Siskauskas, Nowitzki and Messina take top awards in 2008 - Jan 3, 2009 (by Eurobasket)
Traditionally at the end of each year Eurobasket announces the European awards for last year.
It's the 7th such ranking prepared by Eurobasket.com staff. Eurobasket has a network of almost 300 correspondents, while most of them are located in Europe and participated in preparing the ranking.
We have the policy of not involving the fans as it may influence the final ranking and instead of that we rely on the opinions of experts. [read more]
Traditionally at the end of each year Eurobasket announces the European awards for last year. It's the 7th such ranking prepared by Eurobasket.com staff. Eurobasket has a network of almost 300 correspondents, while most of them are located in Europe and participated in preparing the ranking. We have the policy of not involving the fans as it may influence the final ranking and instead of that we rely on the opinions of experts. The votes were made in two categories: All-Europe and All-Europeans. All-Europe ranking applies to the players, who played in European leagues in last (07-08) and this (08-09) season, so it may apply also to non-European players, who played as imports in Europe. All-Europeans category applies only to Europeans, but also these, who played overseas (mostly in NBA). All-Europe awards were dominated traditionally by the top players from Euroleague and the Player of the Year Award went to Lithuanian Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78), who lead CSKA Moscow to Euroleague title. It was his second Euroleague championship in last two years as a year before he did the same with Panathinaikos Athens. Siskauskas was already voted to Eurobasket.com All-Europe 1st Team in 2007. But his 2008 achievements list was quite long making him definitely No.1 player in Europe that year. The top player of Lithuanian National Team at Olympic Games won both Russian Superleague and Euroleague. He was voted also to Eurobasket.com All-Russian A Superleague 1st Team last season. Montenegrin center Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86), formerly at Partizan and this year at Panathinaikos. He was 4th best scorer (16.4ppg), and 4th best rebounder (6.4rpg) in last edition of Euroleague. Siskauskas is also joined in the 1st team by his teammate Trajan Langdon (192-G-76). American guard was Eurobasket.com Euroleague MVP last season as well as Eurobasket.com All-Russian A Superleague Import Player of the Year for last three years. Spanish league best scorer (21.2ppg) last season Rudy Fernandez (197-G-85) proved himself to be one of the top players on the continent by leading Spanish NT to silver medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing. He received also Eurobasket.com All-ULEB Cup Player of the Year awards last year just before leaving for Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA. Another Spaniard Juan Carlos Navarro (192-G-80) completes 1st Team. Contrary to Fernandez, he made a move the opposite way leaving NBA for Regal FC Barcelona in Spainish ACB. He was selected last year to NBA All-Rookie 2nd Team averaging 10.9ppg, 2.6rpg and 2.2apg. All-Europeans awards were traditionally dominated by Europeans playing in the NBA and this year there were not exceptions (last year Diamantidis was the only non-NBA player making it to 1st team). Here the top spot was taken for the fourth consecutive year by German Dirk Nowitzki (211-F-78) of Dallas Mavericks (USA), who was followed by Olympic Games top scorer - Spaniard Pau Gasol (214-F/C-80) of Los Angeles Lakers (USA). Others who made it to the first team were French playmaker Tony Parker (183-G-80) of San Antonio Spurs (USA) (as usually), Russian Andrei Kirilenko (205-F-81) of Utah Jazz (USA) (his third appearance in top 5 in last 4 years) and another Spaniard Jose Manuel Calderon (190-G-81) of Toronto Raptors (USA), who was 2nd team in 2007.
This year the Eurobasket.com was almost unanimously awarded to Italian coach of CSKA Moscow Ettore Messina . He was the best coach of Russian Superleague for last three seasons and last year won both Russian league Euroleague championship in a very comfortable style.
