Washington Wizards 51
Posters absoluts & Monsterdunken: The Eurocentric slam dunk of 2011 – plus 25 others
Before BallinEurope signs off for 2011, let’s give a late Christmas gift to the dunkaholics out there, shall we? Below runs a collection compiled through the year featuring dunks by Europeans, on Europeans or perhaps simply in Continental games. The first 20 will listed by competition, followed the top five runners-up and the champion jam […]
The Eurocentric 2011-12 NBA Eastern Conference preview (plus Official Fearless Predictions™)
While basketball lovers are getting something of a Christmas gift this season in the December 25 NBA opening day – BiE says “something of” there because this belated debut is kinda like your parents saying, “Well, we’ll just give you your birthday gift at Christmas.” When your birthday’s in October – BallinEurope would like to […]
NBA Nuclear Winter settling in; Twitter bursts with news of player exodus
You know who benefits from the NBA player lockout? Twitter, that’s who. The website has become an endless source of interest as each event/non-event transpires in the NBA lockout soap opera. Minute to minute, commentators, players, pundits and rumormongers pithily weigh in and/or report on the immediate future of professional basketball in America… …and Europe! […]
Profile: Jan Vesely, Washington Wizards first-round draft pick
Despite the bad news handed down by NBA commissioner David Stern, BallinEurope’s man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, is optimistic enough to suppose that the big league will be playing ball in 2011-12 – or at least optimistic enough to submit a draft profile on Jan Vesely. How good will the Czech be once NBA […]
A dunking ninja in America: Clips, comments on Jan Vesely’s draft night
On NBA Draft night, surely no European player – not even the mysterious (to the American market) Enes Kanter – drew as much notice as no. 6 overall Jan Vesely. In a serious case of instant fame injection, the Czech big man leapt into the collective consciousness thanks to a post-draft smooch and the resulting […]
From Kanter to Bogdanovic: Brief looks at seven Europeans drafted into NBA
The 2011 NBA Draft is still going on as of this writing, but with the amazing amount of Continental players going early and often – a direct contrast to last year’s greatly Europe-bereft selections – BallinEurope gets in a quick two Eurocents with a brief look at (and YouTube clips of) the first seven players […]
CSKA Moscow takes Russian championship; J.R. Holden announces retirement
The 2010-11 champion has been named in Russia and for the ninth consecutive season, it is CSKA Moscow. Along with the exultation of the Red Army’s 74-63 victory over BC Khimki, however, came the sad (if inevitable) news that longtime Muscovite J.R. Holden would be retiring from professional basketball. Playing nearly the entire game, Holden’s […]
Parker, Noah, Diot lead big names filling France’s Eurobasket 2011 squad
Twelve players and four backups have been selected to represent France at the upcoming Eurobasket 2011 tournament; gut reaction says that Les Bleus would appear to be one of the favorites to emerge out of Group B in pool play. The group competition will include Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia and Serbia. The 12-man roster is […]
Enes Kanter at NBA Draft Combine: “Evet” to Cavs, Wolves, Wiz; “Yok” to Raps, Bucks, Jazz
As Enes Kanter’s standing rises on mock draft boards, so too is his self-confidence, it would seem. According to The Sporting News, not only does Kanter feel his game has improved despite having to sit out a season of organized ball – “I worked on my shot, on my face-up game and I think I […]
Free Enes (video)! Footage of Kanter in high school
While we in Europe have certainly not forgotten Turkish wunderkind Enes Kanter, he may have left the consciousness of many American hoops fans after having to sit out an entire 2010-11 season for which he was supposed to have played at the University of Kentucky. Neverthless, he’s still held in high esteem by those in […]
Nike Hoop Summit: Nine named to World Select Team (but not Enes Kanter)
Rosters for the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit have been released and while The Continent is well-represented on the World Select Team, BallinEurope considers there to be at least one shocking omission. Team World will include Davis Bertans (Latvia/Union Olimpija); Evan Fournier (France/Poitiers); Przemyslaw Karnowski (Poland/SMS PZKosz); Mateusz Ponitka (Poland/Tempcold AZS); and Dario Saric (Croatia/KK Zagreb). […]
Juan Dixon comeback begins today with Banvit
Thanks to an injury suffered by Antonio Graves, Turkish side Banvit had been left with a hole in the depth chart at the no. 2 spot plus a free “foreign-born player” spot on the roster – an unfortunate situation for the team, but ultimately a serendipitous chance for Juan Dixon to return to professional basketball […]