• Sue Bird, Seattle Storm
• Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
• Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets
• Yolanda Griffith, Indiana Fever/Sacramento Monarchs/Seattle Storm
• Becky Hammon, San Antonio Silver Stars/New York Liberty
• Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
• Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
• Ticha Penicheiro, Los Angeles Sparks/Sacramento Monarchs
• Cappie Pondexter, New York Liberty/Phoenix Mercury
• Katie Smith, Seattle Storm/Minnesota Lynx/Detroit Shock/Washington Mystics
• Dawn Staley, Houston Comets/Charlotte Sting
• Sheryl Swoopes, Tulsa Shock/Houston Comets/Seattle Storm
• Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
• Tina Thompson, Los Angeles Sparks/Houston Comets
• Teresa Weatherspoon, Los Angeles Sparks/New York Liberty

However, given the fact that some 13 of these ladies have contributed outside of the WNBA (including one or two who haven’t played for Spartak Moscow) combined with the Eurocentric attitude of this blog, BallinEurope prefers to think of the list this way:

• Sue Bird, Dynamo Moscow/Spartak Moscow region
• Tamika Catchings, Spartak Moscow/Lotos Gdynia/Galatasaray
• Cynthia Cooper, Samoa Bétera/Parma/Alcamo
• Yolanda Griffith, DJK Wildcats Aschaffenburg/Lavezzini Basket Parma/UMMC Ekaterinburg
• Becky Hammon, Trentino Rovereto Basket/Rivas Ecópolis/CSKA Moscow/Ros Casares Valencia/Orenburg/Spartak Moscow
• Lauren Jackson, Spartak Moscow
• Lisa Leslie
• Ticha Penicheiro, Team Portugal/Spartak Moscow
• Cappie Pondexter, Fenerbahçe Istanbul/UMMC Ekaterinburg
• Katie Smith, Lotos Gdynia/Fenerbahçe Istanbul
• Dawn Staley
• Sheryl Swoopes,VBM-SGAU Samara/Taranto Cras Basket/Esperides Kallithea
• Diana Taurasi, Spartak Moscow/Fenerbahçe Istanbul/Galatasaray
• Tina Thompson, Rovereto Basket/Spartak Moscow/Municipal MCM Târgovişte
• Teresa Weatherspoon, Busto Arsizio/Magenta/Como/CSKA Moscow

Such a list brings to mind a question: Where is the Euroleague Women equivalent to the WNBA roster? With the association having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1959 and the modern era set to mark its 20th in 2012, how about forming at least a “Top 20”for the longest-running international women’s league?

Disappointingly, it seems no such honor has even been advanced by FIBA, even despite a campaign launched in 2007 announcing the “Year of Women’s Basketball,” during which creation of an all-time team would seem to be a natural.

Therefore, BallinEurope will take it upon himself to formulate the all-time Euroleague Women roster. The process for nominating is now open … so who do you think deserves to be among the greatest ever, BiE readers…? Post opinions in the comments section of this post and look for more in August!

Meanwhile, reports 3, Jennifer Fleischer is a none-too-shabby flautist herself. Check out the piece on these “basketeuses et musiciennes” in a story they just had to call “Challes-es-Eaux dans le bon tempo!”

On the court, Bass-Williams turned in a monster season for Challes in 2010-11, contributing 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game – good enough numbers to win her the Foreign MVP. The former Duke Blue Devil is under contract with the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

Fleischer played fewer than 15 minutes per game with Challes this season, contributing 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per; given a chance to go 35 minutes in the final game, Fleischer grabbed an insane 20 rebounds against COB Calais.

Challes went 18-8 in the LFB regular season and is currently 12 points down in the semifinal round to Tarbes despite Mistie’s contribution: 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting plus eight boards. Game two of the series will be played today at 3.30pm CET (9.30am EST); you can watch live online via the official website.

Shout out to Christophe of European Prospects for the tip!

The best in women's ball: Taurasi of the Mercury...

