contract with the Basketball team. But no bank was ready at that moment to supply such a loan due to the market situation. Additionally, Lithuanian newspapers were reporting that the banking situation was pretty tough. Nobody wanted to risk a situation in which people stormed the banks in order to take all their money back in cash.

On the other hand, with governmental elections then just ahead (they were held last Sunday), no politico wanted to state publicly that the banks should support Zalgiris and provide the loan. They spoke about the tradition of Zalgiris and that they wanted to help, but nothing really happened. Why? The most important media group in Lithuania is Lietuvos Rytas, the sponsor of Zalgiris’ archrival: No politician wanted to risk negative press just before the elections and ruin his/her ambition by supporting Zalgiris through more than rhetoric.

With the elections now over, the deadlock in the situation could be broken. The city of Kaunas attempted to find a compromise with the banks to set up financing for the contracted 5.2 million litas. By using a city-owned company that contracts a 2.5 million loan, the municipality makes the necessary step in fulfilling the initial requirements of their deal. This gives the team the opportunity to pay its players and nobody to leave. The second part of the agreement will be set up in the next few days, while Zalgiris has the necessary funding to play its season. The entire management board of Zalgiris is to step down and a new GM named.

Zalgiris Kaunas is and will stay alive. And that’s the most important thing: Most fans don’t care about the background work undertaken by officials during the last days and hours, and simply want to see their team win games. But a whole lot of work is still ahead for the new management, and I guess that we’ll yet be hearing more about this soon.

Steeve, HO YOU FAT!

When David Hein sent me this email last night, at first I thought that he was refering to a new article from Rod Benson. After a little research, Steeve HO YOU FAT is the actual name of a French guy playing in the first division with Cholet.

Now Cholet has four Americans on the team with Michael Lee, Alan Wiggins, Randal Falker and Vincent Grier. Please tell me these guys don’t make fun of Steeve all day long. I am pretty sure Benson will, once he gets the Cholet roster before playing them within the French league.

In the meantime, you can write Steeve an email at steeve.hoyoufat@choletbasket.com.

Update: Rod Benson has already mentioned this guy.

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