December 2010 38
Introducing the 2010-11 BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament
As a holiday present to the audience, each of you has received courtside tickets to the first annual BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament. Thanks to the miracle of totally BiE-unaffiliated (and totally mind-blowingly awesome) website What If Sports, we can bring together great players of the past and present for true dream matchups – and without […]
C’est fantastique! Amadi McKenzie throws down European Jam of the Week
All right, all you dunkophiles, BiE’s got your European Jam of the Week right here… In the obscure levels of the Pro-B division of France’s LNB, Amadi McKenzie, formerly of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, plies his trade with Boulazac; last year, he was named the league’s forward of the year. But who even needs […]
“I am comin”: Iverson to Sydney Kings for 2012-13 season?
The Allen Iverson story gets more far-flung … at least on Twitter, great breeding ground for gossip and idle speculation. (BallinEurope loves Twitter.) With fewer than 140 characters, A.I. captured some media time in Australia yesterday with his tweet: “I hear Sydney is a real good city to live in. my boy Rodney O asked […]
Interviews: Bauermann, Barkley, Blessed Footsteps, a Blue Devil and more
The interviews, as always, seem to be coming out of the virtual woodworks online these days. BallinEurope below rounds up some links featuring recent words of wisdom straight from the warriors’ mouths – though BiE forgives you if you skip directly to Charles Barkley’s bit at the end.
Hungary’s first NBA player/current Phoenix Suns scout Kornel David visits Lithuania
The Pride of Hungarian Basketball was recently spotted in Lithuania, where he was doing scouting work for the Phoenix Suns. Former Žalgiris Kaunas big man/Hungary’s first-ever NBA player Kornél Dávid sat in on the Caja Laboral Baskonia game in Kaunas last week and afterwards granted an interview to Žalgiris radio. (Naturally, Dávid doesn’t give name […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week nine
So Žalgiris gets its coach fired after playing .800 ball through 20 games, Spanish powerhouses lose in Lithuania and Germany, Valencia kills Milano, Efes Pilsen stuns PAO … just another week in Euroleague 2010-11, eh? And after happenings aplenty, it sounds like time for another edition of BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings! Let’s go! Tops […]
Armenian Youth Federation reviled by Kobe Bryant’s Turkish Airlines deal
One group won’t be joining the Staples Center crowd in chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” for Kobe Bryant the next time he’s at the charity stripe: namely, Los Angeles’ Armenian population. On Tuesday, Turkish Airlines (also current sponsor of Euroleague basketball) announced a two-year deal which would make Bryant the “global brand ambassador” for the airline beginning […]
Turnover City: Solving the mystery of Zalgiris Kaunas
“Do[es] all the little things with surprising grace and feeling – and an iron will to win.” – characterization of prototypical Lithuanian player in FreeDarko’s The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac BallinEurope’s latest obsession started with a tweet. Specifically, a message from BiE’s main Lithuanian, Martynas “Air” Pocius. Pocius retweeted a fascinating stat about his Žalgiris […]
Allen who? Iverson sits as Chatman pours in 43, Beşiktaş loses OT barnburner
Though he probably wasn’t aware of the statistical significance of Mire Chatman’s performance for his Beşiktaş Cola Turka Eagles last night, Allen Iverson surely knew he was watching one heckuva one-man show – and perhaps the best Eurocup game of the 2010-11 season thus far. One of the finest TBL players in 2009-10, Chatman went […]
Translate this, says Obradovic
Could this be the Greek version of “Practice??!!??!?!” While we all love to dig on those outrageous blowups of coaches or athletes routinely getting repeat views and remixes on boob tube and YouTube, in Europe there’s at least one sort of person who doesn’t: The interpreters. One particularly long-suffering translator working with Panathinaikos coach Zeljko […]
Iverson questionable for tonight’s Eurocup game
After taking no chances with his marquee player and benching him for the weekend game against Antalya, Beşiktaş Cola Turka coach Burak Biyiktay may have to send his Eagles out against KK Hemofarm Stada tonight without Allen Iverson. A.I. sat out the TBL game with an unspecified knee injury, watching Beşiktas in street clothes. Today, […]
Olympiacos beats Spirou Charleroi, advances to Euroleague Top 16
In last night’s special edition of Monday Night Euroleague Basketball, Olympiacos clinched its place in – and eliminating Spirou Charleroi from – the sweet sixteen of the big league with an 80-69 win in France. Thanks to the win in fact, Group B has been settled: The Reds join Real Madrid, Unicaja Malaga, and Lottomatica […]