What’s wrong with Americans in Europe?

Dario from basketbalcentral.it just sent me an email on Rawle Marshall, who plays for Cibona and also in the Euroleague.

Rawle got into a fight in a domestic league game against Split.

These fights of Americans have happened very often in recent weeks. I had to check immediately if Rawle is also from Arizona, as are his fight buddies Loren Woods and Joseph Blair, but thank god he is not: Rawle went to Oakland University, although he had a one-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

Here is the video evidence, thanks to Dario:

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.

Euroleague: Cibona Zagreb, Croatia

To give you the preview on Cibona Zagreb, there was only one address we could ask. Not because there is nobody else but Karlo Dzeverlija is considered as the main reference about Croatian basketball. He is the author of kosarka.hr (crobasket.com) and also the editor in chief of Basketball magazine “Croatian basketball”.

Overall record prediction: 4-6

After the complete failure in the 2007-08 campaign, Cibona made it clear that big changes are about to happen. But after the worst season in recent club history, Cibona remained standing on its old foundations (without significant changes in the club management), while it was only the roster that suffered the majority of changes. But let’s face it, renewing the bigger part of last season’s roster is something Cibona repeats every summer.

The club prolonged the contract with Marin Rozic prior to adding a trio of Croatian National Team players - Davor Kus, Nikola Prkacin and Branimir Longin. Croatian NT power forward Damir Markota also signed a deal with Cibona, but he forced the club to release him after he voluntarily failed to show up for the trip to St. Peterburg. At the same time, Cibona struggled with another runaway - American PG Earl Calloway - who returned to the US without telling anyone in the club. Calloway eventually returned to the team after a ten-day absence so Cibona managed to overcome its first, early crisis.

In the meantime, Cibona added Rawle Marshall, who’ll present a serious shooting danger from the perimeter, while Markota was replaced by Jared Homan only a week before the start of the new Euroleague season.

The biggest positive change as opposed to last season happened on the bench, where Ivan Sunara was replaced by Velimir Perasović as the new head coach. The European basketball fans know him well as once a fantastic scorer for Jugoplastika Split and Taugres or as head coach of Spanish clubs TAU Cerámica and Estudiantes more recently. “To play modern basketball you need aggressive players, guys who can play in high tempo both offensively and defensively”, Peras said back at the start of training camp, revealing his preference for aggressive defense. That should be the trademark of Cibona this season.

What does Cibona expect?

All-time highest club budget (estimation - about four million euros) has secured a quality nucleus of the team. But short bench might prevent Cibona from achieving a surprisingly good result in the Euroleague. Same as every year, the club counts on no more than advancing to Top 16, which is a realistic goal. The focus will be on the regional Adriatic League, where Cibona needs to finish in front of Zadar. That way Cibona would earn more points from the ULEB and secure another contract with the Euroleague. That is the club’s primary goal of the season. On the other hand, the fact that its budget is really big for Croatian standards (twice the budget of No.1 competitor Zadar) means that winning the Croatian championship and national cup is the ultimate goal. Basically same as every year.

Assessment?

In spite of sudden roster improvisations late in the preparation period, Cibona has the right to aim at advancing to Euroleague Top 16 in front of Air Avellino and Le Mans. Club’s history, experience in the Euroleague, hostile home court and eventually the concentration of quality players is what gives Cibona the advantage of the Italian and French representatives in Euroleague’s Group A. Four or five victories in the first group stage seem to be a reasonable ambition when you have favorites such as Olympiakos, Unicaja and Maccabi in the group as well.

Final Four participants: Panathinaikos, CSKA, Olympiakos, FC Barcelona

Euroleague winner: Panathinaikos

written by Karlo Dzeverlija

Monday’s cigarettes

Here we go again and the smokiest cigarettes from all around Europe have been looked at, selected and are presented to you right here.

• It’s mystery time in Zagreb at the moment. After the departure of American PG Earl Calloway without any obvious reason, now Damir Markota did not join the team on a preseason trip to Russia without explanations.
• But there is also good news coming from Croatia as you can see by this big smile.
• Brandon Jennings played a practice scrimmage with Virtus Roma. And got introduced to European fouls.
• One week before the start of the ACB, TAU Ceramica has already won their first title by winning the Supercopa on a 86-85 win in the final against CAI Zaragoza. The former Seattle SuperSonics/now Oklahoma City Thunder draftee Serge Ibaka won the Slam Dunk Contest.
• The German Women Basketball Bundesliga will broadcast all of their games live on Zap Internet TV.
• The German Bundesliga, in collaboration with the federation, has created a fund for youth players. This means that every Bundesliga team that gives minutes to players younger than 24 years old earns money. How much? It’s €10,000 per gameday, divided according to the minutes played. And who gets what can be seen here.
• And we still stay in Germany for the most incredible story of the weekend. During the National Streetball Championship, eight-year-old Aaron Prenszlau won the Slam Dunk competition. Having not been at the contest, I don’t know what happened there, but he is officially the youngest ever slam dunk champion.
• After his first high-flying impressions, Josh Childress is reported to have suffered a minor injury and has been sidelined for a week.

