EURO CHAMPIONSHIP, NBA STARS AND PROSPECTS TO SEE

[KWSN-Men]

^^^ He announced on the Jimmy Kimmel show that he's playing for Spain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Oj4D37VPg - 7:38

Well I don't understand why his official statement is he has not decided yet. One way or the other it doesn't matter. Spain doesn't really need him. It doesn't affect their chances much at all. If he didn't play it just means more minutes for Marc Gasol and Reyes and that Vazquez makes the team.

Actually, I don't see them as clear favorites over Slovenia or Greece at all just because he would be on the team.

[AdamTheGreek]

[mnWI]

ben gordon
luol deng
pop mensu-bonsu

are all expected to play for GB, so they should be up there

Ben Gordon
Luol Deng
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Robert Archibald
Andrew Betts
Joel Freeland
Kelenna Azubuike

That's a strong team for sure, but still no decent point guard and they don't have much depth. They are sort of like France's A team in that they can beat most of the teams except for ones like Spain and Greece that are 12 deep even if they don't send their best players.

I haven't heard anything from Coach Finch yet about Azubuike getting a passport, but it would be huge for them if he was able to. All of Azubuike's siblings have the passport, and the federation is strongly hoping he gets it. I know they have also been working on getting Sean Banks a passport; he'd be another big addition to the team. Still no PG though.

[KWSN-Men]

ben gordon
luol deng
pop mensu-bonsu

are all expected to play for GB, so they should be up there

Ben Gordon
Luol Deng
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Robert Archibald
Andrew Betts
Joel Freeland
Kelenna Azubuike

That's a strong team for sure, but still no decent point guard and they don't have much depth. They are sort of like France's A team in that they can beat most of the teams except for ones like Spain and Greece that are 12 deep even if they don't send their best players.

I haven't heard anything from Coach Finch yet about Azubuike getting a passport, but it would be huge for them if he was able to. All of Azubuike's siblings have the passport, and the federation is strongly hoping he gets it. I know they have also been working on getting Sean Banks a passport; he'd be another big addition to the team. Still no PG though.

Yeah, they need another point guard.

[Toxicity]

Italy hasn't qualified and likely won't make it through qualification with France being there.

We'll see... i hope we can play MPS Siena's Stonerook, he would be a fantastic addition to a team lacking such a tough player. France will have around 10 NBA players but it could not be enough... we miss Gallinari but we have allmost all the best players so i have some faith.

My top 10 teams as followed would be.....

1. Spain (Pau Gasol is playing which means they're the likely favorites)
2. Greece
3. Slovenia
4. Lithuania
5. Croatia
6. France (they'll make it)
7. Serbia
8. Russia
9. Turkey
10. Great Britain

Germany is likely to miss out on the elimination round and possibly not play in the 2010 WC.

Slovenia at 3rd place??? I doubt it since they usually fail in great competitions...

[KOBE_PAUER]

ben gordon
luol deng
pop mensu-bonsu

are all expected to play for GB, so they should be up there

Ben Gordon
Luol Deng
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Robert Archibald
Andrew Betts
Joel Freeland
Kelenna Azubuike

That's a strong team for sure, but still no decent point guard and they don't have much depth. They are sort of like France's A team in that they can beat most of the teams except for ones like Spain and Greece that are 12 deep even if they don't send their best players.

Ricky Rubio
Jose Calderon
Rudy Fernandez
JC Navarro
J.Garbajosa
Pau Gasol
Felipe Reyes
Marc Gasol

That roster could be NBA champs....Sickest team in Europe.

[KWSN-Men]

Italy hasn't qualified and likely won't make it through qualification with France being there.

We'll see... i hope we can play MPS Siena's Stonerook, he would be a fantastic addition to a team lacking such a tough player. France will have around 10 NBA players but it could not be enough... we miss Gallinari but we have allmost all the best players so i have some faith.

My top 10 teams as followed would be.....

1. Spain (Pau Gasol is playing which means they're the likely favorites)
2. Greece
3. Slovenia
4. Lithuania
5. Croatia
6. France (they'll make it)
7. Serbia
8. Russia
9. Turkey
10. Great Britain

Germany is likely to miss out on the elimination round and possibly not play in the 2010 WC.

Slovenia at 3rd place??? I doubt it since they usually fail in great competitions...

