Ready to see competitive basketball again, if only on a small screen attached to the window of your browser?
Ready for the movement of the ball, set screens on the ball, and the type of game that is not often asked to appear in the sands of the NBA summer league, much less fighting?
Interested in observing a fluid tournament with parity to save, but without going through the styles less talented of his party early round NCAA?
Well, we have a treat for you, if only briefly. This is the 2011 FIBA EuroBasket tournament and is available free on the ESPN3.com. And unlike your anonymity until the end of March, the NCAA, or in summer league action that could shoot an NBA star on a range of scrubs, this tournament filled with NBA talent from top to bottom .
The tournament is not so removed, so we can make a direct parallel to March Madness, but the madness is just the same. Apparently, the point basket to give substance to the Euro qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics, with the top two teams earn automatic bids for the London Games and over the next four sets to earn pre-Olympic tournament invites, which will take place next July. Stamping the ticket in the United Kingdom, however, is anything but the primary goal of these groups.
No, the EuroBasket championship is what these men to play. The glory of the NBA are beautiful, and a World Cup race of strong (with the U.S. team in the bracket) is a dream, but it is relatively local event that takes over "Gotta Have It" list. These groups play with pride and they will play hard. The teams involved will have the trophy, and could care less about an automatic bid to the Olympic stadium. Best? They are professionals - adult men - competed. The same can not be said of the CBS children we see every year in March.
Who is your favorite? Spain is clearly in a class of its preparations for the 2009 run to defend the dominant European basketball. And you can expect nothing less from a team with the game's most versatile big man (Pau Liquefied petroleum gas (notes)), return to the central and intelligent touch (Marc Liquefied petroleum gas (known), well connected ), the competent level NBA point guards (Jose Calderon (notes)), one of the games and the beginning of a promising talent, Serge Ibaka (notes). Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (Notes) See also, but works with a sprained ankle.
Really, it's their tournament to lose, and with a single-elimination does not begin until the second round of the tournament, they will be difficult to remove.
Of course, the best thing about this kind of international tournaments, the competition includes teams that are always better than the sum of their parts. This is where a team like Lithuania step in. squad might not be a clear number two, but they also seem to play above their heads, remarkable when one considers that the Lithuanian player, you're probably more familiar with (Linas Kleiza (notes)) will be absent due to microfracture surgery recovery, and the last team hopes for NBA (draft pick Jonas Valanciunas Raptors (notes)) will not see much action, as s refrains minutes for adults.
Launch work on that spectrum should be in Italy, where NBA players like Danilo Gallinari (Notes) (pictured top of this post), Mark Bellineli, and the much-maligned Raptors center Andrea Bargnani (notes). Bargnani is the Italian Centre, which tells you all you need to know about their level of strength of the front. A lot of star power, but not a lot of work on board consistent with these kids. Yet, when you shoot, you get a chance. Italy and can shoot.
France and Russia, most of all, you can not really keep going. These two teams are good as another opportunity to overthrow the ruling champions Spain, defense and strong physical play. France, in particular, is full of great power in the form of stars, Tony Parker (notes), Joakim Noah (notes), Boris Diaw (Notes) and Nic Batum and the athletic ability of Wizards, Kevin Seraphin (notes). Again, consider the configuration. There is not much the crew markers smooth, and the influence of Parker's international game has decreased substantially due to the dominance of the defense sector, which has limited his travel lane. And if you think that moves inside of Noah Chicago Bulls was bad, wait to see him go against the phalanx is zoned for the defenders in the paint.
Russia is not far, and its most famous feature is popular coach David Blatt, an Israeli expatriate who has his team work hard and perform well. Andrei Kirilenko (notes), firm in its international relations between the basketball players, lead the team.
On the German side, the Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman (notes) can not be in his wheelhouse (he speaks no German, yet keep the FIBA as the man-German ancestored a great place in the team ), but Dirk Nowitzki (notes) will be there to clean up the mess. Dirk German squad went their last two international projections, and it will be interesting to see if he can lead his underdog noted even closer to the championship.
Luol Deng (notes), original work without Ben Gordon (notes) to his side, just go to Britain. The Bulls have some figures in the international game strong, but the British team is not very good reputation.
Serbia, however. They were the last Spanish soldiers in the final of Euro basketball (even though Spain was dominated by Serbs with a 22-point victory) in 2009, and have a deep team names short of the NBA, but in the long versatile athletes. With a separate layer just below the parity in Spain and possibly running a team of six or seven deep, there is no clear number two. Serbia know that they are defending runner-up, so to speak, and are just as difficult as ever.
(In charge of research and glomming of information about the tournament I knew a little 'over the past two days, I also safely say that most of the easy-to-site visit and patrol the international specifications should be painted area. It' the first place I started to look for, and even though I was in the days since the whole interwebs, M. Haubs cream of the crop of international work. Give it a bookmark if you have not already.)
ESPN3.com is the place to tune in the tournament which runs from Wednesday through Sept. 18. Just in time for what will probably be the most crucial week in the NBA lockout.
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