BARCELONA — Bo McCalebb stands to Andrei Kirilenko’s left with Macedonia’s flag draped around his neck. Several feet to Bo’s left, just past Tony Parker and right before Pau Gasol is Juan Carlos Navarro, still wearing his number seven España jersey and smiling weakly. Both Bo and La Bomba are holding onto their All EuroBasket trophies, the undeniable heroes of the summer. But only Navarro waits on a medal. A gold one, in fact. That’s how it works when you’re a
Gibson Column: Euroleague ready to begin
By Nick Gibson of EuroleagueAdventures.com BARCELONA — With the NBA set to resume labor talks on Tuesday, only one thing’s for sure: there will be a Euroleague box score from Monday night for the sides to check out, if they so choose, in their respective caucus rooms. It will include the names Ty Lawson, Andrei Kirilenko, Sonny Weems, Nenad Krstic and DeJuan Collins. The Euroleague opens Monday night with CSKA Moscow playing Zalgiris Kaunas, and Wednesday there are four more contests before six on Thursday. On Friday, a little dessert: Bilbao vs. Olympiacos. Mmm…my
Gibson Column: On Kobe, Kirilenko and Parker in Europe
By Nick Gibson of EuroleagueAdventures.com Tony Parker hired himself for minimum wage, Andrei Kirilenko pointed a gun at Viktor Khryapa and Kobe Bryant got a step closer to Virtus Bologna, even though it may be only temporarily. Three players—three All-Stars—that have played their entire (American) pro careers in one uniform are ready to wear new colors in exchange for money while the lockout sorts itself out. It’s been a busy week. But busy means great for European basketball, right? Not absolutely. While the continent would never pass up
Gibson column: Euroleague Preview
By Nick Gibson of EuroleagueAdventures.com Kevin Durant doesn’t seem too keen on spending his lockout overseas. Dwight Howard says he has a soft spot for China, but that’s what Dwight Howard does: says things. And though self-proclaimed Europhile Kobe Bryant has entertained overtures from Italian and Turkish squads (Chinese, too), not even the Black Mamba has inked a deal that would keep him busy while the NBA plays its games in conference rooms instead of on basketball courts. So no, we haven’t seen
Eurobasket: Navarro’s “masterpiece” puts Spain into 2012 Olympics
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — “He was like a maestro today. He was like a picture in the Louvre or something like that — just beautiful. Juan Carlos, you’ve got to recognize, is one of the artists of European basketball.” It was a DaVinci of a quote that Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo delivered Friday, about as eloquent of an assessment a man could deliver after what he witnessed from his own personal Michelangelo. Juan Carlos Navarro scored 19 points in the third quarter to single-handedly break
Eurobasket: Macedonia stuns Lithuania, 67-65
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — Just when you thought you’ve seen it all … Well, you’ve never seen it all. That’s something you always have to keep in mind when attending a FIBA tournament. Greece defeating the United States in the semifinals of the World Championship in Japan in 2006? That was right up there, probably No. 1 in my book. Russia beating Spain in Madrid for the gold medal at EuroBasket in 2007? Yeah, that’s up there, too. Might have been the closest