Going into tonight’s games four, nothing has changed within the elite, though mid-pack much jostling for position may be seen. With the group leaders all in excellent position to at least solidify a strong hold on a semifinals berth, this could prove to be a make-or-break week for no fewer than those nine sides in the scrum.

The key word for week four, then, in BallinEurope’s estimation: Injuries. The ‘bug is truly hunkering down amid some Euroleague teams, and one could build a pretty decent roster from those who are out, questionable or hampered this week. Potential difference-makers who will be sitting include, among others, Viktor Khryapa (CSKA); Ante Tomic (Real Madrid); Omer Onan, Marko Tomas (Milano); Kerem Gonlum, Ermal Kuqo (Anadolu Efes); Steven Smith (PAO); and Shawn James (Maccabi Tel Aviv).

Below run another edition of the BiE power rankings as we enter this decisive week. Once again, please note that these rankings are an indicator of how teams are trending, with some consideration given to play in other leagues and heavy emphasis on Euroleague results.

Without further ado, then, onto the rankings! Go ahead, you can guess the first four, surely…

Prospective quarterfinalists
1. (↔) CSKA Moscow (13-0 in Euroleague play overall; 10-1 in VTB United League, 8-1 in PBL)
2. (↔) FC Barcelona (12-1 EL; 16-3 ACB)
3. (↔) Montepaschi Siena (11-2 EL; 14-5 Serie A) – Will anything change among the top four straight through to Istanbul? Barça and Siena are red-hot while, Viktor Khyrapa or no, CSKA is deep enough to have the luxury of choosing which two players to bench at upset-minded Galatasaray. No one could fault any of these team’s fans for looking into lodging in Istanbul in May.

4. (↔) Unics Kazan (10-3 EL; 10-1 VTB; 4-4 PBL) – Kazan took a loss in Russia on Sunday at Triumph Lyubertsy, 71-61, and uglied things up in last week’s 56-44 win versus Milano. Luckily, at this juncture when EL teams must avoid shooting cold, the Russian side gets to beat up on the Armanis again tonight.

On the cusp
5. (↑) Panathinaikos (9-4 EL; 14-1 Greek League) – They’re baaaaaaaaack! The only question is, is it for good this time? The team’s 77-56 immolation of Fenerbahce Ulker last week put PAO back in the driver’s seat for at least one of those two Group G seeds for the quarterfinals; this week, all the Greens must do is overcome that same Ulker team sans Omer Onan. And in Athens.

6. (↔) Real Madrid (10-3 EL; 15-4 ACB) – How concerned should Los Blancos be after losing to Gescrap Bilbao at home on Sunday? A bit, perhaps; how do you lose while shooting 58.33% overall, including 10-of-19 on threes? Not only does the loss knock Real back into second place on the ACB table, they enter tomorrow night’s match against Bilbao at 1-2 in head-to-head play and with Ante Tomic not 100%. (And that’s the sound of a few thousand Madridistas biting fingernails.)

7. (↑) Bennet Cantu (7-6 EL; 11-8 Serie A) – An impressive 82-74 win over Maccabi plus the addition of Doron Perkins equals this year’s Euroleague Cinderella story.

8. (↓) Maccabi Tel Aviv (8-5 EL; 18-1 ABA; 12-2 Ligat Ha’al) – BiE will quote his own answer to Euro-Step’s question, “Which team has underperformed the most?”: “Not even close: Maccabi Tel Aviv. Supposed to be a F4 contender and killing in the ABA … what is happening with these guys in EL?”

9 (tie). (↓) Galatasaray Medical Park (5-8 EL; 13-3 TBL)
9 (tie). (↑) Olympiacos (7-6 EL; 15-1 Greek League) – Blowouts as equalizer: The Reds may have put in their best Euroleague performance of the 2011-12 season with their emphatic 83-65 win over Fenerbahce Ulker, while Galatasaray simply could not hang with CSKA. BiE has the teams deadlocked because at present the Turkish side holds the tiebreaker in Group E.

The most excellent news for Olympiacos from the Ulker game was the excellent distribution in scoring. BiE reckoned the Reds need to find production from someone other than Vassilis Spanoulis, and last week they found lots of someones – Kostas Sloukas, Richard Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou … this is the kind of balanced attack Oly needs to bring for the rest of the EL race.

11. (↑) Gescrap Bilbao Basket (6-7 EL; 10-9 ACB) – Bilbao readied for its third match against Real Madrid in a week by topping the former ACB table-toppers on Sunday, though the Gescrappers can hardly count on the lights-out shooting they found then. This week, the storyline promises the upstarts homecourt advantage and the Euroleague-activated Mamadou Samb.

Struggling, crashing, and/or burning
12 (tie). (↔) Fenerbahce Ulker (7-6 EL; 11-5 TBL)
12 (tie). (↓) Anadolu Efes Pilsen (6-7 EL; 14-2 TBL) – Not such a great year for Istanbul to host the Euroleague Final Four tournament after all, perhaps. The three Turkish franchises remaining are a disappointing 5-10 in the past five weeks of EL play.

14. (↔) Zalgiris Kaunas (4-9 EL; 5-6 VTB; 12-0 LKL) – Hey, have you heard that Sonny Weems was the top vote-getter for the LKL All-Star Game? No, it doesn’t have much to do with the Euroleague, but it *is* good news.

15. (↔) Unicaja (4-9 EL; 12-7 ACB) – Now 2-7 in 2012, Unicaja’s recent 0-4 run has seen them lose by an average of 16 points. Of course, the offense could be worse. It could be like that of…

16. (↔) Emporio Armani Milano (5-8 EL; 12-7 Serie A) – Seriously? 44 points? That was in one half, right?

Traditional advisory warning: These ratings are pretty much highly subjective, as they are formulated from one source, i.e. BiE, and are based on the way teams are trending at present. While play in other leagues was considered, emphasis was put on Euroleague performance especially, and particularly on the two games each has registered in Top 16 play.

And on to the rankings!

The undefeated
1. (↔) CSKA Moscow (12-0 in Euroleague play overall; 9-1 in VTB United League, 8-1 in PBL)
2. (↔) FC Barcelona (9-1 EL; 13-3 ACB)
3. (↑) Montepaschi Siena (10-2 EL; 13-5 Serie A) – No surprises here, unless you count the emphatic statement wins recorded by each of these elite teams in week two at Maccabi Tel Aviv, vs. Anadolu Efes, and at Real Madrid, respectively. NBA fans are chattering about a shortened season? Ha! With each of these teams at 2-0 and having knocked off the no. 2 contender within their groups, they’ve all made the 2011-12 EL Top 16 round a hell of a lot more urgent for nearly every side in the big league.

4. (↑) Unics Kazan (9-3 EL; 10-1 VTB; 4-3 PBL) – Two exclamatory questions: One, who would have thought that the most important American player in Russia this season would be Henry Domercant? And two, how ‘bout this dark horse, huh? Right now, Bad Henry is penciled in on BiE’s Euroleague All-Star squad, and he’s certainly to be worth watching tonight against Emporio Armani Milano after his amazing 7-of-11 overall shooting display for 21 points at Panathinaikos in week two.

