Euroleague Update: Papanikolaou Struggling; Jordan Farmar for MVP

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Olympiacos had gone 210 days without losing a Euroleague game. After picking up their first loss of the season in week two, the Reds’ next unbeaten streak lasted just six days.

And the defending champions haven’t just been losing; they’ve been getting waxed.  This week, it was Zalgiris Kaunas doing the waxing, 79-61.

In the team’s first loss it was Jordan Farmar—who we’ll get to in a minute—and Anadolu Efes putting the hurt on Olympiacos 98-72.

During that loss to Efes, the Reds shot under 40 percent as a team, turned it over 14 times and shot just 14 free throws to Efes’ 32.  It wasn’t close early, it wasn’t close late and at no point in between did Olympiacos appear competitive.

But this is not cause for organizational upheaval, even if it did drop them from first to fifth in the power rankings.  Olympiacos would brush themselves off, head home to Piraeus, Greece and await the arrival of Zalgiris Kaunas, a collection of Lithuanian veterans, recycled Americans and a pair of Croats that were off to one of the EL’s more surprising 2-0 starts.

Olympiacos went into halftime with a 39-33 lead on the Lithuanians in Peace and Friendship Arena, and the champs seemed to be peeling themselves off the mat nicely.  What happened next was neither peaceful nor friendly.

Croatian guard Marko Popovic hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter and Zalgiris went from down six to up ten by the start of the fourth.  Twenty more points in the final period made it a 79-61 final (46-22 in the second half), and shoved Zalgiris’ record up to a perfect 3-0.

Knicks draft pick Kostas Papanikolaou, whose rights were dealt to Portland, was perfect in last season’s championship game, going 5-of-5 with 18 points, but this season he’s barely made an impact offensively, going 5-of-12 for 13 points.

The 22-year-old small forward had just three in the loss to Zalgiris, which will surely elicit Told ya so’s from the same fans that booed New York’s 48th overall pick roundly on draft night.

Even though Olympiacos returned 10 pieces from its championship run—Papanikolaou among them—it was Zalgiris and its eight new faces that were playing the more cohesive, fluid basketball.  Almost like they had played together before.  Almost like they were brothers.

They have.  And well, two of them are.

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Euroleague Power Rankings – Week 2

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Two weeks deep, the Euroleague is sliced into thirds: there are the eight teams that haven’t lost a game, the eight teams that haven’t won a game, and the eight teams that have split the pair.

The two teams atop last week’s heap—Real Madrid and Olympiacos—couldn’t handle the pressure that came with the ranking and stumbled on the road.

Next in line at No. 3 was Fenerbahce Ulker, who gracefully eluded the Sheridan Hoops curse and beat Union Olimpija on the road.

But the curse still claimed two victims, however, as Fenerbahce had one starter sent to prison, and another hobble off the court with an ankle injury.

We’ll see if the Turks can hold the top spot for more than a week, but it won’t be easy: they’ve got a date with last week’s No.2, Real Madrid, this Thursday.

On to the rankings…

RANK TEAM THE RUNDOWN LAST
1

Fenerbahçe Ülker
(2-0)

 LAST WEEK: Won 81-75 at Union Olimpija
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Real Madrid
Union Olimpija’s guards weren’t as successful keeping Bo McCalebb out of the lane as Slovenian border control was at keeping Romain Sato out of the country.  And while Romain Sato’s passport issues will be worth monitoring, the bigger question will be whether Fenerbahace will get McCalebb back for their game against Real Madrid, after the guard from New Orleans left in the second half with an ankle injury.		 3
2

CSKA Moscow(2-0)