“They give out awards for everything these days. ‘Greatest Fascist Dictator: Adolf Hitler’…” – Woody Allen, Annie Hall

What? You hadn’t heard that the annual ESPN ESPY Awards for Excellence in American Sport is running tonight? Well, now you know. And while shows such as these offer little in the way of relevance – quick: Name the 2007 ESPY winner in the category of “Best American Sports Team” – or spontaneous moments, BallinEurope might just tune in tonight ‘cuz BiE’s got a bone to pick.

In the category of “Best Female Athlete” this year, ESPN has nominated four: Serena Williams, Lindsey Vonn, Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi. Incredibly, Taurasi is getting just 3/1 odds at the bookmakers against Williams’ 1/2 and Vonn’s 3/1; Moore is the longshot at 7/1.

Both Williams and Taurasi have won the award in the category before: The former in 2003 and the latter in 2004, which may serve as argument enough to award the ESPY to Vonn. Unfortunately, Vonn’s nomination appears to be based essentially on one downhill run at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a Sports Illustrated photo shoot.

Now, okay, Serena had a fantastic year to be sure, with singles titles taken at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, plus doubles wins with sister Venus in the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens. Serena also moved into sixth place on the all-time champions list earlier this month.

All well and good, but the level of dominance achieved by Ms. Taurasi on her way to becoming the consensus all-time greatest women’s basketball player (though BiE fondly remembers Cheryl Miller) in 2009-10 transcended Williams’ in both individual and team play – in two full professional seasons, no less.

What kind of a 2009 WNBA season did Taurasi compile? How about taking the WNBA regular-season MVP, WNBA finals MVP on the way to a title-defending championship win by her Phoenix Mercury, and the WNBA “Peak Performer” award? Incidentally, she tipped off the 2009 season with Phoenix after having arrived from Euroleague Women championship-winning Spartak Moscow, where as league MVP she led the team with a line of 20.5 ppg/5.7 rpg.

Wikipedia notes that “Taurasi is one of only two players (the other being Cynthia Cooper), to win the season scoring title, the season MVP award, a WNBA Championship and the finals MVP in the same season.

...or Taurasi of Spartak?

And it says here that, while Cooper played 10 seasons in Italy, never did she play in WNBA ball and abroad in the same season.

Taurasi chased her 2009 with more hardware and accolades in Europe. Again did Spartak Moscow take the Euroleague Women title, stomping all over the competition. Again did Taurasi take the Euroleague Women regular-season MVP award. Oh, and this time she added the Final Four MVP and augmented her scoring average by nearly 4.5 to go for 24.9 points per game.

So, let’s see: Taurasi has racked up seven MVP awards and has guided her teams to four championship (including the 2009 Russian Women’s Superleague title; BiE didn’t mention it…?) wins and one second-place finish (in the Russian league finals in 2010). And guess who’s leading the WNBA in scoring as we speak.

C’mon, ESPN, give it to Diana. It’s what David Stern would do…

As press material summarizes, Dupree “ranked first in all of Euroleague competition in rebounding [at 11.0 per game] and third in scoring [at 18.9 ppg] while shooting 49.6% from the field in 39.1 minutes per game. She was named to the FIBA Euroleague Women All-Star Game, where she recorded 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes as a starter alongside new teammate Diana Taurasi.”
Official press release runs below the break.

(Phoenix Mercury Basketball Inc.) – Phoenix Mercury General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale today announced the acquisition of Chicago Sky forward Candice Dupree in a three-team deal that sent guards Cappie Pondexter and Kelly Mazzante to New York. Chicago acquires Shameka Christon and Cathrine Kraayeveld from New York to complete the trade.

“We’re ecstatic to be adding Candice Dupree to our already-stellar core,” said Meyers Drysdale. “Of course, we had to make a sacrifice in order to acquire a player of Candice’s caliber. She brings a combination of size, strength and athleticism that few possess and will add another potent weapon to our starting lineup.”

“We wish Cappie and Kelly both the best of luck in their continuing careers. Both have been tremendous contributors for this organization the past few years and we thank them for their efforts and service.”

