US Central win both boys and girls divisions of first-ever Jr. NBA World Championship

Over the past week, the future basketball stars from across the globe got their first major taste of the limelight, an opportunity to project their way forward if all the stars align for them. It was a gathering of the best under-14 players at the inaugural Jr. NBA World Championship at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida from August 7-12. And when the exciting phase of games concluded, teams representing US Central reminded the world that the United States are poised to remain frontrunners in global basketball in the near future, too.

The US Central girls team (Kansas City, Missouri) and US Central boys team (Overland Park, Kansas) won the Jr. NBA World Championship after the event's finals on Sunday. Central girls defeated the Europe girls team 68-38, while the Central boys defeated the Africa & Middle East boys team 60-50. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, three-time NBA Champion and Jr. NBA World Championship Global Ambassador Dwyane Wade and four-time WNBA Champion Sheryl Swoopes presented the winning teams with trophies in a ceremony following the games.

The first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament featured 32 of the top 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world, including teams from India represented by Bengaluru (Girls) and Delhi (Boys).

India's Girls started their campaign with two massive losses on Day 1, losing 57-11 to Asia Pacific, and 75-28 to Europe. On the second day, however, the team showed class to defeat South America 40-37. India were eventually defeated in the first round of the knockout stage by China, 62-31.

Team India x @DwyaneWade #JrNBAWorldChampionship #Orlando #RFJrNBA pic.twitter.com/MPfSw3MCek

— NBAIndia (@NBAIndia) August 11, 2018

India's Boys also lost their two Day 1 games, to Europe 75-34 and to Asia Pacific 59-46. South America beat India on Day 2 59-46. In the first round of the knockout stage, eventual finalists Africa and Middle East knocked out India 86-29.

India's Girls player Sunishka Kartik was handed the Community Award at the end of the tournament. Before the event began, both of India's teams enjoyed a lunch hosted by NBA player Brook Lopez, who had formed a kinship with the teams when he was present at the NBA Academy India for the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA finals earlier this summer.

International Basketball Association: Will Adam Silver's promise hold true for the NBA's global expansion?

Nearly a month ago in London, on the eve of the NBA's now-annual 'Global Games' regular season matchup - featuring the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks this year - NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made an eyebrow-raising statement to the English media. With an eye on the future of global sports leagues, Silver said that he wants to launch four European franchises, adding that, "It is our manifest destiny to expand."

Between the time that David Stern - Silver's predecessor - took over the helm of the NBA in the early 80s till Silver succeeded him last year, the NBA's global face has changed drastically. The league has become one of the most profitable and lucrative worldwide and its biggest stars have brand name recognition across all the continents. Over the past decade, the NBA Global has pushed the league into further reaches, bringing NBA teams and stars closer to international fans than ever before.

Now, on the week of the NBA All Star Weekend where two Spaniards (Pau and Marc Gasol) will be the game's starters, the Rising Stars Challenge will feature a USA vs. World game, international players will take part in the weekend's several smaller events, and Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan will become the first Indian to play in the All Star Celebrity Game, the question of this 'manifest destiny to expand' is sure to be posed ahead of Commissioner Silver again. In London, Silver spoke about expanding the game to Europe, but eventually, the Asian markets like China, Philippines, and potentially India will also shape the changing international nature of one of the world's fastest-growing leagues.

During the Global Games in London, Silver had admitted that the NBA had fallen behind in expansion schedule to the NFL, who have plans to start a franchise in England. "It will be easier logistically for them to pull it off," said Silver, "It would be difficult for us to have one team in Europe. We’d have to put both feet down. That would mean having four franchises in Europe."

Via the Guardian

He said that the arena infrastructure was improving across Europe with US-style arenas in place or under construction in England, Germany, France and Spain.
"We’re not there yet. I know that as much growth as we’ve seen, we have a long way to go before we can sustain four franchises in Europe,” said Silver, who has worked at the NBA since 1992. “On the other hand, I believe it’s our manifest destiny to expand."

Because of the talent and infrastructure in many European countries (excluding England, who are relative minnows in basketball), the continent is an obvious next shore if the NBA is to expand its borders across North America. It Silver's words are to hold true, the European expansion may still be up to a decade away. But is a sports league separated by the great distances of the Atlantic Ocean truly feasible, no matter how efficient and comfortable modern day travel may get? The time zone differences could add another caveat to the plans. Of course, there have been arguments that the NBA and Silver are getting ahead of themselves here, especially when there are more suitable markets in North America that deserve and are more primed to host an NBA team.

