Category: International Basketball Blog

International basketball blog

Wizards forward Trevor Booker excited to play in Israel

Michael Lee of the Washington Post (blog) reports:

Trevor Booker

No one knows for sure when the next NBA season will begin, but Wizards forward Trevor Booker has already ensured that he will be playing professional basketball this fall. Booker signed a one-year deal on Thursday with Israeli Basketball League team Bnei HaSharon that has an opt-out clause that will allow him to return to the Wizards whenever the lockout ends.

Booker is the first member of the Wizards to sign with a team overseas since the lockout began on July 1. Booker’s agent, Andy Miller, said that Booker had been “getting an earful for about 40 days” about the possibility of playing overseas until the right deal came along with the team that plays in the top division of Israeli basketball. Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld’s son, Dan, played for Bnei HaSharon last season.

Booker has traveled overseas to Turkey and Serbia and said he was “definitely open.” After speaking with his parents, Booker decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“I’m real excited,” Booker said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I get to play against some competition again. I think it will be a neat experience, so I’m definitely excited.”

Patty Mills denies signing with team in Turkey

AAP via Fox Sports Australia reports:

Patrick Mills

A number of media outlets had reported that the Boomers star – after finishing his second season with the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA – had inked a one-year deal with the Anadolu Efes team in Istanbul.

Mills, 22, said his agent was in talks with a number of European clubs, including Anadolu Efes, but denied a deal had been signed.

“I want to make it clear I have not signed with any team in Turkey,” Mills said on Friday.

“I have received offers from teams, but I have not come to any agreements with any team there.”

Dirk Nowitzki will not consider overseas offers until after European championships

Dirk Nowitzki

Marc Stein of ESPN reports:

There have been offers from China, feelers from teams around Europe and, of course, aggressive interest from Bayern Munich and other top clubs in his native Germany.

But Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki isn’t ready to think about playing abroad in the event of an extended lockout.

Two weeks into his training for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania with the German national team, after a month of championship celebrations that he says went by way too fast, Nowitzki told ESPNDallas.com in a phone interview Thursday that he plans to wait until after the European championships before he thinks seriously about playing in a foreign league.

Spending the week in Berlin to combine a commercial shoot with private training sessions with longtime mentor Holger Geschwindner, Nowitzki said: “I’m going to play the Euros and then see where the lockout is after that. Until then, I’m not going to look at playing anywhere else.”

The EuroBasket tournament runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 18.

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Jorge Garbajosa re-signs in Spain

Euroleague.net reports:

Unicaja reached a new agreement with power forward Jorge Garbajosa to keep him in the team next season. Garbajosa (2.05 meters, 33 years old) re-joined Unicaja midway through last season, averaging 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 11 Spanish League games. He had started the 2010-11 season with Real Madrid and averaged 5.4 points in 11 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games before moving back to Malaga. Garbajosa led the club to its glory days in his previous two years in Unicaja. He simply took the club to the highest level, leading Unicaja to its only domestic titles so far, the 2005 Spanish King’s Cup and the 2006 Spanish League crown, earning finals MVP in both events. Garbajosa had a stellar Euroleague career, helping Benetton Treviso reach the title game in 2003, when he was an All-Euroleague first team selection.

Was Dwyane Wade offered $2 million per month to play in China?

Dwyane Wade takes it home!

It’s quite probable we have a lost in translation moment here — and there are a lot of those when it comes to overseas sports media outlets in very far-away places — but if not, Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade may have been offered a lot of money to take his talents to China.

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:

Dwyane Wade’s tour of China was designed to promote the products he endorses. He apparently has done a decent job of promoting himself, as well.

The Chengdu Daily is reporting that Chinese Basketball Association team Zhejiang Guangsha has offered the Miami Heat guard $2 million per month to play in Hangzhou, where Wade visited last week.

While the Chinese basketball site niubball.com reported that the offer was denied by a Zhejiang Lions team official, Wade continues to remain noncommittal about his plans amid the NBA lockout.

“We are not there yet,” Wade told the China Daily. “We are going to start working out. The time to consider that has not come.”

Again, I tend to be very hesitant to believe such reports. One outlet in China says one thing, while on-record officials, and other outlets deny it. So, take this with a grain of salt.

But perhaps it’s a sign of things to come in the near future.

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Jordan Farmar signs in Israel

jordan farmar

Euroleague.net reports:

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv moved to shore up its backcourt by signing point guard Jordan Farmar, a two-time NBA champion, to a one-year deal on Wednesday. Farmar (1.88 meters, 24 years old, arrives from New Jersey of the NBA, where he averaged 9.6 points and 5 assists in 24.6 minutes per game. Farmar played the his first four years as a pro with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning NBA titles in 2009 and 2010 while coming off the bench for 18 minutes per game, averaging 6.8 points and 2 assists. His best season statistically with Los Angeles was 2007-08, when he put up 9.1 points and 2.7 assists in 20 minutes per game.

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Luol Deng cleared to play for Britain in European championship tournament

Luol Deng

The AP reports:

Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng has been cleared to play for Britain in the European Basketball Championships after resolving a dispute over insurance.

Deng says on his website Wednesday that “significant liability issues” have been overcome to allow him to play in the tournament. The championships run from Aug. 31-Sept. 18 in Lithuania.

He says “playing for GB is always important to me so I’m really glad we could resolve this. It has been a long process but a great team effort.”

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Boniface N`Dong re-signs in Spain

Euroleague.net reports:

Spanish League champion FC Barcelona Regal has retained another big man who helped win the Euroleague title in 2010, center Boniface Ndong, for one more year, the club announced Tuesday. Ndong (2.13 meters, 33 years old) averaged 6.2 points and 12 minutes per game last season. As such, his scoring average per 40 minutes was 22.8 points, the fourth-best among all Turkish Airlines Euroleague players. Ndong joined Barcelona for its run to the title in 2009-10 after having played his first two Euroleague seasons with another Spanish team, Unicaja. Before that, he played in four other countries since having discovered basketball as a teen in his homeland, Senegal. He started playing professionally in Germany with Rattlesdorf and Breitengrussbach.

Joakim Noah set to join French national team

Joakim Noah

The AP reports:

Injured Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah should be ready to join his France teammates later this week, the French Basketball Federation said.

Noah has been having treatment in Los Angeles on his right ankle. The French team’s osteopath and the Bulls’ physiotherapist are said to be happy that Noah’s injury has responded well to treatment.

“After seeing the conclusions from the two specialists, the franchise (Chicago Bulls) doctor should give his accord for Joakim Noah to return to the France team, without having to go to Chicago,” the FFBB said Monday on its website.

France is training in Pau this week ahead of the European Championship. France will play Latvia on Aug. 31.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Just to clarify, this has basically nothing to do with the NBA lockout. This is just the European championship and has nothing to do with next season, in the NBA or elsewhere.