• CHINA: Yao Ming and his with wife Ye Li, are expecting their first child. Not only will the child be in the limelight as Yao Ming’s offspring, but the nation will track the child as the next basketball prodigy. The 7-6 Yao and 6-2 Ye Li, who also plays for the Chinese National Team, will likely give birth to a very, very, very tall child. I would hate to be that child; his/her path is already paved, and nothing short of international success the benchmark. Follow the Chinese fever of “YY”.

• GERMANY: Even with the names of luminaries such as Gasol, Kukoč, Sabonis and Petrovic, is Dirk Nowitzki already the greatest European NBA player ever?  (Discuss and argue this question in our forum).

• GREAT BRITAIN: Pops Mensah-Bonsu was released, again, by the Toronto Raptors. The 6-9 forward, who was already released by Toronto over the summer and by Houston earlier this season, averaged 2.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 6.7 minutes in 16 games with Toronto. In the money-saving move, the Raptors are looking to sign him to a 10-day contract.

• KOREA: The first Korean player to reach the NCAA will leave the University of Maryland. Forward Choi Jin-Soo was being unable to reconcile his studies and play basketball; he willl return to Korea and play in the KBL (From Basket-Spot).

• LEBANON: Lebanese superstar Fadi El Khatib will move from Champville Maristes Sports of Lebanon and will play for Al-Jalaa, a Syrian club, next season. The 6-6 rugged forward signed a four-year deal.

• TURKEY: The Turkish All-Star Game will be played this Sunday, the two teams featured will be the Turkish Stars and the Foreign Stars (Talk Turkish basketball in our forum).

• USA/NBA: Laker coach Phil Jackson is blaming Chinese for NBA All-Star voting, even though he’s wrong: “I think Houston might have all their players in the top five at every position,” Jackson said. “That Chinese fan group, they vote for the Houston team because of Yao Ming and their relationship to Houston. It’s all skewed.”

• USA/NBA: With Ronny Turiaf (France) and Andris Biedriņš (Latvia) returning from injury and back to the Golden State lineup this last week, the team has released NBA journeyman Mikki Moore.

Check out all of our global roundups with short takes and notes on international basketball news from leagues and players from around the world. Got an update or breaking news? Send us an email.

No pressure. As if German superstar Dirk Nowitzki already didn’t have enough on his shoulders when he represents his home country.

Now Los Angeles Clipper center Chris Kaman says that his participation in the 2010 World Championships depends on Nowitzki being there.

(Discuss the World Championships of Basketball in our forum)

Read the following article culled from FIBA.com:

Germany will have a potent one-two punch if, as expected, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman return to the squad and play at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Los Angeles Clippers center Kaman, who represented the Germans for the first time at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens and helped the country reach the Beijing Games, did not play at EuroBasket 2009 while national team veteran Nowitzki also skipped the tournament in Poland to have some much-deserved rest.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Nowitzki was ecstatic when Germany received a wild card to play at the 24-team FIBA World Championship and indicated he would be back in Dirk Bauermann’s line-up and Kaman, who is enjoying a terrific campaign with the Clippers, is also talking about joining the Germans in Turkey.

“If he (Nowitzki) plays, I’m going to play,” Kaman said. “I think that if we have Dirk, it will give us a chance of winning and advancing to the later rounds of the Championships…

“I’ll base my decision on what Dirk does…I want to play, but I also want to win, and the chances are a lot better if Dirk plays.”

Germany will take on Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan and Angola in Group A of the FIBA World Championship in Kayseri.

The EuroBasket 2009 no-shows by Nowitzki and Kaman may have been a blessing in disguise for Germany as some of the country’s best young talent received more playing time and had to take responsibility on the court.

Two of those starlets at the EuroBasket in Poland were Elias Harris and Lucca Staiger.

They are playing American college basketball at Gonzaga and Iowa State, respectively, and doing very well.

In the NBA, Nowitzki has been playing like an MVP again while Kaman has shown signs he may be an All-Star one day.

In his latest effort on Monday night, Kaman poured in 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Clippers’ 105-95 triumph over visiting Portland.

The 27-year-old is averaging better than 20 points and nine boards per contest.

His performances have helped the Clippers to a 15-18 record and kept them firmly in the hunt for a place in the NBA Western Conference Play-offs.