Still, the winds of change - and the future - are inevitable: the reality of the future is a smaller, flatter world, where business - including the business of playing sports - will become more global.

While the NBA's first steps as explorers of an expanding league seem to be in Europe, it is China and India - if the two massive populations are able to iron out their creases - that might end up being the most profitable future endeavours. In present day India, infrastructure, mismanagement, and organizational problems are clear red flags against any NBA dreams. Additionally, India has to first show that they can launch and handle our own basketball league before the NBA can even glance in this direction. Still, we are talking of decades into the future now, and Silver's comments about Europe may yet prove to be a foreshadow of the eventual reality by the middle of the 21st century.

The NBA isn't expanding anywhere outside of North America anytime soon, but - whether or not it is still under Adam Silver's leadership - the expansion will eventually happen one day. And by then, we'll have an international basketball association for a truly international sport.

Where European & Chinese hoops clash: Real Madrid beat Beijing Ducks in Beijing

It was a clash of two very different philosophies of basketball, and yet, once the referee sent the ball in the air for the tip off, the flow of the game itself took over to dominate all other cultural and philosophical differences. On Friday, October 11th, one of the Chinese Basketball Association's (CBA) most-popular franchises - the Beijing Ducks - hosted one of the most historically successful European basketball team's - Spain's Real Madrid - in a pre-season exhibition that turned out to be far more intriguing than anyone imagined. After a topsy-turvy encounter, Madrid used a timely fourth quarter run to speed past Beijing to a 92-86 victory.

The Euroleague's CEO Jordi Bertomeu was in attendance too, to overlook the game's proceedings.

The Ducks, who won the CBA title in 2012 and were in last year's semi-finals, hosted the game in Beijing's MasterCard Center. This game was the first time that Real Madrid - who were runner-up in the Euroleague last season - faced against a Chinese opponent in their long history. It was the last game of the pre-season for Real Madrid, who were coming off the Endesa Super Cup title against Barcelona.

A little over a month ago, the Chief Business Development Officer of the Euroleague Roser Queralto announced the game in Beijing with the proclamation that Chinese and European teams play quite a similar game, and an on-court interaction could strengthen the relations of both the leagues. While the playing styles rooting from Spanish and the Chinese tactics weren't exactly the same, the final result was an evenly-matched contest.

The Beijing Ducks of course feature former NBA All Star Stephon Marbury, who had been their hero and leader en route to their maiden CBA title in 2012. Marbury proved to be unstoppable for the Madrid defense, and slashed and shot his way to 25 points. The chief benefactor of Marbury's kick and drives or rebounding off his missed opportunities was his American teammate Randolph Morris, who kept the Ducks close with a game-high 28 point performance.

It was a back-and-forth contest throughout, and while Beijing mostly relied on their two American imports for offense, Madrid spread the ball around to keep their top contributors Jaycee Carroll, Sergio Rodriguez, and Tremmel Darden involved. The Ducks made a surprising third-quarter run to lead 63-57 before the final period began. The game continued to be close in the fourth quarter, and the score was tied 77 all with just five minutes left on the clock. Madrid finally broke out to a 13-3 run to put the game past Beijing, and settled on a 92-86 win.

Madrid will now begin their regular season back in Spain against Valladolid, while Beijing have to wait till the end of November for the start of the CBA season.

Chinese and European Basketball Leagues can learn a lot from each other – Euroleague CEO Roser Queralto

This article was first published in the 116th edition (2013 - No. 19) of SLAM China magazine. Here is the original English version of the story.

Real Madrid will become the latest Turkish Airlines Euroleague team to visit China when it faces the Beijing Ducks for an exhibition game on Friday, October 11 at MasterCard Center in Beijing. Among the planned activities for Madrid’s visit will be promotional events with Chinese fans, practices open to local players and coaches and, a charity programme at a local Beijing school of course, visiting some of country's famous sites.

The CEO of the European Champions Cup – Roser Queralto – was in Beijing to officially announce the pre-season game. SLAM caught up with Queralto for a brief interview on the relationship between European and Chinese basketball and the future of the Euroleague in China.

SLAM: How is the Euroleague continuing to build their relationship with China?

