Here’s BallinEurope’s predominant working theory for at least the first two months of this season: The teams with more critical players who did a stint in Europe (or South America, for that matter) during the lockout will jump out to the best starts. And with a shortened season increasing the importance of every individual game, imagine what a, say, 17-5 could mean in the long-term – for a European equivalent of this model, how ‘bout that CSKA Moscow turbo boost?

So Kevin Garnett’s complaining that the preseason is too short … guys like Deron Williams have already been in real-game situations. Manu Ginobili is well rested but not “in basketball shape?” The Danilo Gallinaris, Mehmet Okurs and even the Gasol Brothers of the basketball world are set to go. More back-to-back games than ever before in NBA history? Hey, perhaps those two-a-days European coaches are so notorious for assigning will have readied these NBAers well more than the fortnight many of their colleagues are getting.

BiE would even argue that latecomers such as Tiago Splitter and late-peakers like Serge Ibaka are surely few steps ahead of the many American ballers who did not take Continental clubs up on even the most outrageous of offers. It is with this dictum in mind that this preview and Official Fearless Predictions™ were written. Today, the Eastern Conference.

Atlantic Division
First and foremost, of course, BallinEurope will be paying close attention to the New Jersey Nets, and not merely because of would-be Russian President Mikhail Prokhorov. (What? You don’t go to games to see the owners? Weren’t we supposed to learn that during the lockout?)

The future Brooklynites have a nice Euro-centric situation at point guard with D-Will (Beşiktaş) and Jordan Farmar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) warming up overseas. Depending on how one feels about Brook Lopez, European basketball fans have got to be loving last night’s acquisition of Mehmet Okur (Türk Telekom) for a song from the Utah Jazz – with the implied news that Enes Kanter is coming along over there – and former Team France/Pau Orthez big man Johan Petro may see some quality time in a Nets frontcourt with a huge Dwight Howard-sized hole.

Perpetual BiE attention-grabbers the Toronto Raptors are bringing disappointingly few European players into the 2011-12 season, though it’s not as though they didn’t try with Mickael Pietrus. Pietrus was almost a Raptor for a day before a knee injury voided a trade. Most recently, he’s been waived by the Phoenix Suns … how long before Pau Orthez puts in a bid…?

Meanwhile, the Raps still boast José Calderón, Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza among the ranks … and, um, whoa. Is this really Toronto’s depth chart? Even at 66 games, this could be a long season. Or, as something called The A(bro)citation puts it, “I can’t believe that there is a question as to who the worst team in the NBA will be in 2011-12. I don’t even care about records. This team will NOT fill seats, make it on SportsCenter, or even provide the ladies with some eye candy. Rough times in Toronto right now.”

As for the New York Knicks, BiE’ll get over the disappointment of neither Amare Stoudamire nor Carmelo Anthony coming overseas to play this fall long enough to compliment the interesting-looking starting five – Amare, Melo, Tyson Chandler, Landry Fields and Toney Douglas – while goggling at the bottom of the roster. Is Jarred Jeffries really the top frontcourt option off the bench? Could the difference-makers for New York be Mike Bibby and Baron Davis? Can four starters actually play 48 minutes in every game? Scary. For Knicks fans.

For the Boston Celtics, it’s been one step backward after another since acquiring the “Big Three.” BiE’s still puzzling over the bizarre late-season move which had Nenad Krstic coming to Beantown for Kendrick Perkins, a human spark plug during the Celtics’ mini-run in the ‘00s … only to see Krstic never fit in and sign with the tough Red Army. For whom he’s doing some serious damage.

More bothersome for the Cs are KG’s above-cited comments. Garnett noted that the short preseason does no good for team chemistry; clearly he’s thinking specifically of his own team here. Who else thinks Danny Ainge’s half-baked dealing isn’t finished yet?

Euro-centrically speaking, the Celtics have signed Sasha Pavlovic, but despite Boston’s lack of true no. 3s behind Paul Pierce, the Serb may not even stick. Assesses Jessica Camarato of CSN New England: “Pavlovic flashed some outside-shooting ability earlier in his career, but he’s unlikely to do much in Boston even if he makes the team.”

In general, BiE likes the workman-filled Philadelphia 76ers roster. Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand lead a defense-minded, intangibles-first squad that could go far in a weak Atlantic Division. While the Sixers have essentially kept the 2010-11 final roster intact, word has it that Iguodala has been the subject of trade rumors; really? Meanwhile, look out for seven-foot draft pick Nikola Vucevic out of USC to steal away the starting role from Spencer Hawes; BiE believes that Vucevic is primed for a long and successful NBA career and it may just begin early.

Central Division
BiE’s NBA team to watch in 2011-12: The Chicago Bulls. Love the nice Eurobasket 2011 representation with Joakim Noah (Team France), Omer Asik (Team Turkey) and Luol Deng (Team Britain and truly one of the tournament’s studs in his short stint). Love the return of Brian “One of Us” Scalabrine after his ego-boosting term with Bennetton Treviso. Love Derrick Rose; how could you not? Love coach Tom Thibodeau and his staff’s excellent defensive sets which offensive strategy that allows for each player’s strengths to be accentuated. Love the way these guys match up with the Miami Heat. Hell, BiE even loves the Carlos Boozer extension well enough.

