Euroleague: Regal FC Barcelona, Spain

Jaime Martínez Lafargue from the Spanish website Solobasket explains us today why FC Barcelona should be followed this season. Solobasket is one of the most popular websites about Basketball in Spain and offers now also content in English.

Overall record prediction: 7-3

FC Barcelona comes from a troubled season with a coach replacement and poor performances in most of their games. The team failed to advance to the Euroleague Final Four and lost to iurbentia Bilbao in the Spanish Cup quarterfinals. Despite of it all, Xavi Pascual –the coach that replaced Dusko Ivanovic- managed to get the best from his players and reach the ACB Finals.

Ersan Ilyasova played his best basketball since he arrived to the ACB during the playoff and is still growing. He is almost unstoppable right now. Fran Vázquez also stepped up after the departure of Ivanovic and is recovering the enthusiasm and athleticism of some seasons ago. Some other players started to display better performances as the last season came to the endas well.

This overall improvement and the negative answer of the desired Messina to the offer of FC Barcelona has given Pascual a new chance to prove his coaching skills with an elite team. Besides, the new chief of basketball operation Joan Creus –assistant coach of the Spanish National Team that won the World Championships in Japan- put together a renewed roster full of talent. Without a doubt, the comeback of Juan Carlos Navarro from his brief stint in the NBA is the star signing of the club for the new season. Besides, former CSKA Australian center David Andersen, guards Víctor Sada and Andre Barret, the Czech forward Lubos Barton and the late addition of seven footer Daniel Santiago set up what could be arguably the best roster in the ACB. Thus, FC Barcelona must contend for the Euroleague.

The new Euroleague regular season format, reducing the groups to six teams, will give top clubs a more relaxed first stage. FC Barcelona should be one of these teams, and the ten games of its regular season must be a warm up phase before facing the Top 16. Panathinaikos and Montepaschi are the big rivals in the group B, and Barça should compete with them to end the group stage within the three first positions. This team is better than the last season one, so FC Barcelona must be considered as a candidate to play the Final Four.

Final Four: Olympiacos, FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid.

Winner: Olympiacos

written by Jaime Martínez Lafargue

Live from the Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Kris Santiago, a FIBA.com blogger, is in Athens right now, following every game of the pre-Olympic tournament. Here are his notes from today:

• Slovenia is getting better from game to game and could be facing Puerto Rico or Croatia (but I would go with Puerto Rico, as they are looking quite good on the perimeter) in the quarters. Lakovic is solid while Nesterovic feels comfortable attacking the boards. Slokar showed a good all-around game, hitting shots and doing the little things right (Finally some positive news about Uros). Becirovic completes the team that received some help from Miha Zupan in the first game.

• Canada played weaker than expected. Former Skyliner Dave Thomas stepped up during the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Carl English and Samuel Dalembert could not repeat their performances from the test games against Germany. Veteran Rowan Barrett is a steady scorer, but the team looked bad on the defensive end.

• Cape Verde is the first team to fly home. The “Trindade” got pounded again, this time by Germany. Young talent Jeff Xavier certainly has some upside (a solid shot and good ball-handling) but is a shoot-first point guard and had some problems adjusting to the game. If his dreams of playing in the NBA don’t come true, he may play in Europe. In order to be effective, Xavier really needs to work on his passing game.

The same goes for most of the players that never played at such a high level in FIBA-organised competitions and struggled against bigger guys like Femerling or Kaman.

• Germany used the game as another test, and had no trouble finishing from the three-point line or under the boards. Kaman is not looking fluid in his actions, as he is still trying to find his niche in the German game. Demond Greene hit some 3s in the beginning, making it crystal clear which team was supposed to win. Young gun Philip Zwiener was the surprise of the day, as he made the starting five and showed off a solid performance, which could lead to a permanent starting job. I personally like Konrad Wysocki; he should be getting more time on the court, getting six points in ten minutes and was ready for more. Oh, I forgot to mention Dirk Nowitzki, who was not flashy but left his mark, was able to rest a lot due to the big lead and should be more tested more against New Zealand tomorrow.

• Puerto Rrrrrico is getting the best out of Carlos Arroyo (Flashy as ever … behind the back, no look, you name it) and … (A real surprise to me) Ricky Sanchez, who was left open at the three-point line and scored at will. Daniel Santiago got some minutes but was not nearly effective as in Malaga, and P.J. Ramos looked better (Well, not his look but his game) against Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. J.J. Barea is having some trouble displaying his scoring qualities but does his job which includes passing and defending.

