Kraken

Two weeks ago Biedrins played with Latvia's u-18 team against Finland u-18 and won 76-64. According to reports I've read Biedrins was great at defence and less great at the other end of the court. He did score 17 points, but he was also benched part of the game because of his struggle at offence. Finns doubleteamed him a lot and that kept the game close most of the game as he had trouble passing the ball away. Scored most of his points at the end of the game as the guarding Finnish forwards were at foul trouble. No outside shot and no moves to the right when posting(he is lefty), Finns made just sure that there was help on his left side and dared him to go right... He did get the Finnish forwards to the foul trouble and scored most of his points at the end of the game to secure the win of his team. On defence he was reported to be exellent. Really good shotblocker. BTW. the Finnish team plays in Albert Schweitzer junior tournament Saturday against USA for 5th place (there are 16 teams: 11 from Europe + USA, Argentina, China, Tunisia and Australia) so the Finnish team is a pretty decent team. So struggling to score against them isn't a dead sure sign of a bad player...

Quote: What do Reggie Evans, Jerome Williams, Cliff Robinson, Walter McCarty, Donyell Marshall, Kenny Thomas, Juwan Howard, Nene Hilario, Zach Randolph, Kwame Brown, Amare Stoudemire and Elton Brand all have in common? They're the starting power forwards for the 13 teams that likely will land in the lottery this year 13 teams and he gives 12 names. Just guess from which team Chad couldn't remember any forwards or didn't bother to check the roster.

Why take a copy when you can get the original Hanno Hanno's line from last night in Euroleague top 16 game: 22 pts (2p 6/11,3p 1/1,1p 7/7), 6 rbs (4 off!), 2 blk, 4 pf, 34.30 mins . His team Skipper Bologna won Olimpija Ljubljana 86-73. Not too bad for a guy who played his first full game after injury (middle finger) and who is now playing full time center as the 'real' center of Skipper Bologna is injured for the rest of the season. Bologna is a win away from Euroleague Final Four. Report from the game: Skipper Bologna - Olimpija Ljubljana Hanno still fouls too much and doesn't rebound well enough, but he has played pretty well this season, at least much better that I would have thought he would.

Quote: Quote: Quote: You're saying that 5 years from now people won't be hyped and interested about some 7'1" guy from europe? Let's test that statement. Frederick Weis Are you excited yet?? How about another? Big Jake! I think he's a free agent this year. How about another? Wang Zhu Zhu.... Has that excitement level built up yet? Now, let's turn the tables Chillz. What if I tell you there's a 7'1 guy coming out of HS. Would you want him? Let's see... who gets you more excited... Any of the three that I have just mentioned or Tyson Chandler? Even with Tyson being Injured, I would still want him over those guys because I know he has what??? MORE POTENTIAL. How were these three players you mention more hyped than Chandler? Wang didn't even get to the first round. Tyson was #2 pick. Jake #25, Wang #36 and even the ultimate draft bust Weis was just #15. Would you want Yao Ming (#1) over Soumaila Samake(#36), Jason Collier (#15) or Samuel Dalembert (#26)? Who then suffered from this "Eurohype" these three got. Let's check the great US centers that got snuffed their rightful draft position: After Tsakalidis there are Mamadou N'Diaye (Nigerian, but played in US college) Jake Voskuhl, Jabari Smith, Ernest Brown and Dan McClintock. After Wang there were Obinna Ekezie(also Nigerian and a college player), A.J. Bramlett, Tyrone Washington. After Weis there were picked Jeff Foster, Evan Eschmeier and Calvin Booth. Weis was a mistake as everybody knows now, but my opinion is that he was a better player than Foster or Eschmeier in 1999. It was the back surgery he had just before the draft that created the stiff center Weis is now. Weis didn't let the Knicks medical staff to examine his back before the draft and the stupid Knicks still drafted him at #15. Tsakalidis was maybe drafted too high, but considering Pryzbilla was drafted at #9 the same year and Jason Collier at #15 so were some US centers. Wang was a second round pick and perhaps more of a publicity stunt. I would also like to remind that if Wang is European then I want Yao too