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Euroleague team preview: Montepaschi Siena
Can Montepaschi still improve? That’s the question many fans and even Euroleague 2007-2008 Executive of the Year winner Ferdinando Minucci put to the team. It’s easy to talk about windows of opportunity, but never has it been so appropriate, as Montepaschi looks at perhaps its final opportunity to get to the top of Euroleague. In […]
The Italian League explained: Part one
Some consider Serie A to be the second best European league behind (and I mean, kilometers behind) only the ACB, others consider the league’s unstoppable decreasing level which began at the beginning of new millennium. Anyway, between clubs which fail year by year, rules about US and EU players never staying consistent for more than […]
Just how good is Montepaschi Siena, anyway?
Poring over some Sporting Bet odds and lines on Lega Uno basketball reveals a stunning amount of continued domination from Montepaschi Siena. Not only is Ferdinando Minucci’s team a 4/15 favorite to take the Italian title, they’re also an incredible 3/10 favorite to once again (again!) go undefeated at home. So the question to our […]
Interview: Ten minutes with Montepaschi Siena mastermind Ferdinando Minucci
Coming up on his 20th anniversary with Montepaschi Siena, general manager Ferdinando Minucci shows no signs of letting up – either in terms of hard work on his winning ways. Minucci’s rise through the ranks in the 1990s coincided with Montepaschi’s increase in prestige in Serie A. Achieving the lofty title of General Director and […]
Yarone's Playoff joints (Round 1)
After a long rest due to Interpol checking into the legality of the Joints published on BIE, the most tiring piece of text on this blog is back, and no better timing than the quarterfinals. With all due respect to the handball match that went on in Moscow, the Game 1 joints will focus on […]
My Euroleague Playoff Tuesday
The Euroleague playoffs began this Tuesday and despite having practice during the evening, I tried to blog my playoff night as it happened. So the evening started in Moscow, of course, with the playoff opener in a tournament that is finally played in best-of-five mode.
Final tips from the Euroleague fantasy boss!
Hello NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge players all over Europe! Once again, this is Javier Gancedo, as always from Euroleague Basketball headquarters. Well, the 2008-09 NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge comes to an end this week. It has been a fantastic season for the game, I think. I guess I’ll have to do a recap next week: In fact, […]
Good night to Montepaschi's title chances?
Montepaschi Siena’s chances of winning the Euroleague title took a huge blow on Wednesday when it was announced that power forward Ksistof Lavrinovic had broken his left hand and will miss at least a month of action. The Italian club said in a statement that the Lithuanian big man had undergone successful surgery Wednesday morning […]
Tips from the Euroleague boss: Week 10
Hello everybody and happy 2009 to every BallinEurope reader! First and foremost, I must apologize for my non-blogging last week. I was on holiday and returned one hour before the games with a ton of things to do. Things didn’t go as planned, either, trades were not good and I went down some positions. Hope […]
Last-second choices for the NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge
This week looked like a very tough challenge to me as I did not expect to trade away my top performer at the moment: Pops Mensah-Bonsu. But a shoulder injury stopped the British national team player, and so I had to give him away. But for his value, I could buy two “certain” gainers instead, […]
The BallinEurope playoff roundup
The action continues in full effect, with more and more leagues entering their true decisive phases. And when the decision approaches, players begin to lose their nerves.