Eurobasket 2009

[tamburello]

The playoff for the last spot in Eurobasket goes on, in which France and Bosnia have now huge advantage for the playoff final. If France beats Finland tomorrow, they'll guarantee the spot at final.

Also some preparation tournaments go on as well. A tournament in GB recently ended. Turkey won it by beating GB, Israel and Poland all.

Today I was able to watch the last match between Turkey and Poland. Poland led the majority of the game, but in the last period, Turkey took control and won by 8. Ersan İlyasova, who returned to NBA with Milwaukee Bucks, scored 23 points. I'd really like Bobcats make an offer to him, since he had a great season with Barcelona, he is really versatile forward with a good outside shooting and wonderful rebounding ability. He's also a great athlete for a white guy. He will definitely make his name heard this year. Also Hedo Türkoğlu was defended with double teams during the whole match, but he was able to find his teammates. These two players will carry the load during EB.

On the other hand, Poland looks very improved although Marcin Gortat was out with an injury. Maciej Lampe is the leader of the team. He's no longer the young journeyman of NBA, he's still young but experienced and one of the premier centers in Europe. Maybe you can remember David Logan, who led NCAA 2 in 2005 in scoring average. He was naturalized by Poland and represents them. He is a great scorer and will be very helpful to Poland. But besides those two players and Gortat, Poland has a thin roster and I don't think they'll be able to beat either Lithuania or Turkey in the group stage.

[bing!]

Bosnia must avoid losing by 5+ points tomorrow v Belgium in order to secure the final round of additional qualifiers. Whoever advances must face (Dirk-less) Germany, Latvia & Russia, which gives fair chances to both teams (Bosnia or France).

Tamb, besides Spain, who's your favourite to win the Eurobasket? I say, Greece & Lithuania.

[tamburello]

Tamb, besides Spain, who's your favourite to win the Eurobasket? I say, Greece & Lithuania.

bing, as you said Spain are the frontrunners and they will participate the tournament with almost all of their best players (only Calderon is absent I guess). I could safely bet that Spain would win even if they'd be also without Pau Gasol, since they have 2 more above good centers in Fran Vazquez and Marc Gasol. Rudy Fernandez, Jorge Garbajosa (the man I love), Ricky Rubio, Navarro all will be there. These guys are enough to bring the title.

I think this championship will be a little below the expected level, since majority of the premier teams will participate without some major players. As I said in the other thread, Lithuania will miss Siskauskas and Jasikevicius, defending champions Russia will be without Kirilenko and JR Holden. Germany is always a medal threat with Nowitzki, without him they can barely make quarters.

If they don't meet before, I think final will be Spain - Greece. Greece also has significant missing players (Diamantidis and Papaloukas). They theoratically have the best PG trio of Europe (yes, even better than Navarro-Rubio-Lopez trio of Spain IMHO), they are experienced, tough as rock on defence, they still are the best of the rest.

My dark horse would be France (if they make the champs of course), they are participating with their best roster possible (only Noah is absent). Parker would be the MVP of the tournament regardless where France finishes.

As I said, we can see a surprise team making finals, Greece, France and Lithuania have the best chances, but young Serbia and even my Turkey would make a surprise :)

[bing!]

Finland beat France 77-73. It' hard to believe, but, there it is.

[tamburello]

Belgium has beaten Bosnia and Portugal consecutively, now France and Belgium will play twice on 27th and 30th. France is very close to the championship.

[bing!]

Well, gag me and throw me off a bridge, Belgium won by 2 points, had they lost, France would be facing Bosnia in the final round. Boris and the rest of the crew shouldn't have any troubles advancing to the final tournament, though, Finland has shown that even the mighty can fall.

[Walt Cronkite]

So things kick off on September 7th? Think I could trouble you guys to give me a breakdown of the team between now and then?

I liked watching Russia play last summer (not that it helped them win, just saying that I remember them being enjoyable to root for. I'm a Bobcat fan after all...), but without Holden and Kirilenko, I guess I should have low expectations? Still, they are a grimy club, so I think they could be surprising. That said, I don't know anything about Latvia outside of watching Biedrins, but that German squad looks pretty uninspiring, so I can't see them NOT making the qualifying round.

In group A, Greece and Croatia look to be as tough as always, how legit is Israel? Outside of Samardziski, I don't recognize a single name on the Macedonia roster list that I'm looking at.

