International Basketball Blog – Page 44 – NBA Blog

J.R. Giddens signs in Greece

Euroleague.net reports:

PAOK Thessaloniki added some scoring punch by signing swingman J.R. Giddens for the season. Giddens (1.96 meters, 26 years old) made his Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut last season with Asseco Prokom, for whom he averaged 9 points on 47.4% three-point shooting and 5.2 rebounds in 10 games. His best game was his very first: 20 points on 9-for-9 two-point shooting and 10 rebounds in a losing effort against Khimki Moscow Region. Later in the season Giddens briefly joined Valencia Basket in Spain, but left before ever appearing in a game for the Spanish club.

Xavier Silas signs in France

Euroleague.net reports:

BCM Gravelines made a change at the shooting guard spot with the addition of rookie Xavier Silas and the release of Osiris Eldridge, who had signed for the club last month. Silas (1.95 meters, 23 years old) comes from Northern Illinois University, where he spent the past two seasons. He earned All-Mid-American Conference First Team honors last season. Silas was the conference’s leading scorer and ranked seventh in all of college basketball with 22.3 points per game. Before joining the Huskies, he played two seasons of college basketball at Colorado University.

Cavs forward Luke Harangody may go overseas if lockout lingers

Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

Cavaliers forward Luke Harangody is weighing the option of playing overseas if the NBA lockout continues.

His agent, Mark Bartelstein, said he’s spoken to multiple European teams about the 6-foot-7 Notre Dame product, but stressed there is no deal imminent.

“If we feel it’s the right fit we would have to consider it,” Bartelstein said.

Harangody averaged 3.9. points and 2.9 rebounds in 49 games during his rookie season, split between the Cavs and Boston Celtics.

Future of Dirk Nowitzki on Team Germany star is uncertain

Mark Woods, special to ESPN.com, reports:

Dirk Nowitzki, as proud a German as he is a Maverick, will listen to his gut but also to his body. This summer has underlined his physical limits. He will rest up now to prepare for the NBA season, when it comes. The defense of the title will take top priority.

There is no urgent rush to confirm or reject Bauermann’s prediction. Germany, already grateful, will give him all the time he needs to decide on whether this really was the end of the road.

“I don’t know,” Nowitzki admitted after the game. “I’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings. The fans have been great. I’ve met so many great people over the years. The journalists have been great to me.

“Basketball’s given me a lot of great memories.”

Ones which will live long in the mind in Germany and beyond.

Luis Scola named MVP of 2011 FIBA Americas tournament

Argentina beat Brazil 80-75 to win the 2011 FIBA Americas championship.

FIBA.com reports:

Luis Scola was FIBA Americas MVP and top scorer.

“I wasn’t expecting this tournament to be that special. But it was so big and so great I can compare it to biggest tournaments like the Olympic Games we won,” said Luis Scola.

The Houston Rockets centre recovered from a knee surgery in April.

“It was incredible because I didn’t know if I could make it to the games due to my injury and I finished as the MVP,” added Scola, who averaged 21,4 points and 6,3 rebounds per game.

Manu Ginóbili became emotional after celebrating, jumping and singing with the crowd for 30 long minutes.

“We had 9,000 desperate people shouting for us and we were there, celebrating after 45 days of tough work,” said Manu.

Argentina beats Brazil in 2011 FIBA Americas championship game

The AP reports:

Argentina defeated Brazil 80-75 on Sunday to win the championship game of the Olympic basketball qualifying tournament for the Americas.

Luis Scola led Argentina with 32 points and Carlos Delfino added 16. Marcus Vinicuis had 17 for Brazil.

The game was mostly for pride since both teams had already won their semifinal matches on Saturday, which gave them two automatic berths in next year’s London Olympics.

The Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico 103-89 in Sunday’s third-place game. The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela—by claiming spots three, four and five in the tournament—earn places in a qualifying tournament just before the games, which will award several more berths for London.

Dirk Nowitzki, Germany bounced from EuroBasket

The AP reports:

After an off night by Dirk Nowitzki, Germany is out of the European Championship. And that means the NBA finals MVP will not be at next year’s Olympics.

Nowitzki’s poor shooting doomed his country to an 84-75 loss against Lithuania on Sunday. Germany missed out on a spot in the quarterfinals of the continental tournament and a chance to qualify for the London Games.

Germany needed to win by 11 points to advance, but never came close. Nowitzki was limited to 16 points on 4-for-17 shooting, and Lithuania made it to the knockout round.

“It’s my fault. I was not in condition to play a good tournament,” said Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA title last season.

Chris Douglas-Roberts to play in Italy

Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

Douglas-Roberts averaged 7.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 44 games with the Bucks last season, after arriving from New Jersey in a trade for a 2012 second-round draft pick.

The former Memphis star missed 15 games at the start of the season after undergoing right eye surgery.

Kenyon Martin weighing China offers

Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post reports:

A third free agent who played for the Nuggets last year is in serious talks to play in China.

Kenyon Martin has received significant interest from two professional teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, which would make him the highest-paid player in the history of that league, a source said today.

The CBA will not allow players contract opt-outs should the NBA season begins before the CBA’s season ends. The NBA is currently in a labor lockout.

The longtime Nuggets power forward is currently weighing his options. If he signed with a team he would make more than the reported $3 million that Nuggets teammate J.R. Smith would make for a Chinese team, the source said.

Russian bank part-owned by Nets owner raided by law enforcement officials

Reuters reports:

Armed, masked law enforcement officers on Thursday raided a bank part-owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, a billionaire Russian magnate who is leading a political party into a December parliamentary election, officials and lawyers said.

The head of the International Finance Club bank, known by its Russian acronym MFK, said the evening raid on the bank’s office in central Moscow had nothing to do with Prokhorov’s Right Cause party or even with the bank’s operations.

“Investigative actions were conducted in relation to one of our borrowers. This has nothing to with Right Cause or Onexim,” the bank’s chief, Oksana Lifar, told Reuters by telephone. Onexim is Prokhorov’s investment vehicle.

But the raid raised eyebrows in a country where critics of the authorities face harassment and law enforcement officers are sometimes employed to put pressure on opponents in business disputes.