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Luol Deng to David Cameron: “Basketball is too valuable to be chucked away”

Luol DengLess than a year after endless wrangling with FIBA and the International Olympic Committee to get Team Britain into the 2012 Olympic Games, governing body UK Sport seems fit to impart some slashing of the national basketball budget – this despite pressure from FIBA going into the London Games that an automatic bid for the men’s national team would be granted only with assurances that British basketball had some viable future.

An eleventh-hour debate on the basketball-funding question is slated for tonight and will be led by Conservative Party MP Stephen Mosley; an online petition created by Sam Neter of Britian-based Hoops Fix self-explanatorily called “Get UK Sport to Fund British Basketball” has over 11,650 “signatures” as of this writing.

Perhaps no one is taking the upcoming cuts more seriously than Chicago Bulls/Team Britain star Luol Deng, however. Deng today fired off a 1½-page open letter to British prime minister David Cameron in hopes of essentially saving the national program in the runup to the 2016 Olympics; the just-this-side-of-vitriolic text runs below.

Luol Deng letter 1

Luol Deng letter 2

Jan 28, 2013ballineurope
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Comments: 46
  1. Gabe Is FUBAR
    8 years ago

    Ioannis Bourousis PIR in Italian league = 15.3 (13th in the league)

    Bobby Brown’s PIR in Italian League = 12.4 (35th in the league)

    http://195.56.77.208/stat_scripts/index.php?orderby=avg_eff&dir=DESC&season=2012&season2=2012&league=reg&team=all&stat_type=eff&type=per&position=0&qualified=qual&page=0

    OH SNAP!

    Sorry, not Italian Cup title, no Italian League title, and no MVPs in Italy for Bobby Brown this season.

    BTW, I love how Gabe purposely always fails to mention that Brown and Siena already lost the Italian Supercup title this year. They already failed in their first try to win a title. But of course, Gabe ALWAYS fails to mention that…..

    When he goes on and on and on about Milano not making Euroleague Top 16.

    Bobby Brown is a super scrub in Europe, otherwise he would NOT have lost the Italian Supercup this year. Anyone losing Italian Supercup is a scrub and not good enough to make an NBA roster.

    That is, using Gabe’s same logic and standards. Of course, Gabe only applies a double standard to all Greek players, due to racism.

    The most hilarious thing though is that this fucking Guido scumbag does not even realize that Bourousis has an Italian citizenship. What a fucking JOKE this racist POS Gabe is.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      8 years ago

      Bobby Brown Euroleague MVP for the month of January…bam

      http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/108225/180

      That “super scrub” was the best player in Euroleague for the month of January. What does that say about Euroleague if a super scrub can lead Euroleague in PIR and be selected MVP of the month. I guess the same when an all-Euroleague 2nd teamer who lead a Euroleague final team in minutes, points and assists is released by the third worst team in the NBA.

      ReplyCancel
      • Gabe
        8 years ago

        It’s funny that he is calling Brown a super scrub, considering that Brown is totally out playing and making Spanoulis his bitch in Euroleague, what does that make Spanoulis? A super scrub’s bitch?

        ReplyCancel
      • Mike
        8 years ago

        35th in the Italian League in PIR………………………….

        wow, you really are a fucking jackass.

        ReplyCancel
        • Gabe
          8 years ago

          So a guy who is first in PIR in Euroleague is 35th in the Italian league in PIR, which means Euroleague is extremely over rated. That just proves that the top players in Euroleague are scrubs.

          ReplyCancel
  2. mike
    8 years ago

    The guy is shameless. He’s a laughing stock in Inside Hoops!!

    ReplyCancel
    • Mike
      8 years ago

      The shameless ones are you and Gabe. You both said for years here that Splitter and Pekovic were scrubs. Now that you got proven wrong on that, you are attacking Pargo.

      Which you will be proven wrong again if the Celtics sign him.

      You both really are sick.

      ReplyCancel
  3. Mike
    8 years ago

    Pargo averaged 14 points and 5 assists with the Cavs as a starter. The Celtics are now trying to sign him.

    You two are despicable and sick human beings.