The summer of 2008 was a good one for Kaman because not only did he become an Olympian, but he also visited Germany, the country of his great grandparents, for the first time.

“I’m three generations removed,” Kaman said of being German to FanHouse. “But it’s a great place. I really enjoyed my time there. I hope one more time I can see the country more.”

Read the article at FIBA.com.

From the crew @ Interbasket (and Pau Gasol), we wish you a very Merry Christmas, a super Hannukkah; a happy holidays.  Whatever you you do, however you are celebrating, whoever you are with, wherever you are in the world – we sincerely hope you have a safe and happy holiday season.

Pau Gasol walks up the court in the Laker’s game vs. the New Jersey Nets.

Merry Christmas or Merry Christmas translated in the many different languages around the world:  Veselé vánoce (Czech), Vrolijk kerstfeest (Dutch), Joyeux Noël (French), Frohe Weihnachten (German), Kala Christouyenna (Greek), Buon Natale (Italian), Linksmų Kalėdų (Lithuanian), Feliz Natal (Portuguese), С Рождеством (Russian),  Vesel Božič (Slovenian), Feliz Navidad (Spanish), God jul (Swedish), Maligayang Pasko (Tagalog – Philippines), สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส (Thai), Mutlu Noeller (Turkish)…

What does a toothless elbow look like? It looks like the following. Our Pic of the Day features Dirk Nowitzki’s elbow after it had a couple of Carl Landry’s teeth embedded into in a December 18th game vs. the Houston Rockets.

Amazingly, in Dirk’s first game back, Nowitzki was able to hit 10-13, score 27 points and grab 9 rebounds with that monstrosity strapped to his elbow. Still the Mavericks lost to the Trailblazers 85-81.  At least Dirk can blame his six turnovers on the injury.

This week’s quick roundup of the player performances around the world during the last few days. This week includes discussion about Aleksandr Marić’s monster month, Dirk Nowitzki to the 2010 World Championships of basketball, Tyreke Evans and the Sacramento Kings’ amazing comeback over the Chicago Bulls and more…

• The Sacramento Kings found themselves down 33 points, 83-50, with 6 minutes left in the third quarter, but would go on outscore the Chicago Bulls 52-15 the rest of the way to pull out an amazing comeback win. The King’s comeback was led by Ime Udoka, who scored 15 straight in the fourth quarter to get Sacramento rolling. Rookie sensation Tyreke Evans, who was selected over Ricky Rubio, led the Kings with 23 points. Udoka ended with 17 and Beno Udrih added 16 points. Luol Deng led Chicago with 26 points.

• Dirk Nowitzki to the World Championships? After Pau Gasol indicated that he might skip next year’s event and Yao Ming’s intention to represent China, Nowitzki chimed in about his participation. The 7-0 German was quoted by German daily “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” after he was informed about the wild card Germany had received : “Super. This wild card gives us a great perspective for the coming years. I thank FIBA and look forward to the summer of 2010.” (via TalkBasket)

• 6-11 center Aleks Marić, former Nebraska Cornhusker, was named the Euroleague’s MVP for the month of December. The Serbian-Aussie had a dominating month for Partizan Belgrade; winning EL MVP for three of the four weeks in December which included an amazing performance against Efes Pilsen in which he tallied a 49 performance index rating.

• Andrew Bogut tallied 31 points and 18 rebounds, both season-highs, in an 84-81 win over the Indiana Pacers last night. The 7-0 center from down under hit 14 of 19 shots and blocked three shots.

• It’s only one game, but ballyhooed Sudanese forward Ater Majok was a non-factor in his first game for UConn. The 6-11 high-energy 22-year old scored just one point and had two rebounds in 16 minutes in a win over Central Florida.

• Acie Law played just 9 seconds when the Charlotte Bobcats played the New York Knicks, but had his one and only shot swatted by 6-10 Danilo Gallinari to seal the win for the Knicks, 98-94.  Gallinari scored 21 points in that game, but missed a couple free-throws that allowed the Bobcats to hang around. Gallinari has started the last two games after coming off the bench the last five.

• Former Michigan State star guard Drew Neitzel left French club Chalon. The performances of the guard did not satisfy the coaching staff, especially defensively (Basket-Spot).

