August 2011 28
Latvia, Lithuania on course to co-host 2012 U18 Euros, 2018 FIBA Worlds
Eurobasket 2011 is still a couple of weeks away, but that isn’t stopping the Lithuanian national basketball federation from thinking about the future … and they’ve got a partner in speculation in Latvia. Baltic Course is reporting today that FIBA Europe general secretary Nar Zanolin is seriously considering a bid for the two nations to […]
Portland says goodbye to Hall of Famer with Arvydas Sabonis Day
It might have been the last look Portland Trail Blazers get of one of their greatest big men in a good long time and as this is written, Arvydas Sabonis is most likely back in his home country of Lithuania. Last week saw Sabas receive his final honor as an NBA player at his induction […]
NBA players to Europe: Pekovic, Seraphin, Parker, Boozer, more
Nikola Pekovic will be back in Europe to play with Partizan Belgrade as the NBA lockout drags on, just the latest of names from the big league to be jumping to The Continent for 2011-12. BallinEurope takes a brief look, bullet-style, at the progress of some other players coming over below. An even briefer summary: […]
Get ready, Chester: Artest planks in L.A., prepares visit to U.K.
You’d better steel yourselves in Chester and beyond, folks, for none other than Ron Artest, a.k.a. Metta World Peace, arrives on Thursday. And though according to his publicist Courtney Barnes in an ESPN Los Angeles piece, “There’s no deal in place for him to play,” World Peace-watching will certainly be a popular spectator sport through […]
Greatest of all-time: Yugoslavia or Spain?
An interesting exchange of tweets went down last Friday (yes, minus points for untimeliness, but on another job BallinEurope thought deep into the matter all weekend) between HoopsHype/ESPN Deportes writer Jorge Sierra and Team Australia/Milwaukee Bucks big man Andrew Bogut. Things started innocuously enough, with Sierra plugging a Spanish-language piece he’d written for Deportes: “An […]
Career retrospective: Arvydas Sabonis, Hall of Famer
In honor of the legendary Arvydas Sabonis, the man Scottie Pippen once called “The greatest European basketball player ever to play the game,” entering the Basketball Hall of Fame, BallinEurope this morning reruns its career retrospective on the big man’s incredible career. Quite a collection of rare Sabonis footage exists in the collective consciousness of […]
Mozgov, Kirilenko star in Russian win over Valanciunas and Lithuania, 91-76
In a friendly match delayed a bit thanks to the visiting team getting caught in Moscow traffic, Team Russia defended home court against Lithuania, 91-76, in a warmup for Eurobasket 2011 – and this without former Euroleague defensive player of the year Viktor Khryapa. Those most interested in seeing past, current or future NBA stars […]
Pau Gasol goes for 19 as Spain rolls France in friendly, 77-53
Early enthusiasm about Team France’s chances in the upcoming Eurobasket 2011 tournament may have been dampened a bit in Alameda last night, as Spain displayed all signs of its usual dominance in crushing Les Bleus, 77-53. Pau Gasol had his way in the frontcourt to go for 19 points, while French media called out Nicolas […]
Metta World Peace to Cheshire Jets: “UK, here we come!”
Tweet of the week? That’s an easy one. Here’s something from Ron Artest, a.k.a. Metta World Peace, from about 12 hours ago as of this writing: “Go Jets!!!!! UK, here we come!!! Jets are the best!!! Jets are the best!!! New chant!!!!!!!!!” Yes, it turns out that one of the wackiest rumors surrounding the NBA […]
Beşiktaş Cola Turka eschewing Kobe for Kevin Durant?
Turkey-based news outlets are this morning reporting that Beşiktaş Cola Turka, a.k.a. Deron Williams’ new and Allen Iverson’s former team, is setting its sights on Kevin Durant as Kobe Bryant has not yet responded to overtures from the big-thinking TBL club. Turkish news outlet Milliyet stated that Durant’s agent Aaron Goodwin met with Beşiktaş president […]
France vs. Spain friendly: Parker to play 100th for France, Noah gets first warmup
Happy 100th, Tony Parker! As in the 100th appearance he’ll be making for the French national team tonight in a friendly between Les Bleus and Team Spain in Almeria. Parker has been synonymous with both Team France and the FIBA Eurobasket tournament itself; barring injury, the San Antonio Spur’s appearance in Lithuania for this year’s […]
NBA stars playing in Europe: What are the odds…?
First, BallinEurope would like to a couple more American players to The Continent, as Milwaukee Bucks second-round draft pick Jon Leuer has signed with the Bundesliga’s Frankfurt Skyliners to play during the NBA lockout and undrafted Colorado State University forward Andy Ogide has joined the ranks of LEB club Breogán. But as the BiE schadenfreudometer […]