|
|
Euroleague, Eurocup stars ready to shine at the Olympics!
|
One of the biggest stages in world basketball might not be wide enough to fit all the Euroleague and Eurocup stars trying to mount it this month. With a gold medal as the top prize, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, are set to start with a long list of Euroleague and Eurocup players ready to help their national teams to reach as high as possible. The Euroleague offers the biggest contingent of players from any professional league with some 42 players, while 21 others are set to take part in the 2008-09 Eurocup season. The protagonists will be many, including reigning Euroleague champions in as many as four different Olympic teams: Lithuania with Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas, Greece with Theodoros Papaloukas and Nikos Zisis, Russia with J.R. Holden and Viktor Khryapa, and Australia with David Andersen. Another Euroleague player, Pablo Prigioni of Argentina, is back to defend the Olympic title along with former Euroleague stars such as Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto. Furthermore, former All-Euroleague selections such as Vassilis Spanoulis of Greece, Jorge Garbajosa and Juan Carlos Navarro of Spain or the Lavrinovic twins and Sarunas Jasikevicius of Lithuania, not to mention the Euroleague's four-time Best Defender Trophy winner, Dimitris Diamantidis of Greece. All those superstars are just a fraction of the total Euroleague influence at the Olympics. Euroleague and Eurocup stars will be all over the place in Beijing and that can only mean one thing: Get ready for beautiful basketball!
 Argentina won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and is ready to show it can still compete with anyone else. Prigioni, a two-time All-Euroleague second team selection, will be its starting point guard and hopes to lead the team to the medal round along with Scola, Ginobili, Oberto and Andres Nocioni, all of whom have shined in Europe's top competition in the past. Argentina is the team to beat in Group A along with Lithuania and European champion Russia. Lithuania not only offers Siskauskas, but a good number of Euroleague and Eurocup stars such as Jasikevicius, Darjus and Ksistof Lavrinovic, Rimantas Kaukenas and Jonas Maciulis. Its first game against Argentina will be a pivotal one for both teams. Russia is another top candidate to reach the medal rounds, as coach David Blatt returns most of the players that won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2007. Andrei Kirilenko will be its go-to guy, but Russia has experienced players used to competing at the highest levels such as Holden, Khryapa and a recovered Aleksey Savrasenko of CSKA Moscow. Croatia, which reached the Olympics through the Qualifying Tournament, has a deep roster with all 12 players boasting Euroleague experience, including playmakers Zoran Planinic and Roko Ukic, off-guard Marko Popovic, big men Niksa Prkacin and Sandro Nicevic, and Real Madrid swingman Marko Tomas, who has been unstoppable lately. Australia has a rock solid frontcourt featuring Andrew Bogut, Andersen and Matt Nielsen of Lietuvos Rytas, as well as good outside shooters like Brad Newley of Panellinios and C.J. Bruton. The Boomers will try to advance to the quarterfinals, while Iran relies on scoring machine Samad Bahrami and dominant center Hamed Ehadadi to try and shock its opponents.
 Two of the major candidates to strike gold at Beijing, Spain and the United States, will be the teams to beat in Group B. Spain keeps 10 players from the squad that won the gold medal at the 2006 World Championships. As such, Pau Gasol, his brother Marc, Navarro, former Euroleague Rising Star award winner Rudy Fernandez, Garbajosa and Felipe Reyes turn Spain into an outstanding team-oriented powerhouse. The addition of veteran head coach Aito Garcia Reneses and teen sensation Ricky Rubio only make Spain better as the team tries to achieve its first Olympic medal since 1984. Meanwhile, the United States is back with some of the players that won the bronze medal in Athens 2004, such as Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer, as well several stars like Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. With improved defense and coach Mike Krzyzewski in charge, the United States joins Spain as two of the favorites to come back home with the gold medal. Greece hopes to bounce back from its performance at EuroBasket 2007 and show it is the same team that won EuroBasket 2005 and reached the 2006 World Championship final. Papaloukas and Diamantidis will be the floor generals, but players like Spanoulis, Antonis Fotsis or above all, a healthy Sofoklis Schortsianitis can be unstoppable anytime, anywhere. Germany is back to the Olympics for the first time since 1992 led by the unstoppable Dirk Nowitzki and new addition Chris Kaman. Both players will need some help from Steffen Hamann, Demond Greene and Jan Jagla to go past the quarterfinals. Germany has kept the same core of players for a while and Kaman has made the team even stronger. Angola is ready to upset anyone with scoring ace Olimpio Cipriano and blue-collar big man Joaquin Gomes as its references, while Yao Ming and Jianlian Yi are ready for the challenge of leading China to the quarterfinals and beyond.