From Ball Don’t Lie:  Last night, Houston forward Carl Landry lost 3-5 teeth in a second-quarter collision with Dirk Nowitzki.

Landry didn’t try to find the lost teeth, as he simply closed his mouth and walked to the bench, but if he did, he would have found at least two of the teeth EMBEDDED IN NOWITZKI’S ELBOW. YIKES.

Of course, Landry was called for the foul. Stop fouling Nowitzki with your teeth Landry.

Landry knows the drill on the lost ancient art of dental defense. He took an elbow from the elbower-of-all-elbowers, teammate Dikembe Mutombo last year during practice and lost a tooth in a game against Utah. Landry was immediately taken to the emergency room and will see an oral surgeon today

Dirk Nowitzki has been rolling as of late – and so have the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavs have now won 5 straight games, with the 31-year old German leading the way. Nowitzki has alreadycome up big for the Mavs in the final quarter; hitting crucial shots and scoring at will.

(Discuss Dirk Nowitzki in our forum)

Case in point, against Oklahoma City last night, Nowitzki scored 13 of his 35 points in the final 8 minutes as the Mavs outscored the Thunder 29-18 in the final stanza. Dallas would ultimately win the game 100-86.

The Mavs are now 19-7 and are first in the Southwest division.

When a guy is a scoring 25 a game and pulling in 9 rebounds over his last nine years; you kind of take him for granted. I know here at Interbasket, we drool over the next, great international player, the heir to Dirk Nowitzki, but wait a second – Dirk Nowitzki is still playing!

The 7-0 forward has been even more of a scoring machine this year; he’s scored double-figures in every game and is averaging a career-best 26.9 points per game.

“I know you guys talk about Dirk’s scoring, but I think it’s his defense that has got him going.” said Jason Kidd. “People are always going to talk about his offense, but I think right now his defense I think has been the best that I’ve ever seen.”

We have noticed that Nowitzki has been a little more feistier in his twelfth NBA season, putting up a 2.6 combined steals and blocks this season. But let’s not get too crazy, Nowitzki’s offense is his best defense.

It’s been a busy week for FIBA as they announced the four wild cards on Saturday, and determined the top four seeds for the World Championships of Basketball on Sunday.

Now the federation that overseas international basketball has announced the draw results that will determine the groupings for the 2010 world basketball event in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 24 participating nations were drawn into four groups of six teams each:

• Group A: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
• Group B: Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
• Group C: China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
• Group D: Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

(Discuss the draw results in our forum)

The draw was held at the the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, on 15th December 15th, 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

The draw was conducted jointly by FIBA and the LOC in the presence of participating nations’ representatives, “National Federation members, prominent public figures and members of the international media.”

The FIBA World Championships are held every four years and determines the world’s top country in basketball.

Dirk Nowitzki did it again; this time with a headband. The 7-0 German power forward for the Dallas Maveicks hit another game-winning, fadeway jumper last night. This time the shot came over Boris Diaw with just 1.7 second remaining to lead the Mavericks to a 98-97 overtime win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Check the video:

Nowitzki scored a game-high 36 points in the game, half of which came in the fourth quarter and the extra period. The final shot by Nowitzki was the final lead change in which the teams exchanged the lead six times in the final minute.

Nowitzki has now hit two game-winners in overtime this season – last night and November 16th, when Dirk did it against the Milwaukee Bucks.

After weeks of speculation, FIBA has chosen the four final countries, Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia, that will represent in the 2010 World Championships of Basketball.

(germany-lebanon-lithuania-and-russia-awarded-12172/#post”>Discuss FIBA’s four wild card selections in our forum)

The maximum three -from-one-region wild cards went to Europe, leaving Great Britain as the only European finalist without a ticket. With their resurgence onto the basketball scene as the hosts of the 2012 Summer Olympics being held in London, Great Britain was likely fifth place in the voting

The other three finalists that were in the running were two nations from Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria, and one from Asia – Korea.

The wild card process started with 14 nations, which was whittled down to eight before the FIBA board chose the four federations last night. Congratulations to Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia.

We are onlyy one day away from FIBA announcing the final four countries that will fill the tournament field for the 2010 World Championships.

(Predict the four teams to WC2010)

The Wild Card process started with 14 teams hoping for one of the four remaining spots; now it’s been whittled down to just eight basketball federations and  their current FIBA world rankings: Cameroon (#43), Germany (7), Great Britain (73), Korea (27), Lebanon (24), Lithuania (6), Nigeria (22), and Russia (17).

