The quarterfinals are set for this year’s Eurobasket, as eight teams will play for two automatic bids to next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio. Of the eight remaining teams, seven will be preparing next summer for a chance to play in the Olympic games, as the 3rd through 7th place teams earn bids for next summer’s Olympic Qualifying tournament, in which 18 teams will be fighting for the three remaining bids for Rio. Here is a look at the quarterfinal matchups that
Shlomo Sprung: Hello everyone, and welcome to another column about the greatness of Jimmy Butler here on this fine basketball website, Sheridanhoops.com. (You know this is the place that broke LeBron to Cleveland, right?) Before we begin, I just wanted to remind readers that Butler’s true shooting percentage has gone up a full 2— Suzyn Waldman: Ohhhh mahhhyyy gawdd!! Kelzz Dayton is up in Chris Sheridan’s luxury bawx!!! He’s coming back for another season of Most Improved Player Rankings!!! OHH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!!!
In years past, Americans have considered the Olympics to be the only relevant international basketball competition. Stateside, the other quadrennial tournament formerly known as the FIBA World Championship went largely unnoticed until Team USA embarrassed themselves in 2002, losing three times in Indianapolis and finishing sixth after never having lost with NBA players. The rest of the world sees things differently. Other basketball federations have been viewing the World Championship as the more important international competition. Also, because the very best Americans play
In case you missed it, the NBA released the list of early-entry candidates for the 2013 Draft last week. We have a post up from our U.S.-based draft guru, Joe Kotoch, highlighting the names that were conspicuously absent (Marcus Smart chief among them), and we also have a brand new Mock Draft update that takes into account the recent rise of San Diego State’s Jamaal Franklin. As you can see from the big list, there are 31 international prospects — quite a
The most impressive thing about Carmelo Anthony’s 36-point outing in the Knicks’ 12th consecutive victory Sunday was the way he got his points. Unlike the night when he went for 50 against the Miami Heat while shooting almost nothing but jump shots, Anthony displayed a power game in the low post and a tenacity on the offensive glass. He now holds a slight lead over Kevin Durant for the NBA scoring lead, and he is the only one standing in the
The NBA is dark tonight. All eyes will be on Atlanta, where Louisville and Michigan will play for the NCAA national championship. So this gives us time to reflect … With 10 days remaining in the regular season, what are the 10 biggest unanswered questions from around the league? [Read more…]
The best-kept secret in NBA scouting circles in a secret no more. Meet Giannis Antetokoumpo, a 6-10 point guard who already has signed to play professionally next season for Zaragoza in Spain. Yes, a 6-10 point guard, a Greek freak of Nigerian heritage who could end up being a first-round draft pick after putting on quite a show in the Greek national junior tournament attended by Bryan Colangelo of the Toronto Raptors and Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets. [Read more…]