What are Great Britain's chances of making it to the qualifying round? Tamburello, I know you said they recently hosted a tournament, did you see them? How did they look? They have to be the underdog of their group, right?

Look forward to talking int'l hoops!

[tamburello]

First of all, we should not forget that none of the teams out there will join with their full power (excluding the countries without NBA players). That's why any comment here would turn out to be ridiculous in the tournament. Any surprise result can be observed. Anyway, I'd like to say something by dividing them into groups.

In Group A, Greece and Croatia will advance easily, between Israel and Macedonia I choose Israel for elimination. Generally Israel has better players, but Macedonia's naturalized American player Jeremiah Massey will be the best player on the court and he can make difference. Even if Israel wins, they cannot see beyond qualifiers.

Croatia is participating with a solid roster. Almost all of their best players will be there, most importantly Nikola Vujcic will be with them after skipping quite a few tournaments. Croatia is my current dark horse. Greece will be without their two best players to me (Papaloukas and Diamantidis, the best defensive guard of Europe), however I still see them making the finals. Also I really wonder what kind of guy Nick Calathes is...

Group B, Latvia will probably be out. They have a very thin roster. Even Nowitzki-less Germany is better than them. Assuming France wins playoff final, I think they are the best team of this group and they could make all the way up to semis. I said in a previous post, Tony Parker is my #1 candidate for the MVP of the tournament. Germany cannot make quarters.

About Russia, I don't know what to say. They've just recently lost to Lithuania by 17. Kirilenko is a much different player while playing for Russia, without him Russia can make only quarters. http://www.eurobasket.com/Russia/basketball.asp?NewsID=170245

In Group C, GB has no chance to make qualifying round, not at all :( I've watched their game against Turkey, without Deng, GB is a team with full of players below average. Joel Freeland is a good player but he is a keeper like Nowitzki by no means. Mensah-Bonsu worked out his contract in NBA, might join them, but he's not a difference maker.

Actually this group is the worst group they could be drawn in. Spain is the clear favorite of the tournament even without Calderon. I have nothing to say about them. Slovenia and Serbia has very deep basketball roots, somehow they manage to put mediocre roster in worst case. I don't know but somehow I trust the young guys of Serbia, Teodosic, Erceg, etc. Slovenia is weakened after Nesterovic retired from Int. BB and Vujacic is injured, but they still have Lakovic, Udrih, Nachbar, E. Lorbek.

Group D is an interesting one. Lithuania will play without 4 key players (Jasikevicius, Siskauskas, Songaila, Kaukenas) but they are still the favorites of this group. Turkey would be second, Poland would be third. Poland has a good team but the third of this group will have to face Spain in the qualifying round. I don't see Turkey falling to third spot.

There will be a tournament in my city, Ankara, with participation of Turkey, Germany, Croatia, GB, Latvia and Macedonia starting tomorrow. I've tickets for the all possible games (10) I will watch some teams 4 times, hopefully I'd have better ideas about those teams :)

[Walt Cronkite]

Thanks for the info! I look forward to reading your thoughts from those games.

[Walt Cronkite]

So, we're a day away... any thoughts?

[tamburello]

Eurobasket team rosters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroBasket_2009_squads

I was waiting for today to make some comments. As I said previously, I have watched Croatia, Turkey, Germany, Latvia, Macedonia and G. Britain many times in a recent tournament.

First of all, most impressive team of the tournament is Croatia by far. Under the leadership of Roko Ukic (he was also the most impressive player of the tourney to me), they have a strong, competitive, deep and experienced team. Greece is still my other favorite for making finals besides Spain, however Croatia could finish Group A at first place.

Macedonia is a very interesting team. They are fully consisted of shooters, and their naturalized player, Jeremiah Massey is superior athlete and also good inside outside scorer. Predrag Samardziski is tall, but not experienced enough to avoid stupid fouls. In all of the matches he was in foul trouble, in 2 of them, he was fouled out. But Macedonia has better forwards and centers than him, they will be fun to watch, and they may upset someone.

In Group A, Israel will be eliminated, group leader will be either Greece or Croatia. Greece will lack Papaloukas and Diamantidis, two experienced floor leaders. But they still have good players. I also wonder how Kosta Koufos and Nick Calathes, two Greek players grown up in American system, will play in their first ever senior international tournament.