The undeterred
5. (↑) Galatasaray Medical Park (5-7 EL; 13-3 TBL) – Unlike other sides that squeaked through into the Top 16 (Olympiacos, Milano, BiE’s looking at you…), Galatasaray has shown itself to be capable of playing with the big boys after all. The inspiring overtime win against the Reds in week resulted in a huge step toward the tournament round and a big jump in these power rankings. Of course, with the Big Red Machine hosting this Turkish side tomorrow night, this may be as high as Galatasaray ascends on this table.

6. (↓) Real Madrid (9-3 EL; 15-3 ACB) – Perhaps BiE is calling this one a bit early, but could the disappointing home loss to Montepaschi – to be fair, one of the few teams in Europe who can keep up with this season’s free-shooting, fast-running Real – indicative of the team’s traditional late-winter swoon that annually seems to set them firmly in second place at home and abroad behind FC Barcelona? (Unfortunately, ACB wins against Caja Laboral Baskonia and at Fuenlabrada don’t tell us especially much.)

7. (↓) Panathinaikos (8-4 EL; 14-1 ESAKE) – Every week this Euroleague season, BiE measures his estimation of PAO’s true standing on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 represents utterly superstitiously believing that the Greens can’t advance to the EL championship and 10 represents the faith that clever coach Obradovic has his boys playing possum and conserving energy for later rounds, NBA-style. After the six-point loss to Kazan in which “the Greens allowed a Euroleague opponent at OAKA the most points in the regulation 40 minutes in [just over five years when] Partizan won there 93-80 on January 24, 2007,” the meter’s around a 3.5.

8. (↓) Maccabi Tel Aviv (8-4 EL; 17-1 ABA; 12-2 Ligat Ha’al) – BiE can’t decide which loss is more perplexing: The crazy 26-point beatdown Barcelona handed them last week (with Juan Carlos Navarro limited by injury, no less) or the five-point upset by visiting eight-place Maccabi Ashdod back home on Monday night. What is going on in Tel Aviv…?

The undefined
9. (↑) Gescrap Bilbao Basket (6-6 EL; 9-9 ACB) – Still hanging on in its inaugural Euroleague bid with a sweet win against the reeling Unicaja Malaga, Bilbao must face Real in Madrid tonight for the second time in three days … and on Sunday, Madrid delivered a 22-point defeat.

10. (↔) Anadolu Efes (6-6 EL; 14-2 TBL) – Yet another backer-in, Anadolu is now in complete stumbling mode after the drubbing handed them by CSKA Moscow last week. This Turkish side is a disappointing 1-3 in its last four Euroleague games and pretty much needs to win against Olympiacos to keep in the race for the tournament. No word yet on Tarance Kinsey, whose playing time has been limited in January due to a minor injury.

11. (↑) Bennet Cantu (6-6 EL; 11-7 Serie A) – Like Anadolu Efes, Cantu is on a 1-3 “run,” with its own losing streak snapped thanks to the heart-stopping one-point win against Zalgiris Kaunas. Like Galatasaray, this week’s ranking could represent the peak for this team in 2011-12.

12. (↓) Fenerbahce Ulker (7-5 EL; 11-5 TBL) — The return of Roko Ukic was enough to get Fenerbahce past Milano last week … barely. There doesn’t seem to be much chance of them holding Panathinaikos to just 32 two-point attempts tomorrow night, either.

The underwhelming
13. (↓) Olympiacos (6-6 EL; 14-1 ESAKE) – Vassilis Spanoulis’ Euroleague stat line: 31.0 minutes, 19.4 points, 4.5 assists, 0.5 steals per game. The best marks posted by other Olympiacos players: 21.0 mpg (by Georgios Printezis), 9.4 ppg (Printezis again), 3.1 apg (Lazaros Papadopoulous), 0.8 spg (Lucas Kalin, Evangelos Mantzaris). The solution to the Reds’ woes: Clone Spanoulis three times over and put them on the floor with, say, Pero Antic.

14. (↔) Zalgiris Kaunas (4-8 EL; 5-6 VTB; 9-0 LKL) – Poor Zalgiris. Into a tailspin in VTB United League competition, Zalgiris caught a nasty case of Lebron’s Disease for the EL Top 16 round, first managed to play Maccabi tough in Lithuania and secondly running up a double-digit lead on Cantu in Italy before falling apart in the fourth quarter each time. Zalgiris is still in the running, one supposes, but a miracle – like maybe the return of Ty Lawson and not this sort – will indeed be needed with a Barcelona back-to-back on tap.

15. (↓) Unicaja (4-8 EL; 12-6 ACB) – The power rankings are all about trending … and BiE dares say no high-level team outside of Washington, D.C., is trending worse than Unicaja right now. After starting the season at a combined 8-2 in combined Euroleague and Liga Endesa play, this Spanish side has bottomed out to go 2-5 in 2012 thus far for an overall mark of 16-14, sinking into a fourth-place tie on the ACB table and essentially facing EL elimination vs. Montepaschi Siena tonight.

16. (↓) Emporio Armani Milano (5-7 EL; 11-7 Serie A)BiE’s said it before and BiE’ll say it again: “So much talent on paper, such limited success on the court…” Are all fingers officially pointed at Sergio Scariolo yet?

CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
• CSKA leads the all-time series between the teams, 8-7.
• Nenad Krstic has scored in double figures in each of his last 16 Euroleague appearances dating back to the 2003-04 season.
• Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic lead the Euroleague in index rating with at averages of 27.8 and 21.5 per game, respectively.
• Kirilenko also leads the Euroleague in blocked shots (3.2 bpg).
• Milos Teodosic is ranked second in the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.6 assists per game.
• Darjus Lavrinovic needs three more blocks reach 100 for his Euroleague career. With his next block, Lavrinovic will tie former CSKA big man Terence Morris for 12th place all-time.
• 2010 Euroleague Best Defender Viktor Khryapa needs only 4 more blocks to reach 100 blocks in his Euroleague career.
• Khryapa needs two more rebounds to reach the 500 mark for his Euroleague career.
• CSKA’s win streak is now at 12 games in a row dating back to last season.
• CSKA faced Efes in the quarterfinal playoffs of the 2005-06 season. CSKA swept the series 2-0 and continued on to win the Euroleague title.
• Tarence Kinsey has recorded at least one steal in each of his last 11 Turkish Airlines Euroleague contests.
• All-Euroleague forward Dusko Savanovic has registered double doubles in three of his last five Euroleague games.
• Last week, Savanovic set personal career highs in index rating (31), offensive rebounds (7), defensive rebounds (10), total rebounds (17) and minutes played (35).
• Savanovic has made at least one three-pointer in seven straight Euroleague appearances.
• Anadolu Efes has won just one of its last seven encounters with CSKA.
• The last time Efes won against CSKA in Moscow was in the 1998-99 season.
• Kinsey and Darjus Lavrinovic played together in Fenerbache Ülker last season. Together they won the Turkish League and Cup titles.
• Savanovic played in Unics Kazan in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons together with Lavrinovic and Dmitry Sokolov. Nikita Kurbanov spent part of the 2007-08 with the above trio in Kazan as well.
• The lines: CSKA Moscow, minus-12.5; over/under 155.5 points.

