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The Eurocentric 2010-11 NBA Preview (or How the Hoops World revolves around Europe)
With the 2010-11 NBA season tipping off tonight, BallinEurope marks the occasion in the best way possible: By overrating the league’s Continental players and making a few offhand Fearless Predictions™ in the guise of a preview column. Brief notes and snarky remarks on all 25 NBA teams follow. (Yes, BiE said “all 25.” Since the […]
Most popular jerseys in Europe: Top 10 half European; Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade still rule
In advance of the Los Angeles Lakers-FC Barcelona game next week, fans of both teams in Europe are helping make Pau Gasol’s NBA jersey one of the hottest items among The Continent’s basketball faithful. Gasol reached no. 4 on the NBA’s official list of jersey sales in Europe. The list was compiled from sales at […]
European players in the NBA for 2010-11 (or, Come on, Raptors, sign Primoz Brezec already) [UPDATED]
With NBA teams starting to get warmed up for the regular season tipoff, BallinEurope figured it high time to take stock of the European players prospectively set to take the court in America for 2010-11. In considering the expanded rosters for each of the 30 NBA teams, BiE counted 50 players from The Continent plus […]
Basketball Without Borders Europe wrap: Bits, bites and highlights
The NBA’s Basketball Without Borders has wrapped its European edition for 2010, the first-ever such camp in Spain. On-hand to represent the NBA were The Gasol Brothers, Rudy Fernández, Vladimir Radmanovic, Serge Ibaka, Marcus Camby, Jason Terry, Chicago Bulls assistant coach Ron Adams and Indiana Pacers assistant coach Dick Harter. After three days of drilling […]
After respite, Rudy Fernandez “going back to work” (in New York? Chicago? Barcelona?)
In the midst of surely his most frustrating off-season ever, Rudy Fernandez has proclaimed … he’s taking a break. On Fernandez’ official site Rudy 5, the disgruntled Portland Trail Blazer yesterday bilingually wrote the following blog entry: “After an irregular World Championship in which we couldn’t reach our goal, winning a medal, and were we […]
FIBA World Championship final: What to watch for in USA-Turkey match
And now, the conclusion of the 2010 FIBA World Championship. In hindsight, it looks like a meeting made inevitable by destiny: Hosts Turkey riding their home advantage and deploying its strongest roster since 2001 (if not ever) to meet the world’s basketball public enemy no. 1, Team USA. Since no one needs reasons to watch […]
Rondo leaves Team USA; FIBA Worlds roster set
It’s a good news/bad news news item for Team USA backers: The good news is that the Red-White-and-Blues finally have their 12-man roster for the 2010 FIBA World Championship roster; the bad news is that the electrifyingly exciting Rajon Rondo won’t be on, having essentially decided to leave the team proactively before his dismissal. Figuring […]
New York news: Kobe praises Spain; Team USA, Puerto Rico cruise
Kobe Bryant was hanging around in New York last week as part of the World Basketball Festival festivities and, upon praising Team Spain, was dutifully quoted by Spain-based sports media outlet Sport.es. “When it comes to really tough opponents,” said Bryant, “no doubt, Spain is the team.” Kobe has seemed somewhat positive about this year’s […]
Omer Asik officially becomes a Chicago Bull
Though the Chicago Bulls couldn’t sign any of the so-called “Big Three” free agents this summer, they have come to terms with their 2008 second-round draft pick, Team Turkey’s shot-swatting Omer Asik, signing him to an approximately $1 million per year deal. And the Bulls have also reportedly extended an offer sheet to J.J. Redick. […]
Plea to New York Knicks: Forget Lebron!
About a day remains before Lebron James presents his version of The Big Reveal, spilling his guts before hundreds of media members like an NCAA prospect officially choosing a uni. (Hey, maybe Lebron should spread three baseball caps in front of him, pick one up and put it on his head…) On the eve of […]
Which team has the most followers on Twitter and Facebook…?
It was only a matter of time before someone came up with this, BallinEurope supposes, and could be an interesting way to mobilize European fan bases this summer. An outfit called Coyle Media is now tracking the performance of professional sports teams and organizations on social networking media Facebook and Twitter pages. The “Sports Fan […]
2010 NBA Draft Analysis: Four Europeans walk into a league…
Right, so in the 2010 NBA Draft there were four Europeans: a Frenchman, a German, a Brit and a Serbian. I could easily make up a joke about how they all walk into a bar … but I won’t. [Aw. –Ed.] Instead, I’ll give you some stats on each of these players: Okay, the Frenchman: […]