Yarone’s Weekend Joints - part I

Probably the best thing would be to start with an apology for the delay, and get this out of the way. I’d like to thank the academy and blame Chris for the delay, not because it’s really his fault, just cause it’s fun to blame him on everything. Give it a try…

Week 5 of the Euroleague was full of stories and anecdotes. Some wrote a new line in history books, others are on the way there. 

After only one team won on the road in Week 4, this round of games displayed no less than six road wins, and three home wins by up to five points. With Olimpija and Milano taking their first W’s, and CSKA came closer than ever to join the other 23 teams with a digit higher than 0 in the losses column, week 5 was one to remember. 

Well, at least until Week 6. 

Here’s the first part of the Euroleague Weekend Joints of Week 5 on Ballineurope.com.

 

Congratulations Jaka!

Well, first of all, let’s congratulate Jaka Laka for becoming this week the 4th player in history to reach 2,000 Euroleague points, but that wasn’t the only mark he celebrated at Kaunas on Thursday night. It was also Lakovic’s 150th game in the Euroleague and only the 5th game ever, during his eight Euroleague seasons career, he didn’t miss a shot from three point land, without counting nights he took just a single attempt. Jaka hit all his five attempts in this game, two more three pointers than the entire team of Zalgiris by the way (3/18…). Three times he had 2/2, while on January 9th, 2003 when he wore Pao’s green jersey and played at Tel Aviv, he had a 5/5 night as well. 

Perfecto Greer

Not only Jaka was hot this week. Olympiacos’ Lynn Greer was also 5/5 behind the arc, and for him it was the first ever Euroleague game in which he was perfect from that range, excluding a single 1/1 display.

Road bitter road

The Final Four hosts from Berlin suffered a 77-69 defeat @Olimpija, and allowed the Slovenians to celebrate their debut win of the season. After one leg in the Regular Season Alba stands on a 2-3 record and it’s easy to label them. Both wins were registered in the O2 arena in front of a packed arena, and in both cases it was a close win. On the road it’s a totally different story and there Alba lost all three games without a great giving a big fight. The eight point difference is deceiving as Olimpija held a double-digit lead in the closing minutes. Add the awful loss @Tau and a nine point defeat @FenerUlker and it’s easier to place your bets from now on when it comes to Alba. In the second leg they will play in Roma and Badalona, not the most comfortable spots to pick up a road win, so most probably in order to get some Euroleague oxygen, Alba will have to use the help of the O2 ha ha ha. 

Don’t miss out…

Just in case you missed Panionios’ Aaron Miles beating the half time buzzer with a super-cool coast-to-coast drive, check the Top 10 plays of Week 5 according to Euroleague-TV and survive the first nine to watch this beauty. 

The big crisis

Ok, this one has nothing to do with those red screens on your Wall Streets, but Efes Pilsen is in a big one of their own. The 81-95 home defeat to Real Madrid marks Efes’ third loss in a row. Two of them were in Abdi Ipacki, and just to keep you fresh the first was to Panionios, while the third was in Moscow, where it’s more than reasonable to lose, only Efes was trashed by 22 points after a 27-9 first quarter start of the champs. Over the weekend Efes (re)signed Predrag Drobnjak to fill in the center spot, that felt kinda empty after the injury of Mario Kasun. Drobnjak was on the only two Efes teams that ever made it to the Final Four, back in the early days of this decade, before he moved to the NBA. Now he’s far from his prime shape, but let’s see if his arrival will bring a good momentum to Ataman’s factory. Else, it could be Ataman himself the next to pay for the damage. If you’re looking for a win the last place you want to visit is Pionir and face Partizan, especially after they suffered an aching home loss, but that’s exactly what’s expecting Efes next week. Hopefully for Efes Drobnjak and Milos Vujanic will feel at home enough to stop the downward spiral.  

He’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

CSKA climbed to 5-0 and remained the only team with a perfect record in the Euroleague. To make things worse, on anyone who’s not a CSKA fan, this week marked the return of Matjaz Smodis. God forbid…

Heart-attack Partizan

The team to draw the most sympathy and empathy this week, beyond any doubt, is the group from Beograd. The one point loss to CSKA, and the heart-breaking finish, when Partizan missed no less than five attempts in a row in the last seconds to win the game, captured whoever enjoys an underdog win. Check out this fan-made video from the Pionir seats. The last play starts 6:40~ inside the clip. This fan won’t win the prestigious “Camera man of the year” award, but turn up the volume, hope your neighbor doesn’t have a machine-gun, and focus on the sights and especially sounds around the play. This was Partizan’s second single point defeat this season, and all of their five games were close ones, decided by no more than five points. 