Gescrap Bilbao Basket v. Unicaja Malaga

• These two teams have never met before.
• Gescrap is looking for its first-ever win in the Top 16.
• Gescrap has committed more turnovers (15.7) than any other Top 16 team this season.
• Marko Banic has scored in double figures in all 11 of his team’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague games this season.
• D’Or Fischer’s average of 1.55 blocks per game is the best in competition history among players with at least three seasons played.
• Raul Lopez needs four more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Roger Grimau has made 11 free throws without a miss this season.
• Alex Mumbru has made at least one three-pointer in each of his last seven Euroleague appearances.
• Kostas Vasiliadis played for Unicaja for a season-and-a-half. He arrived during the 2005-06 season and played the following one as well in Malaga. He helped the team win the 2006 ACB title. Berni Rodriguez was a teammate of Vasiliadis during that time. Jorge Garbajosa was also there for the first of those seasons and current Unicaja coach Chus Mateo was an assistant coach that season.
• Unicaja leads the Euroleague this season in offensive rebounding at 13.0 per game and total rebounds at 37.8 per.
• Unicaja is ranked last among the Top 16 teams in three-point accuracy at 29.1%.
• Jorge Garbajosa has made 22 straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Garbajosa needs six more free throws made to reach 400 for his Euroleague career. He’s ranked 15th on the all-time list of free throws made.
• Last week Luka Zoric set career highs in points and index rating as he recorded his first Euroleague double-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and a 33 index rating against Real Madrid.
• Garbajosa was a teammate of Axel Hervelle, D’or Fischer and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during his time there in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nedzad Sinanovic was a teammate of Raul Lopez, Axel Hervelle, Alex Mumbru and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
• Coach Chus Mateo started his coaching career in the junior program of Real Madrid and later was an assistant coach on the first team.
• The lines: Bilbao, minus-4.5; over/under 152.5 points.

Real Madrid vs. Montepaschi Siena
• Siena leads the all-time series, 4-3.
• Madrid has the top-scoring offense in the Euroleague with 87.3 points per game and has scored more three pointers than any other Top 16 team with an average of 8.4 per game.
• Nikola Mirotic has made 14 consecutive free throws in the Euroleague.
• Mirotic scored the last basket in the game last week in the last second to give Madrid an important 80-81 win in Malaga.
• Sergio Rodriguez leads the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.8 assists per game.
• Jaycee Carroll has made at least one three-pointer in every Euroleague game this season.
• Carroll leads the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 57.4%.
• Mirza Begic is ranked second in the Euroleague in blocks this season with 1.5 blocks per game.
• Begic has blocked at least one shot in five straight and seven of his last eight games.
• Martynas Pocius was a teammate of injured Rimas Kaukenas on the Lithuanian national team at FIBA EuroBasket 2011.
• Nikos Zisis needs two more three-pointers to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• David Andersen joined the exclusive Euroleague 2,000 career points club last week. He’s ranked 11th all-time at the moment, but is still 40 points behind Luis Scola for 10th place.
• Andersen is also only two rebounds from becoming the third player in competition to reach 1,000 career rebounds. He will join Nikola Vujcic as the only players to register 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
• Bo McCalebb has scored in double figures in nine straight Euroleague games.
• The first four encounters between these two teams were decided in favor of the home team while the last three were decided in favor of the road team.
• Madrid and Montepaschi played for third place at the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. Montepaschi won 80-62.
• Igor Rakocevic spent the 2005-06 season with Real Madrid and was teammate of Felipe Reyes that season.
• The injured Rimas Kaukenas played in Real Madrid in the 2009-10 season together with Felipe Reyes, Ante Tomic, Novica Velickovic and Sergio Llull.
• The lines: Real Madrid, minus-7.5; over/under 157.5 points.

Fenerbahçe Ülker Istanbul v. Emporio Armani Milano
• Milano leads the all-time series, 2-0, with the only time these two teams meeting in the 1996-97 season.
• Fenerbahçe Ülker is ranked last among Top 16 teams in assists with only 11.6 per night.
• Bojan Bogdanovic has scored in double figures in four straight and eight of his last nine Euroleague games, and is averaging 16.1 points per game on the road this season compared to just 8.4 points at home.
• Roko Ukic and Jacopo Giachetti were teammates at Lottomatica Roma during the 2007-08 season.
• Milano is ranked last among Top 16 teams in steals with only 4.4 per game and in total rebounds with 31.5 a night.
• Drew Nicholas needs only one more steal to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• Omar Cook started the season 3-of-17 from downtown, but has made 11 of his last 23 three-point attempts.
• Ioannis Bourousis is only eight rebounds behind injured big man Kerem Gonlum for seventh place on the career rebounding charts. Bourousis has 830 career boards.
• Bourousis needs three more steals to reach the 100 mark for his career.
• Leon Radosevic and Bojan Bogdanovic were teammates at Cibona Zagreb in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nicholas and James Gist both played college basketball at the University of Maryland, though Gist joined the Terps two seasons after Nicholas finished.
• The lines: Fenerbahçe Ülker, minus-7.5; over/under 147.0 points.

Panathinaikos v. Unics Kazan
• These teams have never met in Euroleague play.
• Panathinaikos is one of three clubs that have never missed the Top 16 phase in its 11 years. FC Barcelona Regal and Maccabi are the other two.
• Panathinaikos leads the Euroleague in steals with 8.7 per game.
• Dimitris Diamantidis has made 19 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action dating back to last season.
• Diamantidis needs only four more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius needs only five more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Steven Smith has made 10 consecutive free throws in Euroleague games.
• Panathinaikos has never advanced past the Top 16 round the season after winning the Euroleague title.
• Ian Vougioukas has blocked at least one shot in five of the last six games.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius was signed to replace an injured Lynn Greer last season in Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• Henry Domercant has hit at least one three-pointer in 11 straight and in 21 of his last 22 Euroleague games.
• Domercant is ranked second in the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 54.2%.
• Unics has won seven of its last eight EL games.
• Kelly McCarty has made eight straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Lynn Greer played two seasons – 2007-08 and 2008-09 – for Panathinaikos’ archrival Olympiacos.
• Domercant and Romain Sato were teammates in Montepaschi Siena during the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 seasons.
• Vladimir Veremeenko became the first Unics player to be named Euroleague weekly MVP when he nabbed the honor after producing 17 points, 11 rebounds and performance index rating of 32 in a win over Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• The lines: Panathinaikos, minus-11.5; over/under 146.5 points.

Bennet Cantù v. Žalgiris Kaunas
• Cantù leads the all-time EL series between the clubs, 2-0, with those meetings over 30 years ago in the 1980-81 season.
• Gianluca Basile has made at least one three-pointer in 11 of his last 12 Euroleague games.
• Basile needs two more assists to pass Marcus Brown and enter the Euroleague all-time top 10 in assists. He has currently 456.
• Basile took over third place on the list of career Euroleague games played, leaving former CSKA guard J.R. Holden one spot behind. Basile played his 210th game last week.
• Žalgiris has allowed more points than any other team in the Top 16 with 81.5 points allowed per game.
• Žalgiris has committed more fouls than any other Top 16 team with 23.9 per game.
• Marko Popovic has made at least one three-pointer in 33 straight Euroleague appearances. His last Euroleague game without a triple came in November 2006 with Žalgiris at home against CSKA.
• Paulius Jankunas needs two more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Milovan Rakovic played the last two seasons in Italy with Montepaschi Siena and beat Cantù in the final of the Italian league last season.
• The lines: Cantù, minus-5.0; over/under 149.5 points.

Ask any coach what a young player needs to develop, and he will answer: “playing time.” Readiness to open the floor to skinny teenagers in order to gradually turn them into match winners used to be one of defining features of ex-Yu ball. Coaches were not advised only by their instinct. The talent pool was wider and deeper. The league was more competitive. Local teams were built on youth systems and were proud of the talent in store. Due to restrictions, these teenagers were not sold abroad early, while guys with more experience were kept on the roster. What was the end result? When one team that was neither from Belgrade or Zagreb – namely, Jugoplastika Split – achieved its unforgettable threepeat.

Two decades later, things have changed dramatically. There are fewer players to choose from. Many youth systems have collapsed due to lack of funding. Yet, teams still must win in order to attract publicity and sponsorships. In doing this, defense is the key. Points are built on discipline, patience, positioning and calculated aggression: This in turn translates into fewer minutes for the youngsters who must learn fast and impress quickly or leave.

Take for instance Danilo Andjusic, who rose to prominence as a 19-year old sharpshooter with Hemofarm. He has struggled with playing time since his arrival at Partizan, earning his right to become the team’s go-to guy in Saturday’s Adriatic League loss against Maccabi Tel Aviv only after Acie Law’s controversial departure.

Though questioned about inconsistency, Andjusic played superbly against the Pride of Israel. Positioned as a combo guard by coach Vladimir Jovanovic, he passed the ball around, made steals, forced fouls, and did what he does best: drained two successive three-pointers to open a run which ended in game’s 15th minute with Partizan up 34-21. Andjusic’s offensive intensity was paired with fine role-filling by Vladimir Lučić and Milan Mačvan. It was only Maccabi’s depth – Jon Scheyer and Yogev Ohayon somewhat unexpectedly scored important points – that forced Partizan into defeat.

Having no point guard in sight might just turn out OK for Partizan, as long as young guys get the space they need. Things won’t necessarily go that way, however.

One year Andjusic’s senior, Nemanja Nedovic has to fight for his minutes again after a move to Vilnius was reportedly called off at the last moment. What was his main concern? You guessed it: playing time. An explosive fast breaker who helped the fledgling Red Star avoid relegation last season, Nedovic found himself sitting on the bench as renowned coach Svetislav Pesic looked for options on both sides of the floor, not only in offense. It remains unclear who exactly started the rumor of imminent transfer or whether the player was in fact really halfway out the door. But we do know that, after what must have been a sleepless night, he paid a house call to his coach, humbly choosing to stay and improve his game.

(The top bolded bit in the Serbian-language Mondo article has Pesic stating that he is proud to have Nedovic on the team and that the player came to him for a tete-a-tete. Pesic also confirms that Nedovic had received an offer from another club. –Ed.)

Whether Nedovic staying will pay dividends for Red Star is still unknown. But so far, so good: in Friday’s opening game, Red Star topped Zlatorog 70-56, with six points scored by Nedovic.

Marko Savkovic fell in love with basketball because: a) his older brother used to play, so it must have been a cool thing to do; and b) he witnessed Vlade Divac, Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc play an exhibition match back in 1988. After learning the fundamentals with Partizan Belgrade, Marko spent four years in FMP Zeleznik’s youth system and another three playing lower-division ball. Years later, as a political science graduate, he found a different career for himself, yet remained devoted to hoops. For BallinEurope, he will be closely following developments in the Adriatic League. You may write him at markosavkovic@gmail.com.

Adele: “What the--?”

Well, in the case of Keith Langford and teammate/keyboardist Richard “Jimi” Hendrix, it’s “two brothers from the South” bringing „something completely different for you in the conversation.” See below the break to enjoy a little musical styling, namely a performance of that ubiquitous song of 2011, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”

All together now: “We could have had it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllll…”

In December, Armani Jeans Milano denied Partizan Belgrade from playing in its sixth consecutive Top 16 phase of the Euroleague. And yet again, in what is now considered a trademark display of affection, fans continued singing to their players and the team they love after the buzzer. They were grateful for what they considered a memorable season in which their team again defeated the likes of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Real Madrid.

This stood in sharp contrast with results of KK Zagreb and Union Olimpija, representing what is left of the Yugoslav basketball school. Only Partizan came close (in fact, a mere two points close) to a second-phase berth. Perhaps this was expected from the league’s powerhouse, recognized for being “a system” by many, including current Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Ettore Messina. Yet, how do they do it? What makes them competitive year after year?

Partizan plays tough on both sides of the court. Points are earned through hard work, constant screens, ferocious offensive rebounding. High-low ball movement gets repeated on and on, tiring the opponent’s defense, while agile forwards lie in wait for the scoring opportunity. Defensive intensity, trapping and pressing is equally impressive, and fast-forwards into crowd-pleasing slam dunks – This is why conditioning is everything.

Goran Grbovic, who back in 1988 took part in Partizan’s first EL Final Four appearance, affirmed this by saying “we are not artists [anymore], we are hard workers.” And he should know, since Vlade Divac, Žarko Paspalj, and Alexander Djordjevic – all basketball magicians in their time – were his teammates.

No one can explain “the system” better than the man who created it. Dusko “Dule” Vujosevic, Partizan’s legendary coach who now presides over Partizan’s entire sports association, presented some of its underpinnings in several of the “year’s wrap up” interviews. For Vujosevic, an avid reader and collector of fine arts, training one player can equal to transforming his personality: His role was to detach every individual from his own, egoistic self and subdue him to a greater, collective good. And one true personality is best discovered in a game. “You can easily discern if somebody is selfish, vain or prone to manipulation,” Vujosevic argues. What he gets in return is the ultimate reward: his players improving, not only on the court.

Every year, this system Dule helped set up gives birth to at least one outstanding young player. This season it was Vladimir Lucic’s turn to shine. Before Lucic, there was Jan Vesely in 2010; before Vesely, there were Novica Velickovic, Milenko Tepic, and many more. The sad truth behind this is that in order to survive financially, Partizan must sell its best players, most likely to the same teams they have helped beat in the first place (Pekovic and Tepic, for instance, were both sold to Panathinaikos).

Yet with the system in place, this is not an issue. Players overlooked by scouts, rejected for either being untalented or prone to injuries, forgotten as they reach their mid-20s, used to come to Partizan not knowing what to expect. Today, after Milt Palacio, Stephane Lasme, Alex Maric, Lawrence Roberts, Bo McCalebb and many others jumpstarted their careers after spending only one year with the club, Belgrade has become a desired destination. As Vujosevic puts it, “these foreigners were not nearly that good when they arrived. We place them in the system and they improve, too.” The same goes for homegrown talent: After leaving Hemofarm for Maccabi, Milan Macvan was determined to find his playing time in Partizan.

In effect, Partizan has transformed the way basketball is being played in the Adriatic. They not only have changed the pace of the game, introducing their distinctive style of physical basketball: What this club has achieved is more – a bond of love and respect between players, coaching staff and the fans – to last for years to come.