 LAST WEEK: Won 76-71 at Partizan in OT
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Bamberg
Ettore Messina is 2-0 after leaving the Lakers’ bench to return to Euroleague sidelines, but his wins have come narrowly against two of the EL’s youngest teams, Lietuvos Rytas and now Partizan—whom CSKA needed extra time to beat. Week Two MVP Sonny Weems had 30 points largely on isolation plays, but the Russians will be at their best when they start figuring out how to play off one another. Just nine assists in week two and the lowest assist-to-TO rate in the league (.59) means they’re not there yet.		 4
3 Regal Barcelona(2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 67-49 vs. Lietuvos Rytas
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Besiktas
Barcelona has silenced any theories about a diminished defensive presence this season after letting go of Fran Vazquez, Boni N’Dong, Kosta Perovic and Chuck Eidson: no team has allowed fewer threes (4.0), free throws made and allowed (5.5 and 9.0, respectively) or points per game (54.5; Zalgiris is a distant second at 66.5). CSKA Moscow is the only team in Group D that can put 70 on them.
 5
4 Real Madrid (1-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 86-85 at Khimki
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Fenerbahce Ulker
The right side of my brain saw Khimki’s bigs—Paul Davis, James Augustine and Kresimir Loncar—go 14-of-18 for 41 points and 16 boards as the Russians entered the fourth quarter up 14; the left side, however, remembers the creativity and vigor with which Jaycee Carroll and Rudy Fernandez helped the Spaniards briefly tie things up during a 30-point fourth quarter. Both sides remember that Sergio Llull was out.		 2
5 Olympiacos (1-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 98-72 at Anadolu Efes
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Zalgiris
Olympiacos hadn’t lost a game since March 23, and decided to blow that streak in style last week in Istanbul with a 26-point road failure. Olympaicos has given up a league worst 89.5 ppg in their first two and they almost let Jordan Farmar record the third EL triple double this millennium with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. (Nikola Vujcic, who played for the Reds between 2008-10, has the other two. If you don’t know Nikola, dig through YouTube. Sabonis Lite.)		 1
6 Maccabi Tel Aviv (2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 70-68 vs. Montepaschi Siena
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Elan Chalon
Ricky Hickman is getting into the paint, getting to the line and getting into his opponent’s shirt on D. Though slightly slighter in build, he’s been everything to David Blatt that Jeremy Pargo was in 2011 on a Maccabi team that made it to the Euroleague Final Four in Barcelona.		 6
7 Khimki Moscow (1-1) LAST WEEK: Won 86-85 vs. Real Madrid
THIS WEEK: Friday at Cantu
Much like Real Madrid’s loss, Khimki’s win this week poses a similar, albeit opposite, dilemma: how does one weigh three outstanding quarters and across-the-board contributions against one defensively inept period that nearly saw Khimki cough up an incredibly valuable victory? In the end, Zoran Planinic’s declaration that he’s a top Euroleague point guard and his potency when paired with a healthy Paul Davis has saved grace for that other Moscow team.		 13
8 Panathinaikos(1-1) LAST WEEK: Won 78-76 vs. Cantu
THIS WEEK: Friday at Union Olimpija
Sofoklis Schortsanitis’ 23-point Panathinaikos debut raised plenty of eyebrows. While some were raised in pure awe, a majority of those brows were soaked with skepticism: “Well, just don’t get used to that every week.” Big Sofo had something for the skeptics in week two: 19 points in just 18 minutes with more rebounds and fewer turnovers. And what’s more, the career 58.7 percent free throw chucker made 9-of-11 from the stripe.		 10
9 Zalgiris (2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 77-71 at Caja Laboral
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Olympiacos
I’ve called them old, slow and injury prone. Through two weeks, they’ve looked experienced, calculated and have achieved durability through depth. Defensively, only Barcelona has allowed fewer points (66.5 ppg); offensively, Zalgiris is in the top five for both field goal and free throw percentage and have seven players averaging between 8.5 and 13.5 points per game. (Paulius Jankunas has the slight edge over Marko Popovic’s 13.0 for the Zalgiris lead.) Now they’ll travel to Greece to face the recently defeated champs, Olympiacos. A win there would eliminate any doubt that Zalgiris should be taken seriously.		 12
10 Armani Milano (2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 83-71 at Cedevita Zagreb
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Caja Laboral
The apathetic slop we saw out of Milano last year seems to be a thing of the past, and a roster that seemed stale and disparate now looks more like a team that’s spent two offseasons learning one another’s tendencies. Seeing how Milano react to a hungry 0-2 Caja Laboral side at home will give us a better idea of how far Scariolo’s bunch has come since last season. We’ve known they can score, but can they scrap?		 7
11 Anadolu Efes (1-1) LAST WEEK: Won 98-72 vs. Olympiacos
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Cedevita
In every level of basketball, having an elite point guard means having a chance to win each time out. So even if you’re playing the defending champs who haven’t lost in seven months, a 25-point, 8-rebound, 9-assist explosion out of Jordan Farmar is enough to get it done. Make 9-of-14 threes as a team and get to the line 32 times (making 21 of those) and the rout, apparently, is on. Now after toppling No. 1, they get to feast on No. 23.		 18
