Category: International Basketball Blog

International basketball blog

Security concerns will not delay Euroleague game

Euroleague.net reports: Euroleague Basketball has spoken to both Partizan Igokea and Efes Pilsen in order to ensure the utmost security during Thursday night’s Top 16 game in Belgrade. Partizan and local police have guaranteed security for the visitors from Efes Pilsen, having presented a security plan approved by the Turkish Embassy in Belgrade. Euroleague Basketball has a representative present in Belgrade who will attend to any of Efes’s concerns or needs while in the city.

Reaction to Yao Ming being out for season

Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming has been lost for the remainder of the 2007-08 NBA season due to a stress fracture in his left foot.

I feel sorry for Rockets fans. They don’t deserve this. Between Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady the team over the last few years has had more injuries than the local hospital.

Here’s what they should probably do now:

– Give Luis Scola a bigger role. If he’s good enough to carry top international teams to victory, he can do more for the Rockets than he’s been asked to so far.

– Tell Rafer Alston to bust out some streetball moves during games. It may make the team lose, but it’ll entertain. He should bounce the ball off Dikembe Mutombo’s head, while moonwalking.

– Put Gerald Green out there and let him try to dunk three-pointers.

– Tell Luther Head to make like Leandro Barbosa and try to score 20 whenever possible.

– Let Mutombo give inspirational speeches to the fans during halftime while dressed like the cookie monster. It’ll amuse the kiddies.

Ilgauskas to play in Olympics

The Akron Beacon Journal (Brian Windhorst) reports: For years, Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ head and his feet said no. Now he’s able to give the answer he always has had in his heart: Yes. After a few months of thinking about it, Ilgauskas has told the Lithuanian National Team that he will play for it this summer at the Beijing Olympics, a move that has created a lot of excitement among his countrymen. ”I’ve always wanted to do it before I get too old,” said Ilgauskas, who will turn 33 in June. ”I feel like I have a lot of basketball left in me and I can help, and this is probably my last chance.”

FIBA taking 2014 world championship host bids

Following the decision taken at its last Central Board meeting, held on the 8th and 9th of December 2007 in Chicago (USA), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) opened the bidding process for the 2014 World Championship on 10th of January 2008.

With almost two and a half months still to go until the closing date for the sending of Letters of Intent confirming an interest in hosting the event, FIBA is pleased to confirm that the Danish Basketball Federation (DBBF) has become the third candidate to express an interest in bidding for the organization of the 17th edition of the FIBA World Championship, FIBA’s premier competition.

FIBA is pleased to see an emerging basketball country such as Denmark joining the two perennial European powerhouses of Spain and France.

Spanish boss: Europe not ready for NBA

SportsTicker reports: The president of the Spanish Basketball Federation believes there are many hurdles left to clear before the NBA can put expansion teams in major European cities. NBA commissioner David Stern announced on Saturday that the NBA is continuing to explore plans to expand into Europe and said that such a move could happen within a decade. But Jose Luis Saez, who has presided over a golden era of basketball in his country which culminated in Spain’s gold medal win at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, told PA SportsTicker on Monday that much work needs to be done before the idea can work.

Ray Allen ponders NBA expansion overseas

Here’s Boston Celtics All-Star Ray Allen, speaking at All-Star weekend:

Q: What are your thoughts on the NBA expanding overseas?

Ray Allen: I’d be excited about it. I think it definitely shrinks the world, and to be able to shrink the world through a sport that I play is awesome. I welcome that idea to be able to travel on a consistent basis. As much as I travel between the United States of America through all these great cities and states, I get to see so much and see so many different cultures and people. To be able to extend that to Europe… I think that would do wonders for not only basketball, but for people and cultures in the world bringing them all together through basketball.

Q: Would American players want to live overseas or would that be a problem?

Ray Allen: Well, I’m sure there’s a lot of international players who don’t want to live in America currently. It’s easy for a player now in the league to say that from having lived in America right now, but if you’re a player in college and you get drafted, you get drafted to, you know, the London Gators, you’re happy to be in the NBA. You know, when I came out of college, people were asking where I wanted to play, and I said it doesn’t matter because I’m in the NBA. I’m getting paid to do something I love and get to travel, and I’m pretty sure those would be those guys’ sentiments as they come up out of college. Right now, people are just used to their routines… living in America, thinking I wouldn’t want to play overseas… but once you understood the feel to it, I’m pretty sure a lot of people’s ideas and perceptions of those ideas would change.

Marcus Fizer injured overseas

Euroleague.net reports: Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (Israel) suffered a blow over the weekend as it learned that the injury big man Marcus Fizer suffered in Thursday’s road win at Olympiacos Piraeus has likely ended his season. During the first quarter of the game, Fizer was fouled on his way to the basket and landed badly on his right leg. He did not return to the game. After returning to Tel Aviv, an MRI revealed that Fizer sustained an internal and external tear of the meniscus in his right knee.

No Gilbert Arenas on this summer’s Team USA

The Washington Post (Michael Lee) reports: Gilbert Arenas will not be invited to try out for the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team this summer, national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said on Friday afternoon. Speaking after a ceremony to announce the finalists for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Colangelo said USA Basketball will invite 18 players to Las Vegas for a short training camp June 27-30 to determine which 12 players will represent the country in Beijing. “He’s not part of the mix,” Colangelo said of Arenas. “Not at this point, because of what transpired the first year and he was out the second year. He’s on the roster, but as of right now, we don’t see him as one of the 18.”