From Detroit Pistons land, the biggest Euro-centric news is all about Jonas Jerebko. Finally coming back to the Pistons after spending all of 2010-11 laid up, the Swede is already a fan favorite, may have earned the starting power forward job by opening day and will seemingly sign an extension with the club. O, and he’s guaranteed that Detroit will make the playoffs. Okay, BiE buys that.

The good news for the ClevelanCled Cavaliers: Omri Casspi (Maccabi Tel Aviv, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalmost) is aboard. The bad news: Well, just about everything else is bad news.

What? No Europeans on the Indiana Pacers? Former University of New Mexico stud Danny Granger needs to be traded soon so that BiE has absolutely no reason to pay attention to these guys…

Brandon Jennings (yeah, BiE still has fond memories) hopes to reclaim that “Fear the Deer” feeling with his nicely international-flavored Milwaukee Bucks in 2011-12. Ersan Ilyasova (Anadolu Efes) has looked generally decent in preseason play and in tandem with Drew Gooden comprises a nice 1-2 combination at power forward, especially in comparison with the East. New acquisition Beno Udrih backs up Jennings and has seen a ton of time – 32.2 minutes per game through five – in the preseason, perhaps indicating a respectable role with the team.

Southeast Division
As a follower of European ball, you gotta dig the Orlando Magic because they keep Hedo Turkoglu employed. What would the NBA preseason be without the annual “How much does Hedo have left in the tank?” questions?

Meanwhile, Magic fans worry about 1) if Dwight Howard will depart, 2) when Dwight Howard will depart, and 3) how disgruntled he’ll be in the meantime. If the Magic get off to a 2-8 start, well, Orlando backers will be welcoming Pau Gasol to town before February.

The mix the Atlanta Hawks has concocted is crazy enough that it just might work. European ball is well represented with Zaza Pachulia, Vladimir Radmanovic and Pape Sy. Sy may actually play this season for the Hawks. Or maybe, judging by the extremely few minutes he’s getting in December, not.

Re: What BiE wrote above about the Magic and Hedo? Ditto and even more so for the Charlotte Bobcats and Boris Diaw (JSA Bordeaux).

The Washington Wizards look so exciting and interesting that BiE’s nearly giddy enough to back Jan Vesely as a dark-horse NBA Rookie of the Year candidate. “Nearly,” BiE said, as it seems breaking into the DC starting lineup ahead of Rashard Lewis ain’t gonna happen. Nevertheless, local media is loving the Flying Czech.

The Wiz also boasts a pair of Team France guys in Kevin Seraphin (Caja Laboral Baskonia) and Ronny Turiaf (Asvel Villeurbanne). Seraphin is still looking to break out after getting limited playing time in 2010-11; hopefully for him, his decent production for Caja Laboral (10.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, about 20 minutes per ACB game; 8.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 19.25 mpg in Euroleague play) will inure him to the Washington coaches a bit more.

Turiaf spent much of his lockout time sorting out insurance issues and such, but did some respectable work for Tony Parker’s French team; BiE opines he’ll be viable bench support on this playoff team.

So the whole Miami Heat-as-Evil Empire thing is old hat, huh? Not for BallinEurope! This Euro-free team doesn’t even have Zydrunas Ilgauskas any more, so what’s the point? BiE may even have to start hating on former fave Shane Battier…

The Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ then, have the following in the Eastern Conference playoffs, in order of seed: Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, New Jersey Nets, Detroit Pistons. And your 2011-12 NBA Eastern Conference champion is … the Chicago Bulls! (That’s right, BiE said it.)

Next: The Western Conference, including (sigh) Pau and those Los Angeles Lakers.

While living in the present, BiE takes a look at the past with a virtual all-star team of guys from the ’States who have been great for the European game in one way or another. This quintet was chosen not necessarily for their skills and greatness, but for their impact on the game itself both in Europe and America – at least until Kobe Bryant decides to hop the Atlantic, heh heh…

5. Brandon Jennings, Lottomatica Roma. Though Jennings’ challenge of the NBA’s “prep-to-pro” rule written into the 2006 collective bargaining agreement hardly caused a stampede of talented high schoolers taking their talents to Europe, the truth is that BJ opened up this opportunity for any open-minded, mature and adaptable (Are you listening, Jeremy Tyler?) high-school player to develop quickly while earning a bit of coin. Plus BiE can’t help wondering if the rule won’t be negotiated during what looks to be a looooooooooooooooong negotiation process between league and players.

4. Dominique Wilkins, Panathinaikos/Fortitudo Bologna. Though Dominique’s stints in Europe in the late 90s may have been one part interest and four parts petulance, there’s no denying that a) his performance in 1995-96 goes down as one of the memorable individual efforts in Greek basketball and Euroleague history, and b) PAO management learned the significance of taking on NBA players to improve the roster.

Ironically, ’Nique’s departure from the team after the Euroleague championship victory caused an about-face by Panathinaikos management. Breaking up the Wilkins-led all-star roster for 1996-97 directly led to the last time any true parity existed in Greece as teams such as PAOK Thessaloniki and AEK Athens challenged for domestic championships before decade’s end.