Marko Savkovic fell in love with basketball because: a) his older brother used to play, so it must have been a cool thing to do; and b) he witnessed Vlade Divac, Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc play an exhibition match back in 1988. After learning the fundamentals with Partizan Belgrade, Marko spent four years in FMP Zeleznik’s youth system and another three playing lower-division ball. Years later, as a political science graduate, he found a different career for himself, yet remained devoted to hoops. For BallinEurope, he will be closely following developments in the Adriatic league. You may write him at markosavkovic@gmail.com.

The first 20 will listed by competition, followed the top five runners-up and the champion jam of the year. Who will be no. 1? Read (and watch) on to find out…

Euroleague
• The Dunking Ninja. Of course, you knew Jan Vesely was making this list, so we’ll dispense with the formalities quickly. Here’s a nice, wide-open alley oop that earned him dunk of the in February during the Euroleague’s Top 16 round. Vesely started the 2011-12 as a first-round draft pick with the Washington Wizards, thereby immediately entering into the conversation of coolest NBA nicknames – though one wonders just how many ninja there are in the Czech Republic…

• Pargo-go-go! Another must-have representative of Euroleague jammery, Jeremy Pargo turned in this YouTube-able masterpiece was only number three from an EL Top 16 round game against Virtus Roma. Like Vesely, we’ll see this guy in this list again.

• EL, meet AK-47. European basketball in 2011 will be remembered for the impact of locked-out NBA stars in the early going of the season. Andrei Kirilenko was particularly useful to CSKA Moscow’s fortunes in Euroleague round one, beginning on opening night in Lithuania. (And what’s this? He’s coming back for another tour of duty with the Red Army? Look out, Europe…)

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode one. One NBAer who couldn’t/didn’t reemigrate to North America once the lockout was lifted was the former Toronto Raptor. As a free agent, Weems was one of the first such to sign in Europe for 2011-12, and boy are Žalgiris backers happy. Here’s Weems going to work against Unicaja Malaga…

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode two. … against Brose Baskets Bamberg …

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode three. … and finally in the win-or-go-home Euroleague game 10 against KK Zagreb. The man’s 17.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per EL game ain’t too shabby, either.

NBA
• Pau, when the Lakers looked invincible. Remember the days when these no-look pass from Lamar Odom to Pau Gasol was so routine? Seems like a long time ago, dunnit?

• Jolly good, Mr. DeRozan! The big league came to play in London in March, and whoo boy, did fans get bang for their pounds sterling: The Saturday night game ended up a triple-overtime thriller between the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. Though the Nets ended up with the W, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan contributed a worth-the-admission-price dunk late.

European domestic leagues
• Bryce Taylor’s “Monsterdunk” in Bundesliga championship game five. Slamming home perhaps the jam of the season from Germany, the former University of Oregon contributed this two for Alba Berlin in the decisive championship game while utterly posterizing Predrag Suput. Nevertheless, Suput’s Brose Baskets Bamberg took the game, the title and Germany’s Euroleague spot for 2011-12.

• “Le poster absolut”. Speaking of posters, check out what Diabate Souleyman did to Cliff Hammonds back in early January for Chorale Roanne. As the man says, < >

• Kerusch crushes. And one more. This time the victim was Olympiacos’ Kyle Hines, beaten badly by current rookie Sergio Kerusch of Aris Thessaloniki.

• Kevin Harley: King of the skies, pain. Playing with the Poitiers Basket junior team, Harley got YouTube junkies (ahem) sitting up and taking notice with this insane liftoff … and splashdown. The youngster was “more frightened than hurt” and was able to finish the game.

• Hendrix kisses the sky. In October, while seemingly every other European player was still finding the rhythms, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Richard Hendrix blasted off in a Chance Cup game against Barak Netanya. With the Euroleague side already well into a laugher and up 81-41 in the third quarter (final score 117-66), Hendrix goes…

Dunk contests
• Dar Tucker takes two dunk contests in one year. Yesterday in the slam-dunk festivities in France, Tucker reportedly smoked his competition, easily notching top scores in all three rounds to take the title. This trophy will look nice on his shelf set next to the D-League slam dunk championship he bagged in January. After the contest, Tucker said, “I was very surprised at the level of the competition. There are very good dunkers in France. Max [Kouguere] was particularly good!” (BiE thinks he was just being polite.)

• Two from Poland. Yeah, yeah, the car and the choir were great, yadda yadda. But let’s see Blake Griffin try to reproduce either the visual tribute to His Airness Himself executed by Cameron Bennerman of Energa Czarni or the six-cheerleader leap by winner Łukasz Biedny.

• Europe’s unlikeliest dunk champion. In Germany’s All-Star weekend festivities earlier this year, it was an against-all-odds storyline as Salu Benjamin Tadi took the crown. Why such a longshot? Well, in the unique format of the BBL’s dunk contest, a qualifier is held among second-division amateur players prior to the main event; the winner gets to compete against the Bundesliga pros in the final. You can catch a few rough drafts of the winning jam by clicking here, but the hangtime achieved in the contest ender by the 6’0” Tadi is truly Jordanesque.

Eurobasket 2011
• Yi gods! While August was mostly devoted to national teams participating in friendlies leading up to Eurobasket and other continental tournaments, there wasn’t a lack of highlight clips. Here’s Yi Jianlian contributing one of Team China’s sole happy moments in the London Invitational Tournament against Croatia. That’s mostly Stanko Barac on the receiving end.

• Enes Kanter learns Bill Walton’s dictum. One of the great pleasures of Eurobasket 2011 was studying the performances of exciting up-and-comers such as Team Turkey’s Kanter going up against concentrations of the world’s best talent. While Kanter was hot-and-cold in the tournament, the sidelining of Pau Gasol for the Spain-Turkey match allowed the young Turk to do some damage against brother Marc. And his team stayed alive in the tourney with the win. Throw it down, big man!

• Boom, goes Batum. Nicolas Batum against Russia – damn, has he always been that quick?

• Hometown lad makes good. Things ended disappointingly for Team Lithuania, but the youngest player on the squad, prospective Toronto Raptors Jonas Valanciunas was inspirational. Inspirational enough, in fact, to inspire a song.

Five runners-up
• Beaver brazenly breaks backboard. During the summertime lull, the Oregon State University basketball time visited some teams in FYR Macedonia and thereabouts for exhibition games and general goodwill. And then Roberto “Maybe I’m Strong” Nelson took it to the hole … one wonders in OSU Athletics picked up the tab on the destruction – not to mention the 20 stitches Nelson’s face required.

• The return of the Dunking Ninja. Jan Vesely. Euroleague Top 16 round. Game four. What else do you need to know?

• Air Pocius strikes for Team Lithuania. BiE just loves Martynas. Does this guy actually have invisible wings?

• Dirk dunks a dagger. It’s tough not to give Nowitzki top honors in this “Year of Dirk,” but the big (and now beringed) guy can rest easy with the memories of blowing past Lebron James and The Evil Empire on the baseline in game five of the NBA championship; this one came in the fourth quarter, naturally.

The dunk of the year
• Jeremy Pargo in the Euroleague Final Four. Just look at the way Pargo has to work his way through Real Madrid’s half-court defense. Just look at where he takes off. Just admire the landing. This one would get a 10 from any judge – maybe even Charles Barkley. All things considered, this was the dunk of 2011.

Logo at left will be that of the 2012 Euroleague Final Four, just released/announced in the runup to the draw this afternoon.