• Cameroon is here with a bad karma. They were angry and disappointed regarding their government which failed to support them in a professional manner. Now Harding Nana had a good first game but struggles to find his shot against Puerto Rico. Boumtje-Boumtje is fighting like a bull on both defense and offense, but Cameroon really sometimes lacks the IQ on the court, as they repeatedly left Sanchez alone instead of guarding him closer and made mistakes when switching the player in the wrong moments. Parfait Bitee looks ready for Europe, as he is really doing a great job here, scoring mostly from outside and keeping Barea and Arroyo constantly under pressure. Brice Vounang is a short-sized center with a wide body and knows how to bang but may need to lose some weight in order to perform faster around the basket.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted…

UPDATE: Kris just sent us some more thoughts:

• Cameroon’s Harding Nana got his shot back in the second half and Parfait Bitte, who may land a contract in Europe soon (The D-League is not an option, and his agent Keith Glass is already receiving offers), did his part to bring Cameroon back into the game, but it was Larry Ayuso’s three-pointer that killed Cameroon’s hopes of advancing.

• Cameroon’s coach Lazare Adingono was certainly disappointed with the way things ended for his team, and hopes that the government has seen the positive outing of his team in Athens and tries now to support the team financially so they may bounce back with another strong outcome at the 2009 African Championship in Libya.

• George Felton, director of player personnel, scouted Alexis Wangmene (Texas University) closely these days to see if he is capable of playing against bigger competition. Wangmene was not a big factor offensively while helping out well in limited minutes on the floor on the defensive end, but has a long road to go if he wants to make it to the NBA.

• Brazil is currently destroying Lebanon, and they look quite confident on the floor with Marcelinho Huertas and Murilo Becker da Rosa having already reached double digits in scoring. Now all the players are set to score, and even NBA bust Baby Araujo is doing well on the floor, having no trouble scoring in the paint at all.

Monday rumors

Jorge Garbajosa to join CSKA
What a signing by CSKA: Terrence Morris joins Ettore Messina for the 2008/09 season, but as you can imagine this was not the last signing CSKA Moscow has announced or will announce. It looks like they are battling it out with FC Bacrelona this year, at least as far as big signings are concerned.

This is where FC Barcelona is still in the lead by signing Spanish NBA player Juan Carlos Navarro. Hold up, wasn’t there a Spanish guy who just came to an agreement to leave his NBA club? Right: Jorge Garbajosa. You can be as sure as anything that CSKA officials are trying to get this man on the roster, or at least considering the move. We heard about Jorge signing with Unicaja, but with the latest weekend deals, Jorge might end up in Moscow: Even the Spanish media thinks so.

Jorge Garbajosa joining CSKA:

Daniel Santiago to return to the NBA
Speaking of Malaga, is anybody thinking about Daniel Santiago from Puerto Rico? Just take a moment and look Daniel up on Wikipedia - this guy is like a chameleon! No, I’m not talking about his eyes; take a look at his name: Daniel Gregg Santiago Lynn. He can either go American with Gregg Lynn or Puerto Rican with Daniel Santiago. Well, just a funny side note…

On a more serious note, I just saw an interview with Daniel Santiago telling us that his contract with Malaga is over and he would love to join the NBA - again. He played for the Phoenix Suns in 2001 and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2003. Santiago also tells us that he would love to play in the NBA, although he has numerous offers from European clubs.

Santiago going to the NBA again … Well, he wishes:

Carlos Delfino to join Panathinaikos
Sounds great, doesn’t it, Greek basketball fans? And Panathinaikos has to come up with a signing like this. Nikola Pekovic alone won’t be enough to compete with FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow, especially if Sarunas is leaving the club as many people hope or fear.

In Toronto, Carlos is stuck. He doesn’t get any significant playing time and probably not the kind of money a club like Panathinaikos is willing to offer. Bringing these thoughts together, I am sure Panathinaikos is considering Carlos.

Carlos coming to Greece:

Papaloukas to join Olympiakos
For some - at least some people in Greece -  this is already a done deal. I’m fine with that, but I do have my doubts. I was following Papaloukas closely at the Final Four in Athens last year and it looked to me like he was very attached to Panathinaikos, the arena and the fans. Don’t you think that Papaloukas signing with Olympiakos might make things even more difficult? Just imagine the Olympiakos vs. Panthianiakos game … We like excitement so we’ll approve this rumor!

Papaloukas joining Olympiakos:

Anthony Parker to return to Maccabi Tel Aviv
Good thinking: This guy knows how the game is played, but let’s not rip this Raptors team apart. Some players still have to remain, right? Meanwhile, I await the first Calderon-coming-back-to-Europe news.

Parker back in Europe … I’ll give it a one-star chance: