Marcin Gortat 36
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 […]
Polish machine becomes photo machine on Flickr
Marcin “The Polish Machine” Gortat has an artistic side, as it turns out, and he’s willing to share. Apparently, Gortat is something of an amateur photographer and general life-documenter, as he and others capture the essence of his basketball life with the Orlando Magic and Team Poland. Gortat opened up a Flickr account in March […]
Kahn reiterates: Rights to Rubio are untouchable
Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn reiterated his bold stand on the team’s overall no. 5 NBA draft pick, Spanish wunderkind Ricky Rubio, to the Minnesota Star-Tribune last night. To wit: Rubio is untouchable in this off-season. The move by the man they sometimes call KAAAAAAAAAAAAHN prompted Star-Tribune writer Jerry Zgoda to collect quotes on […]
Must-see IPTV: This week's FIBA Basketball TV
Call it “Must See IPTV.” FIBA TV’s weekly “FIBA Basketball TV” program this week is heavy on the European flavor and spiced heavily with NBA names. Segments to watch include: 00.45: Theo Papaloukas and the rest of the recently-named Euroleague All-Decade Team. 09.00: Several superdupermegastars like Dwyane Wade, Pau Gasol and Sarunas Jasikevicius hype up […]
Gasol FIBA Men’s Player of the Year, wins both expert and popular vote
BiE supposes the only suspense with this award this year was how close things would get and who placed second. So, after the ho-hum announcement that Pau Gasol was chosen FIBA Europe Men’s Player of the Year for a second consecutive time, we today know the answers. In order, then: Not very close at all, […]
The European Player of the Year nominees are…
The nominees are in over at FIBA Europe and, with the exception of one (or two, thanks to Rubiomania) categories, voting could be pretty tight in the FIBA Europe Player of the Year 2009. Yes, Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio are on the list in a threat to become repeat winners in the Male POY […]
BallinEurope's Alternate Eurobasket 2009 All-Tournament Team
While the FIBA folks duly announced their EuroBasket 2009 All-Tournament Team directly after Spain’s thrashing of Serbia last night – and a dandy quintet it is, too – BallinEurope would like to extend some approbation to a few other ballers, some guys who proved revelatory in assisting their teams’ success almost as much or even […]
The official BallinEurope FIBA Eurobasket 2009 All First-Round Team
Since we live in the cyberworld of the sound bite, instant history and, most importantly for the sports world, hyperbole, Ball in Europe officially unveils its first-round all-stars; hey, for some of these guys, the Eurobasket tournament is *the* moment in the international spotlight, so let’s help ‘em live it up! Ladies and gentlemen, yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr […]
Eurobasket 2009, day 3: What the hell happened to Lithuania? (Also, increasingly fearless predictions)
After Lithuania fell to unheralded Poland for its second consecutive Eurobasket loss against teams they really should have outclassed, coach Ramunas Butautas had some choice quotes for his team and the public at large. “We played terrible,” Butautas said, getting no argument from any quarter. “We had no defense, no offense. We lost our game.” […]
Betting on basketball: MVP, tops in points, rebounds, assists
Tomorrow is the day: Eurobasket 2009 finally tips off. Naturally, Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor SportingBet.com has a plethora of odds and lines for your amusement, including some intriguing fodder for discussion in the form of individual-awards proposition bets. So you think you know not only who’s going to stand atop the podium when it’s over, […]
Eurobasket 2009 preview capsules, part two
Continuing BallinEurope’s encapsulated look at Eurobasket 2009 competitors, today features a brief look at six teams for your edification and amusement. Greece Group: A In brief: It doesn’t matter what international basketball competition you’re playing in these days, you don’t want to see Team Greece on your list of opponents. And this Eurobasket edition of […]
BallinEurope’s Easter eggs
No cigarettes today but we found some nice Easter eggs this weekend. So here we go.