Queralto: I think that Chinese and European teams play quite a similar game, and that can strengthen the relations of the two leagues. The Euroleague can learn a lot from Chinese basketball and bring a lot of things to teach here. Now we have a Chinese player – Shang Ping – who is joining the Euroleague club Pananthinaikos too. We also had a Chinese junior team take part in an international junior tournament during the Euroleague Final Four last year.

SLAM: After Shang Ping, do you think more Chinese players can get a shot at playing basketball for a European team in the future?

Queralto: I think it’s both ways. We are looking for Chinese players to come and play in European, and we also have many players who have been playing in the Euroleague that will play here in China. This year, Bobby Brown – who was the leading scorer in Euroleague last season [with Montepaschi Siena] will be playing for the Dongguan Leopards in China. So it’s not only one way. We think that European and Chinese basketball are quiet similar in the playing styles, so we feel that we can exchange more players.

SLAM: A lot of the big Euroleague games are broadcast live in China. Are there plans from the Euroleague to broadcast more games in China?

Queralto: Exactly. This is the plan: we are looking forward to more games, to more television shows and in more territories. We are happy to say that the Euroleague Final Four has been broadcast live on CCTV 5 for many years, but we also have games on other channels like Let TV. So, looking ahead, not only the Final Four will be broadcast, but throughout the season, we will show games weekly.

SLAM: Chinese basketball fans of course have a great connection with their local teams – like the Ducks in Beijing – and a lot of fans over the years have also found a an identity with NBA teams. How do you hope to build the same type of connection for Chinese fans with Real Madrid or other big European clubs?

Queralto: We know that there is much to be done and we are approaching it step by step to do it the right way. We think that one of the ways that we can do that is by bringing Chinese fans to Euroleague games, whether it’s overseas, or whether we can bring more and more teams co China. This year, we will have Real Madrid, but in the future we may have two or three teams coming every year so that the fans get to know more about them. Another thing that we are doing is that we are creating several television pieces which can be broadcast during the games in which we explain a little bit about what the teams are, when they started to play, who are their main stars, etc. So we’re trying to explain to people what each of the Euroleague teams is all about.

Underdogs Olympiacos win Euroleague Basketball Tournament in thrilling fashion

Stripped off their budget after a major financial crisis in Greece, Olympiacos surprised everyone – including their own fans, perhaps – to go on and win Europe’s biggest basketball trophy in dramatic fashion at the Sinah Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday, May 13th. Georgios Printezis netted a one-handed shot from the side of the rim in the final second to give his side a 62-61 win in the final over the overwhelming favourites from Russia, CSKA Moscow.

Click here to read full story!

Spain are once again Europe's finest basketball team

Did you follow the EuroBasket? You know, that thing featuring the best basketball teams in Europe, and the best European basketball players, and some incredible hoops in Lithuania the past three weeks? No, LeBron and Kobe weren't there. They didn't need to be: as the EuroBasket 2011 proved, we have come a long way in the last two decades. Basketball in Europe was always competitive and featured high-quality, but now, it is becoming mainstream too, and in my opinion, more exciting than ever.

With the NBA lockout threatening to keep us away from high-quality basketball for a long, long time, there was no better place to see the next best thing of competitive world class hoops action than the EuroBasket. No fear, NBA-philes, for there was a healthy representation of the league in this championship. The Final of the EuroBasket featured the two teams with the most NBA players: Spain and France. What does that prove? Well, first of all, NBA teams know what the hell they are up to and are signing the world's best players. And secondly, it's showing the confidence that European players are gleaning from their time in the NBA, which is helping up dominate back home.

The champions were once again Spain, who have now won the EuroBasket for the second time in a row, and are perhaps the world's best team outside of the mighty USA, and were the only team to push the 'Redeem Team' to the brink in the 2008 Olympics. Don't worry, Spain fans, your team will get that chance again: by qualifying for the EuroBasket finals, both Spain and France also booked their place for the 2012 Olympics. USA are already there because of their World Championship victory.

But back to the EuroBasket final, though: it was a fair final, featuring two of the best teams in the competition. Spain's NBA representation came in the form of the mighty Gasol brothers (Pau and Marc), Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, and newly nationalised Serge Ibaka. Funny, because the one man this list doesn't mention is the man who was actually named MVP of the tournament, Juan Carlos Navarro.

France had the likes of Tony Parker, Joakim Noah, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, and Kevin Seraphin. Mikael Pietrus, another talented French player in the NBA, missed the tournament due to injury.

