Zydrunas Ilgauskas 29
The Eurocentric 2010-11 NBA Preview (or How the Hoops World revolves around Europe)
With the 2010-11 NBA season tipping off tonight, BallinEurope marks the occasion in the best way possible: By overrating the league’s Continental players and making a few offhand Fearless Predictions™ in the guise of a preview column. Brief notes and snarky remarks on all 25 NBA teams follow. (Yes, BiE said “all 25.” Since the […]
CSKA Moscow meets the Heat as Euroleague American Tour 2010 tips off
The Russians have landed in Florida and they’re ready: Five days after the defending NBA and Euroleague champions met in Barcelona, a pair of would-be dethroners will meet when the supercharged Miami Heat host CSKA Moscow in the first game of the Euroleague American Tour 2010. A few connections between players on both sides may […]
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 […]
Rumor mill: Sasha Kaun closer to Cleveland Cavaliers?
Even if their club doesn’t manage to re-sign Lebron James (cf. recent second meeting between the King’s men and New York Knicks officials), fans can take solace in the fact that their Cleveland Cavaliers may soon be showing off “one of the best centers in Europe.” Okay, so BiE wouldn’t go that far. But after […]
Where will NBA's European free agents go?
While everyone else in the basketball universe is watching the minute-by-minute maneuvers of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the like, BallinEurope has an eye on those powers from The Continent who may be moving around within the NBA to help reshape rosters for the 2010-11 season. Our man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, […]
From A.I. to Zalgiris: The top stories in 2009-10 European basketball
As BallinEurope closes the book on the 2009-10 basketball season, it’s time to take stock of the year that was with the clarity of history. Without further ado, let’s retrospect on the top 10 Eurocentric basketball stories of the season.
WWDD? (What would Dirk do?) Four destinations for free agent Nowitzki
So the big German’s gonna do it, huh? The ever-loyal Dirk Nowitzki, he whom many would dub “the greatest European player of all-time,” will apparently be leaving the only NBA home he’s ever known to test the free-agent waters this summer, opting out of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks. Not that anyone asked, but […]
In return to Cleveland Cavaliers, Big Z gets W, standing O
Absence does make the heart grow fonder, it seems. After being away from the NBA team he’d called home since entering the league in 1997 for six due to some financial manipulation by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards, Zydrunas Ilgauskas returned to the floor for the Cavs. On “Kid’s Night” at “Quicken Loans Arena,” […]
Zydrunas saga update: Z. wants ring, wants it with Cleveland
The latest chapter in the Ilgauskas-back-to-Cleveland is a short one, best summarized in a single emphatic line from agent Herb Rudoy and run in Associated Press stories: “It is Zydrunas’ desire to return to the Cavaliers if a suitable contract can be agreed upon.”
Best of the (basketball) net: Happy Birthday, Charles edition
Ball in Europe will be rounding up this weekend’s European cup action tomorrow, but for today here are a handful of stories from the interwebs this week about every other subject in a seven-day span spent mostly between deprogramming from NBA All-Star Weekend and preparing for the Copa del Rey. • The best post of […]
Ruminations on ex-Cavalier Ilgauskas (Come to Europe, Z…)
Did you know that Zydrunas Ilgauskas is the Cleveland Cavaliers’ all-time leader in games played, minutes played, blocked shots, offensive rebounds, and total rebounds? Or that the sportswriting team at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer just this month named him the fifth-best player in Cavaliers history? Maybe, maybe not: After all, for most of his 12 seasons […]
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., […]