The groups in the quest for that EL Final Four bid will be comprised as follows.

Group E
CSKA Moscow
Olympiacos
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Galatasaray

Group F
Real Madrid
Montepaschi Siena
Unicaja Malaga
Gescrap Bilbao Basket

Group G
Fenerbahçe Ülker
Panathinaikos
Unics Kazan
Emporio Armani Milano

Group H
FC Barcelona
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Bennet Cantù
Zalgiris Kaunas

Perhaps the first Euroleague player tweets on the groupings came from Montepaschi Siena’s Shaun Stonerook and Nikos Zisis. Tweeted the former: “Should be fun.Can’n't wait to get it started“. (Damn, he *is* excited.)

The latter had six minutes earlier weighed in with, “Very interesting groups in euroleague top 16! We are going to play 6 battles!!”

Does Montepaschi lead the Euroleague in tweeters? Here’s Igor Rakocevic, about a quarter-hour after his teammates: “Grupo muy interesante para nosotros en TOP16!!! Vamos a jugar 3 partidos en España! Eso me gusta mucho!!!”

(In English, that’s “Wow! Interesting groups for top16!! Our group with 3 Spanish teams!!! I like that!”

Real Madrid’s Martynas Pocius showed some nice sportsmanship with his tweet, “Was quietly hoping to see Zalgiris in the same group but not this time! Good luck Green&White!”

Kneejerk reactions from BiE? How about:

• How about that mini-Endesa Liga in Group F? Three Spanish sides plus Montepaschi Siena? BiE doesn’t know if that’s the oft-created “Group of Death,” but BiE’ll take it as the highest-scoring overall of these groups.

• BiE also digs the pairing of FC Barcelona and Maccabi Tel Aviv, both Final Four-Fearlessly Predicted™ teams — can’t wait to see that game early … and maybe later, too?

• Considering Group E, BiE’s hedging bets that CSKA Moscow extends its run to 16-0 going into the elite-eight tournament.

• Early Official Fearless Predictions™ will go with CSKA Moscow, Anadolu Efes, Real Madrid, Montepaschi Siena, Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce Ulker, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv … slightly boring, perhaps, but BiE just couldn’t talk himself into Milano or Unics Kazan…

*Los Angeles Lakers fans, over whom a huge cloud of doom hangs to start this season, excluded (sigh).

As in the Eastern Conference preview, BiE seeks to keep an eye on those players who contributed a stint in Continental ball this summer during the lockout period and even, to some, extent participants in Eurobasket 2011. BiE believes that the running start from real game-time situations plus the suddenly intensive NBA season will give the Euroballers an advantage in the short-term against more laggardly opponents not in “basketball shape.” And with the shortened regular season, a jump start will provide lasting effects.

To BiE, it looks something like this.

Northwest Division
It’s another case of ecstasy in being proven wrong: Since at least, what, the beginning of the 2009-10 Euroleague season, BiE has brazenly (though not Fearlessly™) told anyone who’d listen that Ricky Rubio would never play ball for the Minnesota Timberwolves, we’re just a day away from that very occurrence. The Human Highlight Clip went to work a couple times in the preseason and could start all 66 games this year.

But could Ricky even lead what GM David “Noonien Singh” Kahn likes to think may be a “steady rise to the top”? Wellllllllllllllllllllll, BiE wouldn’t necessarily go that far, though this is a scintillating, exciting lineup suddenly, with Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Derrick Williams and J.J. Barea aboard.

But wait! From Europe are ‘Wolves Nikola Pekovic and – o, yeah – Darko Milicic. Does any realize that Minnesota is 19-90 (.174) since acquiring Darko? These two things can’t be related, can they? This dude is as good a passer as Vlade Divac, after all…

We’ll see early on as the Timberwolves get to play tomorrow night against the mighty scary-looking…

…Oklahoma City Thunder. European basketball fans can’t help but to have noticed Serge Ibaka in the past half-year, with the naturalized Spaniard going from the NBA playoffs to Eurobasket to Liga Endesa/Euroleague play with Real Madrid. And he’s looked mostly real good throughout.

As essentially the sole new member on Team Spain for the European championship, Ibaka typically got 15-20 minutes per game for Los Rojos. A couple of key performances came against Lithuania (15 points on 7-of-9 shooting with quite a few dunks and putbacks, nine rebounds, two blocks) and France (10 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes of play) in early rounds, but the real badass came to play in the championship game. While scoring just four points, Ibaka controlled the middle whenever on the floor and totaled five blocks in denying Les Bleus access to the paint.

Chasing this, Ibaka merely contributing single-digit scoring with a block or 1.5 per game in Spain and in the EL for weeks, until suddenly unleashed and blowing up just as the lockout ended for back-to-back games of five blocks and 12 points against Spirou Charleroi, then a monster 15-point, five-dunk, nine-rebound, six-block tour de force against CAI Zaragoza.

BiE can’t wait to see this guy in a starting role playing a lot of minutes – any question he’ll win the block title this season? And, o yeah, the rest of the Thunder’s pretty good, too. Real good. Championship-level good.

The Denver Nuggets have an interesting roster happening, including lockout Euroballers Danilo Gallinari (with Emporio Armani Milano), Rudy Fernandez (Real Madrid), Ty Lawson (Žalgiris Kaunas) and Timofey Mozgov (BC Khimki Moscow Region). Gallinari is certainly getting the thumbs up from top-level pundits, with ESPN’s fantasy basketball machine proclaiming him “[maybe] the best player on the Nuggets this season,” while touting his “game-high 23 points in a game-high 34 minutes in the Nuggets’ preseason finale victory Thursday night. Gallinari’s shot was off (6-for-17 FG), but he was able to get to the line (9-for-9 FT) and knock down a couple of treys while also producing six boards, three assists and two steals.”

Indeed, Gallinari’s shooting percentage has been in a steady decline in the NBA since entering the league, a trend that keeps him away from all-star (or at least near all-star) status. Who knows? Maybe the lack of distraction will help.

BiE believes Lawson will be worth watching. Established as point guard with a swell stat line of 11.7 points on 50.3% shooting plus 4.7 assists per game, Ty will serve as the poster boy for BiE’s “ready to play” ideology. Plus, maybe he’ll tweet something interesting…

Then there’s Fernandez. Probably the last NBAer out of Europe, this guy has been pining to get out of American ball for some time. As the lockout ended, Real Madrid talked about attempting to keep Rudy aboard … then he had troublesome visa problems … let’s just hope the new team means a new start for the Madridista.

Finally! Enes Kanter suits up for the Utah Jazz! And with Mehmet Okur now dealt, Kanter should be seeing lots of quality time behind Al Jefferson – after seeing some nice continued development on Kanter’s part during Eurobasket, BiE anticipates the Turk’s season highly; with more confidence and work on ball-handling skills, this guy is bound to leave up to his ample promise. (Doing it in Utah, do you think anyone will notice…?)

Who can tell what the Portland Trail Blazers will do? And how much Nicolas Batum (SLUC Nancy) will be a factor? BiE loved what he did in Euroleague after another up year in the NBA…

Southwest Division
First up here: The champs, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. It would be so easy to choose the Mavs to repeat – after all, this is the NBA, where dynasties and mini-dynasties happen. All the time – but wasn’t there something of a lightning-in-a-bottle effect last season? A perfect storm of events that included an imploding defending champion and an arrogant up-and-coming contender? Remarkably free of injury late for a squad bringing so many key veterans (Jason Kidd, Peja Stojakovic, etc.), the Mavericks weren’t exactly lucky per se but as with championship teams, the breaks went their way.