3. J.R. Holden, CSKA Moscow/Team Russia. BiE maintains that Holden should be a first-ballot FIBA Hall of Famer based solely on his Euroleague career with the Red Army. The All-Euroleaguer for the 2000s made CSKA perhaps the top European club of the last decade in leading his team to two Euroleague championships, two second-place finishes, eight EL Final Four appearances, nine Russian league titles and four Russian Cups in his nine seasons at PG with the team.

However, it’s surely Holden’s play in the 2007 Eurobasket tournament that will forever endear him to Russian basketball fans. Together with tournament MVP Andrei Kirilenko, Holden led his national side to a memorable upset of mighty Team Spain with veteran leadership, clutch shooting and some stifling D.

Subjectively speaking, BiE can think of few other players who so perfectly managed to integrate post-Jordan American playmaking with classic European teamwork-first b-ball to create a truly unique style all his own. Besides, how many basketballers have received the benefits of a special national government-level decree by Vladmir Putin himself? Holden retired this off-season, and he will be missed.

2. Tal Brody, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Talk about influential. This yankee’s affect on Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israeli basketball in general (and note that Maccabi Tel Aviv is a European superpower notable enough to have been inducted into the Professional Basketball Hall of Fame in America) goes far beyond mere X’s and O’s; hell, the man attracted the attention of national leaders and is now guaranteed immortality with at least a footnote in Israel history textbooks.

Though drafted by the Baltimore Bullets, Brody never played in the NBA and instead got with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the 1966-67 season. Maccabi immediately ascended to the European Champions Cup final four round with Brody starting in the shooting guard spot. Military commitments returned Brody to the ‘States for a couple of years but he returned to Israel for good for the 1970-71 season and gained legendary states by guiding Tel Aviv to the European Champions Cup in 1977, part of the franchise’s first triple-crown season and the country’s first major championship in any sport.

His post-game comments preserved a spot in history proper when he declared, in the face of certain geopolitical pressure from the Soviet Union throughout the competition with specific reference to Israel:

Which is typically translated along the lines of “We are on the map, and we are staying on the map – not only in sports but in everything.”

Brody won the Israel prize for contributions to national sport in 1979 and, since retiring from basketball in 1980, Brody has worked with various youth basketball programs, was appointed goodwill ambassador of Israel in 2009 and has been inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ’Stateside. If sports can truly be a geopolitical force, Brody is its international poster boy.

1. Deron Williams, Beşiktaş Cola Turka. This might be slightly premature, but BiE is assuming D-Will steps onto the court for the Eagles at least once in 2011. In so doing, Williams immediately becomes a key symbol of both the 2011-12 NBA lockout – an event that will perhaps become known as the most significant event of David Stern’s tenure as league commissioner after formation of the Dream Team in 1992 – and the growth of European club ball in the past 12 years.

Nenad Krstic himself, one of the first jumpers from the NBA to European ball for 2011-12, proclaimed that not many big league ballers would try their fortunes on The Continent – after all, look at what happened here vis-a-vis Atlantic player movement back in the 1998-99 lockout, i.e. next to nothing.

Williams’ decision, however, shows that not only is European basketball held in higher esteem on the other side of the ocean, hoops economics over here are also much improved since the ’90s. A bona fide NBA all-star in Turkey means more than Beşiktaş becoming a favorite to take the Eurocup title and compete fiercely for the TBL championship: It signifies that European basketball (and Turkish hoops especially) have come a long way.

So how about it, Kobe…?

Jennings is today scheduled to attend the NBA/Junior WNBA National Skills Challenge Finals, “culmination of the largest school-based initiative ever conducted by the NBA in India.” Indeed, the project cosponsored by HP involved clinics for some 500 Indian coaches and the teaching of “basketball and life skills” to schoolchildren in five cities.

The big league’s official ‘site notes that Jennings will be doing some basketball/life skills work in Mumbai tomorrow and Pune thereafter. In fact, NBA gives the Buck another accolade for his young career, noting that Jennings “will become the first NBA player to host an event in [Pune].”

Naturally, local media is feting Jennings’ arrival with some good coverage. News website DNA India has a nice bit in which the ex-Roma, among other topics, is quoted on the ubiquitous question of the differences between NBA and top European ball: “They play the game similar[ly] to us but their strategies are different. In the US, it’s all about the players and the stars, while in Europe, it is a complete team game. They are very passionate about sports and want victory at all cost.”

Jennings also speaks of his idol as a player, kind of a familiar-sounding name here at BallinEurope … “[Allen] Iverson was my hero when I was a kid and watched the matches on TV. The way he took it to the big players despite being short was inspiring. He gave others hope. He showed us that we do not need to be seven feet tall to play basketball. I am only six feet one inch, which is not very tall for the NBA, so he was defiantly (sic!) a hero for me.”

Middleton: Product of a different era

Yet the 44-year-old plays on … yesterday, Power Electronics Valencia announced the signing of Middleton to a two-month contract, enough to let him finish out the season with the Euroleague club and extend his ACB record for “oldest player to appear in a league game.” Middleton will certainly threaten, if not break, the Euroleague record for same when Valencia goes to Real Madrid next Tuesday night in the playoff round; Valencia plays at Fuenlabrada on Saturday.