The final was more or less the Navarro show, as the talented swingman carried off the momentum he had going in the semi-final to pour in 27 points and added five assists in the final. The Barcelona player known as "La Bomba" had 35 points against Macedonia in the semis just a few nights earlier. The EuroBasket MVP averaged 18.7 ppg in the course of the tournament, but saved his biggest performances for the end.

Spain led most of the way and won the game 98-85, which is quite a high-scoring result for an international game. Pau Gasol, who I still believe is Spain's most important player, seemed to be playing hobbled through the course of the tournament, but he still poured in 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Final. Gasol averaged 20.1 ppg and 8.3 rpg in the tournament.

Tony Parker was easily the best point guard in Europe in the tournament, and scored 26 points in a losing effort in the Final. Parker was the leading scorer at the EuroBasket, averaging 22.1 ppg.

One of the stories of the championship was the team from Macedonia. Completely underrated, Macedonia had a fairy-tale run into the Semi-Finals, which included an incredible victory over the hosts and superpower Lithuania in the Quarter-Finals. Macedonia were led by Bo McCalebb, an American born Macedonia-nationalised player, who averaged 21.4 ppg in the course of the tournament.

And then there was Russia: a team which quietly and efficiently went about their business, losing only one game, that a semi-final to France, en-route to a third place finish in the tournament. Russia were led, as usual, by the brilliant Andrei Kirilenko (who has unfortunately not been that brilliant for the Utah Jazz over the past several years). Russia defeated Macedonia in a close game 72-68, to win third place.

The biggest disappointment of the EuroBasket was found in Spain too, and he went by the name of Ricky Rubio. Few 20-year-olds have had this many pendulum swings in individual form, team success, and public opinion than Rubio. A player who became a star at 15, was troubling the world's best at the Olympics in 2008, was drafted by the Timberwolves in 2009 and didn't show, won a lot with his club and his country, but somewhere in between, completely lost confidence and now seems to be a ghost of a player we once saw. And all this before he can legally buy himself a drink in America: which is something he should be thinking about right now, since Rubio is finally making his trip to the NBA to play for the T-Wolves when and if the Lockout ends. Rubio had a horrible championship, but hey, he was the point guard / floor general of the best team in Europe. His talent will never be statified, so I won't even try: you have to watch him play and see the team results to decide how good or bad he is.

So, to sum it up, Rubio was bad at the Euros, but he was good enough to win!

The other disappointment was Turkey, who, after a brilliant silver-medal performance at the World Championship, couldn't even make it past the group stage in this tournament, and ended at 11th place.

In the earlier rounds, players like Luol Deng for Great Britain and Dirk Nowitzki for Germany carried their teams as far as they could with good individual play - Dirk had a little more help by Chris Kaman in his side, actually.

Here are the final standings:

1. Spain

2. France

3. Russia

4. Macedona

5. Lithuania

Here is the All Tournament team:

PG: Tony Parker (France)

SG: Bo McCalebb (France)

SF: Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain) - MVP

PF: Andrei Kirilenko (Russia)

C: Pau Gasol (Spain)

Regal FC Barcelona win 2010 Euroleague

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The most dominant basketball team in Europe, Regal FC Barcelona (Spain) beat Olympiacos (Greece) 86-68 in the final to win the Euroleague basketball tournament. Barcelona, led by Juan Carlos Navarro, Fran Vazquez, and my main man Ricky Rubio have been by far the best basketball team in all of Europe, and deservedly took the title on Sunday, in a final that was held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris. Navarro, who scored a team high 21 points in the game, was named the final four MVP.

The Euroleague is the league where all the best teams from different European countries compete for the top crown. The final four of the tournament saw Barcelona beat CSKA Moscow (Russia) 64-54 and Olympiacos beat Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) 83-80 in overtime. In the final, Navarro, Rubio, and co went up against the Olympiacos team which featured former NBA players Linas Kleiza (Euroleague's top scorer) and Josh Childress.

Obviously, my main focus here is on Ricky Rubio. If you have been following, you would have known that I have reserved great praise for this supremely talented 19-year-old. Don't be fooled by the modest Euroleague averages - 6.8 points, 4.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals - Rubio was the best point guard in Europe and was named 2009-10 Rising Star of the Euroleague. He's now the point guard of officially the best basketball team in Europe, and I'm confident that he'll one day he's gonna become the best PG in the NBA. Timberwolves are you watching this?

