Los Angeles Lakers 198
Podcast: Interviews with Draft Express guru Jon Givony, “Best Unsigned Basketball Player” Dre Baldwin; paean to Obama; The Great White Hype reviewed
Another week, another podcast. The latest episode of the “Taking the Charge” podcast series is now live over at heinnews; this time, Germany-based sportswriter David Hein and BallinEurope run the following gamut. • A quasi-obligatory nod to the recent W notched by Barack Obama, significantly the US’ first unabashed basketball fanatic in the Oval Office; […]
Monday hangover: Power struggles in Italy, Spain; Zalgiris’ continued rise; Obama vs. the Lakers Rule
It’s never too late for the ‘Hangover (or so BiE’s telling himself). Excuses aside, following are a few Eurocentric impressions, notes, highlight clips – and the no. 1 reason why Barack Obama is thrilled the Los Angeles Lakers went down in the playoffs last season… • Power vacuum in Italy? Coming into 2012-13, most pundits […]
The BallinEurope Eurocentric NBA preview: 25 storylines to watch
BallinEurope’s said it before and fully expects to say it again: Better late than never. Stuff like podcast recording, the day job and, you know, life, has delayed the release of this season’s “Eurocentric preview.” BiE figures he’s morally convinced, since 80% of the NBA hasn’t tipped off as of this writing. We’re doing something […]
Taking stock of European players in the NBA, 2012-13
BallinEurope will be celebrating NBA Opening Day with lots of stuff centered on the big league; firstly, BiE takes stock of Continental ballers in the ‘States. Taking a look at this year’s roundup, we note that 53 Europeans have been named to NBA clubs’ 15-man roster, just beating the pace of the 52 listed in […]
Monday hangover: Real Madrid awesome; CSKA Moscow vulnerable; Arvydas Sabonis rules
Right, with the weekend over and many an hour spent viewing the roundball, BallinEurope rounds up some news items – and video clips! – from the week that was. • Could this be Real Madrid’s year? Los Blancos are exactly one Rudy Fernandez miss from a perfect 8-0 overall mark early in 2012-13 after topping […]
Kobe: “I’d rather be perceived of as a winner than a good teammate”
Just in case you’re not one of the 14 million who “like” Kobe Bryant on Facebook or one of the 60,000 or so who “liked” the following post in the first three hours of its online existence, here’s a repost. Kobe continues his game of one-upmanship on Smush Parker when that war of words between […]
2012 Olympic basketball: Rising and falling stock after the first round
While we’re a little ways away from actually awarding medals for 2012 Olympic basketball, the first round showed international hoops fans quite a lot. Though the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, reputations have changed over the past five games to cause some individual and/or teams losses beyond these Olympics. BallinEurope today takes a look at […]
Who can stop Team USA?
This one goes out by request to BallinEurope’s Lithuanian agent Y. … with Team USA coming together to play the Dominican Republic today – with or without Chris Paul – BiE tries to answer the question “Who [if anyone] can beat Team USA?” Good one. A few gauntlets have been thrown by the Americans already, […]
First images (kinda, sorta) of Steve Nash as Laker
For no good reason other than overt fandom, be sure to check out the first (Instagrammed/Photoshopped) photos of Steve Nash as a Los Angeles Laker, via Spain-based Planeta ACB. Just one problem with that top one; as has been pointed out, the Lakers have retired jersey #13 in honor of Wilt Chamberlain’s stint with the […]
Quiz: The NBA- and Euro-centric year in basketball, 2011-12
Quick! Before those memories of basketball championships European and NBA fade completely, take a brief look back at the season that was – one crazy one on The Continent that began with Tony Parker, Ty Lawson and Mehmet Okur playing over here and concluded with titles taken by King James and Emperor Spanoulis. Get out […]
Who's the greatest, Lebron or Kobe? Don’t argue, it’s useless…
Courtesy the Facebook page entitled Il basket è Vita comes this excellent perspective-inducer regarding the basketball careers of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and one other guy. Here are the first two panels; see below the break for the punchline and rough translation of the dialogue into English – though these images really speak for themselves. […]
Reports: Ettore Messina to return to CSKA Moscow [Updated]
Yesterday, due to an interview in Spain-based Jot Down, BallinEurope speculated a bit on Ettore Messina potentially leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. At least two sources today are saying that the coach of legend will in fact be returning to Europe to coach … CSKA Moscow, if you can believe it. Talk Basket reported that […]