let's follow eurobasket this season

i am kinda confused about this whole thing tbh, for example i don't really understand the difference between euroleague and eurobasket - i basically just get this stuff from sebastian pruitti's twitter and watch the livestreams he posts. also i think this starts in like 3 weeks but there are games gooing on right now - i guess these are friendlies? anyway this is supposed to be pretty high-level basketball and i guess there's a bunch of nba players/talent over there and i'm seriously fiending for some basketball to watch so i want to become a euroleague fan. who's with me?

eurobasket sounds like a knockoff ikea

anyway, i'm down 4 this -- i unfollowed pruiti at the beginning of the summer bcuz he was liveblogging euro games that i wasn't watching

a few days ago i found the site that had the league breakdown like how the regular season games are played, and which teams make the playoffs etc - it had some kind of countdown til tipoff or something on the top of the homepage - i can't find it now

i think d-will plays for besiktas (aka turkey? idk)

http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=tur&Team=1035

what is this?

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/teams

Eurobasket is a national competition like the World Championships or the Olympics or whatever - some of the athletes representing Poland or whatever are Americans who came over after college and got citizenship, but most are just dudes from that country. Deron Williams wouldn't be allowed to play in it.

Besiktas is a Turkish club side, like the Suns or Knicks or whatever. They have an incredibly intense rivalry with another Turkish side, Galatasaray. They play in three competitions simultaneously. the Turkish league, the Turkish cup (a single-elimination tournament like the NCAA or whatever) and the Euroleague, a tournament for all the top teams across Europe.

The thing happening now is the 'Spor Toto World Cup' which is some nonsense tournament between Germany, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine - I think Enes Kanter is meant to be playing?

Actually, that's not quite accurate - Besiktas aren't in the Euroleague, because they're not enough, so they play in the Eurocup instead, a competition for second-tier teams. If they do well this season they can qualify for the Euroleague next season, but DWill will be gone by then - I'm not sure why he decided to go to a crummy team tbh.

er, not good enough, even.

eurobasket is the top-tier league in europe, correct? made up of basically a bunch of national teams?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroBasket_2011

You're confusing it with Euroleague, I think. National teams don't have season-long schedules or pay salaries, clubs do.

But Euroleague doesn't begin until October, so you might as well explore alternative until then.

I just checked the ESPN3 schedule and the regional tournaments (the Euros and the North/South/Central American championships) begin August 30. There are 10+ games every day for a week, then the knockout rounds in the second week of September. FIBA Americas championship game is Sept. 11, Eurobasket is Sept. 18.

You can pick up live streams even if you don't have ESPN3, but if you're in the US and you want to watch a lot of the European stuff, it's fantastic because you can watch on-demand any time. The Eurobasket games are all between 8am and 4pm Eastern.

sorry for tuomas but

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroBasket_2011_squads

seems like these are national teams?

Yeah, sorry, I was just saying it's a tournament not a league. It'll be on for two weeks, then not again until 2013, and D-Will won't be there.

The quality of play will probably be higher in the Euroleague, since those teams have more cohesion due to regular training instead of being (largely) thrown together in the few weeks before a summer tournament, like the national teams.

ok i think i get this now

eurobasket = national teams, lotta nba players who have citizenship play in this, monthlong tounament a la world cup basically
euroleague = basically just a league made up of various teams from across europe, nba players usually would not be involved with this because its schedule conflicts w/ the nba's, but this is what some american players like d-will melo amare cp3 would join if there is no nba

xp

so this thread is basically "let's watch eurobasket this year, then follow euroleague"

thx boxall

Exactly. Though as noted upthread, it seems D-Will screwed up by joining the Euro equivalent of the Nets after they've already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

spain is stackeddd btw

Yeah I saw their squad, looks pretty sweet.

In the Americas tournament Brazil named Nene, Varejao & Splitter in their squad, ARG had all their big names too, Al Horford for the DR, JJ Barea for Puerto Rico. Though wiki suggested some of these might not be able to play b/c the NBA won't insure them and their national teams might not want to pay for that either.

very appropraite that ron artestmetta world peace is looking to sign with a british team *zing*

serge ibaka is on spain's eurobasket squad = found my team to root for

spain is kinda a euromuderer's row

That Turkey frontcourt vs the Gasols & Ibaka should be fun.

very appropraite that ron artestmetta world peace is looking to sign with a british team *zing*

It's really impossible to overstate how bad UK pro basketball is - like the national team is just about okay but they *all* play abroad - Ron Ron would likely be, without exaggeration, the only player in the country to have played D1 ball.

And when I say "just about okay", I mean "our starting point guard was a walk-on at Kent State".

Parker/Nando De Colo/Batum/Diaw/Noah is a nice starting five too.

Though wiki suggested some of these might not be able to play b/c the NBA won't insure them and their national teams might not want to pay for that either.

That would really suck, because I was kinda hopeful that the opposite would happen - guys like Dirk, Luol Deng (GB) and AK47 don't get to play for their national teams much 'cos the owners hate it - would be the best Eurobasket ever if they were all suddenly freed.

dirk is playing this year!

yeah I heard that british bball is consistently the worst in all of europe - I was more joking about ron artest + london riots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-H9S2Kx2A

looks like mozgov is still p slow

niiice

portugal-finland friendly

http://www.webcaston.com/trfgfjhgdf

er, not a friendly, the top 2 of this finland/portugal/hungary pool gets the last two spots in eurobasket 2011

this is where we are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroBasket_2011_qualification#Additional_Qualifying_Round

spain (rubio, gasols, ibaka) vs slovenia

http://antenasportbox.webcindario.com/

pau gasol from downtown!

http://thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2011/08/eurobasket-2011-preview-overview.html

haha dj mbenga got cut from belgium's roster

kind of excited about eurobasket!

American fans should be prepared to see much more off-ball movement than in the NBA game--more moving parts to deal with in FIBA ball. Expect plenty of back cuts, back picks, moving picks and big guys squirting out to the 3pt line from the interior. Offenses with reads, counterplays, and counterplays to the counterplays. You'll see a lot of double-high post action--basically every team runs some Horns set (double-high post with the wings spread wide in the corners). A lot of international coaches like to keep the basket area open. Expect to see some teams run variations of the Princeton offense, some will run variations of the flex, others run UCLA sets.

This sounds pretty great.

why are none of u giving me eurobasket updates >:|

Hasn't started yet?

Do you get ESPN3 through your internet provider, k3v?

i think so but i don't have power atm thanks to the hurricane

From a league of legends forum, of all places!

The jump ball of the 37th EuroBasket is about to take place in 7 hours. I am not sure if Leaguecraft has a large number of basketball fans (it does not seem so) but I wanted to make a thread about the EuroBasket and I am pretty sure that some people will be interested in it (we cannot be completely devoid of basketball fans).

First things first, let's start with the groups.

Group A (matches taking place in Panevezys): Spain, Poland, Turkey, Portugal, Lithuania, Great Britain.

Group B (matches taking place in Siauliai): Serbia, Italy, France, Latvia, Germany, Israel.

Group C (matches taking place in Alytus): Montenegro, FYROM, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Finland.

Group D (matches taking place in Klaipeda): Belgium, Georgia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine.

Each team faces another team once and so after 5 games the group phase is over. The 3 top teams of each group are going to advance in the next stage.

I'll present with my personal thoughts about the groups, now.

Group A:

Spain, Turkey and Lithuania are by far the favourites of this group. They are very good teams and they have a strong basketball history. On the other hand, Poland, Portugal and Great Britain are nowhere in this league. Poland, in particular, is going to appear without their NBAer, Marcin Gortat, due to an injury and so their stances are even slimmer. Portugal is a decent team but they do not have the same level of competitive experience that Spain, Turkey and Lithuania have. Great Britain is in a better spot the last few years after the union of the English, Scottish and Welsh basketball teams (despite the Scottish and Welsh national teams still standing on their own) and have some excellent players in their roster like Luol Deng but they are not as experienced when it comes to major tournaments. Spain has an amazing roster and with the addition of Serge Ibaka even their minor defensive problems are going to disappear. Lithuania is weakened by the loss of Darjus Lavrinovic but they have a great depth as well and are not going to have major issues (not on the group stage at least). Last but not least, Turkey may be in a transitional period and suffering a big loss with Semih Erden's injury but they still possess a great squad and some amazing players in the faces of Ömer Asik, Ersan Ilyasova, Hidayet Türkoglu, Kerem Tunçeri, Ender Arslan and many others.

My odds for this group: Spain doing an easy 5-0, Lithuania and Turkey battling for the 2nd place (Lithuania is a tad more likely to take it, imo), Portugal coming 4th, Great Britain coming 5th and Poland coming 6th.

Group B:

This group is a real hell. It will be by far the most exciting group to watch (damn you, Greek TV for not covering this group's games). Basically, anything can happen in this group as all 6 teams are very competitive and experienced. You cannot rule out any of the 6 teams. Germany is a powerhouse in European basketball and always is a contender for the title. Serbia is one of the biggest basketball schools in Europe and despite having a young squad, they are always strong and you cannot underestimate them (especiall, when their squad has players of the caliber of Milos Teodosic, Milenko Tepic, Nenad Krstic and Marko Keselj). Italy is a big basketball school as well and with players like Danilo Gallinari, Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli is not to be taken lightly either. France possess a strong squad which is very capable both in defence (Joakim Noah) and in offence (Tony Parker, Florent Pietrus). Isreal is a very tough team that has only failed to qualify twice for the EuroBasket (1989 and 1991) since 1959 and despite not winning a medal since 1979, it posses some great players such as David Blu, Lior Eliyahu, Yotam Halperin and Guy Pnini. Last but not least, Latvia is an strong basketball school as well. The Latvians may not be as famous about their basketball skills as their neighbourinig Lithuanians but they are certainly good at it. Their 2011 squad is the youngest (average age less than 23 years old) and the tallest ever (average height 1.99m) that Latvia has presented. They do lack a bit in experience but their enthusiasm may make up for it.