32 is the new 11

Drive your car around the world, and other than a difficulty to avoid food poisoning (at some point or another) you might also find it hard to locate a good Spanish player playing outside the ACB. Other than in the NBA and Jorge, who just couldn’t say no to the crazy Khimki offer, there’s only one more player to name - Lottomatica’s Rodrigo De La Fuente. This week was a special one for the out stander. In the 76-67 home win over FenerUlker, at the age of 32, after 11 seasons in the Euroleague and 172 games, he set a career high in rebounds by collecting 11. 

Damn rims

Prokom’s home court is called the “Arena of 100 years” and it certainly won’t be named anytime soon “Arena of 100 points”. The rims there are anything but friendly to most visiting teams. Pao escaped with a 60-67 win but they have nothing to be ashamed of. In the last six games in front of those rims no team scored more than 68 points. 

Arc range darkness

Lottomatica wrote their fourth win in a row, and would probably revenge Alba, for their only defeat so far, next week in the Palalottomatica, but something strange happened in their win this week over the Istanbul’s chocolate factory of FenerUlker. All of Roma’s hits from long range were scored by the big guys. Power-forwards Roberto Gabini and Angelo Gigli were 3/3 from the distance, while all the others combined 0/6. No outside hit was made by the guards, despite one thing Repesa doesn’t miss is guards who can hit the ball. The reason was that while on the romantic scene being passive sometimes actually works, in basketball if you don’t hit you can’t score. Sani Becirovic and Allan Ray didn’t try even once from that distance, while Ibrahim Jaaber stepped up with a single attempt. For Sani it was only the second time he finished a game without taking a long range shot in his last 18 Euroleague games, while Ray broke a streak of 21 games in which he made the effort. 

Road bitter road - part II

So CSKA are 5-0 but this week was the second time in a row the Euroleague champs have trouble to score and win on the road. Their previous trip out of Moscow finished with a 54-58 win in Madrid behind a terrible shooting day. The 62-63 loss in Beograd saw CSKA connect only a duo of baskets from long range in 14 attempts. Yikes! That wasn’t the only reason Partizan came so close, but to read on the second, and more peculiar one, wait for the second part. 

Off-bench Diamantidis 

Some would tell you that a team must have a stable starting five for things to work, but Zeljko Obradovic will reply to that with however you say “Bullshit” in Serb. Often Obra changes his starting line-up, but in Sopot it was standing out more than the usual. Batiste, Spanoulis, Tsartsaris, Hatzivrettas and Kecman on court. On the bench waited five that can assemble one of the best line ups in the Euroleague: Jasikevicius (we’ll get back to him in part two…), Pekovic, Nicholas, Fotsis and Diamantditis. The last still managed to finish with the best index rating of the night with 26, but broke a streak of 66 games in which he was a starter for Pao. The last time Dimitris saw the jump ball from the bench was in Week 4 of the 2005/06 season, andeven then, on November 24th 2005, in OAKA he was the best player on the team and finished with an index rating of 23. 

Retro Le Mans

It’s shocking enough Le Mans scored 87 points in four quarters against Olympiacos, but the fact they, once again, lost a close game is something stat experts need to look into. Just a reminder, if you missed that part here in the previous weeks, last season, under a different coach and different roster, Le Mans also lost all their first five Euroleague season games in the closing plays. This season they already lost two games in overtime, first @Maccabi and this week vs. Olympiacos. The bad news for Le Mans is that last season, in Week 6, the close losses streak was put to an end, not in the positive way, with a 91-71 defeat @Cibona. Next week they host Unicaja. We shall see….

The “Disgrace Escaping” mission

After five weeks Zalgiris stand on a 0-5 record. It’s likely for the Kaunas club to finish their season earlier than expected, and considering the off-court happening around the club this season it’s reasonable, but in the remaining five games they’ll need to work hard to escape disgrace. Up to today Zalgiris stands on a horrible 19.6 turnovers per game average. Right and far behind are SLUC Nancy with “only” 16.8. Now, being behind Nancy isn’t such a big shame, it’s the history books awaiting for Zalgiris. Unless a big improvement will arrive soon to Kaunas they’ll be known as the team that made more turnovers per game than any other team in a season. In all of the Euroleague history, under ULEB (excluding the first season which its stats isn’t available on the web), the team with the highest tpg average was the 2001/02….London Towers with 18.0 per game. 

Most Turnovers Per Game by Season
Season	Team	TPG
2008/09	Zalgiris Kaunas	19.6
2007/08	Olimipija Ljubljana	16.0
2006/07	Cibona Zagreb	17.7
2005/06	Strasbourg	16.8
2004/05	Estudiantes Madrid	16.5
2003/04	Alba Berlin	15.2
2002/03	Buducnost Podgorica	16.1
2001/02	Kinder London Towers	18.0

Musings of a Partizan virgin

Sorry for the lateness; i knew a true fan wouldn’t miss the live Euroleague TV feed, but in a small corner of hometown Budapest it was the US last night and an American holiday. First thing this morning, though, it was on my screen.