    You bashed Pekovic for a whole year, now you shut the fuck up about him when you were proven wrong.

    You bashed Splitter the same way, now you shut the fuck about him too.

    The two of you are severely depraved psychopaths.

    Pargo had better stats in the NBA as a starter with the Cavs than he did in Maccabi. And if he is such a “scrub” then why the fuck do the Celtics want to sign him?

    Huh? HUH? Both of you are sick people.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      8 years ago

      A starter? He started 11 games. He averaged 7 points and 2.5 assists in his 36 games with the Cavs. But the main point is the Cavs, the third worst team in the NBA, released him. So obviously he wasn’t good enough as a starter, or even a bench guy that he was released. He wasn’t good enough to be a bench guy on the third worst team in the NBA but was a starter on the 2nd best team in Euroleague.

      And until he is actually signed by the Celtics, which hasn’t happened yet, he is another Euroleague star that was released by a crappy NBA team.

      And as for Pekovic and Splitter they are solid NBA players but not close to the stars they were in Europe where they were consistent all-Euroleague teamers. Not only are they not close to being all-NBA teamers they are not even close to being NBA all-stars.

      ReplyCancel
      • Gabe
        8 years ago

        Bobby Brown: 1st in Euroleague PIR, 1st in Euroleague scoring, 3rd in Euroleague assists and his team is 5-0 in the top 16.

        Vassilis “scrub” Spanoulis: 7th in Euroleague PIR, 4th in Euroleague in scoring, 4th in Euroleague assists and his team is 2-3 in the Top 16.

        Spanoulis being totally outplayed by a player who averaged 5 ppg and 2 asp in two seasons in the NBA, but considering Spanoulis averaged 3 ppg and 1 asp in the NBA it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise.

        If that scrub Spanoulis comes back to the NBA he would fare the same as Jeremy Pargo, lol.

        ReplyCancel
  4. Dragan
    8 years ago

    O please fund British basketball, maybe in 10 years and with another 20 million they can win a game!!! Pathetic…who cares if they lost funding, they were terrible and will never become a basketball nation. Nobody else publishes their money problems on the basketball website, only the funny Brits!

    ReplyCancel
  5. Goran
    8 years ago

    Why does anyone come here to argue with the schizo Gabe . mile (obviously same person)?

    It is the scariest troll there is. Just ignore it. Please all my European friends. Ignore it. In time it will leave and we can have this site back like it used to be several years ago before that cancerous tumor troll ruined it.

    PS Spanoulis is 3 times better player than brown.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      8 years ago

      That’s why Brown is putting up better stats and winning more games.

      ReplyCancel
      • Gabe Pizza
        8 years ago

        Vassilis Spanoulis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bobby Brown

        ReplyCancel
  6. mike
    8 years ago

    Hey Goran, why don’t you ask the site owner to ban Gabe like you used to say? We all know you’re the same person in Inside Hoops.com that gets ridiculed by everyone there. Thanks for bringing up your favorite mama’s boy. What happened in that game with Siena? Is the Euroleague rigged or not?

    Time for you to spill the beans…Let’s go.

    ReplyCancel
  7. GABE IS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST TROLL
    8 years ago

    Gabe’s (and mike’s – they are the same person) predictions for this year’s Euroleague:

    1. Hilton Armstrong will be 100% for sure guaranteed the all Euroleague first team center.

    reality – Armstrong was possibly the worst player in the league and was cut early in the season. He now plays in the D-League.

    2. Jordan Farmar will for sure be the Euroleague MVP, without any question, guaranteed.

    reality – he’s not getting a single vote for that award. He’s nowhere remotely near being Euroleague MVP. He’s possibly the most Jekyll and Hyde and inconsistent player in the whole league.

    3. After he realized that Hilton Armstrong was a scrub at Euroleague level, Gabe (and mike) changed his prediction to – Joey Dorsey will for sure be the first team all Euroleague center.

    reality – Dorsey played awful, bitched about lack of playing time (after he played so bad the coach had to bench him) and is now playing in one of the worst teams in the Turkish League.