Slovenia has a shot at a medal this time, but yes they were definitely chokers in the past. As far as Italy and France, it should be interesting to see who qualifies. Sure France has a bunch of NBA players, but several of them are no good.

[Rinaldi]

1. Greece
2. Slovenia
3. Spain
4. Turkey
5. Russia
6. Serbia
7. GB
8. France
9. Lithuania
10. Croatia

This is a much accurate project than the above mentioned ones.

[Rinaldi]

Italy hasn't qualified and likely won't make it through qualification with France being there.

We'll see... i hope we can play MPS Siena's Stonerook, he would be a fantastic addition to a team lacking such a tough player. France will have around 10 NBA players but it could not be enough... we miss Gallinari but we have allmost all the best players so i have some faith.

My top 10 teams as followed would be.....

1. Spain (Pau Gasol is playing which means they're the likely favorites)
2. Greece
3. Slovenia
4. Lithuania
5. Croatia
6. France (they'll make it)
7. Serbia
8. Russia
9. Turkey
10. Great Britain

Germany is likely to miss out on the elimination round and possibly not play in the 2010 WC.

Slovenia at 3rd place??? I doubt it since they usually fail in great competitions...

Slovenia has a shot at a medal this time, but yes they were definitely chokers in the past. As far as Italy and France, it should be interesting to see who qualifies. Sure France has a bunch of NBA players, but several of them are no good.

Sure France has NBA players, but I guess you have not watched the group stage games last summer. They were beaten by the lowly Turks twice with the same squads. I feel Slovenia may be the surprise team.

[KWSN-Men]

ben gordon
luol deng
pop mensu-bonsu

are all expected to play for GB, so they should be up there

Ben Gordon
Luol Deng
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Robert Archibald
Andrew Betts
Joel Freeland
Kelenna Azubuike

That's a strong team for sure, but still no decent point guard and they don't have much depth. They are sort of like France's A team in that they can beat most of the teams except for ones like Spain and Greece that are 12 deep even if they don't send their best players.

Ricky Rubio
Jose Calderon
Rudy Fernandez
JC Navarro
J.Garbajosa
Pau Gasol
Felipe Reyes
Marc Gasol

That roster could be NBA champs....Sickest team in Europe.

Calderon is not playing. Pau and Navarro have not said they are playing yet. That is official, despite what Pau may have said on Jimmy Kimmel.

[Toxicity]

1. Greece
2. Slovenia
3. Spain
4. Turkey
5. Russia
6. Serbia
7. GB
8. France
9. Lithuania
10. Croatia

This is a much accurate project than the above mentioned ones.

Yeah, especially considering France hasn't qualified yet...

[suckfish]

Kelenna Azubuike hasn't got a passport and last I heard, it was coming to the point where he was giving up hope on getting one in time. Something to do with his parents not being legal immigrants at the time of his birth.

Gordon won't play unless he gets his contract sorted in time to get together with the squad for Eurobasket preparation.

Deng has vowed to play, but you can't ignore his injury and status with the Bulls.

It's a strong squad, but one that has played little together, and never together on such a stage. I wouldn't expect much.

[Dtown84]

http://66.163.168.225/babelfish/transla ... %2C00.html

very very rough translation from German, but it seems Dirk might actually be playing for Germany this summer and might convince Kaman to as well. Makes group B a lot more interesting if this is true.

[jt142]

Ricky Rubio
Jose Calderon
Rudy Fernandez
JC Navarro
J.Garbajosa
Pau Gasol
Felipe Reyes
Marc Gasol

That roster could be NBA champs....Sickest team in Europe.

Another sig worthy comment. It's even better than the "only a handful of NBA Cs can handle Pekovic" comment made by another poster.

That Spain NT could be Euroleague champs, but they wouldn't even make it to .300 in the NBA. Why? Because they're used to playing as a team in the FIBA system, not the NBA (big difference). Spain doesn't have the depth or talent to compete in an 82 game NBA season. They have two quality starters (Pau and Jose) and two role players (Marc and Rudy). Sorry, that's not going to cut it.

Spain should win this tourney, but anything can happen. Just ask JR Holden and Russia.

[KWSN-Men]

http://66.163.168.225/babelfish/translate_url_content?.intl=us&lp=de_en&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fsport%2Fsonst%2F0%2C1518%2C632037%2C00.html

very very rough translation from German, but it seems Dirk might actually be playing for Germany this summer and might convince Kaman to as well. Makes group B a lot more interesting if this is true.