The following is my first riff on Partizan basketball as a black-and-white fan, inspired by the wonderful minimalism of the all-time greatest fan blog ever. (An opinion which surely has nothing to do with my devotion to the Los Angeles Lakers and Red Hot Chili Peppers diehard.)
If a Budapest flat was Thanksgiving town on Thursday, Belgrade was certainly heart-attack city.

CSKA Moscow had allowed fewer than 60 points per game, but the Pionir crowd like a football crowd could exhort more out of Partizan on adrenaline alone.

At first, it all looked so good to take down the monster: Planinic was planless, Morris out early with foul trouble, Langdon lackadaisical through the first half.

Partizan is defined by the three-pointer, said the Euroleague.TV head; Partizan would go 4-of-23 for the game and all its key plays threes made and missed.

Like when Tripkovic nailed the three to tie it at 52 to end the third and glimpse the end to CSKA’s streak.

Like when Tepic’ long ball, cruising leisurely ‘round the rim, wasn’t left well enough alone by Vilicovic. And went out, maybe to make the difference.

But hope stayed alive as the clock ticked down: Tripkovic another buzzer-beater … a Vilicovic steal and a coast-to-coast two to tie it up.

And then hearts went into throats at one, two,
Three,
Four…

Five?

Five! shots underneath fail to go in. The Pionir run ends at seven and Partizan stands at 2-3.

63-62: Not quite a backbreaker or a dealbreaker. Not quite the Moscow kingmaker or Belgrade eliminator. But an Undertaker heartbreaker, nonetheless…

All of the editor’s Devotion to…

The masses (well, a few of you anyway) have weighed in and i’ve tossed around a few considerations as to my favorite Euroleague team since opened for discussion here at BallinEurope.com and over at Facebook last week.

As you no doubt have noticed, it’s Partizan. The arguments pro and con were weighed, but most impressive was the sales pitch delivered on behalf of the Serbian team.

Longtime BallinEurope loyalist UHG80 noted Partizan’s tradition, mid-range budget, excellent fanbase (well evidenced by response to my posts) and good chance at the Final 16 – all even though he’s “pretty much neutral”! Plus, UHG80 also mentioned one of this b-ball fan’s favorite words, “Divac”; this ultimately may have put Partizan over the top for my heart.

Stefiva, apparently also not a Partizan fan as her comment went without mention of such, described getting in with Partizan as tantamount to “cheering for Golden State Warriors only much more satisfying.” Big plus points there.

Finally, Facebook user Ivan Wani Molerovic from within the hardcore fanbase declared, “Let die everyone who don’t love PARTIZAN … Partizan iz more than a club, it’s our life, hope and biggest love … Forever together…” All right, then, that’s settled.

Runners-up for this fan’s attention included:

•  Maccabi Tel Aviv. I loved the display on Maccabi history at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts this summer and damn, you gotta dig that yellow-and-blue color scheme. Plus, they do have a killer website in English, great fans, and what NBA fan could easily resist a chance to cheer for Carlos Arroyo and Marcus Fizer?

•  Lottomatica Roma. One of this traveler’s favorite cities in the world, fandom would surely give me a great excuse to visit la Città Eterna again, no? Figure in Brandon Jennings with those sweet deep red unis and Roma was tough to pass up. But surely losing Jennings and probably missing the Top 16 in 2010 will suck, and who wants to be around for that?

•  Montepaschi Siena. Francesco Cappelletti, BallinEurope’s man in Italy, sent me an email which read, “choose Montepaschi! Not only because it is my team, but also because they probably play the best European basketball after CSKA Moscow, and because Italian basketball was born in Siena in 1871!” Tobias himself also pointed out that Siena is not affiliated with any football club, surely a rarity in Italy. It was tough to pass on these guys, particularly since their play in Euroleague 2007/2008 was so enjoyable, but if I’m siding with an Italian team, it would be Roma.

•  Le Mans. Since I’m residing in Hungary, a country with apparently little hope of improving its basketball program within the next 137 years, Le Mans would probably be the closest thing i have to a home team, less than 150 km from the family’s ancestral homeland of Poitou-Charentes. Unfortunately for Le Mans’ hopes, i dithered on this decision until last week, meaning Le Mans had plenty of time to sink in the Euroleague standings and in the race for my Devotion.

Despite these worthy contenders, however, Partizan it is – and what a time to join, eh? Right on the eve of hosting the monsters from Moscow; we’ll see about that awesome home crowd. Go black and white!

