BigDirty

[...]Nenad Krstic said as much when he left Moscow after a half-season to join the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Think about it -- he's leaving one of the most lavish, winning teams in all of Europe, based in one of its most cosmopolitan cities, to join the NBA's losingest team in one of its least sophisticated cities. And, by all accounts, it's a dream come true[...]

So Triumph is one of the most lavish and winning teams in all of Europe? They were founded in 2007, have a 3,500 seats arena, finished 4th (out of 12) last year in Russia, do not play in the Euroleague, do not play in the EuroCup and are currently 3-6 in Russia & 2-2 in the EuroChallenge. Do these writers ever check their facts when trying to make a point?

Cenk's December:

12/03/08 Efes Pilsen (2-3) @ Partizan (2-3) 77-83:

DNP

12/06/08 Efes Pilsen (7-1) @ Pinar Karsiyaka (4-4) 106-80:

15 min, 2 pts (1-2 2fg, 0-2 3fg), 3 reb, 5 ast, 2 fl

12/10/08 AJ Milano (2-4) @ Efes Pilsen (2-4) 67-74:

DNP

12/13/08 TÜRK Telekom (7-2) @ Efes Pilsen (8-1) 76-80:

9 min, 3 pts (0-2 2fg, 1-2 3fg), 1 reb, 2 stl, 1 to

12/18/08 Efes Pilsen (3-4) @ Panionios (3-4) 78-64:

DNP

12/20/08 Efes Pilsen (9-1) @ TED Koleji (1-9) 77-63:

17 min, 9 pts (2-2 2fg, 1-2 3fg, 2-2 ft), 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 fl

12/28/08 Darüssafaka (5-6) @ Efes Pilsen (10-1) 63-86:

14 min, 3 pts (0-1 2fg, 0-2 3fg, 3.3 ft), 1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 3 to, 2 fl

December average:

13.8 min, 4.3 pts, 42.9% 2fg, 25.0% 3fg, 100.0% ft, 1.3 reb, 2.8 ast, 1.3 stl, 1.0 to, 0.0 blk, 1.3 fl

Turkish League average:

12.0 min, 4.3 pts, 52.4% 2fg, 26.1% 3fg, 80.0% ft, 1.4 reb, 1.5 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.5 to, 0.0 blk, 1.7 fl

Euroleague average:

9.2 min, 3.0 pts, 60.0% 2fg, 20.0% 3fg, 75.0% ft, 0.6 reb, 0.4 ast, 0.6 stl, 0.4 to, 0.0 blk, 0.6 fl

Total average:

11.2 min, 3.9 pts, 53.8% 2fg, 24.2% 3fg, 78.9% ft, 1.2 reb, 1.2 ast, 0.9 stl, 0.5 to, 0.0 blk, 1.4 fl

They don't even use him in Euroleague games anymore.

This was a great learning experience for Brandon and I think it has made him appreciate what he had back home.

What? Have I missed something? Is he living in a third world country, working for peanuts, and not receiving a fair chance from his coach, so that he can't wait to finally get back on US soil? Last time I checked he lived in a beautiful city, earned more money than he ever made and received quite a bit of playing time, in short life is good for Brandon Jennings right now (his results on the court could be better though).

Wasn't this posted already in another thread?

What about David Anderson? Is he still going to play for us one day?

At the start of December (I only update my excel tables at the start of each month so if you want his current stats you have to check the Euroleague/Spanish league sites yourself) Andersen had the following stats:

November average:

21.6 min, 10.4 pts, 56.0% 2fg, 27.3% 3fg, 61.5% ft, 4.4 reb, 0.7 ast, 0.4 stl, 2.3 to, 0.4 blk, 2.1 fl

Spanish League average:

19.0 min, 9.2 pts, 50.0% 2fg, 33.3% 3fg, 73.9% ft, 3.4 reb, 0.6 ast, 0.4 stl, 2.0 to, 0.3 blk, 2.2 fl

Euroleague average:

22.2 min, 9.0 pts, 51.4% 2fg, 25.0% 3fg, 75.0% ft, 4.0 reb, 0.8 ast, 0.4 stl, 2.0 to, 0.6 blk, 1.6 fl

Total average:

20.1 min, 9.1 pts, 50.6% 2fg, 30.0% 3fg, 74.1% ft, 3.6 reb, 0.6 ast, 0.4 stl, 2.0 to, 0.4 blk, 2.0 fl

Barcelona is pretty successful right now and leads it's Euroleague group with 7-1. Oh and I just found out that Andersen upped his Euroleague stats to 11.6/5.1, so it seems that it took a while for him to adjust to Barcelona but now he's getting back to his usual level.

And how many times does it have to be said that Cenk IS NOT A PG, NEVER WAS, NEVER WILL BE, argh.

