Ball in Europe, the European Basketball Blog

In German club basketball, too many foreign players are allowed; in fact, carrying eight or nine American players on a single roster certainly hurts quite a few Bundesliga teams and may be undermining most. Such an opinion is often heard these days about the free-for-all state of BBL contract rules, but rarely does a player affirm such a few … would you believe this is the view of a veteran U.S. player?

But 36-year-old Quadre Lollis, currently with EnBW Ludwigsburg, has garnered quite a lot of wisdom on the European game and the American players therein, with a CV that includes stints with Vanoli Soresina, AEK Athens, ALBA Berlin, Fenerbahce Ülker, Galatasaray, Oyak Renault Bursa, Oostende and now Ludwigsburg, after his NCAA career with Montana State University.

In an interview with Germany-based Basketball Akademie, Lollis advances just such an opinion, even going so far as to say that the success enjoyed in the 2008-09 season by Alba Berlin (of which Lollis was a member) was due to the *few* American players filling its roster.

Lollis goes on to expound on the proliferation of Americans in the German league, attitude versus experience, the European game in the last decade, and the origin of his (sort of) Spanish name.

Click here to download the interview with Quadre Lollis in MP3 file format.

Thanks to Christophe of European Prospects for the tip!

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While not interested in passing definitive judgment, we think it would be useful and fair to take a look at the European basketball panorama. There will be no ratings or rankings here, just a snapshot of what the most important ballin’ countries offer us.

Ten years into the third millennium, it’s common to hear repeated concepts about European community and a sense of brotherhood, but the idea of “European basketball” elicits language only indicating something is wrong. Disunity: That’s the main word for the variety of ways to develop basketball in Europe. European basketball was well on its way until five to six years ago, when internal division began to decrease European ball’s opportunity to become a serious alternative to a NBA bereft of stories and talent to sell – yes, that was before Lebron James’ era.

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Salamanca's big dreams up to Lyttle

The Euroleague Women’s “Eighth-final playoffs” conclude tonight with three best-of-three series looking to be settled. Teams already set to play in EL Women quarterfinals include Spartak Moscow region, Fenerbahce Ulker, UMMC Ekaterinburg, Good Angels Kosice, and Ros Casares.

The winner of tonight’s Halcon Avenida-Bourges Basket match will see Ros Casares in the next round; surely to be considered a favorite to take the entire competition, Ros Casares has outscored opponents by an average 16 points in 15 Euroleague Women games played thus far. A quarterfinal pairing of Ros Casares against Halcon Avenida seems like a dream matchup of star teams – except that the Salamanca side has been stumbling as of late.

Despite a roster featuring Team Spain sensations Marta Xargay and Alba Torrens together with all-around threat Sancho Lyttle (averaging 17.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per in 12 Euroleague Women games), Halcon Avenida finds its backs against the wall despite a recent five-game win streak in which Salamanca thrice outscored opponents by 18 or more. The last of that opposition was Bourges, who pulled off the gritty home win over the heavy favorites last Friday.

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¡Gracias, Ricky!

BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Francesco Cappelletti, wraps up the wrap week of the 2009-10 Euroleague regular season in discussing — among other subjects — how justice was done in the Top 16 accession, why Ricky Rubio deserves our admiration, and how the next four groups look.

Who deserves the Top 16 and who doesn’t
In the last week of the Euroleague’s first stage, many teams played not for pride, but to qualify for the next step. Strangely enough, all the verdicts are right. In Group A, Fenerbahce Istanbul closed a disastrous European season with a home loss against Zalgiris Kaunas, depleted without Travis Watson (basic against a frontline full of 6′10”-6′11” men) and with Mario Delas just landed, while forced to rely on a confused Aleksander Capin staying 22 minutes on the floor with nearly no knowledge of playbook or teammates. Anyway, the injury of Lynn Greer didn’t help Bogdan Tanjevic, whose game passed on pursuing Zalgiris, and Roko Ukic was the unexpected master of a squad wandering in search of itself.

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Ataman on the hot seat?

With just one more week to go in first-round play, Francesco Cappelletti touches on some issues regarding those teams positioning themselves for the Euroleague Top 16. Also examined frankly: Ergin Ataman’s tenuous position in Turkey, Zoran Planinic and Nikos Zisis embracing their positions on potential Final Four clubs; and bucking for position on Real Madrid.