CSKA Moscow women’s team withdraws from Euroleague

The official statement comes as no great surprise to BallinEurope, since we discussed the problems at CSKA women’s basketball team a few days ago. As basketcentral and the official CSKA website just informed, CSKA will drop out of Euroleague play.

It was said that even the CSKA men’s team tried to help out the women’s team financially to augment assistance from the Russian federation, which was trying to find new sponsors for CSKA, but player contracts have been just too much. Don’t forget that CSKA signed Becky Hammon, who has a Russian passport, for two years with a €1 million contract. Besides Hammon, there are also WNBA stars such as Katie Douglas, Janel McCarville, Ann Wauters and Edwige Lawson.

Compared to men’s basketball, this is as big a blow as if the men’s team of CSKA pulled out of the Euroleague: A pretty huge deal!

Crisis reaches Russia - Delfino refuses to play

Our contact in Russia has informed us about some major development in Russia. According to him, the global financial crisis is having a direct effect on the Russian basketball. If you really think about it, it just makes sense and critics of high-paying Russian investors are finally proven right.

He also explains why Russia is having problems:

Much depends on the value of the dollar. If the oil prices keep dropping - the ruble (Russian currency) will fall. It is expected that the ruble will fall. From there, everything will get worse. Many Russian basketball contracts are in dollars, but sponsorship of the clubs and salaries is in rubles, meaning the clubs will have to pay more money to their players.

If you take a look at the sponsors and their stocks, it is obvious what clubs will or already have problems.

CSKA Moscow, Dynamo, Khimki, Triumph Lyubertsy and CSK VVS are not paying salaries right now. While CSKA and Dynamo are just going through long delays, Khimki’s and Triumph’s situations are much worse. The CSKA women’s team is on the edge of bankruptcy: Its main sponsor sold his business and the new owner does not want to have any relationship with the club.

But that does not mean that CSKA will have any problems with players, though there has been a delay to payment of more than a month. CSKA CEO Andrey Vatutin said that there are difficulties, but the main sponsor of the team, Norilsk Nickel, has assured it would continue to fully meet its financial obligations. It is not clear why CSKA has problems, because Norilsk Nickel stocks have not fallen significantly for the year.

There are more problems with Khimki and Triumph: Yesterday, Carlos Delfino refused to go to play in the third quarter. Head coach Kestutis Kemzura said that he doesn’t want to see a player ignoring his instructions.

I am sure Carlos doesn’t want to see his team not paying him, either.

Yarone’s weekend Joints

Lots of three-ball action took place this week. Some went in with great accuracy. Others will have to pay for the rim damage. Lazos, Erceg and Childress are the most overpaid players of this week, the double OT in Istanbul had two sides, Spencer caught up, Nancy made history, Jennings made us proud, and one Emir Preldzic…

These are the stories of week 4 of Euroleague 2009.

In case you missed it… - CSKA tied the Euroleague record for most three pointers made with 18, and more amazingly they hit them at a 72% rate. Those who follow CSKA closely saw them only last week connect on 20 three pointers at 71.4% in a Russian cup game. Keep in mind that Holden and Smodis are injured and could probably add a couple more to the party. Do you still remember just a week ago the Euroleague champs scored only 58 points at Real and hit five three-balls at a poor 18.5% rate?

CSKA tied a record set by Lottomatica Roma, who went 18/34 back in December 2003, but it reminded me more of the most amazing three-ball display in Euroleague history: Efes’ unbelievable fourth quarter back in November 2006. In a home game against Olympiacos, the Jenkins-Nicholas-Erden-Haislip-Kuqo combination connected on 11 of 12 long-range shots in the final 10:04 of the game.

The Jennings report – Brandon Jennings, in one of the toughest arenas in Europe, explained why. Last week in a text written on this server, Jennings was asked, for the first time in his Euroleague career, to combine baskets inside and outside the arc, and right away he provided. The boxscore displayed 17 minutes on court, 13 points, 4-of-7 from the field, three assists and not a single turnover on the way to an index rating of 17. He played a key role in the third quarter when Tau pushed hard to take over, and made sure Roma stayed on top. Can’t ask for more from this kid.