    4. Gabe (and mike) then switched to this – Sonny Weems is going to be Euroleague MVP. He is by far and away the leading candidate for that award and is dominating Euroleague, as he is the best scorer in the league. He is the best player on CSKA

    reality – Sonny Weems is a mediocre player at best for Euroleague levels like this. All he can do is spot jump shoot and dunk. That’s it. He can’t guard his own shadow and as soon as teams start picking up the defensive pressure, he becomes almost totally useless on offense, unless the opponent just leaves him open the whole game at the 3 point line.

    For the second straight year he has gotten totally exposed as a mediocre player at the Top 16 stage. He simply does not have the level to be a good player once the Euroleague season kicks into high gear. 2 straight years now that he has been a scrub on offense in Top 16. He’s a scrub on defense at every stage.

    Not a chance in hell that this guy sniffs an MVP award ever. And about him being the best scorer in Euroleague and best player on CSKA……………

    hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaahahahah

    Now of course, Gabe (and mike) have jumped onto yet another bandwagon with Bobby Brown and Siena. Pinning all of their (really it’s) hopes on this mediocre team making Euroleague final four and that Brown could actually lead a Euroleague team to final four – yes it actually thinks that Brown is that level of a player apparently.

    reality – Well, Siena got lucky that the refs fixed a game and let them get a win they should not have gotten against Olympiacos and another against Besiktas. But all that did was delay the inevitable. That’s a mediocre team and Brown is NOT good enough to lead a team to the final four, nor to win a Euroleague MVP.

    In fact, they will be lucky to even make it past the Top 16, even though the refs helped them win 2 games. They will probably have to hope that Olympiacos has half their roster injured instead of just the 1/3 it has had and that Khimki players leave the team (unlikely to say the least).

    After the it troll Gabe (and mike) finally realizes that Siena isn’t doing anything, it will shift its bandwagon to some other team.

    The point is that last year the it troll hitched its bandwagon all year to CSKA because Kirilenko (the only player it had ever heard of in Euroleague) and it got burned. Trash talking the whole year about CSKA will win the title and of course that Olympiacos will not (the it troll is Turkish and a Greek hater).

    Now this year the it troll has a new strategy of switching bandwagons as they come and go. Constantly changing during the year and morphing the troll rhetoric on an almost weekly basis. But of course the it troll is so stupid that it can never pick the right bandwagon to hop on.

    Other failed predictions of the Gabe/mike super it troll this year include:

    1. Olympiacos will not make it past the regular season stage (predicted after Olympiacos started 1-2 in the regular season).

    2. Olympiacos will need “an epic miracle” to qualify past the Top 16, and “Olympiacos will NOT qualify past the Top 16”. Predicted after Olympiacos started 1-3 in Top 16, well really 2-2 but the refs stole a game from them against the trolls current bandwagon team of Siena.

    Of course not only will Olympiacos qualify, even with all their injuries, even with losing according to the troll, “the starting point guard of the best team in Europe and one of the top 4 players on the continent Vangelis Mantzaris – said about 500 times that exact quote by the troll here), even with the refs stealing a game from them……………..they will of course qualify with no problem at all.

    So once the troll realizes this and that Siena is not doing crap this year, the troll will then pick some other team and on and on. Of course the troll is also trolling about the Italian League and Cup and what will happen their, again picking Siena to win those titles.

    Troll always does not mention Siena already lost in Italy’s Supercup and troll will also pretend it never said anything about Siena or “Brown is dominating in Italy (said about 500 times here by the troll)………….

    because of course, Siena will lose both the Italian Cup and League to Milano – the same Milano that the troll has been bashing here for months and calling “a scrub team” with the same player the troll says is “the worst player in Europe” – which of course the “worst player in Europe” will beat the “best player in Europe” in both Italian competitions.

    The troll (Gabe/mike) will then pretend it never said any of this. Because the it troll (Gabe/mike) is KWSN-Men of interbasket – THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL. HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    HE’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TROLL

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      8 years ago

      Record in top 16

      Siena 5-1
      Olympiacos 3-3

      btw Congratulations to Bobby Brown on his Euroleague player of the month award for January. You deserve it.