Euroleague transfer analysis: Group A

After the first transfer mania on the European market, I want to take a look at the current roster situation of the Euroleague teams. Of course, right now, you cannot tell how the teams will perform this season as the squads have not been fixed, but let’s take a first look at who did what in the market.

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The Euroleague group draw 2008

Yesterday, the Euroleague proceeded for its annual draw in Berlin. After several speeches and awards, the big moment was coming close with the draw of the current Euroleague groups. Here is my analysis of the results.

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Euroleague Transfers Table 2008/2009

France Transfers - Spain Transfers (acb.com) - Germany Transfers - Turkey Transfers

EUROLEAGUE TRANSFERS

Updated: 29/11/2008 00h49CET

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NB: Please note that names in bold are confirmed transfers. Others listed are rumors published by various media or online discussion forums. The Budget numbers are either official announced figures or estimations. The names in italic are those that have been updated within the last 24h.

SPAIN	Arrivals	Departures
Real Madrid	Marko Tomas (Fuenlabrada) Jeremiah Massey (Aris TT Bank) Pepe Sanchez (FC Barcelona) Quinton Hosley (Karsiyaka) Ratko Varda (Zalgiris)	Kerem Tunceri (Triumph Lyubertsy) Michalis Pelekanos (Olympiacos) Blagota Sekulic (Aris) Charles Smith (Efes Pilsen) Pablo Aguilar (Granada)
TAU Ceramica	Stanko Barac (Pamesa Valencia) Fernando San Emeterio (Girona) Ariel Eslava (Rivadavia) Guilherme Gitterer (Gandia) Mustafa Shakur (Sopot) Dusko Ivanovic (head coach)	Zoran Planinic (CSKA Moscow) Simas Jasaitis (Joventut) Neven Spahija (?) James Singleton (Dallas Mavericks)
Regal FC Barcelona	Juan Carlos Navarro (Memphis Grizzlies) David Andersen (CSKA Moscow) Lubos Barton (DKV Joventut) Victor Sada (Girona) Andre Barret (NBDL) Daniel Santiago (Unicaja)	Denis Marconato (Bruesa) Pepe Sanchez (Real Madrid) Gary Neal (Benetton Treviso) Alex Acker (Detroit Pistons) Albert Moncasi (Gran Canaria) Mario Kasun (Efes Pilsen)
Unicaja Malaga	Robert Archibald (Azovmash) Omar Cook (Crvena Zvezda) Thomas Kelati (Zgorzelec) Joseph Gomis (Valladolid) Aito Garcia Reneses (head coach Badalona)	Sergio Scarolo (head coach) Bojan Popovic (Bruesa) Melvin Sanders (Gran Canaria) Davor Kus (loaned to Cibona) Daniel Santiago (Barcelona?)
ITALY	Arrivals	Departures
Montepaschi Siena Budget: 13M€	Morris Finley (Rieti) Henry Domercant (Dynamo Moscow)	Bootsy Thornton (Efes Pilsen) Drake Diener (Avellino) Vlado Ilievski (Olimpija) Hector Romero (Udine) Luigi da Tome (Roma)
Lottomatica Roma	Sani Becirovic (Panathinaikos) Brandon Jennings (High School) Primoz Brezec (Toronto Raptors) Andre Hutson (Efes Pilsen) Angelo Gigli (Benetton) Luigi da Tome (Montepaschi)	David Hawkins (AJ Milano) Erazem Lorbek (CSKA Moscow) Roko Leni-Ukic (Toronto Raptors)
AJ Milano	Pier Luigi Bucchi (head coach) Mason Rocca (Eldo Napoli) Luca Vitali (Montegranaro) Jobey Thomas (Montegranaro) Yohann Sangaré (ASVEL) Ariel Filloy (Rimini) Marco Mordente (Benetton) Sam van Rossum (Ostende) Massimo Bulleri (Virtus Bologna) Pape Sow (Prokom Trefl) Mike Hall (Pesaro) David Hawkins (Roma) Joey Beard (Veroli)	Sam van Rossum (loan to Pesaro) Pietro Aradori (Biella) Danilo Gallinari (New York Knicks) Travis Watson (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Air Avellino	Zare Markovski (head coach) Daniele Cinciarini (Biella) Chris Warren (Cibona Zagreb) Tamar Slay (Capo d’Orlando) Marko Tusek (Unics Kazan) Dan Dickau (LA Clippers) Antonio Porta (Spartak St. Petersbourg) Travis Best (Virtus Bologna) Drake Diener (Montepaschi) Mike Nardi (Napoli)	Devin Smith (Fenerbahce) Marques Green (Fenerbahce) Daniel Cavaliero (Montegranaro)