That arena they showed Chillz playing in looked like a High School. Did you guys see the stands?

No wonder he wants to come back to the NBA next year.

That's because the smaller greek teams only have small halls, the bigger teams like AEK & Panathinaikos have arenas with a capacity of 19,000 and most (if not all) Euroleague teams have arenas with 10,000+ seats. I'd say the atmosphere during the Olympiacos-Panthinaikos derbies easily tops any NBA game atmosphere.

He is only putting up 9 and 5 in the Greek league?

No, his Greek league average is 15.5/3.8 (5th place in scoring) and his Euroleague average is 10.1/5.

A slow very low percentage chucker with no defense, that's exactly what we need. :beat:

The NBA introduced the salary cap in 1984/85.

# of teams that have won a championship since 1985

NBA: 7

MLB: 16

NBA teams and # of titles since 1985:

6 Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls

4 San Antonio Spurs

3 Detroit Pistons

2 Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets

1 Miami Heat

MLB teams and # of titles since 1985:

4 New York Yankees

2 Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins, Boston Red Sox

1 Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Anaheim Angels, Chicago White Sox, St.Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies

Seems to me like any random team has a much better chance winning a MLB than winning a NBA title.

And what exactly is wrong with teams that have the most fans always having the best players? They earned it. That's how it's supposed to work, you work hard, you win, you gain fans, you gain money, you get better players. Why should a team with lazy management, lazy coaches and no fans get good players just because no other team could afford them because they had no cap room?

I guess part of the reason is that many of the songs aren't politically correct (and some groups even sing racist ones) and that most likely wouldn't go over well in the US.

Cenk's November:

11/01/08 Efes Pilsen (1-1) @ Selcuk Uni. (1-1) 81-73:

5 min, 0 pts (0-1 3fg), 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 fl

11/05/08 Panionios (0-2) @ Efes Pilsen (2-0) 78-69:

8 min, 5 pts (1-2 2fg, 1-2 3fg), 1 reb, 1 to, 1 fl

11/08/08 Besiktas (1-2) @ Efes Pilsen (2-1) 53-71:

11 min, 3 pts (1-2 3fg), 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 fl

11/12/08 Efes Pilsen (2-1) @ CSKA Moscow (3-0) 68-90:

9 min, 2 pts (0-2 3fg, 2-2 ft), 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl

11/15/08 Efes Pilsen (3-1) @ Galatasaray (4-0) 91-84:

2 min

11/19/08 Fenerbahce Ülker (5-0) @ Efes Pilsen (4-1) 63-69:

4 min, 0 pts (0-1 3fg)

11/22/08 Efes Pilsen (5-1) @ Erdemir (1-5) 85-61:

20 min, 10 pts (5-7 2fg, 0-2 3fg), 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 to, 3 fl

11/26/08 Real Madrid (2-2) @ Efes Pilsen (2-2) 95-81:

4 min, 0 pts (0-1 3fg), 1 stl, 1 to

11/29/08 Aliaga Petkim (4-3) @ Efes Pilsen (6-1) 78-92:

12 min, 0 pts (0-2 2fg, 0-1 3fg, 0-2 ft), 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 fl

November average:

8.3 min, 2.2 pts, 54.5% 2fg, 16.7% 3fg, 50.0% ft, 1.1 reb, 0.7 ast, 0.8 stl, 0.3 to, 0.0 blk, 1.2 fl

Turkish League average:

11.1 min, 4.4 pts, 57.1% 2fg, 26.7% 3fg, 70.0% ft, 1.5 reb, 0.9 ast, 1.0 stl, 0.3 to, 0.0 blk, 1.9 fl

Euroleague average:

9.2 min, 3.0 pts, 60.0% 2fg, 20.0% 3fg, 75.0% ft, 0.6 reb, 0.4 ast, 0.6 stl, 0.4 to, 0.0 blk, 0.6 fl

Total average:

10.4 min, 3.8 pts, 57.9% 2fg, 24.0% 3fg, 71.4% ft, 1.2 reb, 0.7 ast, 0.8 stl, 0.3 to, 0.0 blk, 1.4 fl

I think you should go to a lesser team and try to be the man there.