Turning 45 in July, BallinEurope would also guess Middleton to be the single oldest player in a top-level basketball league in the world today … if anyone knows of some more elderly than this European mainstay, please inform.

In his 23rd season of professional ball, Middleton has been with Spanish second-division club Girona, where in 27 games, the forward has been good for 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per. Middleton actually played for current Valencia coach Pešić on that club in the 2006-07 season.

Valencia decided to employ Middleton due to the recent injuries to Victor Claver and James Augustine leaving a big hole on the roster.

Middleton played four years with Baylor University through 1987-88 when he was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Hawks. Since then, Middleton has led a true traveler’s life in European ball, playing with FC Barcelona, Joventut Badalona, Panathinaikos and Dynamo St. Petersburg, among others. He’s bagged ACB MVP honors on three occasions and has been with teams winning six domestic league titles, one Eurocup championship and one Euroleague championship (with PAO, in 2002).

All BiE knows is that he thankful there’s still a pro baller who remembers the 1980s; when Middleton finally hangs up the shoes, BiE will be peerless in the hoops world…

Myers learned about Eurostep, pubs, chicken sandwiches with Sheffield

Good morning! So without further ado, here’s a roundup of some recent stories relating the Europe, basketball, and European basketball.

• What is the Euro Step? It’s The Continent’s contribution to NBA basketball! Here’s a great story on how a European technique – Sarunas Marciulionis is credited with its introduction to American hoops – has been adopted by the likes of Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo and John Wall.

• As though the prospect of an NBA lockout in 2011 weren’t bad enough, is the 2013 Eurobasket tournament itself now in danger as well? According to the Associated Press:

“The cash-strapped Slovenian government has delayed a decision on whether to support the country’s bid to host the 2013 European basketball championship.

“The government is expected to pay governing body FIBA €6.5 million for the hosting rights.

“The state-run news agency STA says cabinet members discussed the issue on Thursday, but put off a decision as Prime Minister Borut Pahor sought more detailed financial figures.

“Slovenia is the only candidate for the championship and if the government agrees to pay the fee, FIBA is expected to award it the championship on December 5.

“Slovenia is struggling with the effects of the financial crisis and has been looking to cut its expenditures.”

• Brandon Jennings back to Italy in 2011-12? That might be scary…

• The headline on this one says it all, really: “West Virginia’s Deniz Kilicli says NCAA Unfair to Foreigners.”

• And speaking of foreign ballers in American college play, add Team Germany’s Enosch Wolf to the list: The 7’1” Goettingen resident will be with no less than University of Connecticut after a year with prep school Wilbraham & Monson Academy.

• Now the basketball coach at St. Andrew’s in Maryland, Terrell Myers in the late 1990s/early 2000s played for the Sheffield Sharks and CB Murcia, among other squads on this side of the ocean. In the videos below, Myers amuses and amazes with tales of a bright-eyed American lad who had never even seen a sheep before touching down in England…

Indeed, now that Tyler has escaped the glare of American and international media, things even seem to be looking up for the lad a bit. Followers may recall that Tyler made sports history in 2008 when he decided to eschew his senior year of high school in San Diego – publicly stating he was bored and sought new challenges – to play professional basketball abroad while waiting two seasons to enter the NBA draft.

At the behest of Sonny Vaccaro, the international agent also involved in the Brandon Jennings-to-Roma deal, Tyler penned a deal with Maccabi Haifa of Israel for the 2009-10 season. Unfortunately, difficulties with everything from the culture to the coaching staff to Tyler’s own work ethic resulted in the team requesting the young man quit the team before season’s end. Tyler did so and returned to America empty-handed and with shaky future prospects.

Tyler landed with the oddly-named Tokyo Apache for the 2010-11 season and is actually apparently seeing a bit more playing time – and therefore personal success – this year. According to Asia Basket, Tyler is the team’s high scorer off the bench with 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in under 15 minutes per game; fouls appear to be the bane of Tyler’s game, with a whopping 3.6 PFs per appearance.

In fact, this weekend saw Tyler contribute his two best-ever performances as a pro. On Saturday, Tyler went for 15 points in a losing effort and turned in a monster stat line on Sunday against the Saitama Broncos: Showing no fear, Tyler went for 27 points on 13-of-23 shooting plus 11 rebounds in 26 minutes of court time. The Japan Times enthused that “a forceful presence in the paint[,] attacking the rim with a clear purpose – five slam dunks, to be precise – as Tokyo capitalized on his explosive athleticism.”

Among Tyler’s American teammates in Tokyo are starting point guard Byron Eaton, formerly of Oklahoma State University, and ex-Seattle Supersonics big man Robert Swift.

And Gallery’s production rolls on – hopefully. The Cavelight Films website is hosting a pledge drive in hopes of raising $22,000 within the next 3½ weeks or so in order to meet some budget constraints.

Reads the appeal, in part:

“The film stars Jeremy Tyler who is the first player ever to leave high school early to turn pro. Since this controversial decision he has been battling corruption and immense personal obstacles on his way to NBA stardom and to making history.