GREECE	Arrivals	Departures
Panathinaikos Budget: 25M€	Nikola Pekovic (Partizan) Antonis Fotsis (Dynamo Moscow) Dimitris Verginis (PAOK) Drew Nicholas (Efes Pilsen) Dusan Kecman (Partizan)	Sani Becirovic (Roma) Andrija Zizic (Galatasaray) Kennedy Winston (Pamesa?) Nikola Prkacin (Cibona) Dejan Tomasevic (PAOK) Dimos Dikoudis (Pamesa Valencia)
Olympiacos	Michalis Pelekanos (Real Madrid) Nikola Vujcic (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Zoran Erceg (FMP) Theodoros Papaloukas (CSKA Moscow) Yotam Halperin (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Igor Milosevic (Crvena Zvzda) Josh Childress (Atlanta Hawks) Kosta Sloukas (Mantoulidis)	Qyntel Woods (Fortitudo Bologna) Roderick Blackney (Turk Telekom) Loukas Mavrokefalidis (Maroussi) Renaldas Seibutis (Bilbao) Kosta Vasiliadis (PAOK) Jake Tsakalidis (Phoenix?) Panagiotis Kafkis (?) Arvydas Macijauskas (?)
Panionios	Alexander Trifunovic (head coach Lietuvos Rytas) Goran Nikolic (ALBA Berlin) Branko Cvetkovic (Girona) Miroslav Raicevic (Crvena Zvezda) Aaron Miles (Cajasol) Makis Dreliozis (Gkiziakos)	Vladimir Jankovic (loanded to Mega Aqua) Adanas Kavaliauskas (Kavala) Nenad Markovic (?)
FRANCE	Arrivals	Departures
Le Mans-Sarthe Budget: 5.63M€	J.D. Jackson (head coach) Maleye N’Doye (Dijon) Pape Badiane (Roanne) Dee Spencer (Efes Pilsen) David Bluthenthal (Maccabi) Brian Chase (Besiktas) JP Batista (Lietuvos Rytas)	Nicolas Batum (Portland) Sam Clancy (?) Phil Ricci (Naharia?) Vincent Collet (head coach ASVEL) Luka Bogdanovic (Joventut) Raviv Limonad (Irony Naharia) Nebosja Bogavac (?)
SLUC Nancy Budget: 4.98M€	Steed Tchicamboud (Cholet Basket) John Cox (Le Havre) Lamayn Wilson (ASVEL) Michel Morandais (Estudiantes) Rod Benson (Dakota Wizards)	Zabian Dowdell (Monferrato) DJ Harrison (?) Mike Bauer (Ostende) Pape Philippe Amagou (Kavala)
TURKEY	Arrivals	Departures
Efes Pilsen	Milos Vujanic (Dynamo Moscow) Sinan Guler (Besiktas) Charles Smith (Real Madrid) Ergin Ataman (head coach) Bootsy Thornton (Montepaschi) Kaya Peker (Besiktas) Engin Atsür (Benetton) Michalis Kakiouzis (Sevilla) Preston Shumpert (Besiktas) Mario Kasun (Barcelona) Dwayne Jones (Orlando Magic) Predrag Drobnjak (Besiktas)	Serkan Erdogan (Turk Telekom) Ermal Kuqo (Pamesa Valencia) Drew Nicholas (Panathinaikos) Dee Spencer (Le Mans) David Blatt (Dynamo Moscow) Rashad Wright (ALBA Berlin) Scoonie Penn (BC Kiyv) Andre Hutson (Roma) Kenny Gregory (PAOK)
Fenerbahce Ülker	Devin Smith (Air Avellino) Marques Green (Air Avellino) Gordan Giricek (Phoenix Suns)	Will Solomon (Toronto Raptors) James White (?) Tarence Kinsey (Cleveland Cavaliers)
LITHUANIA	Arrivals	Departures
Zalgiris Kaunas Budget: 6M€	Willie Deane (Lukoil Academik) Loren Woods (Houston Rockets) Tadas Klimavicius (AEL Larisa) Ratko Varda (Menorca) Tomas Masiulis (Prokom Sopot) Ronalds Alijevas (CSK VVS) Tryout	DeJuan Collins (Lokomotiv Rostov) Goran Jurak (Biella) Mamadou N’Diaye (?) Marko Popovic (Unics Kazan) Vladimir Stimac (Crvena Zvezda) Donatas Motiejunas (Aisciai-Atletas) Damir Markota (Vive Menorca) Marcus Brown (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Ratko Varda (Real Madrid) Loren Woods (?)