12 Besiktas (2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 86-71 at Bamberg
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Barcelona
On his third Euroleague team in as many years, ex-Baylor guard Curtis Jerrells is off to easily his best start with outbursts of 15 then 27 points for a Besiktas team that lost a majority of its scoring punch from last season when David Hawkins, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Marcelus Kemp left. The issues in the past have come in the consistency department for Curtis, and he’s just days away from going against the Euroleague’s stingiest defense in Barcelona.		 15
13 Alba Berlin (2-0) LAST WEEK: Won 74-71 vs. Elan Chalon
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Asseco Prokom
Former UNC Tar Heel Deon Thompson had EL career highs in points (24) and rebounds (8) against Chalon. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered after another doctor ordered Nathan Peavy to sit out the entire season with a ruptured ACL.		 9
14 Unicaja (1-1) LAST WEEK: Won 77-75 at Asseco Prokom
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Montepaschi Siena
The new pieces aren’t clicking exceptionally well—this is still Unicaja, after all—but at least their team photo is feng shui.		 11
15 Caja Laboral (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 77-71 vs. Zalgiris
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Milano
Getting Milko Bjelica helped, but not to the degree that losing Taylor Rochestie at the point hurt. Caja Laboral has size that can score in Andres Nocioni, Fernando San Emeterio, the Bjelica Boys (Nemanja and Milko–no relation) and Maciej Lampe. Without a show starter, however, it’ll become harder and harder for Caja Laboral to score as teams learn to double down and take away one-on-one scenarios.		 8
16 Montepaschi Siena (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 70-68 at Maccabi
THIS WEEK: Friday at Unicaja
Bounced back from Berlin blasting at home with a tamer, 2-point road loss against a contender. Still not convinced Bobby Brown deserves the role he’s been handed as a go-to scorer.		 19
17 Partizan (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 76-71 vs. CSKA Moscow in OT
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Lietuvos Rytas
At age 25, Andrey Vorontsevich and Milos Teodosic were the youngest CSKA players to see the floor against Partizan. Partizan’s oldest was Marko Cakarevic, who turns 25 next May. An overtime loss is nothing to be ashamed of.		 22
18 Cantú (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 78-76 at Panathinaikos
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Khimki
Cantu’s 2012 side—complete with Vladimir Micov, Giorgi Shermadini and Gianluca Basile—made it a habit to win close games. Those who’ve replaced them—Jeff Brooks, Alex Tyus and Pietro Aradori—have been on the wrong end of those same nail biters. I still can’t see this team in the Top 16 over Khimki or Panathinaikos.		 21
19 Elan Chalon (1-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 74-71 at Alba Berlin
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Maccabi
If it seems like the French team leans a little too heavily on Steed Tchicamboud, it’s because they do; the French point guard has sat only 4:04 all season long.		 16
20 Union Olimpija (1-1) WEEK: Lost 81-75 vs. Fenerbahce Ulker
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Panathinaikos
The glass slipper slipped right off against Fenerbahce, but the Slovenians’ execution was en pointe. If they can hit more shots against a Panathinaikos team that’s still finding itself offensively, a 2-1 record is not out of the question.		 14
21 Lietuvos Rytas (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 84-71 vs. Union Oimpija
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Panathinaikos
Opening the season against CSKA and Barcelona usually results in an 0-2 record, but this time it came with the Lithuanian bonus: one fired head coach, Aleksandar Dzikic. Loser of this week’s game against Partizan falls to 0-3, so Renaldas Seibutis will be pushing his troops as hard as ever.		 17
22 Bamberg (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 86-71 vs. Besiktas
THIS WEEK: Thursday at CSKA Moscow
Not once did Anton Gavel shoot the ball more than 10 times last season in an EL game, but he’s put up 11 and 12 in Bamberg’s first two games, respectively. While Gavel’s an unlikely leading scorer, who else would you have create? Casey Jacobsen and Bostjan Nachbar are solid veteran assets, but outside of Gavel and maybe Teddy Gipson, nobody on this team can create his own shot.		 20
23 Asseco Prokom  (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 77-75 vs. Unicaja Malaga
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Alba Berlin
Asseco Prokom excavates themselves from the bottom spot thanks to a Euroleague high 39 assists through two games and another forceful performance up top from Lukasz Koszarek, who notched 16 points and 8 assists for the Poles against Unicaja.		 24
24 Cedevita Zagreb
 (0-2)		 LAST WEEK: Lost 83-71 vs. Milano
THIS WEEK: Friday at Anadolu Efes
Another huge game out of Mickael Gelabale + Another slightly-less-huge game from Bracey Wright = Another huge Cedevita loss. The fact that they were down just three to Milano entering the fourth quarter makes the box score blowout hurt even worse.		 23

Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other international basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. His Euroleague Power Rankings come out every Monday. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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Euroleague Update: Romain Sato Imprisoned in Slovenia; Weems scores 30

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Romain Sato has always been known as a lockdown defender.

That phrase took on a much grimmer meaning when the Fenerbahce Ulker swingman spent Thursday night in a Slovenian prison.

It all started when Sato, the 31-year-old shooting guard out of the Central African Republic, was detained at the Slovenian border as his Turkish team was flying in for their Friday Euroleague contest against Union Olimpija.

Slovenian police told Reuters that the biographical page on Sato’s passport was fake, and that those claims were “later confirmed by the suitable technical equipment.”

Sato was taken to jail to spend the night and Fenerbahce Ulker, the Turkish giants from Istanbul’s Asian side, were neither pleased by Slovenia’s legal action nor convinced by their explanation.  They responded promptly with heat on their website with a post entitled, in all caps, ‘SKANDAL.’

You don’t need Turkish Rosetta Stone to figure that one out.  Here’s an excerpt from Fenerbahce’s statement, translated by trusted Turkish follower Cagri Turhan:

“Diplomatic and legal transactions are started by our club against this illegal action … It should not be forgotten that this outlaw action, is not a problem between the clubs, it’s an international SCANDAL. Every detail regarding the issue is going to be shared with the public.”

The team also pointed out that Sato had traveled to the United States and all over Europe with that very same passport and there’d been nary a peep.

Claiming Sato was sleepless after his evening in the clink, Fenerbahce officials packed him up and sent him on his way — passport and all — to much more welcoming Turkish shores, where he watched his boys avenge his imprisonment with an 81-75 win over Union Olimpija, who couldn’t underdog their way to a second straight win.

And while Sato’s night in Slovenian Shawshank couldn’t have been too cushy, the worse news for Fenerbahce and their Final Four hopes has to be Bo McCalebb’s ankle injury, which forced him to leave the game in the second half on the shoulders of his teammates.

His status for next week’s showdown against Real Madrid is unknown.  His status as one of this team’s leaders after just two short Euroleague weeks, however, is undeniable.

Partizan fans probably wish Serbian border control had taken a closer look at Sonny Weems’ passport.

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Gibson’s Euroleague Power Rankings

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Last season in Europe, Besiktas was making headlines for their courtship, acquisition and eventual enshrinement of Deron Williams, Zalgiris was up to their ears in Ty Lawson complaints, Alba Berlin was kicking around Nowitzki talk and Union Olimpija was riding Danny Green to an ice cold start of a season that would finish even colder with a 1-9 record.

Subtract all the lockout hoopla, add a year and what do you have?

Four of the Euroleague’s unlikeliest group leaders.  Thanks to 1-0 records and favorable point differentials, those four teams have another 24 hours to lean over the rail and enjoy the view from the top before the perennial powers start charging.

So let’s run down the Euroleague Power Rankings after one week of play. Look for these on Monday mornings, every week, starting next week.

RANK TEAM THE RUNDOWN LAST
1

Olympiacos (1-0)

 LAST WEEK: Won 85-81 at Caja Laboral
THIS WEEK: Friday at Anadolu Efes
There are 11 players on the Reds’ roster that haven’t lost a Euroleague game since March 23, so don’t look for a repeat of yesteryear’s 1-3 start.  Even under new head coach George Bartzokas, there’s not a team on this list whose players understand their responsibilities better than Olympiacos.  Having veteran leaders who double as stars, like Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis, sure helps.		 -
2

Real Madrid(1-0)