My odds for this group: Germany and Serbia are probably going to compete for the first two positions and are the most likely to advance. France and Italy are not as reliable as the above to and are possible to flop. Latvia and Israel are going to prove fierce opponents and are very likely to cause upsets. Latvia can even surprise us all and take the 3rd position of the group. All in all, this group will be very exciting

Group C:

This group consists of 2 traditionally competitive teams (Greece and Croatia), 2 mildly experienced but not over-achieving teams (FYROM and Bosnia), a team who making its debut on the competition (Montenegro) and a team who is re-appearing after a dry-spell period (Finland). Greece is going through an overhaul and presents a team that lack some of its big starts (Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Sxortsianitis to name a few) but has a very good mix of experienced players (Antonis Fotsis, Nikolaos Zisis) and young talents (Nick Calathes, Konstantinos Papanikolaou) that can easily get the team past the group phage. Crotia, another traditional basketball powerhouse, is presenting a young team packed with talent along with some experienced players (Marko Popovic, Dontaye Draper) that provide the experience that is needed. Montenegro, despite making its debut in the EuroBasket, has a quite experienced roster since a number of its players have competed in past EuroBasket tournaments under the colors of Serbia and Montenegro. Milko Bjelica, Vlado Scepanovic, Nikola Pekovic, Milos Borisov, Goras Jeretin and Omar Cook possess tons of experience and knowledge and coupled with the energy and enthusiasm that the younger players bring to the mix are quite capable of achieving an impressive run on their team's debut in the EuroBasket. FYROM possess a decent squad with players like Vlado Ilievski, Pero Antic, Todor Gechevski, Darko Sokolov and Bo McCalleb that is able to make some quite good appearances (and may even cause upsets if the enemy underestimates them). Bosnia and Herzegovina despite never being a top contender is a decent team. The team possess some good players (Henry Domercant, Nemanja Gordic and Kenan Bajramovic) and can prove a difficult opponent. Last but not least, Finland returns to EuroBasket after dry-spell period and is eager to pitch itself against Europe's best teams once again. Judging by their impressive perfomance in the Additional Qualifying Round they can prove a difficult team to beat.

My odds for this group: Greece is very likely to progress and taking the first place of the group is also possible. Croatia and Montenegro will likely battle for the second place (Montenegro being the one more likely to win it). Finland can make the surprise and grab the 3rd place, leaving Croatia outside. Bosnia and FYROM will not be easy to beat but I don't see them finishing higher than 4th.

Group D:

Russia is without a doubt the strongest team (overally) in this group. Russia was always one of the super-powers of European basketball and they still have a very strong squad. Kirilenko, Monya, Mozgov, Ponkrashov, Khryapa, Fridzhon and Vorontsevich are excellent players and David Blatt is one hell of a coach. Slovenia is a very strong team as well. Jaka Lakovic, Uros Slokar, Samo Udrih, Matjaz Smodis and Goran Dragic are amazing players and able to make a difference. Ukraine is a decent team with some very good players (Kyrylo Fesenko, Oleksiy Pecherov and Stiven Bertt) and is capable of creating upsets and prove itself a hardy opponent. Belgium has some good and experienced players such as Ilunga Mbenga and Marcus Faison but I don't see their overall team strength matching that of the other teams in the group. Bulgaria is a hardy team and has some good players like Earl Rowland but similarly with Belgium I do not seem them matching the strength of the other 4 teams. Last but not least, Georgia is actually a really nice team. Marquez Haynes is a very good talent, Nikoloz Tskitishvili is a very experienced player and Zaza Pachulia is one of the toughest big men in Europe at the moment. I see interesting potential in the Georgian team.

My odds for this group: Russia will finish first. Slovenia will come second. Georgia and Ukraine will battle for the 3rd place (with Georgia being the most possible to win it). Belgium will probably finish fifth and Bulgaria last.

I'll update this thread regularly with the results of the games. Good luck to all the teams!

serbia/italy
spain/poland

www.espn3.cmo

espn3.com

serbia/italy is a dope game

group E is totally stacked

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/EuroBasketroundtwo-110906/eurobasket-second-round-preview

we're fucking up guys

Will watch the semis and final of this, I think. Did you watch the S. American championship game (ARG-BRA) k3vin?

nahhh i've been so busy with school i haven't been watching much hoops at all