Germany is not as bad as I had thought, they will not go too far without Nowitzki, but they have a tough and ambitious team. I watched Tim Ohlbrecht, maybe you have heard his name from draft boards. Believe me, he has nothing to be talked about. He's tall and relatively fast, but he simply can't make outside shots, he has no low-post game. But there are some other young prospects much better than him.

I also watched Latvia, and they are my candidates for the elimination in first round. They have some good players but none of them are great, their bench is not deep. Biedrins has simply no offensive weapon other than pick-and-roll and on defensive end, he can't contain centers with considerable size (for example Maria Kasun, former Magic center). It was amazing to witness how differently NBA and European basketballs value players. In NBA, Biedrins makes 9 million a year and Kasun can't stay there. In Europe, Kasun type players are wanted, everybody thrashes Biedrins.

France is so lucky in terms of advancing the tournaments from additional qualifiers and still being the favorites of the group. Noah or M. Pietrus is not playing, but Parker, Diaw, Turiaf etc. will be. France will be the leader, Russia will be second and Germany will be third according to my predictions.

In Group C, Spain is a no brainer selection for first spot, even after their blowout loss to Lithuania. Even without not fully healed Pau Gasol, they will the championship. I watched GB, oh my, they are miserable. They will not a win a match, just as they didn't in the tournament I watched. I have nothing to say about them.

Serbia is one of the most interesting teams, besides Nenad Krstic and Bojan Popovic (who are 1983 born), all players are 1986, 87, 88 and 89 born. I'm very curious to see them. Slovenia have lost two NBA players in Vujacic and Udrih to injuries, but their well-known players in Europe will be there: Matjaz Smodis, Jaka Lakovic, Erazem Lorbek, Bostjan Nachbar... They can see quarter finals. And yes, Primoz Brezec will be there also :)

My prediction for this Group, Spain 1, Slovenia 2, Serbia 3, GB 4.

And finally, Group 4 is a tough one to talk about. Especially for a Turkish guy who just witnessed Turkey being beaten by Croatia and Nowitzki-less Germany. Turkey's performance is mediocre at best, I'm very disappointed with Hedo Türkoğlu. And Lithuania has just beaten Spain by 22 without 4 key players. They are the favorites to win the group stage, Turkey and Poland will try to catch no. 2, and Bulgaria will be the Great Britain of this group.

Group stage will start tomorrow, as matches go by, we would talk more.

[Fred Williamson]

So, we're a day away... any thoughts?


yeah, Germany sucks big time. :mad:

[SWedd523]

yeah, Germany sucks big time. :mad:

HAIL SCHNITZEL! :rock:



(see what I did there with the smiley? ;))

[bing!]

So much for Spain... beaten by the Serbs 66-57, they could go a long way in this tournament.

[Walt Cronkite]

I wish I could've seen France-Germany today. I read that it was a great game.

I did catch the end of Spain-Serbia and the last period of Lithuania-Turkey. Saw a little bit of Russia-Latvia too.

[tamburello]

I expected Serbia to do a lot damage, but not to beat Spain of course.

Our Turkey looked so calm and strong against Lithuania. It's still early for making comments, but Greece looked very solid. They are executing great pick 'n rolls under Lithuanian coach Kazlauskas. And I liked Nick Calathes a lot.

By the way, you can reach each game from atdhe.net They generally use justin links, which expire in a short time but you can watch by repeatedly refreshing the page.

Name of the thread is changed to "Eurobasket 2009" since the championship has started.

[tamburello]

France has just beaten Russia 69-64. Diaw had a nice statline with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. France makes 3 wins in 3 games.

[bing!]

Anybody catch France v Macedonia last night? Frankly, it was embarassing to watch... oh, and Florent was beastly (what with the hops and outside touch), any tidbits on him regarding his joining our ranks?

@tamb - Spain v Turkey, what's your take on the game (preview or recap, depending on when you're reading this post)?

[tamburello]

Bing, it'll be so close, but I take Turkey. Spain is not at its best, they're slowly improving their game but I think our red hot national team will win. And if Turkey wins, I think we would finish the group at the 1sr spot, which means a clear path to semis.

[bing!]