They still would have no shot at a medal.

[KWSN-Men]

Ricky Rubio
Jose Calderon
Rudy Fernandez
JC Navarro
J.Garbajosa
Pau Gasol
Felipe Reyes
Marc Gasol

That roster could be NBA champs....Sickest team in Europe.

Another sig worthy comment. It's even better than the "only a handful of NBA Cs can handle Pekovic" comment made by another poster.

That Spain NT could be Euroleague champs, but they wouldn't even make it to .300 in the NBA. Why? Because they're used to playing as a team in the FIBA system, not the NBA (big difference). Spain doesn't have the depth or talent to compete in an 82 game NBA season. They have two quality starters (Pau and Jose) and two role players (Marc and Rudy). Sorry, that's not going to cut it.

Spain should win this tourney, but anything can happen. Just ask JR Holden and Russia.

The top national teams in Europe can all go 12 deep with NBA level players.

[jt142]

The top national teams in Europe can all go 12 deep with NBA level players.

No they can't.

Most of these teams consist of Euroleague level players (2nd tier), not NBA level players. There's a big difference. Besides Gasol, Nowitzki, Parker, and maybe Gordon, the rest of the players in this tourney are average at best. None of these teams can go 12 deep in terms of NBA talent, not even close. Just take a look at Greece. Their best player, Spanoulis, was an NBA scrub. How the heck can you claim they go 12 deep if their best player couldn't even get off the bench in the NBA? You actually think Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, etc. can go 12 deep against NBA level talent? Maybe in you dreams. Spain wouldn't even make it to .300 as an NBA team, and I'm probably being overly optimistic.

Back to the topic at hand: France is my dark horse, but only if Mickael Pietrus is playing.

Does anyone know if Turkoglu is playing for Turkey?

[KWSN-Men]

The top national teams in Europe can all go 12 deep with NBA level players.

No they can't.

Most of these teams consist of Euroleague level players (2nd tier), not NBA level players. There's a big difference. Besides Gasol, Nowitzki, Parker, and maybe Gordon, the rest of the players in this tourney are average at best. None of these teams can go 12 deep in terms of NBA talent, not even close. Just take a look at Greece. Their best player, Spanoulis, was an NBA scrub. How the heck can you claim they go 12 deep if their best player couldn't even get off the bench in the NBA? You actually think Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, etc. can go 12 deep against NBA level talent? Maybe in you dreams. Spain wouldn't even make it to .300 as an NBA team, and I'm probably being overly optimistic.

Back to the topic at hand: France is my dark horse, but only if Mickael Pietrus is playing.

Does anyone know if Turkoglu is playing for Turkey?

As usual, wrong in almost all points.

[Joana]

As usual, wrong in all points.

Especially that Spanoulis is the best Greek player.

Back to the topic at hand: France is my dark horse, but only if Mickael Pietrus is playing

[KOBE_PAUER]

Ricky Rubio
Jose Calderon
Rudy Fernandez
JC Navarro
J.Garbajosa
Pau Gasol
Felipe Reyes
Marc Gasol

That roster could be NBA champs....Sickest team in Europe.

Another sig worthy comment. It's even better than the "only a handful of NBA Cs can handle Pekovic" comment made by another poster.

That Spain NT could be Euroleague champs, but they wouldn't even make it to .300 in the NBA. Why? Because they're used to playing as a team in the FIBA system, not the NBA (big difference). Spain doesn't have the depth or talent to compete in an 82 game NBA season. They have two quality starters (Pau and Jose) and two role players (Marc and Rudy). Sorry, that's not going to cut it.

Spain should win this tourney, but anything can happen. Just ask JR Holden and Russia.

Disagree. A team who can face a team with Kobe Lebron CP3 Bosh, Howard, Carmelo etc have chances to be contenders in the NBA. Spain Team have better bench, that the current NBA champion. Raul Lopez+Navarro+Garbajosa+Reyes 3 ex NBA starter players, and 1 elite forward in Europe. Better than Vujacic, Walton, MBenga and company. Plus they have 1 superstar and 3 all stars prospects (Rudy and M.Gasol have better potential than Calderon who almost was AllStar in the East) And Ricky Rubio.