BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

A breakout year from Team Slovenia’s Goran Dragic with the Houston Rockets deserves a look – and some embedded YouTube clips. Today, Sam Chadwick takes that look on BallinEurope.

Developing in the cool climate of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Goran Dragic’s rise to basketball success was a game of waiting. After a Slovenian league championship in the 2007-08 season the San Antonio Spurs took notice and drafted the point guard 45th overall by the same team who has regularly and successfully stashed draft picks in Europe for years waiting for the right time to sow the crop: Ryan Richards, Tiago Splitter, David Bertans, Tony Parker, Luis Scola and even Manu Ginobili.

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Cue Estudiantes fans: "If only..."

According to Spain-based Sentimiento Amarillo y Naranja, Liga Endesa club Asefa Estudiantes is in the hunt to sign Lamar Odom, who arranged a deal with the Dallas Mavericks last weekend that would allow the disgruntled forward to be listed for the remainder of the season as “inactive.”

Sentimiento reports Estudiantes representatives as having been in contact with Odom’s representatives and have been given a 48-hour window in which the player might accept the offer – though as far as BallinEurope knows, Odom’s contract with the Mavericks won’t allow him to go to any other team.

Estudiantes has just added former Unicaja Malaga/Real Madrid player Louis Bullock and is waiting on a response from Will McDonald, currently with Philippines side Petron Blaze Boosters.

Whatever happens, Estudiantes better come up with ways to win soon: The team sits in 17th place on the Spanish league table and is well within the relegation zone at 2½ games behind UCAM Murcia with six games to play.

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Head coach Chris Finch and the British Basketball Federation today released a preliminary roster of 21 players to compete for spots on the host team’s 2012 Olympic team. Given the fairly short modern history of FIBA-level basketball on the ‘Isles, the claim from the federation that this is the “strongest-ever preliminary GB men’s squad” isn’t very debatable.

Said roster draws on quite an international reach, consisting as it does of NBA players Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons) and Byron Mullens (Charlotte Bobcats); Liga Endesa’s Kieron Achara (Manresa), Robert Archibald (Zaragoza), Dan Clark (Asefa Estudiantes), Joel Freeland (Unicaja Malaga) and Devon van Oostrum (Tarragona); European professionals Ogo Adegboye and Kyle Johnson (Apoel Cyprus), Eric Boateng (Peristeri), Matthew Bryan-Amaning (Hacettepe), Mike Lenzly (CEZ Nymburk), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Besiktas Milangaz), Sullivan Phillips (Prievidza); the BBL’s Nate Reinking (Sheffield Sharks) and Andrew Sullivan (Leicester Riders); NCAA players Andrew Lawrence (College of Charleston), Alex Marcotullio (Northwestern), Ovie Soko (University of Alabama-Birmingham); and current free agent/San Antonio Spurs draftee Ryan Richards.

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For the first time since 2007, the Boston Celtics will do some training camp and play exhibition games in Europe this autumn. Reports the Boston Herald: “Sources have confirmed that, barring any logistical problems overseas, the Celts will hold workouts and face European teams in [Istanbul and Milan]. There are still some contracts to be signed, but at present the C’s will play in Turkey on October 5, and in Italy on October 7.”

Of course, those expecting to see the big-name Shamrocks of the present season (much less those that played the Toronto Raptors in Rome five years ago) may be a bit disappointed; after all, the Herald itself remarks darkly in the cited article’s lead that 2012-13 season “figures to be filled with major changes” for the aging club.

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Former Detroit Pistons/Chicago Bulls/Torpan Pojat power forward and Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman was in Bulgaria this weekend to help that nation’s league celebrate its all-star break and oh yes, he left his mark.

Ireland-based The Score reported somewhat hyperbolically that the appearance was part of a full-on comeback to the game by the financially-troubled Rodman, but such reports may be greatly exaggerated (more on this below). Via the ‘site, though, here’s a YouTube in which a decidedly civilized and erudite Worm thanks the Bulgarian people for the opportunity, somehow finding a comparison between the country and Texas in that both locations are “very raw” and “very cool.”

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The Italian-language version of MSN news is today running an exclusive interview with Marco Belinelli, the New Orleans Hornet whom the outlet calls “the most American-style” of all three of Italy’s NBAers. Belinelli weighs in on all things NBA; some choice quotes include the following.

“Obviously, [Chris Paul] is the best [point guard] in the league, a true star,” (“Ovviamente CP3 è il miglior play della lega”) says the Italian of his former Hornets teammate. “Playing with him has made me grow a lot, made me discover aspects of my game and my capacities…”

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Now available online at YouTube and DailyMotion – not to mention embedded below – is episode three of the short documentary series “On the Road to London” featuring Team France in the runup to the 2012 Olympics.

Le troisième épisode is entitled “La Star,” which might perhaps be best translated as “Tony Parker: The Love Fest.” In a six-minute cruise through Parker’s career lots of praises are sung for the Spur, kicked off with a few telling shots of San Antonio for appropriate atmosphere.

While Nicolas Batum and Ronny Turiaf are predictably effusive about having a true NBA superstar leading Les Bleus – the former correctly assesses that “we won the silver medal [at EuroBasket 2011] mainly because of him” – the bon mots worth watching for are kicked in by all-time great French athletes Zinedine Zidane and Yannick Noah.

On the negative side, BallinEurope notes the disappointing paucity of NBA, Eurocup, LNB or international tournament footage. If you don’t look away for too long, however, you’ll catch a sliver of action from Tony at the 2000 Nike Hoop Summit.

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Kleiza gets the call

Notable exclusions include Darius Songalia plus Kšyštof and Darjus Lavrinovič; Songalia’s spot on the preliminary roster was filled with Mindaugas Katelynas of Lietuvos Rytas, while CSKA Moscow head coach Jonas Kazlauskas reportedly wanted Darjus to stay home and rest up this summer anyway.

On board is the young sensation Canada wants to see in Jonas Valanciunas; returning after absences in the 2011 FIBA tourney are Linas Kleiza and Jonas Maciulis; and, though he’s been remarkably tight-lipped about yet another return to the national team, good ol’ Sarunas Jasikevicius is penciled in as well.

Below runs the prospective 18; how do you like Lietuva’s chances?

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Regular readers of BallinEurope may recall a similarly entitled writeup on Montepaschi Siena on these pages from a long time ago – actually two weeks, but already it *feels* like quite a spell. Contributing writer Enrico Cellini was as surprised as any of us when Olympiacos began Siena’s ejection from the tournament, Facebook-messaging BiE with the note that “Siena is trying its best to prove me wrong…”

But this post doesn’t concern BiE’s now-busted bracket, a frustrating finish to what had been a good-looking campaign for Montepaschi Siena, or even the Final Four surprise Olympiacos. Nope, we’re talking CSKA Moscow and that individual symbol of all of international basketball in 2011-12, Andrei Kirilenko.

In fact, why waste time? BallinEurope gets right down into an even 10 reasons why CSKA and the AK must win the 2012 Euroleague title.

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Euro-centric NBA highlight clip of the night? That’s easy. Check out Goran “The Dragon” Dragic leading the break for his Houston Rockets, slickly executing a behind-the-back dribble to blow past Jason Kidd and then dish a no-look pass in the lane to former Saski Baskonia stud Luis Scola for an incredibly easy two. Unfortunately for the Slovenian and his teammates, the Dallas Mavericks gathered themselves in time for a 90-81 home win.

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