None of this is to detract from Nowitzki’s remarkable 2010-11 season, however. Nowitzki entered discussions of “top 20 NBA players of all-time” and “top European players ever” last year, and justifiably so as everyone discovered that he’d been doing this for years. And years and years in Dallas. Imagine the talk triggered by a repeat…

So can they repeat? Well, the best deal of the offseason may ultimately go down as the Lamar Odom-for-soda crackers trade – what a great shot in the arm for this roster, and one that will allow Dirk’s range to be further extended with Odom inside. Scary.

In the European interest is the current development of Rodrigue Beaubois, now ready to garner more minutes (last season marked his career high of 17.6 per game) with the departure of J.J. Barea. Much more than expected, say, three months ago, of the onus to repeat will be on Beaubois in 2011-12.

Despite his 10 years in the uniform, it will be strange to see Tony Parker donning San Antonio Spurs gear again. After a half-year’s worth of status as undisputed team leader and center of hype for Eurobasket’s silver-medaling Team France followed by Eurocuppers Asvel Villeurbanne, Parker becomes yet another piece in the puzzle with the perpetual playoff team. Again, though, BiE thinks the European warmup will do Parker and thus San Antonio much good in the early going. If he’s looking like an all-star point guard by late February, will management be so willing to trade him as has been so often rumored?

Then there’s Tiago Splitter, the former Euroleague force with Caja Laboral Baskonia. Splitter got in late to the European game this autumn, thereby playing just a handful of games with Valencia BC, though he looked impressive in his element of endless waves of the pick-and-roll. BiE found Splitter quite frustrating in NBA play in 2010-11, however, as he looked far too often to contentedly plant in the high post and set the occasional pick. Splitter could help form the nucleus for this team’s future with a modicum of constructive aggression.

What should have been could have been Pau Gasol’s new team before the whole Chris Paul-to-the Lakers deal was cruelly and pathetically subverted voided, the Houston Rockets, still have some Europeans to look for. Luis Scola is still around, fighting for minutes with three other power forwards on the current roster, while BiE fears Goran “The Dragon” Dragic may starve for minutes behind Kyle Lowery.

The best re-signing of the offseason: It’s gotta be the Memphis Grizzlies reupping Marc Gasol, doesn’t it? And in terms of the preseason workout ethic, Marc and brother Pau may have made the best decision of the lot in merely training with FC Barcelona: With little chance of injury and mostly basketball-skills conditioning going on, aren’t the Gasols primed to play?

As for Jeremy Pargo, formerly memorably of Maccabi Tel Aviv, his two-year extension signed in December is a good sign he’ll stick around despite a crowd at point guard in Memphis.

In the short term, perhaps the best that can be said for the New Orleans Hornets in 2011-12 is that Chris Kaman is in a contract year. (What? He’s German, right?) And we’re cheering for Marco Belinelli, too. On those one or two occasions we watch the Hornets.

Pacific Division
All the hype going into the season is on the newly christened “Lob City,” a.k.a. Los Angeles, Clippers. And why not? What’s more exciting sounding that YouTube fodder feeder of Chris Paul to Blake Griffin. On the other hand, can BiE throw a little sobriety into the party? Look, after these two and Chauncey Billups, the roster gets pretty damn sparse. Do they really have no natural centers to back up DeAndre Jordan? After Griffin at power forward, they’re going to Ryan Gomes and Brian Cook? And don’t the Clippers have a history of bizarre knee ailments? BiE’d be holding his breath between gasp-worthy dunks if he were a Clips fan. Otherwise, enjoy the party.

For the Phoenix Suns, the battle at center: Robin Lopez vs. Marcin Gortat!

Message from Sacramento Kings: Come back, Omri Casspi! All is forgiven!

Golden State Warriors’ starting center Andris Biedrins is looking to bounce back from a couple injury-riddled seasons with the club. He’ll definitely be depended on from among a very slim frontcourt … And who’s this? Jeremy Tyler? And listed on the depth chart behind Kwame Brown … how utterly appropriate.

Then there are the Los Angeles Lakers. As a Lakers fan, BiE can tell you that two years removed from a title already seems like decades … and the season hasn’t even begun yet. What is this existential angst hanging over this team going into 2011-12? Of course, it’s all about The Trade That Was Never Made. It’s impossible to determine what exactly was the worst bit about that disaster – even if you keep it Laker-related. Maybe it was losing Odom for nothing to the team that smoked ‘em in the playoffs last year. Maybe it was having a vision of a clear future of excellence nastily snatched away in hours. Or maybe, as BiE fears, it was the effect on Pau Gasol’s psyche.

As the Lakers crumbled steadily in the playoffs before collapsing in Dallas, Gasol was the epicenter of rumor and implied blame; many stories revolved around a nasty breakup with a girlfriend. Whatever the cause, it didn’t take B.F. Skinner to see that Gasol was in shape but distracted, blessed with stamina but not willpower.

After the non-trade was announced, he reportedly felt “devastated,” probably, reasons the suddenly suicide-level pessimistic L.A. backers (you’d be too if your fourth-best player was Josh McRoberts), erasing any good an all-tournament team showing in Eurobasket and proper training with Barcelona. And, as a Laker fan, BiE will just stop before the keyboard gets too soggy with tears.

The Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ for the Western Conference playoffs, in order of seeding: Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves. Your Western Conference champions will be Oklahoma City, but they’ll lose to the Chicago Bulls in the finals.

To the games!

Here’s BallinEurope’s predominant working theory for at least the first two months of this season: The teams with more critical players who did a stint in Europe (or South America, for that matter) during the lockout will jump out to the best starts. And with a shortened season increasing the importance of every individual game, imagine what a, say, 17-5 could mean in the long-term – for a European equivalent of this model, how ‘bout that CSKA Moscow turbo boost?

So Kevin Garnett’s complaining that the preseason is too short … guys like Deron Williams have already been in real-game situations. Manu Ginobili is well rested but not “in basketball shape?” The Danilo Gallinaris, Mehmet Okurs and even the Gasol Brothers of the basketball world are set to go. More back-to-back games than ever before in NBA history? Hey, perhaps those two-a-days European coaches are so notorious for assigning will have readied these NBAers well more than the fortnight many of their colleagues are getting.

BiE would even argue that latecomers such as Tiago Splitter and late-peakers like Serge Ibaka are surely few steps ahead of the many American ballers who did not take Continental clubs up on even the most outrageous of offers. It is with this dictum in mind that this preview and Official Fearless Predictions™ were written. Today, the Eastern Conference.

Atlantic Division
First and foremost, of course, BallinEurope will be paying close attention to the New Jersey Nets, and not merely because of would-be Russian President Mikhail Prokhorov. (What? You don’t go to games to see the owners? Weren’t we supposed to learn that during the lockout?)

