Russia 90
Kirilenko’s last showdown
As the curtain seemingly falls on Andrei Kirilenko’s career, BallinEurope’s Emmet Ryan reflects on a player whose success almost played second fiddle to his character. Everything about the name should have fit. He’s Russian, he’s got the right initials, he was born in Izhevsk (where the rifle was first produced), and he even chose the […]
EuroBasket 2015: No Vesely no problem and Gentile steps up
It was another busy night in the second qualifying round for EuroBasket 2015, with Russia dropping their second straight while Germany and the Czech Republic bounced back. In case you need a re-cap on what the teams involved need to do to qualify, the seven group winners progress to EuroBasket 2015 along with the top […]
Even inaction is political for FIBA in Ukraine
The last thing on most people’s minds when it comes to the crisis in Crimea is basketball. FIBA Europe don’t have that luxury. Emmet Ryan says that whatever call FIBA makes on EuroBasket 2015, they will suffer for it. The road to EuroBasket 2015 had been rocky enough already before last weekend. The Crimea crisis […]
Enough with the arbitrary rankings argument
Yesterday we found out that Finland would be playing in the 2014 World Cup of Basketball. Some people were upset because of Angry Birds but plenty thought Finland’s FIBA ranking meant they were undeserving. Emmet Ryan has a problem with these arguments, especially the latter. We’ve got a pretty intelligent readership. You guys understand concepts […]
FIBA Facing World Cup Wild Card Dilemma
Greece’s double-overtime loss to Croatia compounded a problem that has been growing for FIBA since the continental tournament season began. Who gets the four wildcards? Who says you can’t get too much of a good thing? FIBA has four World Cup wildcard slots to award and plenty of willing suitors. Whatever happens, somebody is going […]
Eurobasket 2013: Which NBA players are in, which are out?
Because it’s never too early to start looking ahead to Eurobasket 2013 – wait a minute, there’s only 11 weeks left until tipoff? Definitely not too early, then, to take a look at the formative rosters for the big Continental tournament. While only a few national teams (Croatia and Lithuania among them) have released preliminary […]
France’s Livio Jean-Charles leads World Team to 112-98 shootout win, first back-to-back victory since 1999 [Highlights]
Those squeezing in viewings of the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit game between NBA playoff matches yesterday not only saw quite the shootout featuring world-class talent but also a bit of history: In upping their all-time record to 5-11 against Team USA with the 112-98 win, the World Select Team earned their second back-to-back win ever […]
Report: Ksystof Lavrinovic to leave Zalgiris Kaunas for unnamed Russian team
With the sad departure of Tremmell Darden and the mathematical probability of Euroleague advancement very low, things can’t get much worse for Zalgiris Kaunas. Or maybe they can. Just before midnight yesterday, Lithuania-based basketball website Krepsinis.net reported that Ksystof Lavrinovic has received offers to jump ship from more than one Russian team and “will soon […]
Team Russia to be AK-less for Eurobasket as Andrei Kirilenko announces retirement
But what a way to go out, eh…? Russia-based Sport Express and FIBA are this morning reporting what many have suspected all along what was inevitable: That Andrei Kirilenko is to retire from international play. Kirilenko explained that he’d already recently discussed the possibility with Russian Basketball Federation president Alexander Krasnenkov and that he “didn’t […]
Fox Sports Net: Andrei Kirilenko’s uniqueness defies technology, statistics (no kidding)
There’s an ages-old joke about the United States and the former Soviet Union’s approaches to technological innovation during the “Space Race”-dominated era of the 1960s which feels no less true in spite of its almost certain apocryphal nature. Before those days of text-messaging, tweeting and desktop computers larger than actual desk, NASA had set out, […]
Highlight of the weekend: Spartak Vladivostok get surprise assist in match vs. Unics Kazan
A shout out to Sportando, which draws our attention this morning to what could very well be “The Assist of the Year.” From the yesterday’s Unics Kazan-Spartak Vladivostok PBL match, here’s Troy Gillenwater beating a zone defense by cleverly finding the open man – Gundars Vetra – who in turn feeds Aleksei Golyakhov for the […]
BC Khimki crisis update: Strike is on, but players practicing independently until Friday
The plot thickens. With the players apparently not willing to grant the BC Khimki front office another week to sort out its financial mess, the roster is reportedly now officially on strike. Russia-based blogger Vladimir Spivak of YouthHopes.ru provided a few updates on Twitter at about noon CET today. Spivak tweeted word from Zoran Planinic, […]