 LAST WEEK: Won 85-78 vs. Panathinaikos
THIS WEEK: Friday at Khimki
Bulls’ 2011 draft pick Nikola Mirotic is looking less and less like a mere Rising Star winner turned Euroleague MVP candidate; you get that once-in-a-decade feel when you watch him. Throw Mirotic on the floor with the playmaking Sergios (Rodriguez and Llull), shooters like Rudy Fernandez and Jaycee Carroll and a physical center like offseason acquisition Marcus Slaughter, and Madrid’s nearly impossible to plan for.		 -
3 Fenerbahçe Ülker (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 92-80 vs. Khimki
THIS WEEK: Friday at Union Olimpija
So far, so good in Istanbul as Bo McCalebb, Romain Sato, Mike Batiste and David Andersen won their respective Euroleague debuts with Fenerbahce.  But the catalyst for the Turks’ crisp win over Khimki was Emir Preldzic, who had his best performance as a Euroleaguer and took home Weekly MVP honors with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a ridiculously efficient 20 points on just six shots.
 -
4 CSKA Moscow (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 75-73 vs. Lietuvos Rytas
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Partizan
Sonny Weems took a couple quarters to get his feet wet and Russiafied, but his fourth quarter offense is ultimately what put Rytas away in the end. There are only several, heavily guarded, airtight passages into Ettore Messina’s heart.  Late game reliability is a surefire way to crack one of them open.		 -
5 Regal Barcelona (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 72-60 vs. Bamberg
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Lietuvos Rytas
Dumping a trio of defensive big men – Boniface N’Dong, Kosta Perovic and former Magic lottery pick Fran Vazquez – is an interesting offseason strategy after holding opponents to an all-time Euroleague low 62.1 points per game last season. In the opener against an A.J. Ogilvy-less Bamberg, Ante Tomic and Nathan Jawai gave me no reason to expect anything more than spurty offense and porous pick and roll defense out of Barcelona’s newest bigs.		 -
6 Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 85-80 at Unicaja
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Montepaschi Siena
As strange as it sounds to say out loud, 27-year-old Lior Eliyahu is a veteran now. He played like it against Unicaja (15 and 5 with 3 steals), who had no answer for his length defensively. Last year, David Blatt handed the keys over to Jordan Farmar and then Yogev Ohayon; this season, he’s made copies for Ricky Hickman and David Logan. Blatt trusting his new pieces with such big roles early is a great sign for Maccabi. Those two performing well off the bat is even more heartening.		 -
7 Armani Milano (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 80-75 vs. Anadolu Efes
THIS WEEK: Friday at Cedevita Zagreb
Ioannis Bourousis is good for several jaw-droppingly economical stat lines per season, and he made strides toward his quota in week one, making 6-of-8 from inside the arc, draining both of his threes and pulling down seven rebounds with a block and a steal. The most shocking (and encouraging) number from this game has to be Malik Hairston’s eight assists.  Dimes like that make those 3-of-11 nights go down more smoothly.		 -
8 Caja Laboral(0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 85-81 at Olympiacos
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Zalgiris
Contrary to the vividly disappointing memories of most Knick and Sun fans, Maciej Lampe is a very talented center, and one of Europea’s best — when he’s healthy.  He appeared to be fit in Baskonia’s opener, pouring in 18 and 3 in just 22 minutes against the defending EL champs.  This week, he’ll receive reinforcements in the form of Serbian big Milko Bjelica who’s back from a foot injury.		 -
9 Alba Berlin (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 92-82 at Montepaschi Siena
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Elan Chalon
Scoring 92 points against Siena in Siena is a Hell of an accomplishment, and I don’t care who’s dressed out for the home team.  Dashaun Wood, Nihad DJedovic and Vule Avdalovic presented their case as a legitimate Euroleague backcourt, and should do so again this week against Elan Chalon. Berlin’s problems this season will start in the paint.		 -
10 Panathinaikos (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 85-78 to Real Madrid
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Cantú
Folks worried about Sofoklis Schortsanitis’ production with Panathinaikos can take a breath, at least for now. Big Sofo was perfect in his debut, going 9-of-9 with six rebounds.  The area of concern for the Greek giants will be perimeter scoring, as the combo of Roko Ukic, Derwin Kitchen and Michael Bramos isn’t the most intimidating arsenal to stash in Dimitris Diamantidis’ shadow.		 -
11 Unicaja (1-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 85-80 vs. Maccabi
THIS WEEK: Won 77-75 at Asseco Prokom
One week after going for 25 against Maccabi, former Indiana Hoosier Earl Calloway scored just 8 and was far too loose with the ball late, turning it over twice in the final minutes and jeopardizing what should have been an easier win.  This time around, it was Unicaja’s other point guard – NBA journeyman and UConn alum Marcus Williams – who snuck Malaga past a woefully bad Asseco Prokom side Wednesday afternoon in the week’s only early game.  But hey: a road win’s a road win.		 -
12 Zalgiris (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 90-62 vs. Cedevita Zagreb
THIS WEEK: Friday at Caja Laboral
Since his playing career began in 2005, point guard Mantas Kalnietis has played for–and only for –Zalgiris Kaunas. After signing a three-year deal with Lokomotiv Kuban this offseason, he was eerily absent from Zalgiris’ opener against Cedevita Zagreb. If this team’s current roster is any indication, however, Mantas could be back to close his career in Kaunas. Darjus Lavrinovic, Ksistof Lavrinovic and Rimantas Kaukenas are all Lithuanian 30-somethings that are back with Zalgiris after spending a majority of their careers outside their native Lithuania. The old dudes played well enough to dominate in the opener.		 -
13 Khimki Moscow (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 92-80 at Fenerbahce Ulker