      ReplyCancel
      • obama
        8 years ago

        same bobby brown who used to beat whitney houston senseless??

        ReplyCancel
  8. mike
    8 years ago

    Lunatic rant… LOL

    ReplyCancel
  9. Manza
    8 years ago

    Is this site a joke? Seriously? Is it all just trolls? No sane person that follows Euroleague would ever claim Olympiakos will not make the playoffs. Just like the same they would never claim that Siena will make final four. Really, Siena will be extremely lucky to even make the playoffs.

    I honestly doubt they can even make it. They got helped by refs twice already so that won’t happen again. Three times would draw too much suspicion and be too obvious. They are at absolute best case scenario only the 5th best team in their group.

    They play no defense and use a gimmick offense. They play at their absolute max in every game and are so tired that even 4-5 days later they can’t even beat crappy teams in their domestic league.

    There can be no way possible that anyone saying this stuff here has ever watched an actual Euroleague game. So again, is the whole site just trolls or what?

    ReplyCancel
  10. Os
    8 years ago

    @Manza: Well, i for one think Olympiacos will make the next round, i watch as many Euroleague games as possible and don’t think this site is a joke…

    ReplyCancel
  11. mike
    8 years ago

    Me too, I don’t think this site is a joke. The real joke is the ONE troll on this site who has insane views and believes in a world turned upside down. He makes me and Gabe saying or claiming things we never said, and he gets bulldozed by the facts regularly and then conveniently forgets about it. He then rants about it again after a week or so.

    Laughable, but maybe it’s his way of dealing with all the disturbing realities staring him in the face. US victories in international play was Stern’s master plan. The defeats of Greece were rigged. Spanoulis’ loss to Siena was rigged. All the NBA scrubs doing well in the Euroleague and even dominating at times didn’t happen or never happened. A second team Euroleagueger was a scrub. A Rising Star awardee was a scrub. ..And really many more.

    Wow!

    ReplyCancel
  12. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Josh Childress dominated Euroelague

    ReplyCancel
    • obama
      8 years ago

      dont know about dominating euroleague but definetly greatest afro look the competition ever
      laid eyes on!!!cool customer too, always laid back easy smiles and his shooting technique still leaves me with a big grin on my face.always looked like he was about to hurt himself..i saw the man airball on free throws in a greek league game and a couple of hopless 3point attempts that never made it ,but in terms of pure athletism, josh was a beast.not much of a scorer or finding his teammates for easy buckets but easily one of the best defenders around
      and his energy and elevation on the floor made him a standout..good luck josh we miss you

      ReplyCancel
  13. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Ricky Rubio was the greatest point guard in the history of Euroleague.

    ReplyCancel
  14. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Anthony Parker is European basketball’s GOAT

    ReplyCancel
  15. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Ike Diogu would be the second coming of Shaq in Euroleague.

    ReplyCancel
  16. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Bobby Brown and Sonny Weems are dominating Euroleague so much that they are currently erecting statutes to them in their honor.

    ReplyCancel
  17. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Siena is clearly the best team in Europe.

    ReplyCancel
  18. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Team USA would beat Greece by 84 points.

    ReplyCancel
  19. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Gary Neal, Goran Dragic, Brian Roberts, Zaza Pachulia, Reggie Williams, Austin Daye, Jeff Adrien were all superstars in Euroleague. They all dominated Euroleague. They are all legends there.

    ReplyCancel
  20. Gabe
    8 years ago

    The Bobcats would go undefeated in Euroleague.

    ReplyCancel
  21. Gabe
    8 years ago

    The Euroleague champions could not win 1 game out of 100 against an AAU team.

    ReplyCancel
  22. Gabe
    8 years ago

    Wow. I think the troll is finally losing it. None of those past 22 posts were done by me.