Oh my, Ricky with the offensive rebound and a behind-the-back pass to Rudy for the three... the kid's got flair, I've gotta say. Spain leads 14-8, nice game so far.

[tamburello]

Ömer Aşık owns Pau Gasol and all other Spanish bigs until now. 36-34 Turkey leads at half time :)

And he blocks the layup attempt of Llull !!! 63-60 Turkey wins :D

[bing!]

Well done, Turkey. Bucks are gonna LOVE Ilyasova.

[tamburello]

Well done, Turkey. Bucks are gonna LOVE Ilyasova.

+ Bulls are gonna love Ömer Aşık once he comes!!

What a block it was...

[bing!]

Boris' game-by-game Eurobasket stats...

http://i31.tinypic.com/oa69s7.png

[teej]

What the heck is the FYR of Macedonia. And why did Boris not score???

Overall, though, Boris looks like he's done very well. Thanks bing

[tamburello]

What the heck is the FYR of Macedonia.



Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Actually they were just Macedonia about 10 years ago. But after a dispute with Greece, they had to alter their name and their flag.

As far as I know, Macedonia people were Hellenic in ancient times, just like the Greek people now. Alexander the Great was Macedonia commander, but after that, Macedonia was invaded by Slavic people, and Macedonia's current people are Slavic.

I guess Greek people claim that Macedonia is actually a region in Greece, and the name itself shouldn't be used as another independent country. And the symbol on the former Macedonian flag was also belongs to Hellenic culture, this is what Greek should say.

But I'm definitely not an expert in this subject, I don't want to insult anybody. I think bing knows a lot more about it, since he also lives in a FYR.

[Fred Williamson]

bing and tamburello, where do you guys watch the games?

[bing!]

^ well, Serbian, Slovenian & Croatian national televisions carry their national teams' games, respectively, in addition to those, they usually air two or three other games daily. (there are three games total/day in the second round)

You could probaly find stream links here (http://www.myp2pforum.eu/nba-basketball/42945-official-eurobasket-2009-thread-poland-sept-07-20-a.html).

[tamburello]

bing and tamburello, where do you guys watch the games?

http://atdhe.net is the best streaming website as far as I found out. But I'm watching the games on TV just like bing.

[Fred Williamson]

I know adthe and myp2p.eu, but 90% of the streams there are from justin.tv, and as you probably know, jtv is not for free anymore. You have to buy a premium account to watch streams.

You know, TV in Germany just sucks. The only chance here to see basketball on free tv, is during the Olympics or Eurobasket, and even then, they only show the German national team, which is a bunch of losers.

Hell, even though we are a soccer-nation, we can only see soccer games on Pay-TV. :facepalm:

[tamburello]

I know adthe and myp2p.eu, but 90% of the streams there are from justin.tv, and as you probably know, jtv is not for free anymore. You have to buy a premium account to watch streams.


I know man, the solution is keep pressing F5, so that you might be able to see the majority of the game, divided into 30 sec sectors. :D

[spectre]

I know adthe and myp2p.eu, but 90% of the streams there are from justin.tv, and as you probably know, jtv is not for free anymore. You have to buy a premium account to watch streams.

You know, TV in Germany just sucks. The only chance here to see basketball on free tv, is during the Olympics or Eurobasket, and even then, they only show the German national team, which is a bunch of losers.

Hell, even though we are a soccer-nation, we can only see soccer games on Pay-TV. :facepalm:

Sonovabitch...Justin TV isn't free anymore?

I just went there and made an account, but it didn't ask me for any money. Are they going to charge per game or what?

[tamburello]

Sonovabitch...Justin TV isn't free anymore?

I just went there and made an account, but it didn't ask me for any money. Are they going to charge per game or what?

I don't think you'll be in any trouble. Don't worry.

Quarter Final matchups are set.

France - Spain
Turkey - Greece
Russia - Serbia
Croatia - Slovenia

Winners of first two match-ups will play at SF. From other side, Slovenia now has a huge advantage for advancing finals without much difficulty.

My Turkey is as unlucky as hell, they have played great until last match, they came back from 19 points down and lost on last shot against Slovenia, and look at the rival, Greece. It'll be a heck of a game, I suggest you guys to watch France - Spain and Turkey - Greece games.

[Muttley]

I don't think you'll be in any trouble. Don't worry.

Quarter Final matchups are set.