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Real Madrid
With Andrei Kirilenko freezing his already frosted tips off in Minnesota, it looks like Zoran Planinic is the Moscow Euroleaguer (Andrei played for CSKA) most likely to take aim at a triple double. A member of the Nets way back when they played in New Jersey, Zoran put up 17 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in a tough road loss against a motivated Fenerbahce Ulker club. Getting Paul Davis back will be huge, but we don’t know when that will be.		 -
14 Union Olimpija (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 84-71 at Cantu
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Fenerbahce Ulker
With an entire team budget of around one million Euros and eight players born in the 1990s, Union Olimpija wasn’t supposed to waltz into Cantu–one of the zanier atmospheres in 2011-12–and bite off a 13-point win. But they did, and now find themselves in unfamiliar territory: atop Group A, peering down at powerhouses like Real Madrid, Panathinaikos and Fenerbahce, who all spent a dozen times more than the little guys from Slovenia.		 -
15 Besiktas (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 81-65 vs. Partizan
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Bamberg
Former Cal Bear Patrick Christopher looked every bit the sharpshooter Besiktas needed him to be against Partizan, hitting 5-of-6 from distance to hold the EL’s youngest team at bay.  Despite the team win, however, Vladimir Dasic’s sloppy performance (2 points, 4 turnovers in 14 minutes) has to be among the opening week’s most disappointing. Vlad needs to get his mind right and start attacking if he wants to keep Besiktas perfect. Bamberg’s “Freak City” won’t be so welcoming.		 -
16 Elan Chalon (1-0) LAST WEEK: Won 81-74 vs. Asseco Prokom
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Alba Berlin
It was hard for me to put much stock into a win versus these rankings’ caboose, Asseco Prokom. But given the historically dreadful regular season performances of French teams in the Euroleague they, nor I, reserve any right to be picky. The sooner Missouri’s Marcus Denmon gets back (five weeks from now, reportedly), the sooner we’ll know what this finished product looks like.		 -
17 Lietuvos Rytas (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 75-73 at CSKA Moscow
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Barcelona
Renaldas Seibutis is as important a player to his team as you’ll find in the EL, and if he can share the perimeter with a guard who holds onto the ball and defends consistently, Lietuvos Rytas has the wherewithal to hang around with anyone, much as they did against CSKA. Can Nemanja Nedovic be that guard? What I heard in week one against Milos Teodosic and the Euroleague runners-up was a resounding ‘Yes.’		 -
18 Anadolu Efes (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 80-75 at Milano
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Olympiacos
The front court foursome of Semih Erden, Dusko Savanovic, Kerem Gonlum and Stanko Barac was supposed to have trouble staying with more athletic big men on defense. But in week one, problems arose on offense, namely in the ball security department: those four big men combined for 12 of Efes’ 19 turnovers.		 -
19 Montepaschi Siena (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 92-82 vs. Alba Berlin
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Maccabi
The Luca Banchi Era in Siena got underway with an embarrassing home loss to a Berlin team that’s flawed on the interior. There’s no way that Viktor Sanikidze and Benjamin Eze can replace the departed offense of Olympians Ksistof Lavrinovic (Lithuania) and David Andersen (Australia), so they might as well abandon pursuit and figure out how to close off those easy lanes to the bucket on defense.		 -
20 Bamberg (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 72-60 at Barcelona 
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Besiktas
Whether it’s Kyle Hines in 2011 or Marcus Slaughter last season, Bamberg has made it a habit of storming their way through Germany’s BBL on the backs of undersized centers. Then, after coveting A.J. Ogilvy last summer, Bamberg got their hands on the 6-foot-11, 24-year-old Aussie who played at Vanderbilt until 2010. But Bamberg was back to scrapping underneath the boards as Ogilvy missed his new team’s game in Barcelona due to injury, and the hosts out rebounded the Germans 41 to 29. That needs fixin’.		 -
21 Cantú (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 84-71 vs. Union Oimpija
THIS WEEK: Thursday at Panathinaikos
Last season’s underdog gave way to a new feel good story, as Pietro Aradori’s 18 and 8 remarkably weren’t even enough to keep this deficit in the single digits against Union Olimpija’s band of misfits. We’re used to witnessing magic in the Pala Desio, but not the kind that makes the home crowd fret.		 -
22 Partizan (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 81-65 at Besiktas
THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. CSKA Moscow
One of the world’s finest manipulators of undeveloped talent, Dusko Vujosevic, is back on Partizan’s bench to mold the Euroleague’s youngest roster into a contender. The largest chasm on the week one scoresheet belonged to Spurs 2011 draft pick Davis Bertans, who registered a steal, missed a shot and committed three fouls in nearly 10 minutes on the court. Partizan could seriously use his shooting. Or, you know, anything.		 -
23 Cedevita Zagreb (0-1) LAST WEEK: Lost 90-62 at Zalgiris
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Milano
Cedevita lost by 28 points to a team that I don’t think will advance. They will clearly need more than just a chunk of points a piece from Bracey Wright and Mickael Gelabale if they want to rescue themselves from the cellar.		 -
24 Asseco Prokom (0-2) LAST WEEK: Lost 81-74 at Elan Chalon
THIS WEEK: Lost 77-75 vs. Unicaja
Asseco Prokom is worth watching for Mateusz Ponitka, the 19-year-old shooting guard who impressed important eyes at the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit. Ponitka has averaged 11 points in around 20 minutes per game, and a glance up and down Prokom’s roster gives reason to believe that Mateusz’s role will expand rather than wither.		 -
Filed Under: International Tagged With: , , , ,