“This has been a passionate three year endeavor and the exciting story is still unfolding on a global scale! Jeremy is now in Japan playing for the Tokyo Apache. We plan on following him there and are raising money to do so.

“Documenting both his personal and professional life, My Life takes you on an intimately personal journey through the high stakes world of what it takes to be an NBA superstar. Through all of the money, scandals and corruption emerges a unique and compelling epic: the ultimate coming of age story unfolding with an intensity reserved only for real life.”

To make a contribution to the production of “My Life: Chasing a Dream,” visit the film’s official page at CavelightFilms.com.

Brief notes and snarky remarks on all 25 NBA teams follow. (Yes, BiE said “all 25.” Since the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, and Los Angeles Clippers boasts no Europeans, they can’t really be considered proper NBA teams for our Eurocentric viewpoint.

Southwest Division
Some folks are calling the 2010-11 edition of the Dallas Mavericks its strongest team ever; it’s also a pretty good Team France embryo, with Ian Mahinmi, Alexis Ajinca, and last year’s sensation Rodrigue Beaubois helping make up Dirk Nowitzki’s posse. Unfortunately, the Western Conference may be tougher than Western Europe this year…

Meanwhile, how can the San Antonio Spurs be going into this season as an afterthought by most pundits? BiE herein reiterates what every Euroleague and/or ACB enthusiast already knows: that the international player having the most impact in the NBA in 2010-11 will be former Caja Laboral Baskonian Tiago Splitter – and with a perfect mentor in Tim Duncan and perfect coach in Gregg Popovich, the future of the Spurs begins now – even if that future doesn’t necessarily include New York-bound Tony Parker.

While Pau is still in the league, Marc Gasol figures to be known as the little brother. But with his Memphis Grizzlies fostering young talent in O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley, BiE’s thinking Marc will be looking good enough statistically to place him with big bro on the Western All-Stars.

Marco Belinelli, D.J. Mbenga and Pops Mensah-Bonsu: Three guys who just wanted badly to play in the NBA. And this year, they’ll get their chance to do just that alongside Peja “Methuselah” Stojakovic on the New Orleans Hornets.

Northwest Division
Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves may not have the best European players in the NBA, but they certainly have some of the most notorious. Alongside holding the rights to the most famous basketball player not in the NBA, T-wolves GM David “Wrath of” Kahn also re-signed impossible-to-hyperbolize draft bust Darko Milicic to a gazillion-dollar contract based on a 26-game stint with the club during which Minny went 2-24; Nikola Pekovic is also aboard, which at least gives the Timberwolves a physical presence unseen here since Kevin Garnett left, not to mention one badass bit of inkwork.

Stop BiE if you’ve heard this one before: The Utah Jazz are back with Jerry Sloan as head coach and are led by Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur. Hopefully, this will be the year for Kyrylo Fesenko to get more quality time, too. With Okur, Fesenko, Al Jefferson and Holland’s Francisco Elton on the roster, the Jazz can play ball with the Western Conference’s bigger teams this year. Another playoff bid seems likely.

Portland Trail Blazers fans have certainly become disenchanted with Rudy Fernandez by now; the only question is when he leaves the team (perhaps in a six-team deal involving ‘Melo and/or Tony Parker?). Portland fans will just as certainly be keeping a close eye on Team France’s Nicolas Batum, one of the many rising stars on this team’s roster.

The worst news for Lakers (and Spurs and Blazers and Rockets, etc. etc.) fans on draft night vis-à-vis the scary Oklahoma City Thunder? That they’d juked the Atlanta Hawks out of Tibor Pleiss of Germany. The best news? Pleiss will be playing in Germany this year. For European flavoring, the Thunder will have to “settle” for returning two starters in Serbia’s Nenad Krstic and Switzerland’s Thabo Sefolosha. Be afraid; be very afraid.

Pacific Division
Who else can’t wait to see the returned Josh Childress running with Steve Nash – not to mention last year’s playoff phenomenon Goran “The Dragon” Dragic? Once again, the Phoenix Suns look to be another take on the point-a-second theme that gets bounced in the playoffs. So kinda like an American Montepaschi Siena. Oh, and Hedo Turkoglu’s onboard and could be an asset, crummy work ethic aside.

Beno Udrih and Omri Casspi are back to lead the Sacramento Kings this season – lead them in the continuing development of DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans, that is.

For the Golden State Warriors, Andre Biedrins looks to come back from a frustrating season of nagging injuries while Vladimir Radmanovic fights to stay relevant – with both laboring in San Francisco, think anyone’ll notice?

Then there are the Los Angeles Lakers. Has any defending champion – after making improvements in the off-season, mind you – been so underrated going into an NBA season? Well, there’s one player on this Laker squad who’s been underrated for long enough and will single-handedly will the purple-and-gold to another threepeat: Your 2010-11 NBA Championship Series MVP Pau Gasol. (No, really, he’s gonna win it. Mark BiE’s words.)