In other Barcelona related news, I'm hoping that the city suffers a little this weekend. It's the last game of the Primera Liga, and Barca lead Real Madrid by ONE POINT, 96-95. I'm a Madrid fan, so my emotions for the Barca football team are exactly the opposite of how I feel about their basketball... Go Madrid!!!!

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An NBA preseason game in India? Dream on...

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The NBA is a very rich league, a league much richer than other sporting leagues in North America, and a huge reason for this is that the NBA is a lot more famous internationally. There are three major reasons for this:
1) Basketball is the one sport that both North Americans and the majority of the rest of the world understand and enjoy.
2) There once lived a man named Michael Jordan who was the biggest thing since basketball itself.
3) NBA commissioner David Stern is a shrewd man - and ever since he took the role of commissioner in 1984, the one thing that the NBA has done best is spread the game to other parts of the world while at the same time feature more and more international players in their own league.
Let's focus on point number 3: there are countless examples of the NBA's efforts to promote itself to a far greater international audience than just those in North America. Outside the US and Canada, NBA games are regularly broadcasted live in at least 31 more countries around the world. The recent All-Star game was broadcasted in 215 countries in 41 languages! The NBA has set up a dedicated 'Global' page to showcase its efforts around the world, and it has global websites in Brazil, France, India, Taiwan, Canada, Germany, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong, and the UK. There were 83 international players from 36 different countries on NBA rosters to start the 2009-10 NBA season.
And then its the NBA's outreach and grassroots events in other countries that continue to make them the ubiquitous name in basketball. The Basketball Without Borders (BWB) programme has served as "has served as a summer camp for young people designed to promote friendship, goodwill and education through sport." BWB have been to India, too, and as you may know, the NBA has teamed up with Mahindra to start a recreational league in three Indian cities this summer. Programmes such as BWB have also encouraged current and former NBA players to visit other countries, including India.
So where do we go from here? In most countries, usually the NBA's next step has been the most interesting one - organizing preaseason games featuring NBA teams on foreign soil. The NBA has been holding games exhibition games in Europe for several years already, and recently announced that the Lakers, Knicks, and T'Wolves will be playing again in Europe this October.

Even Asia has had its share of NBA action: The NBA has played six games in Japan since the 1990s, and has held preseason games in China since 2004, after Chinese star Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets in 2002: the first game obviously featured the Yao-powered rockets against the Sacramento Kings. In 2009, when the Nuggets met the Pacers in Taipei, it became the eight Asian city to host either an NBA regular season or preseason game, along with Tokyo, Yokohama, and Saitama in Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China; and Macau.
You know where this train of thought of heading... an NBA game in India? FUGGEDABOUDIT! What is the one thing in common amongst all the other countries that we lack back home in India? We have the money if someone chooses to spend it (for proof, see IPL). Our extra large population ensures that even a small percentage of NBA fans make up for enough to provide enough audience for any game. And the IPL has proven that we have the technological, energy and security infrastructure to host large sporting events.

No, what we really lack back here are good, ol-fashioned arenas! Not the kind of sharp-shooting, gun-toting Arenas that plays for the former Washington Bullets; no, I mean actual, international quality indoor basketball courts, made of good quality, polished hardwood (or similar surface), with fiberglass boards, and the capability to hold a large-capacity audience. Yes, there are some new courts around the country now which come close, but we're talking NBA-quality here, people! Yes, the NBA has brought in everyone from AC Green to Dikembe Mutombo opened several courts in India over the past few years, but we're far, far hehind.
Hell, even the Indian national team has to practice on shoddy surfaces most of the time. One of the biggest complains is that the best players in India play most of their basketball on concrete courts with rubber balls, and so when they move on to play on a hardwood court with a leather basketball they are constantly struggling to adjust. Even the men's national team members that have been training with JD Walsh, Craig Esherick, and Dr. Bob Baker in Bangalore have had to work in embarassing facilities.
I'm sorry, but there's no way that David Stern is going to allow his preciously talented millionaire NBA stars to break a sweat in any of our Indian courts.
Who knows, maybe the Reliance-IMG alliance to develop sports facilities in India will change things in the future. The extremely distant future. Otherwise, no, no chance in hell.
Go ahead, David Stern, NBA, Reliance... prove me wrong.

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