Gibson: Forget the Celtics; Fenerbahce Wants a Euroleague Title

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Rajon Rondo thinks the 2013 Boston Celtics can be better than the 2008 championship version. And last week, Fenerbahce Ulker beat the 2013 Boston Celtics by six.

“They have a really good basketball team,” Paul Pierce said after the game had wrapped up in Istanbul, Turkey.  ”My hat’s off to them. They really played a good game.”

Hold onto your hat, Paul.  At least until mid-May.

While any win–certainly any win against a storied club like the Boston Celtics—is better than any loss, Fenerbahce Ulker understands how exhibitions work.  Bo McCalebb’s 21 points didn’t roll over into the Euroleague opener, just like the Celtics will still take an unblemished record, along with their talents, to South Beach for their October 30 NBA opener despite the 97-91 loss in Turkey.

Fenerbahce Ulker Coach Simone Pianigiani knows it.

“Honestly, I don’t prefer to talk about the game,” Pianigiani said, right after the game. “It’s because both teams were not ready for the season and this was not the real face of both sides.”

So beating Rondo, Pierce and Garnett of the mighty Boston Celtics is a fun story to tell the grandkids around the fireplace, but little more.

But it’s what McCalebb and Co. did against Khimki Moscow’s Zoran Planinic, Vitaly Fridzon and Alexey Zhukanenko in a 92-80 win in Friday’s Euroleague opener that showed me these Turks are ready to contend for—and win—a Euroleague title.

And it’s not just because they opened their wallets—Hell, they do that every summer. It’s because this time, that wallet was opened judiciously, with some semblance of a plan.

At this time last season, the Euroleague narrative included a couple dozen new characters that had been locked out of their league at home.  Forced to seek refuge in faraway lands, NBA rentals like Danilo Gallinari (Milano), Nikola Pekovic (Partizan) and Nicolas Batum (SLUC Nancy) ignited a fuse underneath the Euroleague’s popularity balloon, but it flickered, faded and popped almost as abruptly as it had been lit.

By the time David Stern ordered the motorcade to bring home his stars, it was hard to argue that many of those “stars” had been anything more than disruptive in the grand scheme of things.

Even those who played well and then returned to the States—Gallo, Pek, Batum, Jordan Farmar, Rudy Fernandez (sometimes) — left huge, empty European-sized shoes behind.

Any rhythm their teams had developed under their leadership was whittled down to the nub.

Then there were the stints that were almost purely negative.  Like Ty Lawson cooking up some Twitter beef with his hometown Zalgiris fans in Lithuania, or Alonzo Gee texting Prokom’s head coach that he was leaving Poland on a plane and would not be coming back, or Siena prematurely releasing DaJuan Summers from a contract that never should have been written, printed or signed to begin with.

Fenerbahce Ulker bit into the apple as well, and came away with Thabo Sefolosha of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It paid off brilliantly in the beginning.  Sefolosha played well a little closer to his Swiss home, putting up 11 points per game and living up to his reputation as a crack defender with 15 steals through seven Euroleague games.

But by week eight, Sefolosha was gone.  Fenerbahce qualified two weeks later for the Top 16, but it’s nothing they couldn’t have done without outside help.

They lost four of six in the Top 16 and missed the playoffs.  Thabo could only—but probably didn’t—watch from Oklahoma City.