Just imagine – Terrell McIntyre was 1-of-8 from long range in OAKA. Shaun Stonerook was 2-of-11 from the same distance, but Montepaschi still left Athens with only a five-point loss. If any of the above had shot at just a tiny bit better percentage…

Over? Under! – Four games into the Euroleague season and not only is Zalgiris Kaunas continuing to seek their first win, they’ve also failed to reach 70 points in a game: Their season high is 67 points at home, in the 26 point loss to Montepaschi. True, Kaunas lost Brown, misses Dean, and the go-to guy right now is the great Maciulis, who hasn’t fully adapted to the idea that he’s the main man this season. Nevertheless, it’s not that much we’re asking: In the next three games, Kaunas hosts Barcelona and Pao, followed by travel to Siena. None will be shocked to see them go 0-6, but if the Lithuanians can’t shoot to reach 70…

Standings – After four weeks, CSKA Moscow is the only undefeated team. Surprised? Group D, where CSKA play, is the only group in which just one team has reached three wins. Behind CSKA are four teams with a 2-2 record and in last is a team with no wins: Exactly the scenario predicted for this group from the first second after the draw. The only difference: Panionios was expected to be the winless team, while in fact it’s struggling AJ Milano.

It’s a close league after all – Four teams, one in each group, are still in search for a debut win, but that’s not a case of teams that are just too weak to win. All of them have already sensed a win in their hands at least once during the four weeks. Le Mans was close four weeks in a row, including an OT loss in Tel Aviv; AJ Milano has been in the neighborhood twice already and this week lost by a point; Olimpija lost once by a point as well and this week fell in double OT; finally, Zalgiris hasn’t been as close to success as the other three, but has lost their last two games by five points or fewer.

Index Morris – Last week, CSKA’s Terence Morris went 0-of-8 from long range in Madrid. This week he had three perfect hits from distance already after three minutes on the way to a 5-of-7 night.

Home sweetest home – 11 of the 12 games this week went in favor of the home team, including a double OT win for FenerUlker, a one-point win for Real, a two-point win for Alba and five-point wins for Nancy, Panathinaikos, Panionios and Avellino. The only team to drop the home game was Tau, considered one of the most difficult teams to beat on their home court, who lost by a small three-point margin.

Emir – If you’re a big prospect and want to make a break, then shower, shave, grab a bottle of water, some orange Tic Tacs, pack a small bag and go stand outside the house of coach Bogdan Tanjevic. Wait patiently, have some Tic Tacs and hope he’ll take you in. From there, you’re set. 18 points, more than 50% from the field, seven rebounds, five assists and just a single turnover: That’s the line Emir Preldzic produced this week. He’s playing inside Tanjevic’s system as much as a Bosnian can play inside a system, but also gets a lot of freedom from his coach to bring his skills and creativity to the floor. Follow this kid. He’s much more than just great numbers: He’s fineness and finesse.

Double OT, triple lead – The interesting thing about the game in Istanbul, only the third in Euroleague history to go 50 minutes, was that in all three crucial possessions FenerUlker were up. In regulation, it was a huge running three-pointer by Saso Ozbolt (Welcome back!) to tie the score. Then Damjan Rudez scored on a layup to force another overtime, and finally Vlado Illievski took the chance when down by two with a long distance attempt that went out.

Vlado + Saso > Europe – Olimpija’s Ilievski and Ozbolt played a double OT but still combined 79:50 minutes of play so they didn’t hold a much bigger margin on other backcourts. Nevertheless they took no less than 21 shots from long range (11 by Vlado). Those 21 attempts by only two players represented more three-point attempts than those taken by the entire teams of Panathinaikos, Panionios, Alba, Cibona, Maccabi, Barcelona, Prokom, Real, Avellino, Le Mans, Roma and Nancy this week.

Joventut > Europe – Vlado and Saso weren’t the only ones. Demond Mallet and Luka Bogdanovic of Joventut also combined for 21 attempts from long range, and they played much less obviously. Luka was on a big night hitting 7-of-12 from long distance without taking a single shot inside the arc or the charity stripe. Mallet was a tiny bit less glamour at 1-of-9 from the same distance.

Both were merely executing Joventut’s game plan, or so it seemed on the court. Rudy’s former team took 23 shots inside the arc, but no fewer than 37 outside: a huge difference that hints at a lack of guiding hand and another reason to hang a “We miss you Ricky!” sign in the lockerroom. Joventut had the last ball of the game down by two at Alba, and take a wild guess what their play was…Wrong! Pau Ribas tried to find an open man for the three, but Alba did a great job in the passing lanes, forcing the young guard to go to the rim. He added one more miss to his pocket and Alba celebrated their second win.

All Blacks – OK, the national team of New Zealand isn’t playing in the Euroleague yet, but while I was watching Nancy-Zalgiris on Wednesday night, I suddenly noticed something refreshing: With Cyril Julian out due to injury, Nancy this week was a team composed of only black players, probably the first time ever in European basketball history. Quickly, Mr. Ney was sent to check the NBA rosters and figure how many NBA teams have only black players on the roster, and his answer was one: The Philadelphia 76ers, thus making the occasion in Nancy this week very unique indeed. From the Greer duo to the promising young Zaki, it was a refreshing occurrence. The fact they have won isn’t as exciting as the happenings in Illinois not too long ago, but certainly is a happy episode.

