Lithuania 200
Business as usual in Lithuania: Romanov sound bite, L.Rytas signs Newley
What was that about the fat cat singing…? Followers of Lithuanian basketball this season were no doubt immensely let down by Žalgiris Kaunas owner Vladimir Romanov’s superbrief post-game press conference after his coachless team’s defeat in game seven of the LKL championship series. Lasting approximately 12 seconds, the entire “conference” with media representatives consisted of […]
Big third quarter boosts L.Rytas to LKL championship win over Zalgiris Kaunas, 80-71
Congratulations go out tonight to Lietuvos Rytas, who decisively won the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) championship over arch-rival Žalgiris Kaunas, 80-71. Thus ends a very bizarre LKL playoffs and, for Žalgiris Kaunas, a revolving door of a season at coach with the final four games seeing the team essentially sort-of led by some combination of […]
Invisible to insane: The six types of basketball team owner
They say that no one has ever bought a ticket to a sports event in order to see an executive but with two weeks of American and European basketball club owners hogging sports page headlines, BallinEurope got to thinking about these moneyed celebrity types who run the teams we watch … and the often disturbing […]
Official 2010 BallinEurope mock draft, version 2.0
Now that the order for the 2010 NBA Draft has been officially settled, BallinEurope’s man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, revisits his mock draft of last week with updated prognostications for the first 30 choices. Prospective European draftees in Donatas Motiejunas and Miroslav Raduljica haven’t budged on Sam’s chart and much of the lower half […]
Romanov "addresses the challenge of curbing the blogger" in LKL Championship game five
Well, it wouldn’t be the 2010 Lithuanian Basketball League championship without the daily Vladimir Romanov story in advance of the next game, the third consecutive in which Žalgiris Kaunas will play without an official head coach. Apparently, the Žalgiris owner made the trip over to Vilnius with the team’s sports director Šarūnas Sakalauskas to watch […]
Headless horsemen of Zalgiris go coach-free again tonight
In Lithuania, Žalgiris Kaunas’ bizarre personnel situation, i.e. no official head coach named with a maximum three games remaining in the LKL season, continues. Žalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov spent the weekend *not* officially naming anyone to the position; the role was apparently unofficially filled by guard Marcus Brown in last Thursday’s 83-70 win over longtime […]
The official BallinEurope NBA draft mock
Courtesy of the Everyone Else Is Doing It So Why Don’t We Department comes the official BallinEurope mock NBA draft for 2010. Our man in the UK, Sam Chadwick looks into his metaphorical crystal ball to see how the American clubs might be thinking on draft day. BiE will be running official mock draft 2.0 […]
Coachless in Kaunas, Žalgiris wins anyway to knot up LKL championship series
Now Žalgiris Kaunas is truly entering into uncharted waters. After canning Darius Maskoliunas earlier this week and watching assistant coach Gvidonas Markevičius stomp out of the organization thereafter, Žalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov sent his team into game four of the Lithuanian national league (LKL) championship series headless – unless you count those two guys looking […]
“I am the miracle”: Video evidence of Romanov’s, um, wackiness
Zalgiris Kaunas owner Vladimir Romanov told Lithuanian media last night that, though he knows who his team’s fifth coach of the season on the eve of game four of the Lithuanian League finals, he won’t reveal the name until game time. Well, today, the prospective list has one fewer name on it: Former assistant coach […]
In the midst of Zalgiris mess, gauntlet thrown by Kaunas mayor
With regard to the current insanity engulfing Lithuanian League Championship participant Zalgiris Kaunas – i.e. its fourth coach this season being suspiciously canned by outlandish owner Vladimir Romanov in the midst of the best-of-five playoff – the city mayor Andrius Kupčinskas yesterday released a statement, which reads in part: “During the LKL finals, a coach […]
Romanov’s “dream”: that Marcus Brown coach Žalgiris Kaunas (Huh?) [UPDATED]
What’s the word for “beyond crisis”? Whatever it is, that’s the word for what’s going on at Žalgiris Kaunas. No coach – again, that would be coach no. 4 this season – has been named as of yet, while Žalgiris fights for the LKL title against perpetual rival Lietuvos Rytas. But Žalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov […]
What the…? In Lithuania, Romanov fires third head coach of season midway through championship series
There’s nothing so bizarre – and often barely newsworthy – about the firing of a head coach, even one leading a successful team. Even one who is replacing a legend who was also fired in the same season. But when a coach is fired in the middle of a national championship series, that’s already nearing […]