Juan Carlos Navarro 148
FC Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena take national cups
A pair of unsurprising results came in last night, with Euroleague superpowers FC Barcelona and Montepaschi Siena taking national cups. In the Liga Endesa Supercopa, Barcelona handled Caja Laboral Baskonia, 82-73, for its third consecutive title and its seventh in the past eight years. Stop BiE if you’ve heard this before, but Juan Carlos Navarro […]
Top salaries in European basketball, 2011-12
Kudos and thanks to BallinEurope reader Agent, who recently crunched some numbers for basketball fans vis-à-vis the top salaries in European basketball for the 2011-12 season. In case you’re wondering why some top NBA names are seriously considering jumping the puddle, check out the findings below. Using euros as the currency, and figuring for net […]
Spain 98, France 85: Behind Pau Gasol, Navarro, Ibaka, Spain makes it back-to-back titles
Big congratulations this morning go out from BallinEurope to Team Spain, which defended its European title in besting France in the 2011 FIBA EuroBasket championship game, 98-85. Particularly brilliant in this final match was Serge Ibaka, who provided five blocks and smothering defense off the bench. Five Spaniards scored in double figures, with tournament MVP […]
EuroBasket 2011: Notes, quotes, clips and Fearless Predictions™ for France vs. Spain
Hard to believe it’s almost over … after 19 days of intense basketball competition, the 2011 EuroBasket championship game features a matchup at least a few — including BallinEurope’s U.K. guy Sam Chadwick; props! — had forecast as the outcome. Spain seeks to defend its title against a star-laden France playing in its first-ever title […]
Official Fearless Predictions™: Spain vs. Slovenia, Lithuania vs. FYR Macedonia
Now things are getting interesting. Eight teams remain in EuroBasket 2011, and tonight two will be eliminated from contention for the European championship. These teams will join with the losing teams of Thursday play in a playoff round to determine the all-important no. 5 and no. 6 finishers; this two sides will join nos. 3 […]
NBA Draft expansion: What does it do to/for Europe?
Sports media and the blogosphere blew up a couple days ago, as the possibility of adding a third round to the NBA draft was reported to have been discussed as part of the ongoing labor negotiations. By day’s end Wednesday, some had publicly opined that this idea could be the “Best Thing To Come From […]
Live blogging Eurobasket 2011: Spain vs. Poland
EuroBasket 2011 tips off in Panevezys with the Spain vs. Poland game. The defending champions are bringing years of experience in Euroleague and NBA stars — among them the Gasol Brothers, Juan Carlos Navarro, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez and Felipe Reyes — while relatively unheralded Team Poland hopes to compete without Marcin Gortat. BallinEurope will […]
Eurobasket 2011: A brief roundup
On the eve of Eurobasket 2011 (finally), BallinEurope’s man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, makes his own version of BiE’s patented Fearless Predictions™ with his own brief take on the tournament contender’s chances. And if you don’t think these prognostications are indeed fearless, just scroll down to the bottom to see who he’s got taking […]
Must-see EB: Ten Eurobasket round one games to watch
Just the weekend remains before European basketball (and by extension, NBA) fans get to enjoy some tremendous high-level hoops competition in the 2011 Eurobasket competition. Despite the seeming overload of underdogs – full-on 14 of the 24 teams in the tournament are ranked 34th or lower in the official FIBA rankings – the first week […]
Greatest of all-time: Yugoslavia or Spain?
An interesting exchange of tweets went down last Friday (yes, minus points for untimeliness, but on another job BallinEurope thought deep into the matter all weekend) between HoopsHype/ESPN Deportes writer Jorge Sierra and Team Australia/Milwaukee Bucks big man Andrew Bogut. Things started innocuously enough, with Sierra plugging a Spanish-language piece he’d written for Deportes: “An […]
Beşiktaş Cola Turka eschewing Kobe for Kevin Durant?
Turkey-based news outlets are this morning reporting that Beşiktaş Cola Turka, a.k.a. Deron Williams’ new and Allen Iverson’s former team, is setting its sights on Kevin Durant as Kobe Bryant has not yet responded to overtures from the big-thinking TBL club. Turkish news outlet Milliyet stated that Durant’s agent Aaron Goodwin met with Beşiktaş president […]
Return to the top: FC Barcelona completes sweep of Bizkaia Bilboa Basket
BallinEurope congratulates another champion this morning, as FC Barcelona earned a Spanish triple crown last night by finishing off Bizkaia Bilbao Basket last night, 64-55, to sweep the ACB championship series. Barcelona ended its 2010-11 campaign, in which the Blaugrana took the Copa del Rey and regular-season title by regaining the trophy they last won […]