    ReplyCancel
    • Os Davis
      8 years ago

      I can confirm Gabe’s assessment that “none of those past 22 posts were done by” him. (Come on, you guys, comment what you will about Gabe, but he’s certainly not this blunt.) In fact, I’ve whittled down that 22 — mostly taking out those containing really over-the-top, silly and/or wrong assertions. Seriously, if you think the Ike Diogu thing is wacky, you should see some of the stuff now in the “pending approval” section here at BallinEurope … –Os.

      ReplyCancel
  23. Gabe and mike are cancers
    8 years ago

    This site has REFUSED to control Gabe and mike’s trolling. It’s been going on for YEARS.

    This site became a joke a long time ago because of that.

    EVERY single European basketball fan left because of the taunting, personal insults, personal attacks, harassment, racism, etc. from Gabe and mike.

    Do yourself a favor Os Davis and grow the balls to do something about it.

    Then the site can return to normal.

    ReplyCancel
  24. mike
    8 years ago

    The only taunting and personal insults are coming from the troll who REGULARLY uses vulgar language to make his inane posts. I mean how low can you get impersonating someone else. That is a little disturbing and creepy.

    I think Os has done a great job allowing honest debate on this site and only the troll is offended with views that are considered main steam whether in Europe or the US.

    ReplyCancel
  25. Another Gabe and mike fib exposed
    8 years ago

    The CEO of the Euroleague states that VTB United League IS a domestic league:

    http://www.eurohoops.net/2013/02/one-on-one/18359

    “Some national leagues have adapted their calendar to this new situation like the Greek, French or the VTB Leagues by playing some games on Monday and some other Leagues have continued with the current Saturday and Sunday format.”

    ———————————————————————————————–

    Gabe, mike, and another troll argued here incessantly for weeks about this. And of course called anyone making that statement a liar, a lunatic, a nutcase, etc.

    Yet again, Gabe and mike are proven as liars. They have now been proven to have been lying here about 50 times.

    ReplyCancel
  26. Another Gabe and mike fib exposed
    8 years ago

    Also, and the trolls will love this. The head coach of Olympiacos just gave an interview where he said Spanoulis is the Magic Johnson of this time.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      8 years ago

      And the head coach of Siena just gave an interview where he said Bobby Brown is the Michael Jordan of this time. lol

      ReplyCancel
      • Gabe
        8 years ago

        Speaking of Spanoulis I just discovered an interesting stat. In the World Championship of 2006, when Greece upset the USA, which this troll loves to mention over in over. So after that game Greece was in a senior level global championship game for the first and still only time ever. This was the biggest game for a Greek player ever. If they won this game they could claim the title of being the best team in the world, in a tournament that had NBA superstars. Imagine the pride they would have given their whole country.

        Greece went into the Final against a Spanish team that had just lost their best player and tournament MVP, Pau Gasol.

        And how did the “great” Spanoulis do in the biggest game of his career when the whole world was watching and a whole nation was hoping to see Greece honored among the basket greats for all time?

        4 points on 1 for 10 shooting and 2 assists in a 23 point loss.

        http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/06_wcm/scheResu/p/eventid/3507/gamename/A/groupname/80/roundid/5154/fe_scheStat_boxScor.html

        Spanoulis the Magic Johnson of our time if Magic was one of the biggest losers of his time.

        ReplyCancel
  27. mike
    8 years ago

    Based on Os above post, we now know that the troll has used other names and impersonated people to get his ridiculous points across. It’s now a fact . No longer speculation.

    Now the question is why would someone try to impersonate other people? Anyone reading out there should make their own conclusions. Is impersonating other people a sign of strength or weakness?

    ReplyCancel
  28. mike
    8 years ago

    Or better yet, is impersonating other people a product of a sound mine or a deranged individual? I think most of you know the answer.

    ReplyCancel
  29. mike
    8 years ago

    Spanoulis had sex with my sister and mom.

    ReplyCancel
    • obama
      8 years ago

      so what is he to you then your daddy or bro??
      strange comment dude..

      ReplyCancel
  30. mike
    8 years ago

    LOL… out of control troll impersonating with no more facts left on his side. All his lies have been exposed so he has to now just go for shock value and and deceit and debasement.

    The more he does this , the more it proves the total bankruptcy of his positions.

    ReplyCancel

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