In 2009, Dupree led the Sky and ranked 11th in the WNBA in scoring (15.7 ppg). She ranked second in the league in total rebounds (268) while recording career highs in rebounding (7.9 rpg), three-point field goal percentage (.387) and free throw percentage (.785). The 6-2 forward tallied nine double-doubles, third-most in the league. She was named to the third All-Star game of her career (2009, 2007, 2006) and was named a starter for the Eastern Conference.

Most recently, Dupree spent the 2009-10 offseason playing professionally overseas for Good Angels Kosice in Slovakia.

“Candice has proven herself to be one of the most dominant post players in the world,” said Taurasi of her new teammate. “She’s an aggressive defender and a great rebounder, and adding her to our roster gives us a great chance at defending our title in 2010.”

Dupree owns career averages of 15.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in her four WNBA seasons with Chicago. She has started every game for the Sky in three of the last four seasons, and has missed just one game in her career (2007). The Tampa, Fla. native was originally drafted by the Sky with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft.

Pondexter has played all four of her WNBA seasons with the Mercury after being selected by Phoenix with the second overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft. The Rutgers product owns career averages of 23.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 129 career games (all starts). She is a three-time All-Star and was named the 2007 WNBA Finals MVP.

Mazzante spent the last three of her six WNBA seasons with the Mercury and established averages of 4.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in 99 games (seven starts) for the Phoenix.

Iványi is currently good for a line of 11.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in the Hungarian league; in 13 games’ worth of Euroleague Women play, she was good for 7.6 ppg and a sliver under 7.5 rpg. Iványi really crashed the sports headlines last week when she went for a triple-double of 24/11/10 against EL final four team Wisla Can-Pack.

MiZo Pécs is currently atop the Hungarian women’s league table at 19-1 and clinging to a one-game lead over fellow Euroleague Women contenders Szeviép-Szeged and MKB-Euroleasing Sopron.

Dalma played a stint in the WNBA with San Antonio previously in 2006 and has long been a mainstay on the international stage with Team Hungary.

And, on occasion of the transaction, here’s an awesome random single highlight from the good ol’ ‘Tube:

“Dalma is a scoring point guard who can shoot the three or penetrate and dish,” Dream GM/coach Marynell Meadors was quoted as stating in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She has a great ability to get the ball to people where they can be successful.”

Tell you what, Dream front office folks: BiE doesn’t know what the nightlife is like in Atlanta, but any contract you draw up with Iványi might have to contain a clause forbidding attendance at cowboy-themed bars. That header Ms. Iványi took in a Salt Lake City bar might have been serious…

• Enes Kanter. It’s impossible to tell at present where the sensation (and MVP) of the 2009 FIBA U18 European Championship will be going in 2010 and beyond, unless “upward” is included as a potential location. Despite announcing his intention to play NCAA basketball at University of Washington next season, certain improprieties Kanter may or may have not been involved with at Fenerbahçe Ülker could keep him from playing at his stated destination next year; the question of whether Kanter actually played professionally with Fenerbahçe reportedly led to his departure from Las Vegas’ Findlay College Prep in September.

No matter: Kanter has been ripping up American high-school ball this season, recording an insane line of 48 points and 24 rebounds in a November game; some 50 to 60 NCAA schools sought to recruit Kanter before he settled on getting with the Huskies. Be certain that, whether the Turk is playing college ball or Euroleague in 2010-11, this dude will make his mark on the game before 2020.

• Team Serbia and Team Slovenia. A pair of national men’s teams that were competitive throughout the 2000s nonetheless ended up the surprise squads of Eurobasket 2009. While Slovenia recorded its best-ever finish as an independent nation with a mix of veterans and youth (the tournament roster included four players born in the 1970s five players aged 26 or younger), the Serbians went in with a relative bunch of unknowns who stunned Spain in the opener and ended up taking home silver.

In the coming decade, we’ll be watching the evolution of the Slovenian program and fearing that of Serbia: Just imagine how the latter will be playing in, say, the 2014 FIBA Worlds with four more years under their belts.