Double OT, triple miss – While Olimpija had to come back from behind time after time in the finals seconds, the Turkish side can be happy to win a close game, but proved he can miss time after time in these situations. Devin Smith had a decent shot from the three-point corner to win the game in regulation but missed. At the end of the first OT, Fenerbache had 6.5 seconds to win the game but managed to lose the ball, while at the end of the last overtime Marque Green missed his first free throw in the final seconds, leaving Olimpija a chance to win.

Whole story in one Zoran – Olympiacos paid around <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €700,000 just to buy out Zoran Erceg from FMP Zeleznik. His contract probably isn’t cheap, either, and the buyout plus contract is worth around $1.5 million easily. This is more than Maccabi’s second-highest paid player. Erceg played less than seven minutes this week, and other than pick up one foul did nothing on the court. No rebounds, no shots taken, no assists, no turnovers. His team still won by 19, the second-greatest margin of the week. His story tells the difference between Olympiacos and a second-tier Euroleague team.

Frustrated Milanese - If you’ve ever had the chance to stop whatever it is you’re doing in your daily life and wonder what’s more frustrating, to lose a five-point lead in the last minute or a 23-point lead in the second half, well, your search for an answer is over! AJ Milano solved this riddle for you! Once again, one player shone above all: This time it was Michael Hall, who won the MVP of the week award, and once again Milano seemed on the sure path for a win. Answers shall be provided after the debut win.

Looking for Lazos – Not too long ago, in the summer of 2007, Lazaros Papadopoulos was a hot item in the market. At 210cm with post moves, decent rebounding and one of the smartest brains in the Euroleague chasing up a 14.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg and a season index rating of 20.3 with Dynamo Moscow. Then came a multi-season deal with powerhouse Real Madrid, who wanted to return to greatness. On that paper, it says Lazos will make more than <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €2 million per season, but he never really proved worthy of it.

His decline already began last season, when his season numbers dropped to 6.9 ppg with 3.2 rpg and season index of no more than 7.8. If someone was waiting for Lazos to come back to life this season, well…maybe later. Right now, he’s finished two games in a row with no points, something that hasn’t happened to him in a European competition since January 9th, 2003. His index ratings in the past three games were 2, -2, and 2. His minutes dropped from 20 to 12 to five. Lazos is no longer a factor. Can’t wait to have him back in shape.

Weekly battle – After Bluthenthal wrote a landslide last week, it was time for Dewarick Spencer to retort. This week, the US guard won the “let’s see who shots more” battle 15-4. Le Mans, no news, lost a close game in Italy. Overall score: Bluthenthal 2, Spencer 2.

Shooting Josh – If you think Lazos is the most overpaid player this week, well, Josh Childress is giving him good competition. The $7 million man finished the game against Maccabi with four points on 1-of-6 from the field and five turnovers. Maccabi gave him a lot of space to shoot from long range, and Josh didn’t punish. The tale from Piraeus is that after the game, while media walked around the lockerroom, looking for Childress, the US swingman went back to the court to work on his jumpshot, to make sure no team will bet on his shots again. Time will tell…

Three-ball Rawel – Cibona’s Rawel Marshall arrived to Malaga with a 7/17 ratio from long range. He finished the game 7 of 10 from that distance. Cibona scored only one additional three pointer. Unicaja combined for a team total of six three-pointers.

Marshall hit just a single bucket inside the arc. Each and every one of his long balls is worth a look. He showed great diversity making off dribble and catch and shoot attempts, eith with a hand in his face or wide open, right on the arc or a step behind…

Euroleague: CSKA Moscow, Russia

As last year, I had to go for one preview too. So I had the chance to talk about CSKA Moscow, the reigning Euroleague Champion. Nothing easier than that I thought but a team renewed at half is not the lucky pick this time.

Overall record prediction: 8-2

But even some things never change, Ettore Messina is still at the head of the most powerful basketball team in Europe. Being announced all around the globe nearly every year, this summer, it was only the position of French or Italian NT head coach that was seriously discussed for the best coach-blogger in Europe.

The biggest change at a first look has of course been in the guard area. The legendary Theo Papaloukas returned to Greece and CSKA was imputed of their brain coming from the bench. The addition of Zoran Planinic is very interesting as the Croatian guard has a very similar profile to Papaloukas, both being close to 2m tall. However, Planinic has not the aura (yet) of the most famous mullet of the Euroleague. Planinic will get some support in the back-court by the veteran JR Holden, Nikos Zisis and the Alaskan Assassin Trajan Langdon but also some newly added talent in Victor Keyru. The surprise of the team can however be Alexey Shved who saw some minutes with the team during the first games of the Russian Championship.