The future Brooklynites have a nice Euro-centric situation at point guard with D-Will (Beşiktaş) and Jordan Farmar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) warming up overseas. Depending on how one feels about Brook Lopez, European basketball fans have got to be loving last night’s acquisition of Mehmet Okur (Türk Telekom) for a song from the Utah Jazz – with the implied news that Enes Kanter is coming along over there – and former Team France/Pau Orthez big man Johan Petro may see some quality time in a Nets frontcourt with a huge Dwight Howard-sized hole.

Perpetual BiE attention-grabbers the Toronto Raptors are bringing disappointingly few European players into the 2011-12 season, though it’s not as though they didn’t try with Mickael Pietrus. Pietrus was almost a Raptor for a day before a knee injury voided a trade. Most recently, he’s been waived by the Phoenix Suns … how long before Pau Orthez puts in a bid…?

Meanwhile, the Raps still boast José Calderón, Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza among the ranks … and, um, whoa. Is this really Toronto’s depth chart? Even at 66 games, this could be a long season. Or, as something called The A(bro)citation puts it, “I can’t believe that there is a question as to who the worst team in the NBA will be in 2011-12. I don’t even care about records. This team will NOT fill seats, make it on SportsCenter, or even provide the ladies with some eye candy. Rough times in Toronto right now.”

As for the New York Knicks, BiE’ll get over the disappointment of neither Amare Stoudamire nor Carmelo Anthony coming overseas to play this fall long enough to compliment the interesting-looking starting five – Amare, Melo, Tyson Chandler, Landry Fields and Toney Douglas – while goggling at the bottom of the roster. Is Jarred Jeffries really the top frontcourt option off the bench? Could the difference-makers for New York be Mike Bibby and Baron Davis? Can four starters actually play 48 minutes in every game? Scary. For Knicks fans.

For the Boston Celtics, it’s been one step backward after another since acquiring the “Big Three.” BiE’s still puzzling over the bizarre late-season move which had Nenad Krstic coming to Beantown for Kendrick Perkins, a human spark plug during the Celtics’ mini-run in the ‘00s … only to see Krstic never fit in and sign with the tough Red Army. For whom he’s doing some serious damage.

More bothersome for the Cs are KG’s above-cited comments. Garnett noted that the short preseason does no good for team chemistry; clearly he’s thinking specifically of his own team here. Who else thinks Danny Ainge’s half-baked dealing isn’t finished yet?

Euro-centrically speaking, the Celtics have signed Sasha Pavlovic, but despite Boston’s lack of true no. 3s behind Paul Pierce, the Serb may not even stick. Assesses Jessica Camarato of CSN New England: “Pavlovic flashed some outside-shooting ability earlier in his career, but he’s unlikely to do much in Boston even if he makes the team.”

In general, BiE likes the workman-filled Philadelphia 76ers roster. Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand lead a defense-minded, intangibles-first squad that could go far in a weak Atlantic Division. While the Sixers have essentially kept the 2010-11 final roster intact, word has it that Iguodala has been the subject of trade rumors; really? Meanwhile, look out for seven-foot draft pick Nikola Vucevic out of USC to steal away the starting role from Spencer Hawes; BiE believes that Vucevic is primed for a long and successful NBA career and it may just begin early.

Central Division
BiE’s NBA team to watch in 2011-12: The Chicago Bulls. Love the nice Eurobasket 2011 representation with Joakim Noah (Team France), Omer Asik (Team Turkey) and Luol Deng (Team Britain and truly one of the tournament’s studs in his short stint). Love the return of Brian “One of Us” Scalabrine after his ego-boosting term with Bennetton Treviso. Love Derrick Rose; how could you not? Love coach Tom Thibodeau and his staff’s excellent defensive sets which offensive strategy that allows for each player’s strengths to be accentuated. Love the way these guys match up with the Miami Heat. Hell, BiE even loves the Carlos Boozer extension well enough.

From Detroit Pistons land, the biggest Euro-centric news is all about Jonas Jerebko. Finally coming back to the Pistons after spending all of 2010-11 laid up, the Swede is already a fan favorite, may have earned the starting power forward job by opening day and will seemingly sign an extension with the club. O, and he’s guaranteed that Detroit will make the playoffs. Okay, BiE buys that.

The good news for the ClevelanCled Cavaliers: Omri Casspi (Maccabi Tel Aviv, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalmost) is aboard. The bad news: Well, just about everything else is bad news.

What? No Europeans on the Indiana Pacers? Former University of New Mexico stud Danny Granger needs to be traded soon so that BiE has absolutely no reason to pay attention to these guys…

Brandon Jennings (yeah, BiE still has fond memories) hopes to reclaim that “Fear the Deer” feeling with his nicely international-flavored Milwaukee Bucks in 2011-12. Ersan Ilyasova (Anadolu Efes) has looked generally decent in preseason play and in tandem with Drew Gooden comprises a nice 1-2 combination at power forward, especially in comparison with the East. New acquisition Beno Udrih backs up Jennings and has seen a ton of time – 32.2 minutes per game through five – in the preseason, perhaps indicating a respectable role with the team.

Southeast Division
As a follower of European ball, you gotta dig the Orlando Magic because they keep Hedo Turkoglu employed. What would the NBA preseason be without the annual “How much does Hedo have left in the tank?” questions?

Meanwhile, Magic fans worry about 1) if Dwight Howard will depart, 2) when Dwight Howard will depart, and 3) how disgruntled he’ll be in the meantime. If the Magic get off to a 2-8 start, well, Orlando backers will be welcoming Pau Gasol to town before February.

The mix the Atlanta Hawks has concocted is crazy enough that it just might work. European ball is well represented with Zaza Pachulia, Vladimir Radmanovic and Pape Sy. Sy may actually play this season for the Hawks. Or maybe, judging by the extremely few minutes he’s getting in December, not.

Re: What BiE wrote above about the Magic and Hedo? Ditto and even more so for the Charlotte Bobcats and Boris Diaw (JSA Bordeaux).

The Washington Wizards look so exciting and interesting that BiE’s nearly giddy enough to back Jan Vesely as a dark-horse NBA Rookie of the Year candidate. “Nearly,” BiE said, as it seems breaking into the DC starting lineup ahead of Rashard Lewis ain’t gonna happen. Nevertheless, local media is loving the Flying Czech.

The Wiz also boasts a pair of Team France guys in Kevin Seraphin (Caja Laboral Baskonia) and Ronny Turiaf (Asvel Villeurbanne). Seraphin is still looking to break out after getting limited playing time in 2010-11; hopefully for him, his decent production for Caja Laboral (10.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, about 20 minutes per ACB game; 8.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 19.25 mpg in Euroleague play) will inure him to the Washington coaches a bit more.

Turiaf spent much of his lockout time sorting out insurance issues and such, but did some respectable work for Tony Parker’s French team; BiE opines he’ll be viable bench support on this playoff team.

So the whole Miami Heat-as-Evil Empire thing is old hat, huh? Not for BallinEurope! This Euro-free team doesn’t even have Zydrunas Ilgauskas any more, so what’s the point? BiE may even have to start hating on former fave Shane Battier…

The Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ then, have the following in the Eastern Conference playoffs, in order of seed: Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, New Jersey Nets, Detroit Pistons. And your 2011-12 NBA Eastern Conference champion is … the Chicago Bulls! (That’s right, BiE said it.)

Next: The Western Conference, including (sigh) Pau and those Los Angeles Lakers.