Pair that failure with a lifeless showing against Besiktas—whose rafters feature the retired jersey of one Deron Williams—in the Turkish League playoffs, and it was time for Fenerbahce to assemble something more substantial.

To be Europe’s best team, it helps to have Europe’s best player. Welcome aboard, Bo McCalebb.

A New Orleans Privateer in college, McCalebb averaged 13, 22.6, 25 and 23.2 between 2003-08 (he sat out all but four games in 2005-06 with a medical redshirt).  After helping Partizan to an unlikely Final Four berth and picking up All-Euroleague honors in 2010, he went to Siena in 2011 and last season, he led the Euroleague in scoring at 16.9 ppg.

And while I’m confident he would make any NBA team and could start for more than half of them, Bo decided to return to the Euroleague, drawn by bigger money and a bigger role in a city nearly 20 million deep.

(RELATED: The top 20 Americans playing in European Cup Competition) 

Bo brought his coach, Pianigiani, with him from Siena, along with Aussie Olympian and former Rocket and Raptor, David Andersen.  Ex-Xavier Musketeet Romain Sato and Mike Batiste both defected from perennial powers Panathinaikos, who have tightened their belts during Greece’s financial roller-coaster ride.

And Brooklyn Nets fans will want to keep an eye on Bojan Bogdanovic and Ilkan Karaman, the team’s second-round draft picks in 2011 and 2012, respectively.  I put Bogdanovic on my preseason All-Euroleague team over at ELA, while the 22-year-old Karaman could come up huge if his prowess swells as quickly as his collection of tattoos.

Omer Onan provides the savvy and defense off the bench while 6’9″ guard Emir Preldzic scored 20 during his best Euroleague outing in six seasons with Fenerbahce.  If Emir—property of the Washington Wizards—can inject Fenerbahce with just the right amount of glue, the team from Istanbul’s Asian shores just might lift the Continental Trophy this May in London.

Unfortunately for Fenerbahce, they’re not the only team that spent wisely this offseason.

Rudy Fernandez is back with Real Madrid, but it’s his teammate, Bulls draft pick Nikola Mirotic, that has the best chance at challenging for the Euroleague MVP at the age of 21. With those two, plus Sergio Llull and the arrival of Marcus Slaughter (San Diego State) in the post, Madrid’s offense should lead the Euroleague in scoring for a second straight year.

Madrid beat Panathinaikos 85-78 in their Euroleague opener behind 23 from Fernandez, 18 from Mirotic and 15 from Llull.

Then there’s Mikhail Prokhorov’s old toy, CSKA Moscow, which will try to shake the Ghost of Giorgios Printezis, whose floater over MVP Andrei Kirilenko capped a torrid comeback by Olympiacos and sealed the deal for a Euroleague championship last May.

Kirilenko has moved to Minnesota, but Nenad Krstic and point guard Milos Teodosic are still there along with Sonny Weems, who proved last season in Lithuania that he can stick it in Europe.

Ettore Messina left Mike Brown and the Lakers bench to return to Russia.  The idea: to win another Euroleague title.  He and CSKA got off to a frightening start, just squeaking by the overmatched Lietuvos Rytas side by merely two at home, 75-73.

Last season, CSKA Moscow didn’t lose until week 14.

And what about Printezis and those Reds?  Well, while everyone scrambled to fill holes and sign bodies, Olympiacos looked at their roster, then at the championship banner from 2012, and decided to stand pat.

NCAA legends Joey Dorsey and Acie Law resigned with the club after excellent second halves, and Vassilis Spanoulis will be back to seek out the MVP trophy that should’ve been his last season.

And that guy the Knicks drafted? Kostas Papa Nicky…uh…Papadapa…yeah. That guy.  He’ll be playing for the Reds again this season, too.

Olympiacos started their title defense admirably, beating a difficult, Andres Nocioni-led Caja Laboral squad 85-81 in the ironically named Peace and Friendship Stadium.

Printezis had 17, Spanoulis had 16 and KOS-TAS PA-PA-NIK-O-LAOU chipped in five. (Now you Knicks Blazers fans are stoked, huh?  Thought you might be.)

Last season, everyone pondered aloud how wild it would be if one of the Turkish teams made the Final Four.  Not only did Istanbul host the 2012 Final Four, but Turkish Airlines is also the Euroleague’s title sponsor.

Alas, neither Fenerbahce Ulker nor Anadolu Efes could pull it off.

This year, the Euroleague trophy will be handed out in London; but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that it will end up on the next flight back to Istanbul.

Right in Bo McCalebb’s lap.

Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other international basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Euroleague, International Tagged With: , , ,