Category: International Basketball Blog

International basketball blog

Celtics playing October preseason game in Milan, Italy

Boston Celtics playing October preseason game in Milan, Italy

Here’s the WEEI blog reporting on the Boston Celtics, who are playing an international exhibition game in October:

The Celtics will be going international to open their preseason this fall.

The NBA, in conjunction with Euroleague Basketball and RCS Sport, confirmed Wednesday that the Celtics will play a preseason game on Oct. 6 against Olimpia Milano in Milan, Italy, as part of NBA Global Games Europe 2015.

The 17-time NBA champion will play the three-time Euroleague champion and 26-time Italian League champion Olimpia Milano at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan.

“On behalf of the Celtics organization, we are proud to return to Milan for NBA Global Games 2015,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said in a statement. “I have particularly fond memories of playing in Europe almost 30 years ago, and I am sure our current players will relish this unique opportunity.”

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.