Extreme situations
Only a week remains to this Euroleague first stage, but the situations in many groups are still complicated. In Group A, Regal FC Barcelona lies in waits for Montepaschi with a +19 taken in Siena, testifying to the shape of Xavi Pascual’s players. This should be an interesting game, maybe balanced for nearly 40 minutes, but hardly vincible for the Italians. About the same men that last year started the game with a 25-3 first-quarter run for David Andersen and teammates … the final two positions have no owner.

Next week, a devastated Fenerbahce Ulker (unified against Bogdan Tanjevic: that’s the problem) hosts Zalgiris Kaunas, apparently better under new coach Ramunas Butautas; Asvel meanwhile goes to Zagreb to play a high-pressure game in which defenses are going to take control. Fenerbahce and Asvel (3-6) have one more win than Zalgiris and Cibona, but the feeling is they are not favourites to reach the Top 16.

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And Euroleague action is back for week nine action. Tonight’s slate of games is fit to make the playoff picture clearer. Lietuvos Rytas is in with a win, whereas a Khimki win or an Asseco Prokom loss gets the Moscow region team into the final 16.

According to the bookmakers, the marquee game to watch tonight amidst a lot of mismatches is clearly the game at Belgrade. The inconsistent Lietuvos Rytas can thank its current 1-3 run for its status as a five-point underdog at Partizan, and a double-digit loss would hardly be surprising for the Lithuanians at Pionir, where the black-and-white haven’t lost this season since opening day.

Also a must for viewing and tempting for punting is the Khimki-AJ Milano matchup. To say that Milano’s porous defense – they’ve managed to hold a Euroleague opponent to under 68 points just once this season – has been disappointing would be an understatement but makes for great high-scoring viewing if you’re not a fan. The Italians will be looking to salvage their hopes for advancement while avenging their week three loss to Khimki: Surely this team is too talented not to cover that pointspread of nine and that 146.5 will be toast. Go over.

Pointspreads and over/under lines for tonight’s Euroleague games, as provided by Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet, run below the break.

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Koponen: Something to talk about

Welcome to the 10s, everyone! Now, enough with the pleasantries: With an entire demarcated decade stretching out before us, Ball in Europe wonders about future headlines, about who’s coming up, about “Who’s Next” in ESPNspeak. Here’s to thinking we’ll be talking about some of the following this decade…

• Enes Kanter. It’s impossible to tell at present where the sensation (and MVP) of the 2009 FIBA U18 European Championship will be going in 2010 and beyond, unless “upward” is included as a potential location. Despite announcing his intention to play NCAA basketball at University of Washington next season, certain improprieties Kanter may or may have not been involved with at Fenerbahçe Ülker could keep him from playing at his stated destination next year; the question of whether Kanter actually played professionally with Fenerbahçe reportedly led to his departure from Las Vegas’ Findlay College Prep in September.

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It’s do-or-die time in Euroleague this week. In tonight’s games, subplots include must-win games to avoid mathematical elimination from the postseason for Asvel Basket and Entente Orleanaise; possible second round-clinching wins from Panathinaikos, Montepaschi Siena and probably Unicaja; and the AJ Milano-EWE Baskets Oldenburg game in which the loser sees its advancement opportunities dwindle.

The lines and odds for tonight’s games, as provided by Ball in Europe sponsor Bet 365 follow below the break.
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Yesterday, Ball in Europe had a look at about a dozen newbies in the NBA from Europe; today, we’re flipping continents for a brief look at players from the US trying to make it in European basketball. With about one-third of the Euroleague season in the books, how are the first- and second-year Americans faring in Europe’s top league? Read on!

(Incidentally, we’ll consider US entries into other major domestic leagues at some future point in the 2009-10 season.)

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Taking a brief look at the professional prognostication for tonight’s Euroleague games and, whoa, do the bookmakers really have Asvel Baskets and Zalgiris Kaunas as the game to watch tonight? Crazy, though a bit understandable when one considers the pointspreads given in three prospective David-and-Goliath matchups (AJ Milano at Panathinaikos, Cibona at Montepaschi Siena, Fenerbahce at Barcelona).

The pointspreads and over/under lines for tonight’s Euroleague games, as provided by Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet are as follows.

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