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European Basketball Signings

As we head into July some Europeans teams are starting to sign American players. Here's the initial list:

Israel

Derek Glasser (Arizona State) signed with Maccabi Haifa.

Jaime Arnold (Wichita State) signed with Hapoel Holon.

Chris Watson (Niagara) signed with Netanya.

Jeff Foote (Cornell) signed a 3-year contract with Maccabl Tel Aviv. They also signed Richard Hendrix (Alabama)

Spain

Sergio Rodriguez has left the NBA and signed with Real Madrid. Is Rudy Fernandez next?

Terrell McIntyre (Clemson) left Montepaschi Siena to sign with Unicaja.

Tariq Kirksay (Iona) signed with Cajasol for two years.

Jaime Jones (Portland State) signed with Ourense in LEB-Gold.

Turkey

A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) signed with Besiktas Cola Turkey of Istanbul

Josh Shipp (UCLA) signed with Galatasaray Istanbul

Michael Roll (UCLA) signed with Bornova.

Kevin Braswell (Georgetown) signed with Aliaga Petkim.

Seth Doliboa (Wright State) signed with Olin Edirne.

Italy

Ryan Toolson (Utah Valley State) signed with Benetton Treviso.

Germany

Derrick Allen (Ole Miss) signed with Alba Berlin.

Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and can be followed on twitter @carlberman.

USA Wins FIBA U17 World Championship

The United States showed since the very beginning that it was the best team in the tournament. The American performance in today’s championship game was just a confirmation. Team USA won the U17 FIBA World Championship in Hamburg by crashing Poland 111-80. The great mix of athleticism, individual skills and defensive intensity couldn’t be matched by any team. The gold medal was well deserved.

The USA managed the whole championship game imposing its physical superiority at both ends of the court. Their sensational defensive job putting a lot of pressure on Polish ball distribution, stealing the ball as many as 15 times (5 steals from Wroten) and igniting fastbreaks.  Brad Beal balanced the offense with his outstanding outside shooting. Poland’s key players never felt comfortable against the American defense as Ponitka and Karnowski struggled finding open spots and clear shot positions.

European resistance reached the last minutes of the second period, when the USA broke the game for real. Two secondary players like Niedzwiedzki and Matczak paced their team and Mateusz Ponitka’s faith and skills found the way to the rim to cut the lead to 5 points (46-41) with three minutes to go in the second period.   The United States continued dominating the paint (46-28 in rebounds with 22 offensive boards) and forcing mistakes, running the floor consistently. And when they did that during the tournament, they always overwhelmed their rivals. Today wasn’t an exception, and a 12-0 run opened a 17 point gap before halftime.

Poland never could come back. The USA kept the level of the intensity and the high rhythm transition game, due to the deep rotation its roster allows, to cruise to the final victory in Hamburg. James McAdoo (pictured on left) led Team USA in scoring with 20 points and added 7 rebounds. Bradley Beal scored 19 with 5/9 from the arch. Gilchrist reached 16 points and Quinn Cook dished 11 assists. Tomasz Gielo’s versatility allowed him to scored 21 points, meanwhile Matczak and Ponitka contributed with 14 points each. Polish big guy Karnowski struggled against the American physical centers and only scored 3 points with 6 rebounds

In the bronze medal game, Canada beat Lithuania 83-81 in a nice team effort with six players in double digits.

Final standings:

1.         United States

2.         Poland

3.         Canada

4.         Lithuania

5.         Serbia

6.         Australia

7.         China

8.         Germany

9.         Argentina

10.       Spain

11.       Egypt

12.       South Korea

All tournament team: Kevin Pangos (Canada), Bradley Beal (United States), Mateusz Ponitka (Poland), James McAdoo (United States) and Przemyslaw Karnowski (Poland). Chinese guard Ailun Guo was the top scorer with 22.4 points per game.

These were great days of basketball in Hamburg. Among the young talents and good games, two generations shined with real bright. The United States factory is keeping the good work and we will see those World Championship players (Beal, Gilchrist, McAdoo, Cook....) in the NCAA very soon and Poland is dreaming with a golden generation led by Ponitka, Michalak and Karnowski.

NetScouts Basketball will be covering all the young basketball action in Europe this summer. Next station, the U20 European Championship, playing from last Friday in Croatia. We will keep you update on final round action. Stay tuned!

Alejandro Gonzalez is an International Scout and Correspondent with NetScouts Basketball.

Thoughts from NBA Summer League

As I sit here watching NBA Summer League Day 5 some things are becoming increasingly obvious...

