BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Episode #37 of the BallinEurope/heinnews co-produced “Taking the Charge” podcast series is now available online or via iTunes. After the usual patter on Euroleague rumors (especially this one) and VTB United League playoffs, the good stuff starts happening.

First up to guest on the show is Bayern Munich general manager Marko Pesic, who chats up heinnews on the seemingly overwhelming and undeniably impressive growth of the club since the beginning of this decade and its second-division Bundesliga standing. BiE continues to be fascinated with team’s master plan built on little more than the club’s football brand and um, well, that’s it, really. The fact of the matter – call it a BallinEurope Official Fearless Prediction™ if you will – is that this team, barring unforeseen financial or personnel disaster, will be playing Euroleague ball within two seasons. Thus is Pesic good to hear from.

And the GM gives us insight into the truth to rumors that Bayern will make a run at signing Ratiopharm Ulm’s John Bryant. Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.

Following Pesic is Jay Ramos, writer for the Miami Heat-centric SB Nation site Hot Hot Hoops. Ramos speaks to us about, well, the Miami Heat; more specifically, topics include mostly Lebron, more Lebron, Dwyane Wade, a tiny bit of Ray Allen and Shane Battier, Lebron, you get the idea. But can BiE put the fear of Tony Parker in Ramos? Tune in to find out – Ramos’ own predictions for the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Championship outcome are also here, as are BallinEurope’s.

Incidentally, when was the last time an NBA playoff series stood at 2-2 yet was so widely accepted to be a foregone conclusion…?

The Taking the Charge sports movie review of the week focuses on He Got Game, an unfairly under-seen film by New York Knicks ultrafan Spike Lee starring Denzel Washington and now-Heat former-Milwaukee Bucks/Boston Celtics sharpshooter Ray Allen. The short take: See this film. If you already have, watch it again. For many more reasons why, listen in…

Finally, also of note is our bumper music: Fantastic and rights-free material from Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and DJ Danger Mouse – great stuff you may never have heard before.

Check out the entire podcast here or to subscribe from this episode ad infinitum, enter this into iTunes or any podcast aggregator: http://heinnews.com/feed/taking-the-charge/.

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What’s the best way to raise shackles in the German sports world? Easy: Publicly proclaim anything that projects Dirk Nowitzki in anything but glowing colors. Over at heinnews today is a report that FC Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has done just that.

In a line made for today’s instant media, FC Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness proclaimed that his side would be unlikely to ever sign Nowitzki after his NBA career because “We are … not a nursing home for basketball players.”

For more on this little pot-stirrer (and Svetislav Pesic’s two eurocents on the matter), click here.

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Now running over at Germany-based heinnews is episode three in the “Taking the Charge” podcast series. In this gabfest, David Hein and yours truly feature an interview with Dana Beszczynski, a key behind-the-scenes player in two sports: The expatriate is involved in the youth program of Austrian Bundesliga team Allianz Swans Gmuden and heads up umpire training and baseball organization throughout the Continent – all in all, quite an interesting figure.

Other topics under the microscope include:

● Euroleague qualifiers – and another BallinEurope jinx handed to Unics Kazan;

● Kobe Bryant’s much-ballyhooed “It’s my team” comments; and

● possible fallout from Bayern Munich’s sacking of Dirk Bauermann.

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BallinEurope has been following the Bayern München story since the club began its bold resurrection to prominence, but the tale took an unexpected turn yesterday as officials announced that German national program overseer Dirk Bauermann had been fired as Bayern’s coach.

In an official press release, Bayern club officials stated that “After intensive conversations, the authorities at FC Bayern Munich … fired head coach Dirk Bauermann with immediate effect. Dirk Bauermann was informed this afternoon about the decision.

“The reason for the firing lies in the differing ideals over the future development of basketball at FC Bayern Munich.”

BiE’s having a bit of a problem imagining exactly what those differences where, particularly since Bauermann has taken the second-division club all the way up to Eurocup play in two seasons – though Germany-based heinnews tells of rumors that Bauermann was canned in connection with a bit of partying by players Jared Homan, Tyrese Rice and Chevon Troutman following a recent preseason match with Alba Berlin.