Here are all Eurobasket.com awards for 2008:
All-Europe - only players, who played in Europe in 2008 (both domestic and imports). There were in total 73 players, who received votes in this category
All-Europe 1st Team 2008
Siskauskas
Pekovic
Langdon
Fernandez
Navarro
Eurobasket.com All-Europe Player of the Year: Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Lithuanian Eurobasket.coom All-Europe Point Guard of the Year: Trajan Langdon (192-G-76) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), American Eurobasket.com All-Europe Shooting Guard of the Year: Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Lithuanian Eurobasket.com All-Europe Small Forward of the Year: Rudy Fernandez (197-G-85) of DKV Joventut (Spain) / Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), Spanish (plays also as shooting guard) Eurobasket.com All-Europe Power Forward of the Year: Terence Morris (206-F-79) of Maccabi T-A (Israel) / CSKA (Russia), American Eurobasket.com All-Europe Center of the Year: Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86) of Partizan (Serbia) / Panathinaikos (Greece), Montenegrin
Eurobasket.com All-Europe 1st Team: Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Lithuanian Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86) of Partizan (Serbia) / Panathinaikos (Greece), Montenegrin Trajan Langdon (192-G-76) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), American Rudy Fernandez (197-G-85) of DKV Joventut (Spain) / Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), Spanish Juan Carlos Navarro (192-G-80) of Memphis Grizzlies (NBA) / Regal FC Barcelona (Spain), Spanish
Eurobasket.com All-Europe 2nd Team: Dimitris Diamantidis (196-G-80) of Panathinaikos (Greece), Greek Ksistof Lavrinovic (210-C-79) of Montepaschi (Italy), Lithuanian Terence Morris (206-F-79) of Maccabi T-A (Israel) / CSKA (Russia), American Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) of Tau Ceramica (Spain), Serb Terrell McIntyre (175-G-77) of Montepaschi (Italy), American
Eurobasket.com All-Europe Honorable Mention: Tiago Splitter (211-C/F-85) of Tau Ceramica (Spain), Brazilian-Spanish Jeremiah Massey (202-F-82) of Aris (Greece) / Real (Spain), American-Macedonian Marc Gasol (212-C-85) of Girona (Spain) / Memphis Grizzlies (NBA), Spanish Matjaz Smodis (205-F-79) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Slovenian Danilo Gallinari (205-G/F-88) of Milano (Italy) / New York Knicks (USA), Italian David Andersen (212-C-80) of CSKA (Russia) / Regal FC Barcelona (Spain), Australian-Danish Thodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77) of CSKA (Russia) / Olympiakos (Greece), Greek Ricky Rubio (192-G-90) of DKV Joventut Badalona (Spain), Spanish Zoran Planinic (198-G-82) of Tau Ceramica (Spain) / CSKA Moscow (Russia), Croatian-Bosnian Willie Solomon (187-G-78) of Fenerbahce Ulker (Turkey) / Toronto Raptors (USA), American Henry Domercant (192-G-80) of Dynamo Moscow (Russia) / Montepaschi Siena (Italy), American-Bosnian Maciej Lampe (210-C-85) of BC Khimky Moscow Region (Russia), Polish-Swedish Lynn Greer (186-G-79) of Olympiakos Pireus (Greece), American Felipe Reyes (203-F/C-80) of Real Madrid (Spain), Spanish
All-Europeans - only Europeans, including these, who played in Europe or overseas in 2008. There were in total 52 players, who received votes in this category Manu Ginobili is included in the list as he has also Italian citizenship.
