Category: International Basketball Blog

International basketball blog

More overseas games for Celtics next season

More overseas games for Celtics next season

Here’s the Boston Herald reporting on the Celtics, who are already one of the most famous basketball teams in the world and will get even more live-and-in-person overseas exposure next season:

The Celtics might not be among the better NBA teams in the United States these days, but the franchise continues to be a major brand beyond the borders.

As such, it will soon be announced that the club is playing a third international game outside of the league’s footprint. It was reported here in November that the Celts will play preseason games in Milan and Madrid against local teams next October, and sources now say they will play a regular-season game against Sacramento in Mexico City in late November or early December.

The Kings will be the home team in that game, meaning the Celtics still will have 41 dates at the Garden, not including the preseason and playoffs.

Metta World Peace signs in Italy

Metta World Peace signs in Italy

Metta World Peace signs in Italy

Metta World Peace remains alive and well, and is still a basketball player. And will be taking his talents to Italy.

The Italian basketball team Pallacanestro Cantu, via their verified account, tweets that they have signed World Peace (the artist formerly known as Ron Artest) for the remainder of their season.

It’ll be interesting to see how Metta fares at this late stage of his playing career.

Gani Lawal signs in Athens, Greece

Gani Lawal signs in Athens, Greece

Here’s EurocupBasketball with an update on Gani Lawal:

Panathinaikos Athens added size and intimidation to its front court with the signing of big man Gani Lawal on Saturday. Lawal (2.05 metres, 26 years old) arrives from the Turkish side Trabzonspor where so far this season he averaged 9.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in the Turkish League, and 9.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in EuroChallenge action. Last season he played with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, winning the Italian League title and being the second overall blocker of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague playoffs, rejecting 7 shots in 4 games.

Dallas Mavericks sign guard Yuki Togashi

mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Yuki Togashi.

Togashi (5-7, 143) was most recently a member of the Mavericks’ NBA Summer League team. In his four games, he averaged 5.3 points and 1.3 rebounds while shooting .467 from the field.

A native of Niigata, Japan, Togashi attended high school in the United States at Montrose Christian School which produced NBA players Kevin Durant, Terrence Ross and Greivis Vasquez. He was part of the 2011 Montrose team that captured the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational title.

Togashi graduated high school in 2012 and returned to Japan to play professionally in the Basketball Japan League. He signed with the Akita Northern Happinets and averaged 16.3 points, a league-high 7.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 58 games during the 2013-14 season.

Rockets maintain relationships in China

Here’s the Houston Chronicle Blog reporting on the Rockets:

Rockets CEO Tad Brown, former player Clyde Drexler and point guard Pat Beverley just returned from a trip to China where they met with some of the Rockets’ business partners and interacted with the fan base.

“It’s always great to go to China,” Brown said. “We are the most popular NBA team in China by a longshot and its great to reconnect with the fan base every year and see the passion they have for the Rockets.”

It was a quick trip — the three left Friday and returned Tuesday morning. In the short amount of time, they were able to make time for a handful of events and appearances to go along with the business meetings.

Brown said that Beverley was a hit among the fans.

Rudy Gay suffers fracture in jaw, broken tooth at World Cup

Here’s ESPN.com reporting on a Team USA player that recently took a nasty hit while playing in the World Cup:

Rudy Gay suffers fracture in jaw, broken tooth at World Cup

Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay said he has a fracture in his jaw and a broken tooth, but he insists that won’t keep him off the court as Team USA plays Serbia in the gold medal game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Sunday.

Gay suffered the injuries after getting elbowed in the fourth quarter of Team USA’s 96-68 victory over Lithuania in the semifinals on Thursday night in Barcelona.

“I’ve got a fracture in my jaw, a broken tooth and am going to probably need a root canal,” Gay told USA Today Sports on Saturday. “The top is where I got hit. It’s painful. It’s uncomfortable, and it still bleeds, so I’ve got to continuously gargle. It is what it is, man.”

Future of Pau Gasol on Spanish national team in doubt

Here’s Reuters reporting on an aging basketball legend:

Future of Pau Gasol on Spanish national team in doubt

Spain centre Pau Gasol has doubts about his future with the national team following the hosts’ shock quarter-final defeat by France at the basketball World Cup on Wednesday.

The Spaniards, packed with NBA talents and joint favourites with the United States, were expected to reach the final but the contest against France which began with fans in festive spirits ended with calls for coach Juan Antonio Orenga to resign.

The defeat could well mean the end of an era for a successful Spanish side who lifted the 2006 World Cup, bagged silver medals at the last two Olympics and won two of the last three European Championships.

“You never know when it is your last game or your last tournament,” Gasol told reporters after the 65-52 loss.

The Chicago Bulls player has been the talisman for the side but he, like several others in the squad, are approaching the end of their illustrious careers.