Yannis Christopoulos, most recently of Cyprus powerhouse Apoel BC has been named head coach

A press conference is scheduled for today at 11.45 CET.

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Now up and running is episode two in the Taking the Charge podcast series, a gabfest brought to you by heinnews and BallinEurope. On the menu over there is a nice spread of basketball-related matters, including:

• a look at recently-run tournaments in Germany: the 2012 Domreiter Cup in Nürnberg with defending Euroleague/Greek League champs Olympiacos besting Brose Baskets Bamberg, Maccabi Tel Aviv and BC Khimki; and the Beko BBL Cup, which saw 2011-12 Euroleague runners-up CSKA Moscow top Bayern München, Beşiktaş JK and Žalgiris Kaunas. (In advance, BiE will say that whoa, eight interesting storylines really demonstrates the allure of the big league: fresh, dramatic storylines that change week to week…);

• some riffing on FC Nuremberg football coach Dieter Hecking’s, um, interesting comments of last weekend and the German basketball federation’s response; and

• a lengthy and fascinating interview with Till Schauder and Kevin Sheppard, producer/director and subject, respectively, of the excellent newly-released documentary The Iran Job. (BiE’ll have a bit more on this later for the more textually-inclined.)

Enjoy the podcast and stay informed about our new releases and comment to your heart’s content via our spiffy Facebook page. Like us! We love your likes!

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Just in case you can spare a few moments for German basketball … the folks over at Sport Eagle (they of the motto “German Sports in English”) have recently put together a sweet highlight clip of Tuesday night’s playoff game featuring the Artland Dragons at FC Bayern München.

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From the land of Dirks Nowitzki and Bauermann – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball as the league gets set to close the regular season and start the playoffs. Read on to find out about Brose Baskets Bamberg laying down the law against Alba Berlin, the Artland Dragons-Bayern München playoff showdown, and how things are suddenly up in the air for the Fraport Skyliners.

Tucker, Pleiß lead Bamberg to big win
Brose Baskets Bamberg once again answered the bell with a knockout as the two-time reigning German Beko BBL champions knocked off Alba Berlin 100-90 in a game that was only a matter of pride for Bamberg, who had long clinched the home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

P.J. Tucker continued his incredible play for Bamberg with 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block while shooting 8-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from long range. In the last five games, Tucker is averaging 22 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks while shooting 61 percent overall from the field, including 45 percent from long range and 82 percent from the free throw stripe.

Tibor Pleiß had a superb game as well with 19 points, six rebounds, two assists and one block for Bamberg, who have won 22 of their last 24 games in the league and bounced back from their loss the previous weekend at Bayern Munich.

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Here’s something to get you started on Saturday (yeah, BiE knows it’s, like, noon CET, but hey): A pair of clips taken from the halftime show at last week’s double-overtime masterpiece between Bayern München and Brose Baskets Bamberg over in Germany’s Bundesliga.

Check out a band identified only as “Die Crazy Dunkers” executing acrobatics that would give even Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Blake Griffin pause…

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From the land of Dirks Nowitzki and Bauermann – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find out about Bayern Munich surviving a double-overtime slugfest with Brose Baskets Bamberg; Ratiopharm Ulm taking a bunch of trophies; and Vitalis Chikoko’s continued success in the Bundesliga.

Bayern wins double-OT battle with Bamberg
Bayern Munich and Brose Baskets Bamberg continued to one-up each other in a German Beko BBL showdown which should be chronicled for the as-yet non-existent BBL TV Classic.

In what truly felt like a heavyweight slugfest, hosts Bayern had the final big punches in double overtime as they beat the two-time reigning champions, 107-103. Jared Homan came up big for Bayern in the second overtime with two big baskets while Bamberg just couldn’t find the answer in the second extra session.

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From the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball.

Read on to find out all about Bayern Munich fining Jared Homan for getting into a bar fight; P.J. Tucker, the Dragon slayer; Skyliners winning again; and BG Göttingen’s relegation.

Jared Homan busted in Munich, continues playing
Bayern Munich have been making headlines all season – most often for good reasons. But the biggest brand in German sports had to answer legal questions after starting center – and top scorer and rebounder – Jared Homan was temporarily detained by police for his involvement in an early morning bar fight in Munich.

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