The wing positions are still held by Ramunas Siskauskas and Victor Khryapa. The Lithuanian SF will go for another season of doing it all and the loss of Papaloukas will even put more pressure on his shoulders as the potential go-to-guy. Khryapa needs to step up and go for more than fouls and switch into the Eurobasket 2007 modus if he wants to live up to his potential. Andrey Vorontsevich should get some minutes in the future in order to help these two to get some rests but the young Russian forward is currently injured.

The biggest question mark I have however will be the inside sector. With the absence of Matjaz Smodis, CSKA had some trouble to find the necessary inside presence in the Russian League. Hopefully, the Slovenian forward has no severe problems. Neither Erazem Lorbek nor Terrence Morris showed the necessary rebounding so far in order to go for the starting job. And there are even rumors about Morris going to leave the team. The addition of Sasha Kaun may be interesting for the future but his role will probably very limited for his Euroleague rookie season.

Still, CSKA Moscow looks like a heavy favorite to join the Euroleague Final Four. In a group with only Efes Pilsen and Real Madrid as real powerhouses, a first place is possible, even if that’s not the goal of the team. And squads like the CSKA one will go for some losses in the beginning of the season as the automatism need some weeks to work. When the time of the Top16 is approaching, you won’t see that many problems anymore. And the possibility to defend the title in Berlin is really there.

Final Four participants: CSKA, Olympiacos, Montepaschi Siena, Panathinaikos

Euroleague winner: Panathinaikos

Kirilenko back to Russia?

Krepsinis.net lets us know about the possible offer from big-time club CSKA Moscow to get Krilenko back to Russia.

These are the facts: Kirilenko has not yet signed with the Utah Jazz, at least as far as the public knows.

Since there are no other facts, besides the great strength Kirilenko brings with him to any team, let’s start the speculation.

CSKA certainly has the money to offer Kirilenko the kind of defal they would offer a NBA star of his caliber - Ben Gordon, for example. Before you start thinking “WHAT?! Ben Gordon=Andrei Kirilenko?!,” no, but it was also a rumor that CSKA is interested in Ben.

There goes the big advantage: Andrei will not take up a foreign or US spot so he can be on the floor at all times, no matter if there are any other Americans or Europeans.

Does CSKA really want somebody like Andrei Kirilenko? I am sure the question is not one of want, but need. With players such as Smodis, Siskauskas, Holden, Lorbek, Langdon and Morris, every Euroleague coach would probably say, “Thanks, but I would be happy to have one of those.” Well, CSKA has them and could think: Well, we do not need somebody like Kirilenko to win it all again, but hey, why not? Some popularity for bringing a Russian player back home - some national pride - nothing else such as media attention is not wanted or needed for the rich people of CSKA anyway.

In case you have never been to the CSKA web site, make sure you do now. This is actually pretty funny, cool, and weird at the same time - unless you understand Russian, of course.

The Russian league explained

 

 

Since 2006, when CSKA brought the Euroleague title back to Moscow after 35 years, all eyes are trained on Russian basketball and its new economic power. By the way, no single Roman Abramovich heads a club, but the great boom of the entire movement (which includes the National Team, European champion in pectore) has been carried out thanks to huge amounts of money closely connected to the relative return of Russia as nation to a golden age. 

So now CSKA is no longer alone: The Red Army must share the scene with newly-born clubs like Triumph Lyubertsy and BC Khimky, a police team like Dynamo and Siberian giants Unics Kazan and Ural Great Perm. Everyone is endowed with large financial resources, but “millionaire status = winning titles” isn’t a perfect formula, otherwise Dynamo Moscow would have won many and many championships. This concept seems to be too much difficult to assimilate – not even Messina’s example has been analyzed and studied for improvement – and Russian investment on the market continues with nobody to stop it. Accumulating names upon names, spending dollar after dollar: It’s a hobby that’s either nice or insane, depending on whether the final result is an illusory second place behind the invincible CSKA. However, this year Russian owners have surpassed themselves: Just take a look at the CSKA antagonists’ rosters … I’m serious when I say BC Khimky can beat the Memphis Grizzlies.

And the rest of the league? No good news from Samara, Surgut, Vladivostok. They can’t fight for the title, but they are Russian teams all the same, then it’s not a case find DeJuan Collins (10.8 points and 5.3 assists per game with Zalgiris Kaunas in the last Euroleague) in Rostov, or Rafael Araujo (eighth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft) in St. Petersburg. What are they searching for? Surely not the glory.