All-Europeans 1st Team 2008
Nowitzki
Gasol
Parker
Kirilenko
Calderon
Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Player of the Year:Dirk Nowitzki (211-F-78) of Dallas Mavericks (NBA), German Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Point Guard of the Year:Tony Parker (183-G-80) of San Antonio Spurs (NBA), French Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Shooting Guard of the Year:Manu Ginobili (198-G-77) of San Antonio Spurs (NBA), Argentinian-Italian Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Small Forward of the Year:Andrei Kirilenko (205-F-81) of Utah Jazz (NBA), Russian Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Power Forward of the Year:Dirk Nowitzki (211-F-78) of Dallas Mavericks (NBA), German Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Center of the Year: Pau Gasol (214-F/C-80) of Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Spanish
Eurobasket.com All-Europeans 1st Team: Dirk Nowitzki (211-F-78) of Dallas Mavericks (NBA), German Pau Gasol (214-F/C-80) of Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Spanish Tony Parker (183-G-80) of San Antonio Spurs (NBA), French Andrei Kirilenko (205-F-81) of Utah Jazz (NBA), Russian Jose Manuel Calderon (190-G-81) of Toronto Raptors (NBA), Spanish
Eurobasket.com All-Europeans 2nd Team: Manu Ginobili (198-G-77) of San Antonio Spurs (NBA), Argentinian-Italian Hidayet Turkoglu (206-F-79) of Orlando Magic (NBA), Turkish Juan Carlos Navarro (192-G-80) of Memphis Grizzlies (NBA) / Regal FC Barcelona (Spain), Spanish Rudy Fernandez (197-G-85) of DKV Joventut (Spain) / Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), Spanish Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Lithuanian
Eurobasket.com All-Europeans Honorable Mention: Zydrunas Ilgauskas (218-C-75) of Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA), Lithuanian Predrag Stojakovic (207-F-77) of New Orleans Hornets (NBA), Serb Mehmet Okur (210-C/F-79) of Utah Jazz (NBA), Turkish Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86) of Partizan (Serbia) / Panathinaikos (Greece), Montenegrin Dimitris Diamantidis (196-G-80) of Panathinaikos (Greece), Greek Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) of Tau Ceramica (Spain), Serb Ricky Rubio (192-G-90) of DKV Joventut Badalona (Spain), Spanish Andris Biedrins (213-C-86) of Golden State Warriors (NBA), Latvian Maciej Lampe (210-C-85) of Khimky Moscow Region (Russia), Polish-Swedish Ksistof Lavrinovic (210-C-79) of Montepaschi (Italy), Lithuanian Thodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77) of CSKA (Russia) / Olympiakos (Greece), Greek Marc Gasol (212-C-85) of Girona (Spain) / Memphis Grizzlies (NBA), Spanish
Eurobasket.com All-Europe Coach of the Year: There were just 4 coaches, who received votes in this category while is was definitely dominated by Ettore Messina 1. Ettore Messina of CSKA Moscow (Russia), Italian 2. Garcia Aito Reneses of DKV Joventut (Spain) / Unicaja (Spain), Spanish NT 3. Jasmin Repesa of Lottomatica Roma (Italy) / Croatian NT
Sam Clancy (201-F-80, college: USC) graduated from University of Southern California and got drafted by Philadelphia 76ers (NBA 2002 draft,2rd(45)). He played in NBDL,CBA,Venezuela and in top European leagues(Spain ACB, Rus-A, France ProA). He became a European star, having big games in Euroleague but his dream is still to play in NBA. In the past came for few days in Greece, last season was in France and now agreed with CSK Samara, Sam spoke exclusive to Eurobasket. [read more]
Sam Clancy (201-F-80, college: USC) graduated from University of Southern California and got drafted by Philadelphia 76ers (NBA 2002 draft,2rd(45)). He played in NBDL,CBA,Venezuela and in top European leagues(Spain ACB, Rus-A, France ProA). He became a European star, having big games in Euroleague but his dream is still to play in NBA. In the past came for few days in Greece, last season was in France and now agreed with CSK Samara, Sam spoke exclusive to Eurobasket.com:
Why you decided to be a pro basketball player and not follow your fathers steps in NFL?
Sam Clancy: I chose basketball because it was always my love. I played one year of high school football but it was just too cold growing up in Cleveland, oh. I was much better at basketball.
You were drafted by Philadelphia 76ers ((NBA,2rd(45)) in 2002, you had few attempts to play a full season in NBA but you did not make it. Do you prefer to play in Europe and be the star in a team or do you have in your mind to try again for NBA?
