Serbia is U19 World Champ after kicking US team’s asses

(Small break from Sixers related topics) 

Serbia is new Under 19 basketball world champ, having defeated US team in the final game of the World Championship played in Novi Sad (Serbia).

Serbian guys won the final 74-69, with Mladen Jeremic scoring 24 points and Milan Macvan 19 (+ 10 rebounds).

For the US team the best scorer was Deon Thompson with 16 while Patrick Beverley had 15 points + 8 rebounds.

Milan Macvan was named MVP of the championship.

Take a look at the roster of the new champs: there is also a 2.21 m (7’4) 19 y/o center…

This might be no big news for many of you guys but I hope that real knowledgeable hoops fans care: it basically means that a new generation of serbian players is going to come soon and hopefully some of these guys make it to the NBA. So you better start to get used to their names quickly (Billy King please take note !).

Sixers4guidos translation for BK’s sentence

Sixers beat writer and fellow guido Marc Narducci just wrote:

‘In a phone interview Saturday, Sixers president and general manager Billy King said his team would use discipline in the free-agent market. Oddly enough, he cited the team that beat the Sixers out for Smith.

“Look at what a good job Chicago has done” King said. “They had the discipline not to overspend, and last year they were able to have the cap room to sign Ben Wallace”. Link for the whole story

SIXERS4GUIDOS TRANSLATION:

“I am an HOF idiot.

I couldn’t do what Bulls and many savy GMs did (= have the discipline not to overspend).

I overpaid big time for average to bad players, giving them 5-6 yrs deals like they were candies and now Sixers can’t play any role in the free agent market.

Look at Chicago, they can so they stole us players we would have liked to keep or sign.

Thanks God guido journalists in Philadelphia don’t have the balls to bash me like I would deserve”.

But the first italian Sixers blog has.

You know your team sucks when…

… you think inserting Kevin Ollie in the starting line up could improve it, or when bloggers of that team write serious posts about Louis Amundson.

The situation here is apparently getting tougher, because I DO REMEMBER several posters in the Sixers board at the beginning of the last season suggesting that Kevin Ollie should start (…). 

Now, in the same board, many guys are trying to explain Louis Amundson’s skills (?) and even fellow bloggers I truly respect seem pretty high on this guy and hope he makes the team.

The arguments used were/are “veteran leadership”, “tough defense”, “good distributor”  – for Ollie – and “energy guy”, “shot blocking ability”, “hustler”  – for Amundson.

[deep breathe pause]

Sixers already under .500, panic time

…aaaahhhh, where is dear old John Salmons when you need him?

I took a look at Sixers roster on NBA.com and he’s nowhere to be found. Then I realized he is no more a Sixers and I immediately got relaxed. Whew !! We managed to ship that bum, finally. What is more surprising, this or the fact the somebody else signed him?

This smart thought allowed me to go to a further step: remembering that Salmons “plays” for the Sacramento Kings now. So I checked the Kings roster but among the Cezary Trybanskis, the Christian Marakers and the Nik Caner-Medleys of this world he’s nowhere to be found again. 

At the end of the day the main question then is: how can a Summer League start without John “Summer League” Salmons ????? The king of the useless career high, the sultan of garbage games, the MVP of the off season(s), the star of the “When it doesn’t count” selections. If the NBA was played from July to August, John Salmons would be a HOF, mark my words. 

Still, I read a lot of comments about the Sixers Summer League in Vegas

Maybe it’s the red uniforms…

… that I have always liked and pushed for, maybe it’s the fact that they are all smiling, and their smiles look for real… but the fact is that I am starting to like the Sixers 2007 draft picks more and more.

Actually, if we talk seriously, some other things made me slowly change my opinion, and starting to see some light. The draft initially left me scratching my head, like Rando Freeman wrote in his Sixers journal but then I took a deep breathe, stopped for a while and realized that:

1) many knowledgeable journalists, fans, posters in the Sixers board and fellow bloggers I trust (see also Jon from Passion & Pride, Brian of Depressed fan) like the picks, and explained very well in their breakdowns that this might turn out to be a very good draft for the Sixers. Even if we couldn’t get the top PF that we need(ed?) and that I’ve been asking for? Yes.

2) to BK credit, he didn’t make a Ainge-ish kind of move, like trading the #5 pick in one of the best drafts in recent years to get a 32 y/o injury prone All star, and this only to please the other complaining 30 y/o injury prone All star… It’s true King didn’t manage to trade up and that the “We have three offers on the table” was another BS of his, but at least he drafted on potential and didn’t go for the quick fix, mortgaging our future.