• Team Finland. Talk about your no-names. Finland snuck into the Eurobasket Qualifying Rounds this year to face off against the likes of France and Italy, but left the tournament with a little respect earned. The Finns will hardly become a world power this decade, but it would be shocking to not see this nation a bit, um, higher in the FIBA rankings (They’re not even in the top 73? I swear i don’t get this system) by decade’s end. Plus, who else is curious about Petteri Koponen, a former no. 30 overall draft selection, playing NBA ball?

• Alba Torrens. After pummeling The Continent’s men’s teams for most of the decade, is Spain now ready to achieve such dominance on the women’s side as well? Surely the Spanish women have hearts set on making The Leap into the discussion alongside the big three of Team USA, Russia and Australia in the 2010s, while all eyes for the time being are on point guard Torrens, star of Spain’s 2008 Olympic squad and MVP of the U20 European Championship Women 2009 with an average line in the latter of 16 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game – and she’s just 20, folks. Torrens is currently playing with Avenida and may someday suit up for the Connecticut Sun.

• Darko Milicic. The most infamous NBA no. 2 overall pick not named Sam Bowie returns home. Darko’s quest for redemption will surely be an unavoidable story for years to come.

• The economy, attendance. Still. At least in the short-term. With eight games gone, only Asseco Prokom (nearly plus-23%) and Real Madrid (plus-22%) are showing significant gains in attendance on last season and both teams play to less than 70% capacity in the average home game. Meanwhile, Fenerbahçe Ülker is down a whopping 78% on last season and mighty FC Barcelona plays to half-full home crowds and is down nearly 30% in ticket sales from 2009-10. Though international finance may right itself overnight (or not), the repercussions of the poor 2008-2009 economy will be felt in Europe’s highest levels of sport for seasons to come.

Bird: A frequent flyer

• Women as guns for hire (on both sides of the Atlantic). Hey, guess what: Sue Bird’s back with Spartak Moscow, the insta-team of Russian women’s basketball, thereby making Spartak the prohibitive favorite to take their fourth consecutive FIBA Euroleague Women title alongside the 2010 national title. Of course, Spartak is merely the ultimate extension of big-money European women’s pro team, successfully assembling a team month-to-month – day-to-day if necessary – that is designed to win tomorrow and nothing more.

In fact, in times of the tanked economy, the world’s highest-level women’s basketball players are among the few fortunate to potentially bag two decent-sized paychecks: One in Europe and a second in the WNBA. As long as that league remains solvent, that is.

And what do you figure we’ll be talking about in the next 10 years…?

• Not sure if this was the best basketball-themed piece of the week, but it certainly was the most unique(?): Sneaker specialists Kickz.com took a brief sojourn from dressing up the feet to looking at heads – specifically, the top 10 all-time NBA player haircuts. The site is German-language, but these pictures are truly worth a thousand words each. At least.

Naturally, no one is ever satisfied with any top 10, so BallinEurope would suggest the following additions:

Moochie Norris. I mean, the man will ultimately be more remembered for the frizzy ‘fro than anything he achieved on-court.

Speaking of classic afros, two words: Doctor. J.

And going completely the other way, you’ve gotta dig the immortal Chris Mullin flat top – not only was this the best haircut on the Dream Team, you have to give props to anyone who idolized Set Shot of “The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh” this much. (Hey, if Kickz can put Andre Biedrins’ gel-heavy thing on the list, i’m enumerating Mullin.)

• Good ol’ Slam and Freaknick are running a short-but-sweet interview with Cappie Poindexter, she of Rutgers and the Phoenix Mercury and no playing with UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia.

• On Sergio “Spanish Chocolate” Rodríguez, finally coming into his own in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings, and the man who gave him the nickname.

• The Starting Five scored a sweet interview with Stephen A. Smith of ESPN fame for a nice piece about the state of race in America and how important it is for a sports reporter to, um, you know, actually *write*.