Childress' November:

11/02/08 P.A.O.K. (1-2) @ Olympiacos (3-0) 71-80:

20 min, 7 pts (2-7 2fg, 3-4 ft), 3 reb, 2 stl, 2 to

11/06/08 Olympiacos (2-0) @ Cibona (2-0) 76-85:

34 min, 8 pts (3-6 2fg, 0-3 3fg, 2-5 ft), 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 to, 2 fl

11/09/08 Olympiacos (4-0) @ Kavala (0-1) 82-51:

22 min, 11 pts (2-3 2fg, 1-2 3fg, 4-4 ft), 2 reb, 2 stl, 3 to, 1 blk, 2 fl

11/13/08 Maccabi (2-1) @ Olympiacos (2-1) 65-84:

23 min, 4 pts (0-4 2fg, 1-2 3fg, 1-2 ft), 5 reb, 5 to, 1 blk, 2 fl

11/16/08 AEK (2-3) @ Olympiacos (5-0) 84-101:

25 min, 13 pts (5-6 2fg, 1-3 3fg), 6 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 to, 2 fl

11/23/08 Olympiacos (6-0) @ Panathinaikos (5-1) 69-86:

25 min, 11 pts (4-7 2fg, 0-1 3fg, 3-4 ft), 2 reb, 2 to, 2 blk, 3 fl

11/27/08 Olympiacos (3-1) @ Le Mans (0-4) 98-93:

24 min, 8 pts (4-8 2fg), 2 reb, 1 fl

11/30/08 Kolossos (3-4) @ Olympiacos (6-1) 50-84:

27 min, 24 pts (7-8 2fg, 2-4 3fg, 4-6 ft), 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 to, 2 blk

November average:

25.0 min, 10.8 pts, 55.1% 2fg, 33.3% 3fg, 68.0% ft, 3.9 reb, 0.9 ast, 0.9 stl, 1.9 to, 0.8 blk, 1.5 fl

Greek League average:

24.6 min, 15.0 pts, 70.9% 2fg, 28.6% 3fg, 81.1% ft, 3.8 reb, 0.6 ast, 1.4 stl, 1.5 to, 1.0 blk, 1.4 fl

Euroleague average:

27.4 min, 9.8 pts, 50.0% 2fg, 14.3% 3fg, 52.6% ft, 4.8 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.6 stl, 2.8 to, 1.0 blk, 1.2 fl

Total average:

25.7 min, 13.0 pts, 62.6% 2fg, 23.8% 3fg, 71.4% ft, 4.2 reb, 0.8 ast, 1.1 stl, 2.0 to, 1.0 blk, 1.3 fl

Well it seems like the stereotype about dumb athletes applies to the NFL.

Brock is a beast, I'm already excited for his next fight, I hope it's against Nog cause honestly I think that Mir will not be able to outsmart Lesnar again and so Lesnar would beat him easier than Nog.

According to the bookies Brock is the slight favourite, it was 1.9 Couture 1.8 Lesnar last time I looked.

Damn that Hazelett guy is nice on the ground.

3 fights left and then it'll begin. I wanted to bet a large sum on a Lesnar win but then I didn't do it cause I still fear Brock might make some rookie mistake. Theoretically Lesnar should be able to win, he's just in so much better physical shape and Couture hasn't fought in some time, but then again Couture always finds a way to win and the experience difference couldn't be any bigger.

Fans in Europe (and especially in the southern regions) are a little more passionate about their teams than fans in the US, some only live for "their" club and they're just a liiiittle bit crazy.

Barcelona fans threw a pig's head at Luis Figo during a game because he went to main rival Real. Dresden fans dug 11 graves on the teams' training field a few days ago, because the team in the bottom half of the table. I think Ailton's car got destroyed once by fans, cause he wasn't living up to his contract. Balkan fans will often throw things like coins, bottles, lighters, etc. at players from the opposing during games.

So what you should learn from this is if you're a highly paid athlete in Europe, then don't suck, don't transfer to the rival team and don't say anything bad about the fans, but if you play good then you'll be treated like a king (but only as long as you're playing good).

Olympiacos (2-0) lost 76-85 at Cibona Zagreb (2-0). Chillz had 8 pts, 5 reb and 3 ast.

box score

Olympiacos (3-0) beat PAOK (1-2) with 80-71 yesterday. Chillz had his probably weakest game so far: 20 min, 7 pts, 3 reb, 2 stl & 2 to.

box score

44-57 halftime, JJ, Bibby & Horford came to play, but I don't know where the other guys are. I think we're gonna make a comeback and win this game.

Not exactly a dream start at home, Young is on fire today.

Efes (1-1) won at Mutlu Akü Selcuk Üniv. (1-1) with 81-73. Cenk played 5 minutes had an assist and a steal. After the first game of the season I thought that Cenk might prove me wrong about him, but now it seems his game is back to his usual standard.

box score

So, what are you saying? It was his first game. His FG% was pretty good. Looks like his over all play was good too.

What? It wasn't his first game and I was just stating in which category he had team highs just like I did in the last Euroleague game, what's wrong with you?

Olympiacos (1-0) beat Unicaja Malaga (1-0) with 83-72. Childress had a team high 4 turnovers.

box score

Only internet streams which are better than nothing I guess.