RUSSIA	Arrivals	Departures
CSKA Moscow	Victor Keyru (Unics Kazan) Sasha Kaun (Kansas-NCAA) Terence Morris (Maccabi) Zoran Planinic (TAU) Erazem Lorbek (Roma)	Theodoros Papaloukas (Olympiakos) David Anderson (FC Barcelona) Thomas van den Spiegel (Azovmash) Marcus Goree (Triumph Lyubertsy) Anatoly Kashirov (loan to Spartak)
SLOVENIA	Arrivals	Departures
Olimpija Ljubljana Budget: 4M€	Damjan Rudez (KK Split) Jaka Klobucar (Geoplin Slovan) Vladimir Golubovic (Vojvodina) Vlado Ilievski (Montepaschi) Jonathan Wallace (Georgetown) JaJuan Smith (Cleveland) Frank Robinson (Cal. State Fullerton) Ivica Jurkovic	Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns) Hasan Rizvic (BC Kiyv) Ronnie Taylor (AEL) Chris Booker (?) Sasa Doncic (?) Jan Mocnik (?) Maurice Bailey (Spartak Primorie)
POLAND	Arrivals	Departures
Asseco Prokom Sopot	Piotr Szczotka (Slupsk) David Logan (Zgorzelec) Ronald Burrell (Telekom Baskets Bonn) Koko Archibong (Frankfurt) Aleksej Nesovic (Olimpias) Daniel Ewing (Khimky) Pat Burke (Khimky)	Simonas Serapinas (Azovmash) Milan Gurovic (Galatasaray) Pape Sow (AJ Milano) Christos Harissis (PAOK) Jovo Stanojevic (Besiktas) Mustafa Shakur (TAU Ceramica) Donatas Slanina (?) Tomas Masiulis (Zalgiris)
CROATIA	Arrivals	Departures
Cibona Zagreb	Robert Troha (Helios Domzale) Velimir Perasovic (head coach) Branimir Longin (Oldenburg) Nikola Prkacin (Panathinaikos) Earl Calloway (Fort Wayne) Damir Markota (Zalgiris) Davor Kus (loaned from Unicaja) Rawle Marshall (Hemofarm) Jared Homan (Slask)	Ivan Sunara (head coach Krka ?) Chris Warren (Air Avellino) Sam Hoskin (China)
ISRAEL	Arrivals	Departures
Maccabi Tel Aviv Budget: 17-18M$	Jason Williams (Bnei Hasharon) Dror Hagag (Hapoel Jerusalem) Yaniv Green (Samara) Effi Birenboim (head coach) Tre Simmons (Hapoel Holon) Rodney White (Arecibo) D’Or Fischer (Bree) Carlos Arroyo (Orlando Magic) Marcus Brown (Zalgiris)	Nikola Vujcic (Olympiakos) Terrence Morris (CSKA) Yotam Halperin (Olympiakos) Will Bynum (Virtus, Detroit Pistons) Vonteego Cummings (Estudiantes) Zvi Sherf (?) David Bluthenthal (Le Mans) Alex Garcia (Bruesa) Marcus Fizer (?)
SERBIA	Arrivals	Departures
Partizan Belgrade	Jan Vesely (Geoplin Slovan) Luka Basta (Beovuk) Aleksandar Rasic (ALBA) Vukasin Aleksic (Takovo) Žarko Rakočević (Buducnost) Joao Soares (Portugal) Stephane Lasme (Miami Heat)	Nikola Pekovic (Panathinaikos) Milt Palacio (Khimky) Dusan Kecman (Panathinaikos) Dejan Borovnjak (Vojvodina)
GERMANY	Arrivals	Departures
ALBA Berlin Budget: 7.5M€	Adam Chubb (Artland Dragons) Steffen Hamann (Brose Baskets) Rashad Wright (Efes Pilsen) Ansu Sesay (AJ Milano) Casey Jacobsen (Memphis Grizzlies) Dragisa Drobnjak (Krka)	Goran Nikolic (Panionios) Phillipp Heyden (Ludwigsburg) Dijon Thompson (Azovmash) Aleksandar Rasic (Partizan) Mladen Pantic (?) Goran Jeretin (BC Kiev) Bobby Brown (Sacramento Kings) Nico Simon (Ehingen)
ULEB CUP WINNER	Arrivals	Departures
DKV Joventut	Sito Alonso (head coach) Luka Bogdanovic (Le Mans) Simas Jasaitis (TAU) Henk Norel (return from loan: Alicante) Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Benetton) Bracey Wright (Aris)	Rudy Fernandez (Portland Trailblazers) Jerome Moiso (Khimky) Lubos Barton (Barcelona) Dmitry Flis (Lleida)Aito Garcia Reneses (Spain NT)