Italy 172
Coppa Italia preview: Can anyone stop Montepaschi Siena?
February will see Turin playing host to the Coppa Italia, a grueling four-day tournament featuring Italy’s top eight teams. With the matchups now determined, BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini, provides a brief preview of the competition. The first half of Serie A season is over and the table is set for a little appetizer […]
Anonymous party sends pig’s head to Scavolini Pesaro HQ; Team responds on court
BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini, contributes quite a bizarre story out of league basketball there. (To think that Cibona Zagreb fans merely created an interesting image in protest of their team’s poor play.) The headline gives away the punchline so BiE won’t forestall this tale’s telling further … um, enjoy. On January 2, Scavolini […]
11-for-11: BallinEurope’s Most 11 popular stories from 2011
So 2011 may have been few people’s favorite year personally, European basketball fans have certainly got to be taking solace in the fact that the past 12 months featured a seriously great run of Continental-flavored hoops. To wit, in 2011, we enjoyed: • an exciting round of Euroleague playoffs which included FC Barcelona’s surprising tournament-round […]
Ettore Messina “curious and worried” about life with Los Angeles Lakers
From BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini: In an interview to be published in major Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Ettore Messina summarizes his coaching experiences around Europe and talks about his forthcoming adventure as the Los Angeles Lakers’ assistant coach. Messina began his career in Italy but then started “to feel uneasy” with his […]
Gallinari is gone? Next! Emporio Armani Milan’s new sensation Alessandro Gentile
Emporio Armani Milano sits at a dismal 2-4 in Euroleague play and now marquee name Danilo Gallinari is departing the club … so what’s next? How about coaxing the top prospect in Italy, Alessandro Gentile? Enrico Cellini reports. Emporio Armani Milan knew that sooner or later it would have had to deal with the loss […]
Thanks for the memories: Top performances by locked-out NBA players in Europe
BallinEurope bids adieu to the all-too-brief wackiness that was the ENBA: A period of time shorter than Allen Iverson’s career with Beşiktaş, though for a sweet, brief while it seemed like forever … ah, the feeling of a too-fast love affair dragged down by unfeeling reality, leaving only fond memories and bitter tears to … […]
Frustrated with players' union, Omri Casspi joins Maccabi Tel Aviv
BallinEurope welcomes another NBA player to the Continent this afternoon with the long-awaiting signing of Omri Casspi with Maccabi Tel Aviv today reportedly a reality, according to the Cleveland Plains-Dealer. The locked-out Cavalier first expressed frustration with the NBA Players’ Union this weekend and took Israel’s Euroleague club up on its longstanding offer. Writes Tom […]
One of us: Benetton Treviso fans loving Brian Scalabrine’s success
Whether you know him as Scal, Mr. Hustle or the White Mamba, Benetton Treviso fans recognize new signee Brian Scalabrine as “one of us” – and with good reason. The former Boston Celtic is enjoying a banner year with the Eurocup side and has established himself as a bona fide team leader in Serie A […]
The Gallinari Dilemma: So good you don’t want to get addicted
Sportswriter Enrico Cellini joins the BallinEurope team officially today with his thoughts on the tricky difficulties Emporio Armani Milano and its mastermind Sergio Scariolo may be facing in assimilating quite probably the top player in Italian professional basketball, Danilo Gallinari. Coach Sergio Scariolo recently won a European championship with the Spanish national team. He then […]
Virtus Roma offers deals to Andrea Bargnani, interesting new sponsor
Now here’s an interesting twist in NBA player signings and one that brings new meaning to the expression “business affairs.” In following a model first tested by Beşiktaş in the signing of Deron Williams, Virtus Roma is pursuing Andrea Bargnani with at least two offers – a three-month deal and a full-season contract pending resurrection […]
Kobe Bryant to Virtus Bologna: The plot thickens
While Kobe Bryant reportedly has refused any offer from Italian club Virtus Bologna that does not entail him (theoretically) playing with the team for the entire 2011-12 season, Bologna management appears to be clearing a path to make such a signing possible. The big news in this direction early this week is twofold: Firstly, Virtus […]
NBA players to Europe: Pekovic, Seraphin, Parker, Boozer, more
Nikola Pekovic will be back in Europe to play with Partizan Belgrade as the NBA lockout drags on, just the latest of names from the big league to be jumping to The Continent for 2011-12. BallinEurope takes a brief look, bullet-style, at the progress of some other players coming over below. An even briefer summary: […]