From FIBA’s world rankings, the four wild cards should go to Lithuania (6), Germany (7), Russia (17) and Nigeria (22), but who knows what FIBA is thinking, but they consider three criteria when selecting wild cards; sporting, economics, and governing aspects for each country.

Wild-card hopefuls must also pay a controversial 500,000 € fee, prior to FIBA’s decision, with the fees going into the marketing and promotion of basketball through FIBA’s International Basketball Foundation.

A maximum of three teams from one region will be allowed, meaning that Europe can only have 3/4 teams that can be awarded the Wild Card, and it’s not unlikely that Europe will get three teams.

Stay tuned, there will be some very happy teams and some very unhappy teams come Saturday night.

The FIBA Wild Cards will determine four teams’ fates for the 2010 World Championships of basketball.

With a few days remaining before FIBA announces their selections, which countries do you think FIBA will select for the event in Turkey in 2010? Below are Interbasket’s top 11 contenders:

• Cameroon
• Dominican Republic
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Korea
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Nigeria
• Poland
• Russia
• Taiwan

Seems that Interbasket members mostly agree that Russia and Germany will be locks to receive a ticket to the huge basketball event.

Go to our forum and pick the four countries that you think FIBA will choose based on their criteria of sporting, economics, and governing factors with a maximum of three wild cards from any one zone (that means you, Europe!).

It’s already been hinted that the sporting factor will weigh more heavily, benefiting teams from Europe and the Americas.

After the Wild Cards have been determined, the draw for the World Championships will be held at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

Talkbasket recently had a great feature with images of 10 basketball courts from around the world; from colorful courts in Berlin, abandoned courts in Chernobyl and Russia, to snow-covered courts in the Himalayas.

Other courts featured include backboards (and sometimes even rims) from Germany, Singapore, Belize, Ukraine, El Salvador, Cambodia, and Mexico. Here’s a sampling of the images:

[Show as slideshow]

Basketball is growing worldwide, but obviously there are corners of the world where hoops hasn’t fully been realized. Want to see the entire gallery, go to Talkbasket to see the full piece: 10 basketball courts from around the world.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman allegedly skipped out on a $5,00o hotel bill and was temporarily detained in Germany after officials tracked down his stretch limo on the highway.

Rodman is in Europe with other former NBA players to participate in the
“USA Legends of Basketball” exhibition game .

After Rodman’s team played against the Trier All-Stars, a party was thrown afterwards at his hotel.

The game’s organizers had agreed to pick up the tab for Rodman’s hotel stay, but not for incidentals which included an additional $5,100 for beverages consumed at the afterparty.

Rodman paid the bill and left Trier quietly.

The game featured former NBA players Muggsy Bogues, Tim Hardaway, Tracy Murray as well as famous streetball players Hot Sauce, Air up There, Air Bama, High Rizer, and Mr. Africa.

Tijani Umar, the President of the NBBF (Nigeria Basketball Federation) recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland after a meeting with FIBA World officials to chat about the FIBA wild cards for the 2010 World Championships.

However, Umar’s meeting with FIBA officials did not make him very positive on Nigeria’s chances.

While speaking with Ungar, FIBA hinted that they would be selecting the wild cards based on a country’s potential to make some impact on the world stage.

This “impact” factor is listed in FIBA’s wild card criteria, but for FIBA officials to emphasize that, fuels further speculation that the “quality and sporting results of the national teams of the country” is more heavily weighed than any other aspect.

After Nigeria finished fifth in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament, it would be difficult to justify their selection.

FIBA World Championships Wild Cards
With twenty teams having already clinched a spot to Turkey, there are still four slots remaining. These four spots are the wild cards and will be determined by FIBA.

(Chat more about the FIBA wild cards)

In order to qualify for a wild card, a team must have participated in their respective qualifying competition. From there, FIBA will take into consideration the sporting, economic, and governance aspects of that country.

Nigeria is on the short list of roughly ten teams vying for one of the four final spots.

Some of the top contenders for the spot include Cameroon, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Russia.

There are going to be six very disappointed teams come December when FIBA announces which four countries will receive the wild cards at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Geneva.