Not to be confused with the Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic The Nets may have traded away most of their future cap space and draft picks to obtain KG and “The Truth”, but they sneakily held on to one of their aces, Bojan Bogdanovic, a Croatian star who may just be the answer to how the Nets will transition into the post-KG era. After a horrid 11-20 start, the Nets have managed to turn things around since New Year’s,
Season-long unhappiness and the recent addition of Greivis Vasquez—who came in the Rudy Gay trade with the Sacramento Kings—to the Toronto Raptors backcourt now have point guard Kyle Lowry’s name being discussed in trade talks with the New York Knicks, among other potential suitors. The Knicks could use Lowry’s services with their leading point guard, Raymond Felton, having left hamstring problems that have lingered since the beginning of the season and now have him missing the next 2-3 weeks of action. Twitter
Twenty-four teams came, and only eight remain at the 2013 Eurobasket. The pressure to qualify for the World Cup has lessened, but the pressure to bring home the gold is sinking in. At this point, one win in the Round of 16 (taking place today and tomorrow) gets you into the World Cup next summer, with only the 8th place team not gaining an automatic bid. (If Spain finishes sixth or higher, the seventh place team is in. The eight remaining
Group C Likely To Advance 1. Spain Known as the most powerful basketball country outside of the United States, the winners of the past two Eurobaskets will once again be the favorites to win gold in Slovenia this summer. What is really crazy is that Spain is the favorite to win the tournament, but their list of players absent this year, which includes Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka, future Chicago Bull and Spanish league MVP Nikola Mirotic, Juan Carlos Navarro, Victor Sada and Felipe
In four years as a Kansas Jayhawk, Sasha Kaun never averaged more than 5.6 shots a game. He needed just six against Panathinaikos to rack up the Euroleague’s weekly MVP award. [Read more…]
Since the days of Arvydas Sabonis, NBA teams have been drafting European players with the intention of stashing these prospects in the mother continent before they make their NBA debut. Some of these players go on to be stars, such as Manu Ginobili, Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol. Others, such as Milos Vujanic and Frederic Weis, never even smell the league. [Read more…]
CSKA Moscow let one slip against the Euroleague’s most charmingly enigmatic headache, my regrettable championship pick finally stepped foot in the Land of the Unterrible, and two teams with 8-2 regular season records moved to 1-4 in the Top 16. [Read more…]
Rajon Rondo thinks the 2013 Boston Celtics can be better than the 2008 championship version. And last week, Fenerbahce Ulker beat the 2013 Boston Celtics by six. “They have a really good basketball team,” Paul Pierce said after the game had wrapped up in Istanbul, Turkey. “My hat’s off to them. They really played a good game.” Hold onto your hat, Paul. At least until mid-May. While any win–certainly any win against a storied club like the Boston Celtics—is better than any loss,