Yao Ming 13
On Barack Obama and basketball diplomacy
Note: This piece was first published in February 2012. Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the […]
Why won’t Vladimir Micov dunk? Because “two points is two points”
BallinEurope finally got some time to catch up on some past-due internet reading this weekend, including the immortal Javier Gancedo’s interview with Euroleague Top 16 assist leader Vladimir Micov of Bennet Cantù, perhaps the revelation of European basketball in 2011-12. In the Q&A, Micov touches on subjects including his personal success, Cantù fans and the […]
Basketball diplomacy: Obama plagiarizes self in praise of Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli
Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the planet – Enrico Cellini has noticed that Obama’s effusive […]
Anton Larsen: “One great player to give Denmark hope”?
Denmark is one rarely associated with great basketball; indeed, the men’s national team is ranked no. 111 in the current FIBA standings, putting them well behind basketball powers such as Liberia and Togo. Despite it all, suggests Tom Schad in the Copenhagen Post Online, “Denmark could become world beaters in basketball.” Citing the examples of […]
Vesely named FIBA Europe young player of 2010
[Editor’s note: BallinEurope apologizes for a previous edition of this piece which incorrectly identified Jan Vesely as having rights owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was a grievous error of which you surely need not know details. Rest assured that the infinite number of monkeys formerly ravaging the BiE headquarters are now under control […]
Practice? Not for Steve Francis, who’s out in China
For all those debating the wisdom and/or point of Allen Iverson’s playing in Turkey, BallinEurope asks you to consider the career of Steve Francis in China, which, according to an early-morning report today, is over after just 13 days and four games. The Beijing Shougang Ducks will cut Francis today, a day after his second […]
Kobe Bryant: "European player development superior to that of U.S."
In lieu of preparing for the 2010 FIBA World Championship with Team USA (sigh), Kobe Bryant has been visiting China this week as part of a promotional tour the locals are calling “Kobe 24 Live.” (Read: Kobe’s in Asia hocking basketball shoes.) Putting in an appearance yesterday afternoon at 4.20pm in Changchun, Kobe signed a […]
2010 FIBA World Championship odds: Looking for a dark horse {advertorial}
So call BallinEurope kooky: While everyone else with an eye on basketball – even European basketball, for Arvydas Sabonis’ sake – is concentrating on the NBA free-agent market, BiE is all attention on the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men tipping off in Turkey in August. Naturally, bookmakers too are into it and the early […]
Kobe likely addition to no-shows for 2010 FIBA World Championship
The folks at FIBA are referring to the upcoming 2010 World Championship tournament in Turkey as a “Giant Get-Together,” but with every passing day it seems the meeting gets just a bit smaller. In seemingly the first mention of such an exclusion, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo lumped Kobe Bryant in with confirmed or near-confirmed […]
Is Dirk Nowitzki really the greatest European NBA player ever?
“When it’s all said and done Dirk will end up being the greatest European basketball player to ever play in the NBA, if he isn’t already.” So ran the tangential line from within a story at Bleacher Report entitled “A New Decade: A New Future.” Though this contention is taken for granted in the U.S., […]
Pau Gasol's Fave 5
NBA Playoff time! Which means I am turning on my (OK, OK, Michelle, it’s not mine) Slingbox to watch some NBA action. Just no – the Lakers are playing the Jazz and up to this point are really killing them. During halftime, Pau Gasol was asked about his five favorite international players. He wanted to […]
Olympic Quarterfinals review
Today, the four quarterfinals of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament saw only one close game. Luckily, I had the opportunity to see at least the second half of this thriller.