France - Spain
Turkey - Greece
Russia - Serbia
Croatia - Slovenia

Winners of first two match-ups will play at SF. From other side, Slovenia now has a huge advantage for advancing finals without much difficulty.

My Turkey is as unlucky as hell, they have played great until last match, they came back from 19 points down and lost on last shot against Slovenia, and look at the rival, Greece. It'll be a heck of a game, I suggest you guys to watch France - Spain and Turkey - Greece games.

I've been following on the website, and was actually able to watch the France game. Looking forward to the semifinals! I wish luck to all teams who represent bobcats fans' countries. Especially Turkey, though since they've got Engin Atsur, who played at my University.

[teej]

Especially Turkey, though since they've got Engin Atsur, who played at my University.

You're from State??? Nooooooooooooo!

It's ok though, you're just my retarded cousin now :biggrin:

[tamburello]

I've been following on the website, and was actually able to watch the France game. Looking forward to the semifinals! I wish luck to all teams who represent bobcats fans' countries. Especially Turkey, though since they've got Engin Atsur, who played at my University.

I don't know whether State grads are retards :) but that open 3pt that Engin missed at the buzzer would cost our championship hopes unfortunately. If he had made it, we would be playing with underachieving Croatia, instead of Greece. Not only Greece is better than Croatia, but also being the neighbors and the historical events among two country make the rivalry much intense...

By the way, I really wonder something Muttley. In Turkey, Engin is regarded as one of the most good looking basketball players and whenever I go and watch his games, I always see groups of high school girls who are cheering only for Engin. Was that so while he was playing for NC State :) I know it's a silly question but I can't help :D

[Muttley]

You're from State??? Nooooooooooooo!

It's ok though, you're just my retarded cousin now :biggrin:
Your retarded cousin's gonna get a phd in mathematics. He mustn't be that retarded!


I don't know whether State grads are retards :smilie: but that open 3pt that Engin missed at the buzzer would cost our championship hopes unfortunately. If he had made it, we would be playing with underachieving Croatia, instead of Greece. Not only Greece is better than Croatia, but also being the neighbors and the historical events among two country make the rivalry much intense...

By the way, I really wonder something Muttley. In Turkey, Engin is regarded as one of the most good looking basketball players and whenever I go and watch his games, I always see groups of high school girls who are cheering only for Engin. Was that so while he was playing for NC State :smilie: I know it's a silly question but I can't help :DWell, I can't say that I noticed girls being anymore amorous to Engin than the other players, but I will say that my cousin mentioned the other day that she remembers being in a class with him and thought he had a nice butt. (I don't know what brought it on. I certainly didn't ask her if he had a nice butt. Oh well.)

Oh and in regards to the turkey-greece game, hopefully it'll all work out in the end. Just think of it in a positive way: Now Turkey has the opportunity to beat Greece where they wouldn't have otherwise.

[teej]

Your retarded cousin's gonna get a phd in mathematics. He mustn't be that retarded!

If it's from State, then it's not that hard...just kidding man, that's awesome! You planning on becoming a prof? Or engineer? What?

[Muttley]

If it's from State, then it's not that hard...just kidding man, that's awesome! You planning on becoming a prof? Or engineer? What?
Thanks man. Don't worry, I can handle getting my chops busted!
I hope to be a professor. I've been teaching in college for the past five years (some at ECU, some at NCSU), and I absolutely love it. Teaching college kids is great. Their lots of fun to work with and their parents rarely get involved.


Got to watch the France-Spain game today. It was fun, but not favorable to the French.
Rubio started off hitting lights out and then Pau took over. He schooled Turiaf for two straight quarters, and by the time Ronny started to answer back offensively, Spain was already up by 20. Boris hit a couple shots, but seemed mostly ineffective.

[teej]

Thanks man. Don't worry, I can handle getting my chops busted!
I hope to be a professor. I've been teaching in college for the past five years (some at ECU, some at NCSU), and I absolutely love it. Teaching college kids is great. Their lots of fun to work with and their parents rarely get involved.

That's great. You want to stay in the area or move out? And yeah, parents are the worst for teachers, at least from my view...

[SWedd523]

Thanks man. Don't worry, I can handle getting my chops busted!
I hope to be a professor. I've been teaching in college for the past five years (some at ECU, some at NCSU), and I absolutely love it. Teaching college kids is great. Their lots of fun to work with and their parents rarely get involved.


