NBA/NCAA 1313
Welcome to New Mexico: Donatas Motiejunas demoted by Houston Rockets
Quite a poor turn of events in one of BallinEurope’s Eurocentric NBA storylines to follow in 2012-13 this morning as the Houston Rockets announced the demotion of Lithuania’s Donatas Motiejunas to the NBDL’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
FIBA’s new international tournament rules: Capitulation, silent collusion or just plain selling out?
Apologies from BallinEurope for not weighing in on this … thing until this morning, but after rereading it for the nth time, BiE felt the rant building but wanted to avoid posting an overly emotional response. Perhaps a day and a good night’s rest would temper my viewpoint; maybe upon waking this morning, we’d all […]
Minnesota Timberwolves bullets: How good are these guys?
Nice choice, BallinEurope readers. The Minnesota Timberwolves, selected as BiE’s NBA home team for the 2012-13 season, are early darlings in the big league, managing to get off to a respectable 4-2 start (“Their best start in 11 years!” went the hype after the Wolves’ win over the Indiana Pacers) while Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio […]
US Presidential Election 2012: America’s basketball diplomat hits hardwood for last-minute votes (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
Love him or hate him after nearly four years in office, one thing is for certain: Barack Obama is the first basketball president – a fact that could curry lots of favor with Generation X and Y voters in a celebrity-charged election. Sure, Bill Clinton was lucky enough to enjoy his home-state University of Arkansas’ […]
On Barack Obama and basketball diplomacy
Note: This piece was first published in February 2012. Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the […]
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 […]
Update on Rubio injury, rehab
The “Monday Hangover” column on greater happenings last week in European ball will be posted later today, but in keeping with the promise to cover our new home team, here’s a few words on the woefully still MIA Ricky Rubio. Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted on Saturday that “Rubio, coming back from knee […]
The votes are in: Minnesota Timberwolves named BallinEurope home team (also torched on court by runner-up Raptors)
Before US-based news about that other election going down tomorrow swamps the entire blogosphere, BiE wants to get in news of our own polling results. With voting closed on Sunday, it has been decided by readers that the Minnesota Timberwolves of Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved, Nikola Pekovic and hopefully-someday-soon Ricky Rubio will serve as the […]
It’s official: Sergio Llull a Madridista through 2017-18
Surely nothing can temper the giddy enthusiasm Houston Rockets fans are feeling today, thanks to a ridiculous performance on Opening Day by their team’s new acquisition, ol’ What’s His Name, so BallinEurope will sneak in this bit of bad news. Back in August, Real Madrid was reportedly wooing Sergio Llull with a nearly unheard-of six- […]
Poll: Who should be BallinEurope’s NBA “home” team?
We’ll attempt to try something new here at BallinEurope and, in lieu of an actual franchise in the big league setting up shop on The Continent (confidently expected any century now), adopt a home team for the NBA’s 2012-13 season. Which team deserves to be called Europe’s team in the NBA? You decide! Vote below […]
Hire Dre Baldwin (the Best Unsigned Basketball Player Alive)!
Sure, BiE’ll help out a longtime player, if only for his awesome and audacious marketing skills. An email arrived in the BallinEurope inbox entitled simply “The Best Unsigned Basketball Player Alive: Dre Baldwin” (has Allen Iverson heard about this?) and included quite a nice résumé compiled over seven years.