The pickings for basketball-related news online this week were a tad slim, with that inevitable last-weeks-of-August malaise that conquers Europe annually and sends the entire continent on holiday really settling in. Ah well, Eurobasket 2009 tips off in a couple weeks, followed by national leagues awakening, and Euroleague/NBA isn’t that far off, really. In the grand scheme of things.
So call this week the proverbial calm before the (perfect) storm, and enjoy these offerings from around cyberspace.
Piece of the week? It might just be The Hoop’s nice roundup of Greece’s A1 league squads and the recent uptick in general for Greek roundball (and this was before Panionios’ signing of B.J. Elder yesterday).
Kanter-mania is running wild! To catch the fever, check out Fox Sports’ good profile piece on the pride of Turkey – complete with conservative, god-bless-America angle we’ve come to know and love from Fox.
Speaking of b-ballers from Turkey, could Ersan Ilyasova be key to the Milwaukee Bucks’ chances in 2009-10?
And more Turkey! The incomparable David Hein of heinnews talks with Kanter’s U20 teammate, power forward/center Deniz Kilicli.
The perfect way to end a column
That wacky duo Slam and Freaknick over at EuroleagueAdventures.com have compiled for your convenience a swell catalogue of YouTube videos of the “5 best NBA players in the [Eurobasket 2009] tournament“; by name that’s Andris Biedrins, Hedo Turkoglu, Rudy Fernandez and the Gasol boys. Also on that ‘site this week: An interesting interview/Eurobasket preview with British sports journalist Paul Nilsen.
Finally, here’s a local newspaper’s take on the “strong international flavor” of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Only a handful of Euroladies get a mention here – Ann Wauters (Belgium), Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (Belgium), Sandrine Gruda (France), Svetlana Abrosimova (Russia), Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal) – but the Norwich Bulletin does reference that yummy Erin Phillips, which always gets my vote.
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