Not to be an ass or anything, but is the salary good for a college Prof?

I've looked into it some because I'm thinking of changing my Philosophy so I can get a doctorate and teach ethics or logic at the University level but I'm not sure if it's on the same plane as a law degree would be

[Muttley]

Not to be an ass or anything, but is the salary good for a college Prof?

I've looked into it some because I'm thinking of changing my Philosophy so I can get a doctorate and teach ethics or logic at the University level but I'm not sure if it's on the same plane as a law degree would be
Don't worry, you're not an ass.

Ethics and logic are a couple of my favorite subjects. Do it.

I think average math professor's salary is something like $65K. (That's probably for tenured professors.) For me, that's plenty. Probably not lawyer money, but really how much do you need?

[teej]

Don't worry, you're not an ass.

Ethics and logic are a couple of my favorite subjects. Do it.

I think average math professor's salary is something like $65K. (That's probably for tenured professors.) For me, that's plenty. Probably not lawyer money, but really how much do you need?

Well, IDK about math or logic, but when I lived in G'boro, my neighbor was a History professor at UNC, and we were in a lakeside neighborhood with rather nicely sized houses. But he'd been at it for about 15 years at that point. And law is all based on how good you are from what I can tell, professing, not so much. But that's just what I've seen and read. Either way, Swedd, you'll be doing well for yourself. And if you're looking at law, I think ohara does something with that?

Sorry for derailing the thread tamb...

[SWedd523]

My entire goal in life is to retire before im 50 and move to Jamaica haha so whatever I can do to make that dream come true. The problem is (and I reallllly don't want to sound like a conceited ass) that I've always excelled in school so it's been extremely hard for me to find a certain path to take.

I've always been interested in sports medicine/management, law, and teaching. But Law is obviously the most lucrative...

[tamburello]

Sorry for derailing the thread tamb...

That's OK :) Maybe this leads us to open a new thread, where we talk about our professions and so.

And by the way, Serbia beats Russia, Spain thrashes France. It's a pity that France is sent home after their first loss.

Now I'm anxiously waiting for Turkey - Greece game.

[bing!]

Two very close quarter-final games, Greece & Slovenia are moving on to the semis.

Match-ups:

Slovenia - Serbia
Greece - Spain

... too bad about Turkey, Tamb, but it was a horrible game and the guys who sucked less advanced, c'est la vie. :)

[tamburello]

... too bad about Turkey, Tamb, but it was a horrible game and the guys who sucked less advanced, c'est la vie. :)

Yes, Greece made crucial mistakes, we just couldn't take advantage of them, blew them all with horrible preferences. Hedo sucked big time. I'm so sorry, this might be our only chance to beat Greece in a 20 years' span :)

[teej]

My entire goal in life is to retire before im 50 and move to Jamaica haha so whatever I can do to make that dream come true. The problem is (and I reallllly don't want to sound like a conceited ass) that I've always excelled in school so it's been extremely hard for me to find a certain path to take.

I've always been interested in sports medicine/management, law, and teaching. But Law is obviously the most lucrative...

You're not sounding like an ass, at least to me, because I'm in the same boat, just a few years behind you. So maybe you can let me know how stuff works out? Because I'm into everything up there except teaching...but add in biochemistry, conceptual physics, and politcs. I'm confused, eh?

And tamb, that sucks...but Hedo's good at that, isn't he?

[tamburello]

And tamb, that sucks...but Hedo's good at that, isn't he?

Unfortunately you're right, man. He wanted to be "the man", but failed. Raptors may be already regretting for handing out that cheque to Hedo.

Anyway, Spain will face Serbia in final game. Serbia had defeated Spain at group stage, but Spain was at his worst that time, now things have changed a lot and Spain has found their rhythm, Serbia has no chance at all. But I'm glad they have made it so far. They were my candidates for a surprise, they just did it.

And I won't hide my disappointment, Turkey had beaten both of Serbia and Spain in group stage, and now we're set to play playoff game for 7th spot while they face for the championship.

The line-up of the tournament has not been announced yet but my prediction is as follows: Pau Gasol (Spain), Tony Parker (France), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Erazem Lorbek (Slovenia) and Ersan İlyasova (Turkey). Gasol will very probably win the MVP award.