Atlantic Division
The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors (of course) are among the most European-blessed in the league and … could Danilo Gallinari become the go-to guy in New York (at least ‘til Carmelo Anthony comes over)? In the first two months of 2009-10, Gallinari was seeing under 30 minutes of playing time; by season’s end, his shooting was up to 43.5% and his average ascended to 22.4 points in 39.5 minutes per game for March.

Knickbocker backers will also love former CSKA Moscow charge Timofey Mozgov by the break when he’s named to the Freshman All-Star Team. Kelenna Azubuike managed to stick around in New York despite a plethora of shooting guards, but with an injury may be out for two months. And Ronny Turiaf clings to a spot in the 15-man roster as well.

Meanwhile, the greatest European team in North America gears up for another high-shooting, low-impact, medium (at best)-result producing season. The 2010-11 Raptors will be running with Linas Kleiza (whom BiE suspects won’t miss a beat after a season in Greece), Jose Calderon and the ever-emergent Andrea Bargnani running with David Andersen and Leandro Barbosa … without a bona fide marquee name, the Raps may be best off playing with an all-foreign quintet out there. Bombs away!

Kudos to the Boston Celtics for sticking with Turkish big man Semih Erden, the first foreigner the C’s have sported since the “glory days” of Wally Szczerbiak, namely 2006-07. However, the Greens start the season with Erden on the injured list and have only 11 active players for tonight’s game, meaning notable Olympiacos player Von Wafer may get a few minutes in the 2010-11 NBA season after all.

It looks as though Mikhail Prokhorov’s New Jersey Nets will start the season with Johan Petro as Brook Lopez’ understudy, though the Frenchmen on whom local media are so-so will have to watch out for stud-in-training Derrick Favors eating away at his minutes in the five spot.

And for the Philadelphia 76ers, Lithuania’s Darius Songalia comes over from New Orleans. No matter, here’s an easy Fearless Prediction™ for ya: BiE says Songalia should be good for about seven points and 20 minutes per game in 2010-11.

Central Division
Have the Chicago Bulls locked up the best European 4-5 combination in the NBA in Joakim Noah and Omer Asik? How can you not love that duo as a Bulls fan? Is this the season Noah finally gets an All-Defensive Team nod? BiE’s answers: Yes, you can’t not, and yes.

Set for a breakout year: the Detroit Pistons’ Jonas Jerebko, Swedish citizen and Fran Fraschilla fave (before you scoff, check out the link; coach Fran judged European talent pretty well in ’09). BiE just can’t wait to see more of Jerebko Row.

Meanwhile, the Euroleague hurricane (as in, he blew through and then blew out) Brandon Jennings leads that exciting, diverse bunch called the Milwaukee Bucks again. Ersan Ilyasova, who certainly could have gotten some NBA Comeback Player of the Year votes had anyone noticed this was in fact the same skinny dude who couldn’t quite hang with the Bucks in 2007. Ilyasova’s statline will certainly improve this season, too, since he should be getting more than the 23 minutes per game he got in his return bid last season.

Southeast Division
After spending the ridiculous amount of money they did on Joe Johnson, it’s no wonder Pape Sy (still trying to figure out that particular draft pick, along with the whole Tibor Pleiss-to-Oklahoma thing) remains on the Atlanta Hawks’ extended roster for opening day. And with one of the shortest rosters in the NBA, sporting just one seven-footer and four of 6’10” or greater height, Zaza Pachulia might see his most action in an NBA uniform yet.

One of the most intriguing of the European rookies is Kevin Seraphin who had planned on using the 2010 FIBA World Championship tournament as something of a showcase for his new team the Washington Wizards until injury befell him. While Seraphin will most likely stick around on the club through the season and Wizards management loves his potential, we probably won’t see much of the Frenchmen until later in the season; said Flip Saunders, “When we drafted him, we knew that his first year was going to be a learning process for him, not only to learn the NBA game, but also learn the language.”

Boris Diaw did not end up moving from the Charlotte Bobcats to the Utah Jazz in the proposed four-team Carmelo Anthony trade; BiE’s not sure whether Diaw considers this good news or bad news … incidentally, what sort of look are the Bobcats going for with this group of shoot-last guys? The Ready-Contractable?

If there’s one team that should have a chip on its shoulder going into 2010-11, it’s the Orlando Magic. BiE awaits – like most basketball fans – the first Magic-Heat battle. While it seems that even the Miami Thrice have no answer to Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat will certainly be called upon to expand his standard range against the bigger (or badder) squads. Mickael Pietrus is also with the Magic for another season.

Finally, there’s that monstrous Miami Heat team lurking in the Southeast, presumably made great by the signing of one veteran player upon whose big soldiers a city’s hoops fans’ hopes are placed. Welcome to South Beach, Zydrunas Ilgauskas!

Parker leads 11 French NBAers

With NBA teams starting to get warmed up for the regular season tipoff, BallinEurope figured it high time to take stock of the European players prospectively set to take the court in America for 2010-11.

In considering the expanded rosters for each of the 30 NBA teams, BiE counted 50 players from The Continent plus one free agent. The asterisk here is Linas Kleiza, who carries an American passport and in fact has played organized ball in the ‘States since high school, but hey: He’s a Team Lithuania guy, so he makes this list.

