Euro guards break some NBA ankles

In these dark times of global financial crisis, a little fun is always nice to have. So for all those people who think that European guards are slow, uncreative or whatever, just check out what this “unknown” Brit does with Devin Harris during the NBA Europe Tour in London (found via TrueHoop):

And if this weren’t enough, just check what Beno Udrih did to “maybe future Olympiacos” player Kobe Bryant during the NBA preseason. (Thanks to Matej.)

Kobe to join Josh Childress in Olympiacos?

I don’t know how serious this rumor is, but Italian website basketcentral.it announced today that the Greek powerhouse is collecting the money to make an offer to Kobe Bryant next summer.

According to the article, the super-rich Angelopoulos brothers are ready to put $60 million on the table to sign the LA Laker guard to a three-year deal. Additionally, Kobe would get a villa and a private jet for his personal use.

We’ll see during the next days, weeks or months what’s going on with this, but besides David Stern telling us “his” stars have just been joking around and the Euroleague probably not being that interested in clubs paying that much money when there are other problems, I’m not sure if there is any truth to this rumor and truthfully is really difficult to believe.

Thanks to Spain and USA for a great basketball game

So the Redeem Team won the gold medal in Beijing. What in the end looked like no surprise must actually be considered a deserved win by the best team of the tournament: Nothing more and nothing less. The final game showed that the gap between the USA and the rest of the world is not widening again, but that USA needs to prepare and bring their best players in order to beat a Spanish team by only 11 points.

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Olympics Live: Argentina vs. Lithuania, USA vs. Spain

If Manu Ginobili is out (because of his ankle injury against Team USA), Lithuania is the favorite in this game and will once again go home with the bronze medal from the Olympics. (Broadcast starts with the 2nd half!)

The Gold Medal game will feature the current World Champion Spain and the Gasol brothers against the USA Redeem Team that wants to get back the Gold Medal they lost in 2004 against Argentina. Read more

Today’s Chinese cigarettes

The Olympic Basketball tournament is coming to an end with the ladies’ finals today and the men’s tomorrow. Let’s take a look at some of funny stories from the last few days.

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Today’s Chinese cigarettes

The first day of the Olympic Men Basketball tournament is history and this night started the 2nd day of the competition. Here are the latest short stories we found around the net.

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Today’s Chinese cigarettes

With the highly awaited Olympic basketball tournament approaching, here are some of the thoughts I found throughout the internet about the mega-event in Beijing.

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Sasha Vujacic to Europe? The real reasons

It is no surprise that almost-NBA champion Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic has been contacted by several European teams. Kobe Bryant tells us that he would not be surprised if Sasha takes the money and runs, just because he won’t get that much money from the Lakers or any other NBA club.

So once again, money is supposed to be the reason? NO! If Sasha is treated like this by his favorite MVP, his American idol (let’s just call him Sasha’s GOD), he has to leave. Watch this:

Oh well, Sasha, Kobe doesn’t love you like you love him … but it looks like a few more people don’t like you that much, either. Like Manu Ginobili, Andrew Bynum, Carmelo Anthony, Baron Davis and even the entire Cleveland Cavaliers team. He can’t even join the New York Knicks anymore! Would you want to stay in this league when nobody likes you and you get hurt all the time? I don’t know.

Does Europe want a guy like that? I guess not - well, hold on - the Euroleague might need a substitute for that guy who made us all laugh last season, even though he knew what he was saying to make us laugh: Sasha probably doesn’t know.

If everything fails, Sasha, why don’t you look into coaching and teach some people “how to look like a hero on the court” as well as “how to fly like a mosquito bite next to you”? Nope - no typo - watch this:

US national team announced - are you scared?

I followed a lot of ESPN Sportscenter, Around the Horn and other stuff like that today. The US National team was announced:

Named to the 2008 USA Basketball Senior National Team were: Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz); Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kidd; Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets); Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons); Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks); Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat); and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz). Duke University Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski is head coach of the USA Senior Team program. Serving as assistant coaches are Syracuse University and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

Don’t get me wrong, these names are the top performers of worldwide basketball entertainment and any team would love to have just one of these guys on their roster, but do teams like Spain, Lithuania and Russia have to be scared? No, not at all.

You still need to have a team and really take pride in representing your nation. I do know guys like Dirk Nowitzki are busting their a** off right now, with three or four training sessions a day, just to qualify for the Olympics. Do you really think one of the guys above does care that much?

Following the NBA Finals taught me one thing about US Basketball: You might be the best guy in the world, but if somebody wants it more than you do - you will lose, right Kobe?

Another thing you might have seen during the NBA finals: It is still a TEAM that wins championships - you can’t do much,when they isolate your top star with a box-and-one defense, right, Kobe?

So am I scared, or do I feel like “these other countries caught up with US Basketball” (as said on every single TV show on ESPN today)? No and yes. I’m not scared, and European basketball does not have to catch up - we are right there, guys!

As excited as I am about the start of the Euroleague season, I’m excited about this year’s Olympics, right, Kobe?

Come on, Kobe!

Not much Euroleague in this post at all - sorry! Not even anything negative to say about any European player on the Lakers. Well - in the first half of game 4 you had to like what Mr. Radmanovic did: hitting threes. Read more

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