 

CSKA MOSCOW: Was Papaloukas really at career’s end? Yes. Had Andersen completed his cycle in Moscow? Yes. Those which seemed terrible losses for the Euroleague champions are probably not such heavy blows as to undermine Messina’s confidence. Besides, the new arrivals are Zoran Planinic, the player most similar to Papaloukas in Europe and much improved last season in Vitoria; Erazem Lorbek and his sweet hands; and Terence Morris, an incredible athlete, great rebounder and better scorer than most people think, averaging 12.4 ppg who shot 60% from two-point range and 49% beyond the arc last season in Tel Aviv. It’s quite impossible that CSKA can disappoint. Messina is still there, despite rumors that had him in Barcelona, and his players are still the men to beat in Europe. OK, the competition is gaining, but you can sleep well thinking about who would take the winning shot: Siskauskas? Smodis? Holden? Good night.

 

DYNAMO MOSCOW: No, Dynamo is not a Euroleague contender: That’s the immediate thought you have upon seeing the team’s enormous (14 players) and qualitatively excellent roster. A hypothetical bench consists of Arriel McDonald, Travis Hansen, Dimitri Domani, Yaroslav Korolev and Sergei Monya: Don’t you think this starting five could reach playoffs in the Russian Superleague? Instead, these are only the reserves. And coach Blatt can feel confident of the team and its different tactical solutions. At the moment, his team’s conception includes Jannero Pargo (one of the best sixth-men in last year’s NBA signed a one-year contract worth $3.5 million) and Hollis Price from Lyetuvos Rytas Vilnius together in a small but fast backcourt, along with Nachbar, another returnee from the NBA. A frontline filled with D. Lavrinovic (has he solved his back problems?) and Javtokas is something that a lot of Euroleague teams don’t have. Put simply: Blatt must win. 

 

BC KHIMKY: The way drawn by Dynamo, which chose its players from NBA, has been followed by Khimky, he wore tore Carlos Delfino from American GM’s arms. The Argentinean is probably the best acquisition made in Russia during this summer: Born in 1982, Delfino is still young, experienced in Europe, and can dominate either physically or technically. He has the right pieces to fit into a team of good defenders (Palacio, Moiso, McCarthy) and an amazing shooter (Garbajosa). Khimky’s identity is purely defensive, though, knowing coach Kemzura’s attitude, and Maciej Lampe should definitively become a star playing next to Delfino and Moiso: His all-around development will benefit by the presence of a real big man and a small forward like the former Raptor who doesn’t love the post-moves at all. How many minutes will the Russian prospects get? Sorry, that’s not Khimky’s problem.

 

UNICS KAZAN: With Lavrinovic far away, the ambitions for Unics drop. It will be difficult to get to the title, but with hard work and a bit of luck, a return to the semifinals isn’t a dream. Unics has landed Marko Popovic for the backcourt, the area most in need of help (McCullough and Chikalkin are getting older, Kirksay is often used as power forward), while between the big men, coach Aco Petrovic has an embarrassing situation which will probably conclude with Veremeenko and Kresimir Loncar in the starting five, as Likholitov and Stanescu head to the bench. In a team poor of talent like Unics (true, we can’t compare it to CSKA, Dynamo or Khimky), Kurbanov finally has the chance to show his skills. Last minute addition: Marc Jackson!

 

TRIUMPH LYUBERTSY: The big deal signed with Nenad Krstic is the declaration that Triumph also wants to be a contender in the Superleague. The Serbian center, if recovered from his knee problems, is among the top five in Russia. Triumph’s run starts with Krstic and Marcus Goree, who left CSKA after two positive seasons. With Askrabic also in the roster, it’s no mystery that Eremin’s playbook will be much more concentrated in the paint; furthermore, J.R. Bremer and Kerem Tunceri are specialists in the use of pick-and-roll. Lyday is ready to do damage with his three-point shot.

 

THE OTHERS: Ural Great Perm can’t reach the semifinals like they did last season: Dalmau is a talented playmaker, and Ralph Biggs is a scorer, but they are alone. Could Spartak St. Petersburg surprise? Wisniewski is super, and the frontcourt includes Lewis Sims, Araujo and Blair. Lokomotiv Rostov is interesting: Junior Harrington is the key player, but Goldwire, Collins, Antic and Morgunov are solid, too. Sadness abounds for all the remaining teams, and a question assails the mind: What type of players are Marque Perry and Alex Scales (Samara), Pavel Podkolzin (Lokomotiv Novosibirsk), Kevin Fletcher (Surgut), Vidas Ginevicius (Spartak Primorie Vladivostok)? Why do players such as these decide in the middle of their careers to come to Russia, earn money and lose games? Don’t they wish to emerge and improve themselves? Obviously, the answer is negative. They don’t love basketball: They love dollars and consequently play basketball.

—

Francesco Cappelletti

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 …

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