A country-by-country tally produces some interesting results. France again leads all non-U.S. nations in supplying players. In fact, had Yakhouba Diawara not taken his talents out of South Beach in favor of Italia Serie A’s New Basket Brindisi, the ineffable signing of Papa Sy would have given La Republique a potential full roster of 12 NBA players.

Beyond France, another two countries could field starting lineups in the NBA: Serbia brings Nenad Krstic, Nikola Pekovic, Vladimir Radmanovic (now sporting an ultra-cool 77 on his jersey for the Golden State Warriors), Peja Stojakovic and the immortal Darko “Kahn says I’m better than Vlade Divac” Milicic. Turkey represents in America with loads of talent in Omer Asik, Semih Erden, Ersan Ilyasova, Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu.

Drazen would be disappointed

Perhaps most shocking when considering a country-by-country comparison, however, is the stunning lack of Croatian players in the NBA: This season will mark just the second since Drazen Petrovic’s debut in 1989 that no Croatian player is on the courts of the big league.

Assuming for the nonce that the proposed four-team trade involving Carmelo Anthony, Andrei Kirilenko and Boris Diaw goes through on Monday, a club-by-club breakdown shows that a mere five teams are starting the preseason without Europeans – and just one of these, the Houston Rockets, cannot be classified as a potential bottom-feeder.

Meanwhile, those Toronto Euroraptors are seeing their dominance in hogging Continental players fade a bit – for now. Three other teams – the Mavericks, Knicks and Jazz (with or without the Carmelo trade) have four European players, surpassing the official BallinEurope NBA home team. Thanks to Rasho Nesterovic’s departure to Olympiacos, the Raps are left with just three Euro players.

There may be hope for North America’s best Euroleague team, though, as local media reports that Brezec and Kyrylo Fesenko are on a shortlist to fill a big man’s spot on the roster.

The club-by-club listing looks like the following.

NBA teams with four Europeans listed on the extended roster: Dallas Mavericks (a.k.a. France West with Alexis Ajinca, Rodrigue Beaubois and Ian Mahinmi), New York Knicks, Utah Jazz.

Three: New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors.

Two: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns (not including Josh Childress), Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings.

One: Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks (since BiE’s no longer counting Brandon Jennings), Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards.

Zero: Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers.

Finally, the country-by-country breakdown runs as follows. BiE will update these lists as the season goes on but for now, we’ve got:

Biedrins: Mr. Latvia Basketball

Belgium (1) – D.J. Mbenga (Nuggets)

France (11) – Alexis Ajinca, Rodrigue Beaubois, Ian Mahinmi (Mavericks); Nicolas Batum (Blazers); Boris Diaw (Jazz); Tony Parker (Spurs); Johan Petro (Nets); Mickael Pietrus (Magic); Kevin Seraphin (Wizards); Papa Sy (Hawks); Ronny Turiaf (Knicks)

Georgia (1) – Zaza Pachulia (Hawks)

Germany (1) – Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)

Great Britain (3) – Kelenna Azubuike (Knicks); Luol Deng (Bulls); Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Hornets)

Israel (1) – Omri Casspi (Kings)

Italy (3) – Andrea Bargnani (Raptors); Marco Belinelli (Hornets); Danilo Gallinari (Knicks)

Latvia (1) – Andris Biedrins (Warriors)

Lithuania (3) – Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Heat); Linas Kleiza (Raptors); Darius Songaila (76ers)

Netherlands (2) – Francisco Elson (Jazz); Dan Gadzuric (Warriors)

Poland (1) – Marcin Gortat (Magic)

Russia (2) – Andrei Kirilenko (Nuggets); Timofey Mozgov (Knicks)

Serbia (5) – Nenad Krstic (Thunder); Darko Milicic, Nikola Pekovic (Timberwolves); Vladimir Radmanovic (Warriors); Peja Stojakovic (Hornets)

Slovenia (4) – Primoz Brezec (free agent); Goran Dragic (Suns); Beno Udrih (Kings); Sasha Vujacic (Lakers)

Spain (4) – Jose Calderon (Raptors); Rudy Fernandez (Blazers, for now); Marc Gasol (Grizzlies); Pau Gasol (Lakers)

Sweden (1) – Jonas Jerebko (Pistons)

Switzerland (1) – Thabo Sefolosha (Thunder)

Turkey (5) – Omer Asik (Bulls); Semih Erden (Celtics); Ersan Ilyasova (Bucks); Mehmet Okur (Jazz); Hedo Turkoglu (Suns)

Ukraine (1) – Kryrylo Fesenko (Jazz, restricted free agent)

Will Barton of Baltimore faces an all-too-familiar problem of young American basketballers, but thanks to Latavious Williams and Brandon Jennings, he seemingly has more options than ever to continue his promising hoops career.

Barton was one of the prizes of the 2010 NCAA recruiting class and University of Memphis backers were well pleased when the 6’6” guard declared his intent to attend their school – albeit most likely only for the minimum single season, as he was getting penciled in as an NBA Draft first-rounder out of high school.

A new problem came to light yesterday which threw Barton’s immediate future into doubt, as he was informed before a practice yesterday that the NCAA was reviewing his academic eligibility – the “hardest thing” referenced in his tweet.