Sam Clancy: I would love to play in the NBA but I dont want to be the last guy on the team. Its hard to turn down european offers just to try out for a team. If one NBA team was offering a contract i would go but I enjoying playing overseas for now.
Your first European team was Iraklis but you left shortly and joined a CBA team and after Valladolid in ACB, where you had very good games. What happened in Thessaloniki?
Sam Clancy: In Thessaloniki was my first time experiencing the european style of game. The coaches didn't have confidence in me there and they let me go. Later that year i became the CBA MVP and Defensive player of the year. I also played in ACB and had some good games. They just didn't believe in me.
You played in Spain, in Russia and in France, which European league was better for you and why?
Sam Clancy: I enjoyed playing in all the leagues. I had a good season in Euroleague because i play my best against the top teams. I think ACB and the Russian Superleague are the best in europe and i would perfer to play in either one.
After some impressive games in Euroleague last season playing for Le Man, you were free agent for a long time, what offers you rejected?
Sam Clancy: I signed with Ural Great in July but they did not honor the contract. We had to get FIBA involved and thats why I wasn't playing anywhere until the situation was handled. I just signed with CSK Samara and I'm ready to get playing again.
Whats the position you prefer to play? PF or Center?
Sam Clancy: It doesn't matter to me PF or C as long as I'm on the court. I think they are similar positons, where ever I can help my team win.
Tell us your strong point and your weakness in your game.
Sam Clancy: My strengths are rebounding and inside scoring. I've been working hard on improving my outside shooting and my free throws.
If you could pick a player to be your teammate in any team you play who would it be?
Sam Clancy: I would love to play with J.R Holden from CSKA because we grew up playing together in Pittsburgh when we were 14. He's a great point guard and we could be a good combo together. To play together 15 years later overseas would be incredible.
Thank you for the interview and good luck in Samara.
Problems with injuries at Olympiacos - Dec 31, 2008 (by Kostas Papadopoulos)
2008 leaves in a few hours but coach Panagiotis Yannakis is not as happy as he could wish to have been since two of the most important players of his team have faced serious injuries in the past days. Giannis Bourousis (212-C-83, agency: FCM) had a problem in his left knee, was submitted in tests that showed a problem in the internal collateral meniscus and, as it was initially announced, he would be sidelined for 40 days, after having an operation (arthroscopy). [read more]
2008 leaves in a few hours but coach Panagiotis Yannakis is not as happy as he could wish to have been since two of the most important players of his team have faced serious injuries in the past days. Giannis Bourousis (212-C-83, agency: FCM) had a problem in his left knee, was submitted in tests that showed a problem in the internal collateral meniscusand, as it was initially announced, he would be sidelined for 40 days, after having an operation (arthroscopy). The Greek center experienced some pain during the last Euroleague game versus Cibona, but felt better afterward. His situation, though, worsened on Monday. However, the initial decision to undergo surgery on Wednesday has been postponed since his situation was better on Tuesday; so the medical team decided to put him on a conservative treatment, which will allow him to come back at an earlier date in the trainings of the team.
Besides, Josh Childress (203-G/F-83, college: Stanford) is also facing a problem: nuisances in the adducent and he will have an ultra-sound scan. The problem doesnt seem to be serious, however the medical team preferred to send the player for some tests, in order to see precisely the size of his damage. Finally, a problem in his bubonic has been revealed, which is not serious and logically he will be in position to return back in the rhythms of training at the next days.
We remind that Olympiacos is still missing Panagiotis Vasilopoulos (202-F-84, agency: FCM), since almost a month, due to a broken finger on his hand.
Ilievski moves to Tau Ceramica - Dec 30, 2008 [read more]
Rakocevic out of the court one month - Dec 22, 2008 [read more]
Moiso returns to Joventut - Dec 20, 2008 [read more]
Sani Becirovic of Lottomatica Roma is MVP of the Round - Dec 19, 2008 [read more]
