BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

BallinEurope bids adieu to the all-too-brief wackiness that was the ENBA: A period of time shorter than Allen Iverson’s career with Beşiktaş, though for a sweet, brief while it seemed like forever … ah, the feeling of a too-fast love affair dragged down by unfeeling reality, leaving only fond memories and bitter tears to … o, sorry. BiE got a bit wound up there.

In riding the wave of sentimentality to the shore, BiE today presents the virtual scrapbook of 10 favorite individual performances from locked-out NBA players. (Not included are those NBA guys who were off-season free agents; therefore no appearances by, say, Nenad Krstic, or, sadly, Adam Morrison are forthcoming.)

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With two Euroleague games in the books for each team and something of an overall picture developing, BallinEurope unleashes the November edition of its ever-“popular” power rankings for the two dozen squads. For reference, edification and jollies, the preseason edition of the ‘rankings may be seen here.

Once again, advisories in effect: These ratings are formulated from once source (namely yours truly) and are based on the way teams are trending at present, i.e. Bennet Cantu is not necessarily *better* per se than Fenerbahçe Ülker, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. While play in other leagues was considered, emphasis was put on performance in each team’s pair of EL games thus far, i.e. BiE knows Union Olimpija is 5-0 in the Adriatic League.

Without further ado, then, let’s get to the rankings! (Žalgiris fans, you may want to consider before clicking “Read More.”)

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Sure, BallinEurope should quit while ahead, having nailed the outcome of the opening-day CSKA Moscow-Žalgiris Kaunas game exactly, but hey: Brains are overrated.

With a bit of time left before the 6pm CET (noon EST) tipoff of Montepaschi Siena at Unics Kazan, BiE offers the following Official Fearless Predictions™: Siena wins away by five; Fenerbahçe Ülker squeaks past Caja Laboral Baskonia by one point in OT; Bennet Cantù bags its first Euroleague win in defeating SLUC Nancy by four, despite Nicolas Batum’s night-high 30 points; and Galatasaray pulls off the upset at Asseco Prokom in a high-scoring affair that the Turkish side wins by 10.

Right. The insults may begin now. Enjoy the games!

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Right, then: It’s finally time. The top professional basketball league in the world (Now that bears some thinking about now, dunnit?) tips off its 2011-12 regular season tonight as Žalgiris Kaunas hosts AK47-armed, Teodosic-toting CSKA Moscow.

Almost as anticipated as the actual Euroleague opening game is of course another round of BallinEurope’s Official Fearless Predictions™ for the season. (Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.) In a shameless ripping off of an homage to BiE’s favorite regular column on anything in any media, namely ESPN.com’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback – it’s true; BiE is a closet (American) football junkie – BallinEurope presents the first-ever Euroleague regular-season predictions in haiku form.

So without further ado … to the Fearless Predictions™!

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Your lazy Sunday just got a little lazier. BallinEurope gives you another few good minutes of clock killing in rounding up some stories for your perusal. As the NBA lockout continues – and many reckon no blinking will be done by either side on Monday, therefore necessitating cancellation of the 2011-12 schedule’s first two weeks’ worth of games – there’s something of a NBA bent to some headline stories. Get some stuff on Deron Williams, Nicolas Batum, Jose Calderon and Kevin Seraphin below. And video clips!

• In his regular-season debut for SLUC Nancy, Nicolas Batum played all 40 minutes, scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in his team’s 76-70 victory over JDA Dijon. The Portland Trail Blazer’s first suiting-up for France’s Euroleague side went down last week for an exhibition match against Chalon/Saône.

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Right, then. With the last teams advancing into the Euroleague two dozen for the regular season and a break in the Kobe-to-Bologna soap opera today, BallinEurope breaks out an old favorite: power rankings!

Once again, the BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings are based on current trends, i.e. who’s hot, who’s not. For this edition of the list, also taken into consideration are offseason acquisitions and a dash of expectations vis-à-vis how these squads will look when the games really start to matter. Let the arguments begin!

1. FC Barcelona – Heard it before? Well, you’ve probably heard about the core of the Barca roster before, too: Juan Carlos Navarro, Pete Mickael, Erazem Lorbek, Victor Sada, Boniface N’dong, Kosta Perovic and Fran Vazquez; getting to add Chuck Eidson and Marcelinho Huertas doesn’t seem fair. In going 8-0 thus far this preseason, the Blaugrana have added to their trophy case with Lliga Catalana and Supercopa Endesa titles and Navarro in particular is still in EuroBasket form. Right now, BiE says this is the team to beat.

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A pair of unsurprising results came in last night, with Euroleague superpowers FC Barcelona and Montepaschi Siena taking national cups.

In the Liga Endesa Supercopa, Barcelona handled Caja Laboral Baskonia, 82-73, for its third consecutive title and its seventh in the past eight years. Stop BiE if you’ve heard this before, but Juan Carlos Navarro was named MVP of the tournament after going for 24 points in the final game; Boniface N’dong contributed a double-double in the final match.

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The 2011-12 ACB season may not have tipped off yet, but the Spanish league’s teams were nevertheless busy in preseason games this weekend. Below, BallinEurope briefly rounds up the action.

• A bunch of regional tournaments went down this weekend in Spain, including the Lliga Catalana semifinials. In this tourney yesterday, reigning Lliga and ACB champions FC Barcelona handled Lleida Basquetbol, 81-64, in their semifinal match; Boniface N’dong went for 18 points in the win.

On the other side of the bracket, Joventut survived a scare from hosts Assignia Manresa to take the 90-87 victory, thanks to a barrage of 14 three-pointers. Former Gonzaga University/KK Zadar guard Micah Downs was the game’s high scorer, with 20 points in Manresa’s losing effort.

The Lliga Catalana final will be played tonight at 8.45pm CET (2.45 EST).

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Hard to believe it’s almost over … after 19 days of intense basketball competition, the 2011 EuroBasket championship game features a matchup at least a few — including BallinEurope’s U.K. guy Sam Chadwick; props! — had forecast as the outcome. Spain seeks to defend its title against a star-laden France playing in its first-ever title match. (Though France has bagged one silver medal in this tournament, this came in the very strange 1949 edition of the tournament, in which no knockout stage was held.)

BallinEurope runs some notes and posts some clips in preparation for tonight’s match; for Official Fearless Predictions™ on this one and the bronze-medal game between FYR Macedonia and Russia, scroll all the way to the bottom.

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Now here’s a story BallinEurope’s been waiting for … with the lockout daily looking like impingement upon the 2011-12 NBA schedule will certainly happen, defending ACB champions FC Barcelona is talking about signing a high-profile NBA lottery pick to fill out its backcourt: Namely, Ricky Rubio.

Spain-based Mundo Deportivo today reports that club officials are considering welcoming The Human YouTube Clip back onto the Blaugrana squad in lieu of the big league, you know, actually playing any games this season.

Though Barça officials’ first priority at the point guard position remains Marcelinho Huertas, the club considers Rubio a second option to fill the spot should the three-way negotiations between Barcelona, Caja Laboral Baskonia and Huertas’ representatives fall through. Said bargaining has been going on for a few weeks now with some progress reported.

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