EUROLEAGUE PLAYERS IN BEIJING 2008 | | NAME | COUNTRY | TEAM | | Pablo Prigioni | Argentina | Tau Ceramica | | David Andersen | Australia | FC Barcelona | | Nikola Prkacin | Croatia | Cibona | | Stanko Barac | Croatia | Tau Ceramica | | Davor Kus | Croatia | Unicaja | | Zoran Planinic | Croatia | CSKA Moscow | | Marin Rozic | Croatia | Cibona | | Damjan Rudez | Croatia | Union Olimpija | | Marko Tomas | Croatia | Real Madrid | | Patrick Femerling | Germany | Alba Berlin | | Steffen Hamann | Germany | Alba Berlin | | Jan-Hendrick Jagla | Germany | DKV Joventut | | Philip Zweiner | Germany | Alba Berlin | | Dimitris Diamantidis | Greece | Panathinaikos | | Nikos Zisis | Greece | CSKA Moscow | | Vassilis Spanoulis | Greece | Panathinaikos | | Theo Papaloukas | Greece | Olympiacos | | Michalis Pelekanos | Greece | Olympiacos | | Antonis Fotsis | Greece | Panathinaikos | | Ioannis Bouroussis | Greece | Olympiacos | | Giorgos Printezis | Greece | Olympiacos | | Sofoklis Schortsanitis | Greece | Olympiacos | | Kostas Tsartsaris | Greece | Panathinaikos | | Panos Vassilopoulos | Greece | Olympiacos | | Jonas Maciulis | Lithuania | Zalgiris | | Ramunas Siskauskas | Lithuania | CSKA Moscow | | Ksistof Lavrinovic | Lithuania | Montepaschi Siena | | Simas Jasaitis | Lithuania | DKV Joventut | | Sarunas Jasikevicius | Lithuania | Panathinaikos | | Rimantas Kaukenas | Lithuania | Montepaschi Siena | | J.R. Holden | Russia | CSKA Moscow | | Aleksey Savrasenko | Russia | CSKA Moscow | | Viktor Keiru | Russia | CSKA Moscow | | Viktor Khryapa | Russia | CSKA Moscow | | Andrei Vorontsevich | Russia | CSKA Moscow | | Carlos Jimenez | Spain | Unicaja | | Berni Rodriguez | Spain | Unicaja | | Juan Carlos Navarro | Spain | FC Barcelona | | Ricky Rubio | Spain | DKV Joventut | | Felipe Reyes | Spain | Real Madrid | | Alex Mumbru | Spain | Real Madrid | | Raul Lopez | Spain | Real Madrid |
EUROCUP PLAYERS IN BEIJING 2008 | | NAME | COUNTRY | TEAM | | Carlos Delfino | Argentina | Khimki | | Matt Nielsen | Australia | Lietuvos Rytas | | Brad Newley | Australia | Panellinios | | Sandro Nicevic | Croatia | Benetton Treviso | | Marko Banic | Croatia | iurbentia Bilbao Basket | | Kresimir Loncar | Croatia | Unics Kazan | | Marko Popovic | Croatia | Unics Kazan | | Robert Garrett | Germany | Brose Baskets | | Demond Greene | Germany | Brose Baskets | | Tim Ohlbrecht | Germany | Brose Baskets | | Andreas Gliniadakis | Greece | Maroussi Costa Coffee | | Marius Prekevicius | Lithuania | Lietuvos Rytas | | Mindaugas Lukauskis | Lithuania | Lietuvos Rytas | | Marijonas Petravicius | Lithuania | Lietuvos Rytas | | Robertas Javtokas | Lithuania | Dynamo Moscow | | Darjus Lavrinovic | Lithuania | Dynamo Moscow | | Sergey Monya | Russia | Dynamo Moscow | | Petr Samoylenko | Russia | Dynamo Moscow | | Sergei Bykov | Russia | Dynamo Moscow | | Vitaliy Fridzon | Russia | Khimki | | Jorge Garbajosa | Spain | Khimki |
|
|
Euroleague.net
|
 Print Send to a Friend Share
|
|