• Finally, three-and-a-half minutes with the ACB Murcia cheerleaders. You’re welcome.

• Ladies and gentlemen, yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ACB November MVP, Novica Velickovic!

• ESPN, those creators and purveyors of sports lists, presents The All-Decade All-High School Team. For those of you into that sort of thing. (Yes, Brandon Jennings makes the team.)

• In advance of tonight’s marquee matchup comes the question “Is Baskonia-Lottomatica really the newest Euroleague rivalry?” The league’s official site would like you to think so.

• Worth mentioning again are the FIBA European Players of the Year awards; Ball in Europe’s shameless brief opinions are here.

• Finally, there’s this, which i’m still not too sure how i feel about…

Excitement – Euroleague style
The other two games on Wednesday offered plenty of excitement.
German champions EWE Baskets Oldenburg made up for the loss of starting point guard Jason Gardner as Rickey Paulding and Je’Kel Foster combined for 43 points in Oldenburg’s 87-81 victory at Asseco Prokom in their first ever Euroleague game.
And the most thrilling game came in Greece as CSKA Moscow needed a three-pointer at the buzzer by Viktor Khryapa for a 66-65 win at Maroussi.

Better than Jordan?

Talk about high praise … check out Spartak Moscow Region Vidnoje coach Laszlo Ratgeber’s compliment about his superstar Diana Taurasi, recently named WNBA MVP.

“You know what? Michael Jordan is a very lucky and fortunate person.If Diana Taurasi had been born a man, she would have been the best ever basketball player and not Michael Jordan.”

Check out what Ratgeber is talking about

New basketball film – in Germany!?!
Not long after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, a film documenting Germany’s run at the football spectacle drew rave reviews. But now a basketball film is hitting German moviehouses – called “Hangtime”.

Coming soon to Europe?
The NBA teams are making their final cuts. Don’t expect some of these names to come to a European club near you: Maceo Baston, Thomas Kelati, Dan Dickau and Jared Reiner.

Pleiss talks about NBA
German star talent Tibor Pleiss is one of the top center prospects in the European game. And in an interview on heinnews, the 19-year-old Pleiss talks about his final goal of reaching the NBA.

Euroleague leaders turn your heads
And to finish off with Euroleague … EL management cannot have been happy watching the highlights of the Maroussi-CSKA thriller. Of course the game had an amazing finish. But check out the empty stands – attendance was listed as 1,650. Imagine if Alba Berlin had reached the Regular Season and filled the 02 World Arena with 14,000 fans.

So call this week the proverbial calm before the (perfect) storm, and enjoy these offerings from around cyberspace.

Piece of the week? It might just be The Hoop’s nice roundup of Greece’s A1 league squads and the recent uptick in general for Greek roundball (and this was before Panionios’ signing of B.J. Elder yesterday).

Kanter-mania is running wild! To catch the fever, check out Fox Sports’ good profile piece on the pride of Turkey – complete with conservative, god-bless-America angle we’ve come to know and love from Fox.

Speaking of b-ballers from Turkey, could Ersan Ilyasova be key to the Milwaukee Bucks’ chances in 2009-10?

And more Turkey! The incomparable David Hein of heinnews talks with Kanter’s U20 teammate, power forward/center Deniz Kilicli.

The perfect way to end a column

That wacky duo Slam and Freaknick over at EuroleagueAdventures.com have compiled for your convenience a swell catalogue of YouTube videos of the “5 best NBA players in the [Eurobasket 2009] tournament“; by name that’s Andris Biedrins, Hedo Turkoglu, Rudy Fernandez and the Gasol boys. Also on that ‘site this week: An interesting interview/Eurobasket preview with British sports journalist Paul Nilsen.

Finally, here’s a local newspaper’s take on the “strong international flavor” of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Only a handful of Euroladies get a mention here – Ann Wauters (Belgium), Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (Belgium), Sandrine Gruda (France), Svetlana Abrosimova (Russia), Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal) – but the Norwich Bulletin does reference that yummy Erin Phillips, which always gets my vote.