Phoenix Suns 65
WWDD? (What would Dirk do?) Four destinations for free agent Nowitzki
So the big German’s gonna do it, huh? The ever-loyal Dirk Nowitzki, he whom many would dub “the greatest European player of all-time,” will apparently be leaving the only NBA home he’s ever known to test the free-agent waters this summer, opting out of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks. Not that anyone asked, but […]
FIBA Eurochallenge final pits German Cinderella against Russian Pinocchio
In the runup to today’s FIBA Eurochallenge final between BC Göttingen and Krasnye Krylia Samara, certain themes are repeated to well-worn across The Continent. For example, there’s the “who’da thunk it” storyline, particularly on the Russian side as the Samara Red Wings threw together a slapdash roster for 2009-10 to amazing results. The “clash of […]
The Innocents Abroad, Part three: Final report cards on Europe’s NBA rookies and sophs
Fans of European basketball can take great pride in the achievements of its players recent to the NBA. Going into 2009-10, ten players from The Continent were entering their first or second season in the big league; throwing in Brandon Jennings (who BallinEurope will go down forever as believing that the youngster’s lone season with […]
Stream of consciousness runs through Philippines, Serbia, Iran, Texas
Currently on tour in Serbia is a first-division club from the Philippines, Manila-based Smart Gilas Pilipinas. Smart Gilas has recorded one win thus far, taking a 91-84 victory last Thursday over Super Fund, a team that will be promoted to the Serbian first division for 2010-11. The Serbian tour is an effort by Smart Gilas […]
BallinEurope-related news items (including, yes, prizes for fantasy league winners)
A few in-house items to announce to readers this morning: • First, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Yes, there will be prizes for the winners of the BallinEurope Invitational Challenge. An honorary gold medal today – no, that’s *not* the prize; i haven’t decided what the prize is yet – goes to Radallo. […]
The Innocents Abroad, Part one: Assessing Europe's NBA rookies and sophs
With the NBA regular season nearly one-quarter finished (yeesh, when did that happen?), Ball in Europe takes a look at the league’s freshmen and sophomores from The Continent. The NBA currently lists over 80 international players on its rosters, with exactly 50 coming from European quarters. About one-fifth of those are recent enough entries to […]
Two more dates in the ‘States for Partizan
Partizan Belgrade hits the road on its American tour later this month and the team has just had its dance card punched for another two games to take place in the Midwest. Before taking on the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns on October 3rd and 6th, respectively, the Black-and-Whites will be playing against an outfit […]
Best of the (basketball) net: Multiculti multimedia edition
For this week’s edition of “Best of the (Basketball) Net,” Ball in Europe goes multimedia with a collection of videos, podcasts, mix “tapes” and a bit of – gasp! – actual writing about the game we love. Casey Jacobsen clearly and simply enumerates the differences between playing ball in “The NBA vs. Europe” once and […]
Betting on basketball: EuroBasket 2009 Group C odds
In our ongoing look at the odds on EuroBasket 2009 (herein presented by Euroleague/Ball in Europe partner SportingBet.com), BallinEurope.com takes a few notes on the current odds and trends in Group C. Group C is the pool which is getting officially overhyped in this tournament as the “Group of Death” sports journalists so often seek […]
Coming to America: Euroleague American Tour 2009 games set
Euroleague and NBA officials today announced the dates and teams for this year’s Euroleague American Tour and damn if these matchups aren’t fascinating enough to make you wish the games were for real… The four preseason games will see Olympiacos Piraeus facing off against the San Antonio Spurs (October 9) and Cleveland Cavaliers (October 12); […]
Why Americans should watch Euroleague Final Four
Many observers and participants are already calling the 2009 Final Four in Berlin in early May the best ever. While that remains to be seen, one thing that is certain is that the affair in the German capital is anything but just another European party. And American basketball fans will have plenty of reasons to […]
Goran Dragic will go to Phoenix
After everything looked clear for European Basketball fans that Goran Dragic will play for TAU Vitoria next season, now the US site sportingnews.com announces that the Slovenian PG will join Phoenix as back-up PG for next season.