Summarized Dan Wolken at the local Commercial-Appeal: “The issue with Barton [...] is believed to be about whether he completed high school within the NCAA-mandated eight semesters, graduating from Lake Clifton High in Baltimore last August instead of June.”

Most observers reckon that the authority will make Barton ineligible, thus unable to play for the Tigers in 2010-11, therefore probably forever, as Wolken writes, “If he is not cleared to play this season, it is unlikely he will ever see the court for Memphis.”

Naturally, with skills like Barton’s, most media large and small were ready to offer Barton a little of the “vision” he requested. Rob Mahoney of Pro Basketball Talk argues that “There are definitely European leagues out there better than the D-League in terms of competition and talent, but if Barton wants a place where he can really showcase his skills (Jennings was hardly allowed such a luxury) while working to get better under the watchful eyes of NBA decision-makers, the [D-League] is an obvious choice.”

Scott Schroeder of the always excellent Ridiculous Upside sort-of counters with, “If Barton were to forego playing domestically this season and instead spend a year abroad, a la Brandon Jennings, he’d probably be able to make roughly the same $1.2 million that Jennings did while playing in Rome as both were high-profile players ranked at the top of their position in their class.”

Though Schroeder too is also skeptical about a European tour for Barton, BallinEurope believes that echoing Jennings’ year – say, landing with a middling Euroleague team and being about the eighth man off the bench, just without the firing-coach-at-mid-season thing – would be on paper the best for Barton’s game.

An excerpt from the glowing bit of Barton’s entry on the Bible-like Draft Express reads like so:

Barton is a scorer through and through, showing great instincts in this area, a real hunger to put the ball in the basket, and the type of swagger and competitiveness that most great players do. He has solid court vision, making some very intelligent passes in drive and dish situations in both the half-court and in transition, as well as a jump-shot that he should be able to develop into a terrific weapon down the road. …

Defensively, Barton has both the tools (size, length, lateral quickness) and the willingness to make his presence felt on this end of the court. He gets down in a stance and will play tough, intense, in-your-face pressure defense looking to shut-down his matchup…

Great. Sounds marvelous. NBA all the way, eh? But then comes the bad news.

Barton has a ways to go before he can be considered the type of teammate others would like to play with, and has a few noticeable holes in his game which could very well become more of an issue against higher level competition.

His ball-handling skills first and foremost need plenty of work, as he shows very little ability to operate with his left hand and struggles in general to create his own shot in the half-court and get all the way to the basket. His decision making and shot-selection were very questionable throughout the course of the [2009 National Prep Showcase held in November], particularly when his team started falling behind and they needed him to make good decisions. …

[Barton] seems far more concerned with getting his own shots than he is helping his team win games. He would visibly pout and even proceed (on multiple occasions) to chase after his teammates following plays and yell at them for not passing him the ball, even on possessions that his team scored regardless…

Now if you were personally interested in this player’s development, would you rather Barton spend a year in the bombs-away NBA D League which might reinforce said bad habits or would you want to break this maverick “a la Brandon Jennings”?

Perhaps a little sink-or-swim is exactly what Barton needs: playing with men far more experienced than he won’t allow the complaining, etc. And on an established European squad with a patient coach, Barton would certainly have the pressure of the go-to guy – recall that poor decision-making in the clutch – removed, rightfully so. In the D League, however, a guy like Barton would certainly be the alpha dog, almost certainly to his detriment.

BiE has been a proponent of the Jennings Masterplan since about the young Buck’s second month in the NBA: We all know this. So what about the other role model, Latavious Williams? Comparisons can’t be exactly directly made, as Williams was a small forward while Barton is clearly to be a two guard at the next level, and Barton’s stock is well higher than Williams’, but we can definitely deem the Williams Experiment a success as well.

Williams ended up going for a neat 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game in 47 games mostly off the bench; Williams also garnered high praise for his impressive performance in the playoffs. Most importantly, though, Williams was indeed drafted into the big league to land with Oklahoma City.

Of course, the overwhelming majority reckons Barton will be a first-rounder in 2011 no matter where he plays in 2010-11 and so his climb isn’t as uphill as Williams’ was. BiE just can’t help thinking, though, that Europe is Barton’s direct path to learning the team play that any NBA franchise will be expecting.

Now 19, Tyler will be playing the 2010-11 season with the oddly named Tokyo Apache and former NBA coach Bob Hill in Japan’s first division.

Quoted as saying he was “bored” with San Diego-area basketball and gaining the assistance of Brandon Jennings’ agent Sonny Vaccaro, Tyler managed to score a one-year, $140,000 deal from Israeli club Maccabi Haifa for 2009-10.

Despite a few good individual showings in October and November, by February the playing time given to Tyler had evaporated to almost nil thanks to a poor attitude. After a string of DNPs, Maccabi Haifa officials reportedly “asked Jeremy to find another team” in March.

Draft Express later reported Tyler’s representatives stating that Tyler would be staying in Europe for 2010-11 rather than jump to the NBA D-League because his agent “prefer[s] the European development model over the D-League in terms of practice time, support system, nutrition, etc.,” but apparently the claimed Euroleague offer was a bit of an agent’s bluff.