Nikola Mirotic

Gibson: NBA Scouts Eye European Prospects

January 7, 2012 by Nick Gibson

BARCELONA — In a couple of years, Augustinas Jankaitis might be a name NBA fans can get excited about. A 6’7″ forward for Lietuvos Rytas who’d rather dribble through you than around you, the Lithuanian has already garnered attention from draftniks far and wide for his versatility and toughness. Yesterday, Jankaitis led Lietuvos Rytas’ junior team to a 72-68 win over Barcelona for first place in the 2012 Ciutat de L’Hospitalet Junior Tournament. Then, he held in his hands much more tangible evidence

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Gibson: Bulls’ Mirotic Is Worth The Wait

December 30, 2011 by Nick Gibson

BARCELONA — In prison movies, when a freshly incarcerated inmate wants respect, he drops his tray, strolls up to the baddest dude in the cafeteria and knocks him in the jaw. Real Madrid’s Nikola Mirotic picked out one of the biggest, baddest dudes in Euroleague and dunked on him. The 220-pound Montenegran let out a yell as he threw the ball through the net and off the head of 350-pound Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Mirotic landed, shot a searing gaze at Big Sofo and

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Gibson Column: Basile puts Cantu in Top 16; Bulls’ Mirotic killin’ it; ‘Melo crossed over by Bodiroga

December 9, 2011 by Nick Gibson

BARCELONA — They say you should act like you’ve been there before. With a Euroleague-best 396 career 3-pointers, Cantu’s Gianluca Basile had been there plenty. Still, with the clock racing toward triple zeroes and the game tied at 64 in Bilbao, nobody thought Basile’s 35-foot heave would turn into number 397. Then it did, and some 8,000 Bilbao supporters sat in stunned silence. The scoreboard told them that Cantu had taken the lead 67-64, and that in one-tenth of a second their

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Who will play for Team USA in 2012?

September 23, 2011 by Chris Sheridan

By Chris Sheridan And the first pertinent sub-question on that topic: Who will the big guys be? As in big and tall. Dwight Howard is the first name on that list, because like most of the 2008 Redeem Team, he has earned the right to defend the gold medal he won in Beijing. Ditto Chris Bosh. The same goes for Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant, and maybe to a slightly lesser degree to Chris Paul and Deron Williams. You can also set aside

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