1. I have seen some of these players way too much because I'm only seeing all the bad things they do and not the good.
2. There are a lot of guys who cannot shoot the ball who are fringe players (sorry, see what I mean?)
3. I need to spend more time with my wife & boys who have been camped out at the pool all week, sorry fellas!
4. The poor economy must have reached Europe because a year or two ago guys were making more (Euros) to play in the EuroLeague or EuroCup, now guys are flocking to join NBA clubs such as Tiago Splitter, Timofey Mozgov, Josh Childress et al.
5. Either that or teams are tired of waiting on all these young guys to develop...check that, Jordan Hill just got a rebound!  His 3rd (1st Defensive) in 21 minutes of action to go along with 6 points and 7 fouls.
6. See #1
7. Ty Lawson is very good, his Nugget team is 4-0 at the moment and he has dominated action in each win.
8. Patty Mills is also playing quite well for the Blazers, he's about 2 passes ahead of every other player mentally.
9. John Wall changes ends in a hurry.  He needs to work on his stroke and range but in my effort to remain positive I'll focus on his speed and quickness, good job John.
10. I scouted Matt Janning and Boston University in Santa Clara, CA this winter and liked his game...he's played well here also.
11. DeMar DeRozan missed a dunk.
12. The officiating has been terrible.
13. "Tiny" Gallon isn't...tiny.
14. Derrick Caracter is gonna stick.
15. If you are in Vegas and like Italian food, hit Brio Tuscan Grille 
16. Landry Fields (Stanford) has done a nice job.  He's an unselfish, blue-collar guy who plays with energy...you need guys like that.
17. I just realized that I've sat through 18:00 of the Bucks versus Grizzlies and Hasheem Thabeet has scored 2 points more than I have...
18. Roddy Beaubois (Dallas) has another gear.
19. Please stop blowing your whistles every trip down the floor!
20. Hasheem Thabeet now has one more rebound than I do...
21. Okay seriously, the last three whistles have come 20 seconds, 9 seconds, & 6 seconds apart.  Flow, we need some flow here people.  I couldn't even finish that sentence and another whistle (8 seconds).
22. OJ Mayo is getting a lot of run at the point for the Grizzlies
23. 17 seconds...
24. Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Olympiacos, Greece), playing with the Clippers, is a man amongst boys physically (11 seconds) who pounds guys on picks
25. 13 seconds
26. Matt Bouldin of Gonzaga made his debut today with the Bulls and looked decent.  18 seconds.  He had a couple nice passes and hit some jumpers including 2 three's.
27. 14 seconds...my ears are ringing!
28. At the half Memphis 32, Milwaukee 24, Fouls 33.  I guess the refs are winning...
29. #1, stay positive.
30. 10-year olds from St. Viator School are playing coed 6-on-6 and thanks to ZERO whistles, they scored 20 combined points in 4:00 of action!  
31. I need to get out of here.

Chris Denker, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball, can be followed on Twitter @chrisdenker.

Greece and France Meet Again in U20 European Championship Final

Greece and France fought last summer for the U20 Eurobasket 2009 title in Rodas, Greece. That time, the Greeks won the gold medal in front of their fans despite the outstanding Edwin Jackson scoring performance in that game. Kosta Papanikolau led his team to the victory. Tomorrow both teams will face each other again in the U20 Eurobasket championship game. For Greece, it’s a back-to-back gold chance. For France, it’s a matter of revenge.

Greece kept its main core from last year: Pappas, Sloukas, Papanikolau and Kaselakis. Just PF/C Bogris left, substituted by Sarikopoulos. Same players, same style, same success. Today, Greece beat the host team Croatia 71-56. The Croatians started well but played nervously, under pressure. It wasn’t because of the fans, though, as the arena wasn’t crowded at all. Putting pressure to the rival guards and being very intense defensively, Croatia took first leads, running the floor and trying to grab momentum. But as soon as Nikos Pappas (pictured on right) made his first shots and felt comfortable, the scenario changed dramatically. Pappas’s offensive talent paced his team, balancing Kosta Papanikolau’s bad start. The Hellenic zone made the difference. Croatia couldn’t find the rim and only Mario Delas and Ivan Batur showed some sparks of inspiration. After halftime, Greece decided to move Papanikolau to the PF position and play with three guards (Sloukas, Pappas and Mantzaris). The ball distribution and the guard’s drives to the basket gave their team some offensive fluency and a couple of Croatian turnovers at the beginning of the third period were well punished. Greece took an 8-10 point gap and was able to manage the rest of the game against the willing but inaccurate Croatian players.

Nikos Pappas scored 23 points and grabbed 8 rebonds. Papanikolau needed more time to find his game but finally did it with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Mario Delas was the best player for the host team with 13 points and 6 rebounds.

In last summer’s U20 Eurobasket, France clinched the silver medal led by Edwin Jackson, Thomas Heurtel, Antoine Diot and Kevin Seraphin, all of them flirting now with the NBA Draft. This year is completely new. A new team, similar style, same success. France topped Spain led by the great performance of Asvel Villerbaunne guard Paul Lacombe. Spain played a great first quarter, following Jose Sastre’s talent, grabbing the first leads. But, as it happened in the game between those two teams in the main round, France came back to the game step by step, playing physical, being tougher inside and intense defensively. Spain’s individuality really hurt them, though, as the Spaniards never were able to play as a team, relying in Josep France, Jose Sastre and Nikola Mirotic’s actions. Mirotic did not have a good night, particularly defensively. France found out the hole and punished its rival again and again.

For France, Lacombe’s appearance was the key of the game. It was it during the first half as the guard gave some sense and order to a clumsy French offensive game. Andrew Albicy directed the team pretty well then too. With a 10-12 point lead, France answered with huge baskets every single Spanish comeback attempt. Gavrilovic did it quietly, finding open spot due to his good off ball game into a weak rival defense. Paul Lacombe gave the highlights. A couple of NBA range three pointers and a terrific dunk opened the decisive gap in the last minutes of the game. France struggled a bit from the free throw line giving Spain several small chances for a heroic reaction, but the Spanish players didn’t take them as France came away with an 86-83 victory. France controlled the boards and outrebounded Spain by 13.

Paul Lacombe was the star of the game with 23 points (including 4/6 from the arc) and 7 rebounds. Andrew Albicy added 19 points and 10 assists. Josep Franch scored 22 points for Spain and Joan Sastre reached 19.

Tomorrow at 9.15 pm CET, Greece and France will fight for the gold medal of the first of the European summer tournaments. Repeat or revenge in Zadar, Croatia.

Alejandro Gonzalez is an International Scout and Correspondent for NetScouts Basketball.