Would Ben Gordon be a bigger deal than Josh Childress?

All over the internet has the rumor spread that Ben Gordon has been offered €5.5 million Euros to join a team that already looks like they can win the Euroleague. As always, CSKA is denying this. It is also said that Ben Gordon would take an European offer of at least €7 million.

First off, what passport does or could Ben hold? This might be crucial to find out if his paycheck can actually reach €7 million per season. Remember, there are restrictions in the Euroleague and in each European domestic league regarding how many Americans can be on the team and even on the floor.

Ben’s parents are Jamaican and he was born in London, but is an American basketball player, according to Wikipedia. After all, Ben is holding a UK passport.

If I’m Ben Gordon, I’m just looking at Josh Childress and his contract. Josh averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds, while Ben scored 18.6 points, grabbed 3.1 rebounds and had 3 assists per game. According to the statistics, I might pick Ben over Josh - having in the back of my mind, of course, the kind of players Josh and Ben are.

Looking at the numbers, it is said that Josh is making about $20 million over three years - $6.6 million a year or about €4.6 million presently. Remember: Ben was offered €5 million and wants €7 million. If you ask me, CSKA, give him the six he really wants and score a great player.

According to the stats, Ben is the bigger deal; in terms of money, he also should be a bigger deal; and within the NBA vs. Euroleague battle, he should be a even bigger deal, right?

We’ll see what happens within the next few days …

Luol Deng won’t play the Eurobasket

The British Basketball federation had high hopes on bringing the Chicago Bull to London in order to qualify for the next Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. Now this plan has turned out bad.

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Josh Childress update: Signs with Olympiacos!

According to Lithuanian basketball web site krepsinis.net (thanks to Zaidaw), Josh Childress has signed with Olympiacos. To make it less a rumor, but a more reliable note: See here (for a picture of Josh actually signing), here and here are also reports and “photo evidence” of his signature in Greece with Olympiakos.

If you are an expert in the European lifestyle - I repeat, lifestyle - and not a basketball expert, you can be almost certain that Panathinaikos needs a signing like that, too (BIG rivalry between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos). Too bad Panathiniakos needs a shooting forward. What was that guy’s name from Chicago again? The guy who was looking for a deal? Wasn’t that Luol Deng…?

Don’t be surprised, if that’s the next thing reported on US web sites…

Side note: To make your day even worse (as a US basketball fan) or even better (as a European basketball fan), Pat Riley would rather spend his time in EUROPE in France watching the Tour de France..

Great rivalries in European basketball: Panathinaikos vs. Olympiakos

During these summer weeks in which club team action is slowing down a bit despite a hot transfer market, BallinEurope will give you a little history lesson with the presentation of the biggest rivalries in European basketball. And we’ll start in Greece.

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An open letter to European Basketball

I’m writing you today on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers. I have no official capacity with the club, but after watching three games of the NBA Finals, you can’t help but feel sorry for guys like Phil Jackson, Sasha Vujcic, Kobe Bryant and especially Jack Nicholson, who’s about one more fourth-quarter comeback away from open-heart surgery. Something has to be done, and as a fan I appeal to you, the Old World, for assistance.

Simply put, the Lakers are one player short of a championship and European basketball may be uniquely qualified to help: The player I envision would be exactly the sort bred and trained in the European style.

Of course, the Zen Master is primarily known for two things in the world of hoops: His nine championship rings and his triangle offense. The two are inextricably linked and when properly executed, the triangle has proven deadly time and again. When the triangle is broken and the double-post offense becomes another variation on big guy-in-the-paint, Phil’s Lakers or (albeit far less frequently) Bulls lost.

During the heyday of Shaquille O’Neal’s time with the Lakers, Jackson once explained that one of the reasons why Wilt Chamberlain was so dominant in his time was because his teams employed the triangle offense. With such a presence in the lane to act as a sort of human lighthouse overseeing ball movement on the court, Wilt’s teammates could set Chamberlain up underneath over and over and over … sometimes up to 100 points’ worth of over.

With Andrew Bynum out, the problem for the Lakers in these playoffs has been a complete lack of inside presence. I can’t quite remember how Los Angeles continued winning after Bynum went down, but that was a long time ago anyway…

Now I know what you’re thinking, Europe: Guys like Shaq are rare anywhere in the world, much less in much of Europe. Hell, the only European O’Neal couldn’t single-handedly destroy in his prime was Arvydas Sabonis and another Sabonis is hardly waiting in the wings. But a force of nature like Shaq is hardly required for Phil & Co. to win a title, however; as evidence, check out the hardly megastar-level centers employed by the 1990s Chicago Bulls: Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley.

All the Lakers need is a center that can find the open man on the pass once in a while, a skill for which Longley was underrated throughout his career and one developed to perfection by Shaq by the time he left L.A.

Plus, the all-around skills the European game teaches the big guys are solely lacking American training. Another guy from the Continent would create just a beautiful passing game with the likes of Vujacic, Bryant and Derek Fisher on the floor at the same time. It seems to me the Lakers had something like that not so long ago…

To tell the truth, the Lakers don’t even need a star in the middle right now. With Lamar Odom capable of producing a double-double on any night even against the tenacious Celtic ‘D’, all Los Angeles needs in a capable big body to put on the hardly huge Kevin Garnett. On offense, a Laker big guy would only need skills enough to get around the hardly quick Kendrick Perkins. In fact, Perkins is just ready to be eaten alive by a quick guy unafraid to take it to the hoop.

Oh yes, fearlessness: That’s another quality I’m looking for in my new Laker player. Perhaps a player with a little high-pressure international play on his CV would be able to handle the high intensity of an NBA best-of-seven series. Like all other fans, Laker fans need to know their center won’t wilt under the heat of the media spotlight.

Finally, a modicum of hustle would be great. Sometimes a little awareness can go a long way. A prospective Laker from Europe would always have the stamina to run the length of the floor, to always know whom he’s playing against on defense, and to constantly put his body between the opposition and the basket. Just look at the energy and smarts displayed by Vujacic and Luke Walton, guys that might never make the Hall of Fame but will have earned it just as much as Michael Jordan if ever immortalized as champions.

Again do I appeal to you, o Europe, great father of the USA. You’ve gotta help the Lakers. In short, what the team appears to need is a Marc Gasol type, but maybe a year or two older, with some NBA experience.

You have anybody like that over there?

Thank you for your help.

Yours,
Os Davis

P.S. Como se dice “Wake up and smell the coffee, Pau, game four’s in two days!” en Español?

Joakim Noah goes to jail

The AFP reports that Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls center, French national team player and son of former tennis star Jannick Noah, got caught “carrying a plastic cup.” Sounds funny, right? Oh well, sometimes it’s fun to rip things out of context.

Let’s be serious. In most places in the United States, carrying around alcohol in public is illegal. You can’t even have a closed bottle in your car, where other people might see it: It must be covered or in the trunk.

Unfourtunately, this is not the only thing Joakim did:

After Noah was taken to the police station, police found a marijuana cigarette in his pocket.

Sumner Hallett, public information officer for the Gainesville Police Department, said Noah cooperated with police and “bonded himself out” of jail by being fingerprinted and accepting a court date in June.

Noah, 23, could face up to six months in jail and a 500-dollar fine on the misdemeanor charges.

One year in the NBA and already doing weird things: Recall the incident in which Noah’s teammates wanted him to sit out one game for yelling at an assistant coach.