BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Kevin Harley, who France-based Basket Europe acknowledges as a “future star du basket français,” is currently playing with Poitiers’ junior team, where he’s earning a reputation as quite the high-flier.

Check out the below video for Harley on a breakaway jam, reaching a stratospheric height to slam home an easy two – and then check out the gray hair-inducing manner in which he falls to Earth like Icarus. Luckily, notes Basket Europe, Harley was “more frightened than hurt” and was able to finish the game.

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For those of you wondering about Ronny Turiaf’s debut with Asvel Basket, well, it was a bit of a mixed bag of results on Sunday. After resolving insurance issues, the locked-out New York Knick started for Asvel as Tony Parker’s side hosted defending LNB champions/ Euroleague team SLUC Nancy.

Turiaf looked good enough in his first game since injuring his hand in a friendly match leading up to the 2011 EuroBasket tournament, going for nine points (including one effusive dunk early on; see below Asvel-based YouTube clip), eight rebounds (four offensive), three assists and five fouls drawn in 25 minutes of court time.

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This just in. Chandler Parsons has decided to leave Cholet Basket, tweeting just about an hour ago, “Thank you to Cholet for the opportunity to play during the lockout. It was a great experience that I’ll never forget. Back home tomorrow!”

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What’s that? You want some Tony Parker videos? Right … in Saturday’s game at Cholet Basket, Parker put in what the league’s official website is calling a “decisive” performance for Asvel Villeurbanne. The locked-out San Antonio Spur went for 19 points, including nine in the fourth quarter in the Asvel victory. The final score: Asvel 79, Cholet 70. Décisif, bien sûr!

Parker’s first public appearance at the Angers-Loire airport was naturally YouTube-worthy … would you believe screaming girls…?

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Yeah, Noah will be there...

The 12-man roster is loaded with veterans from international play and the NBA is well-represented with Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers), Boris Diaw (Charlotte Bobcats), Joakim Noah (Chicago Bulls), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Mickael Pietrus (Phoenix Suns) and Ronny Turiaf (New York Knicks). Kevin Seraphin (Washington Wizards) is listed as an alternate.

Making up la douzaine are Yannick Bokolo (Gravelines Dunkerque), Antoine Diot (Le Mans Sarthe), Nando De Colo (PE Valencia; NBA rights held by the San Antonio Spurs), Mickael Gelabale (ASVEL Basket), Florent Pietrus (Caja Laboral Baskonia), and Ali Traore (Virtus Roma).

Other replacement players include Andrew Albicy (Paris Levallois), Fabien Causeur (Le Havre) and Charles Lombahe-Kahudi (Le Mans Sarthe).

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While much of the basketball hype from the ‘States in currently focused on tonight’s scintillating NBA championship game six, BiE today runs a quick jaunt through Europe’s championship action, with video-embedded stops in France, Spain and Germany. Official BallinEurope Fearless Prediction™ at the very bottom.

First up, congratulations to new LNB champs SLUC Nancy, who earned a 2011-12 Euroleague bid in nipping Cholet Basket, 76-74, in France’s one-game winner-take-all championship final yesterday.

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Sorry, the N-B-what? While Euroball fans can certainly take pride in the outstanding number of Continental players still competing in the big league overseas – a list that includes Team Turkey’s Omer Asik, Team France’s Joakim Noah, Team Britain’s Luol Deng, Zydrunas Ilgauskas of Lithuania, Team Switzerland’s Thabo Sefolosha, French sophomore Rodrigue Beaubois (sort of; the 23-year-old has been mostly listed as “inactive” during the playoffs), old master Peja Stojakovic, and of course “Deadly Dirk” Nowitzki – multiple times the excitement is going on in Europe right now with tournaments happening all over.

Ready for some serious do-or-die action in Spain, Lithuania, Romania and Germany? Read on!

In Spain, what should be one heck of a dogfight (BiE still can’t believe Euroleague club Unicaja Malaga had to fight for the no. 8 seed) tips off tonight with the Malagans taking on FC Barcelona in the ‘Palau at 8.30pm CET (2.30 EST). The ACB brain trust has put together quite the interesting promo for the Spanish playoffs entitled “Canastas imposibles.”

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Perhaps further contemplating a lockout, the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker declared he will suit up for Team France in Eurobasket 2011. In an interview with French TV, Parker stated emphatically that he “will be at Eurobasket this summer” and that he is “eager to get started.”

Though the Spur believes that Les Bleus “have a really good team” as it is, Parker took time to appeal to at least one other Frenchman he wants on the club: “You need great inside play to win in Europe, so Joakim Noah can be a very important piece in our puzzle and make a big difference.”

Parker has been quite visible in the news lately with matters of French sport. Last week, he stated to L’Equipe that, “si le conflit dure,” i.e. if the incipient NBA lockout continues into the season, he would try his fortunes in Villeurbanne. “If the [lockout] lasts,” said Parker, “I think I’ll go and play in France so that my fans can see me up close … I will probably go play with Asvel Basket.”

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The most musical of pro basketball teams? It could well be Challes-les-Eaux of the Ligue Féminine Basket. Television network France 3 recently picked up on an interesting factoid regarding star Mistie Bass-Williams: She is in fact the daughter of Chubby Checker, né Ernest Evans, he of “The Twist” fame in the early 1960s.

Meanwhile, reports 3, Jennifer Fleischer is a none-too-shabby flautist herself. Check out the piece on these “basketeuses et musiciennes” in a story they just had to call “Challes-es-Eaux dans le bon tempo!”

On the court, Bass-Williams turned in a monster season for Challes in 2010-11, contributing 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game – good enough numbers to win her the Foreign MVP. The former Duke Blue Devil is under contract with the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

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Finally blessed with a bit of time to peruse ESPN’s compelling financial stats as presented in its magazine’s “All About the Money” issue (check them out if you haven’t already; big numbers are fun!), BallinEurope just couldn’t help, well … noodling around with the numbers some more!

Over at the big network’s Chicago Blackhawks blog, links to table of various athletes’ salaries is presented, after introing with, “A list of the best-paid athletes from 182 countries reveals some surprising salaries and begs the question: Are they worth it?”

Well, are they? Let’s play…

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