• 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.

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.

The Houston Rockets waived Englishman Pops Mensah-Bonsu on Friday.

The 6-9 Mensah-Bonsu played a total of 12 minutes in four games this season, averaging 1.3 points after a successful season with the Toronto Raptors last season.

(Discuss the NBA in our forum)

“This move is only being done to give us some roster flexibility in case of an injury or a potential call up from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers” said Houston GM Daryl Morey.

“With the way Coach Adelman currently has the rotation set up, this will also allow Pops an opportunity to explore options for more playing time.”

The 26-year old Pops signed as a free agent with the Rockets on Sept. 3 after beating out Romel Beck of Mexico for the final roster spot.

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.

Great Britain, Latvia, and Lithuania are in do-or-die situations on the last day of Eurobasket’s preliminary round after all three teams lost their first two games.

Now they must win their third and final game today in order to have a chance in advancing to the next round.

(Discuss Eurobasket Day Three)

In group play, the top three teams in each Group will move on, while the fourth team will be eliminated. France, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey have already booked tickets to the next round by virtue of winning their first two games.

• Great Britain nearly upset Spain yesterday and are up against Serbia, the team that shocked Spain on day one,  in their third match. These two teams will face off today with a berth to the next round at stake. If Great Britain loses, they go home, but even if they win; they will have to do so by eight points or more coupled with a Slovenian win over Spain.

• Latvia, led by the frontcourt of Kaspars Kambala and Andris Biedrins, have lost to two tough teams in Russia and France, and will face off against a surprisingly tough, Nowitzki-less German squad today. The game will be played in Warsaw at 19:15 local time.

• Lithuania lost to both hosts Poland and Turkey, and it would be a huge disappointment for the basketball-crazed country if they didn’t make the next round. Lithuania placed third in the 2007 Eurobasket and were and semi-finalists at last year’s Olympics. In their sudden death match, Lithuania plays a winless Bulgarian team today.

Check out Eurobasket’s official website schedule and results. You can also go to our forum where you can follow along/discuss each indivuidual Eurobasket match.

Warsaw – After a shocking loss to Serbia in Eurobasket’s opening day, most believed that Spain would come out and stomp on their second opponent, Great Britain.

It looked that way for awhile as Spain jumped out to a 12-0 lead, and held a 16 point lead midway through the third quarter, 55-39.

However, Great Britain would outscore Spain by 20 points, 34-14, in the next ten minutes of play to give them a four point lead. Great Britain led 73-69 with just five minutes remaining in the game.

The Spanish would answer, scoring eleven straight points and close out the game with a 15-7 run.

The run was sparked by a Rudy Fernandez steal and fastbreak dunk and Pau Gasol‘s second three-point shot. The quick five point run gave the Spanish the lead for good, 74-73.

Spain would go on to win the game unconvincingly by just eight points, 84-76; leaving the Spanish team, their coaching staff, and fans shaking their heads.

Questions Remain
Even with many of the same players on the roster, this is clearly not the same Spanish team.

Has the constant change finally caught up to Spain? Sergio Scariolo is España’s third coach in three years and you can bet if Spain continues to play this erractically, there will be even more change after the tournament.

Is Spain missing José Calderón that much?

Ricky Rubio has stepped in, and has yet to make a significant impact.  Despite playing around 25 minutes in each of the first two games, the teenage point guard has shot 3-10 and only one total steal.  Rubio has passed out 9 assists and has only turned over the ball once, but the flow of the offense rests on Rubio.

The good news?  Pau Gasol responded to his ugly performance yesterday against Serbia with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Rudy Fernández played this game, adding 13 points.

Team Spain also shot better, much better, from three point land, hitting 10-19 attempts from beyond the arc.

The bad news? This brings into question Spain’s focus. This is how Spain responds to their loss; barely putting away Great Britain until there is two minutes remaining in the game?

Pau Gasol was better from the line, but his shooting wasn’t anything to be happy about. Gasol made just 11 of 18 free throw attempts.

Spain may be eliminated tomorrow
Things won’t get any easier as Spain takes on Slovenia in the third and final game of the group play.

Slovenia has won both their games against the other two teams in their group: Great Britain and Serbia, and are guaranteed to advance on.

If Slovenia were to win tomorrow against Spain, that coupled with a Serbia loss to Great Britain by eight points or more, then the unthinkable has happened; mighty Spain will have been eliminated in the first round.

The 2009 Efes Pilsen World Cup begins today and will serve as national team preparations for the Eurobasket tournament.

Held in the Ankara Atatürk Sport Hall, six Eurobasket teams, divided into two groups, will be participate in the five-day tournament leading up to the European Basketball Championships to be held in Poland.

The six teams are hosts Turkey (Group A), Croatia (A), F.Y.R of Macedonia (B), Germany (A), Great Britain (B), and Latvia (B). Each team will play the other two opponents in their group.

Efes Pilsen World Cup Schedule:
26 Aug 18:30: Latvia – Great Britain
26 Aug 21:00: Turkey – Croatia
27 Aug 18:30: F.Y.R of Macedonia – Latvia
27 Aug 21:00: Turkey – Germany
28 Aug 18:30: Great Britain – F.Y.R. of Macedonia
28 Aug 21:00: Croatia – Germany
29 Aug 16:00: Classification: A Gr. 3 – B Gr. 3
29 Aug 18:30: Semi Final: A Gr. 1 – B Gr. 2
29 Aug 21:00: Semi Final: B Gr. 1 – A Gr. 2

Discuss the 8th annual Efes Pilsen World Cup in our forum or check out the official site here.  You can watch the games via livefeed on http://delicast.com/tv/NTV or on http://www.justin.tv/powerzone. If these links do not work, go to our forum to find the most updated information about how to watch the games.

The Toronto Raptors are hemorraging international players this offseason, while the Houston Rockets are stockpiling them to fill in for injured Chinese center Yao Ming.

Today, the Houston Rockets reached a verbal agreement with the 6-10 Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the energetic British center that played for the Raptors last season.

The deal is a one-year deal and the terms weren’t disclosed as of this writing.

Pops, a fan favorite, averaged 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds in 19 games for Toronto last season.

The agreement was announced four days after the Raptors sent internationals Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukic to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems.

The Houston Rockets are hoping Mensah-Bonsu, along with the signing of Australian big man David Andersen from the Euroleague, can fill the huge hole left by the 7-6 Yao Ming.  The seven-time all-star is expected to miss the entire 2009-10 season with a leg injury.

With his NBA dealings nearly completed, Pops is expected to return to the Great Britain national team in time for their trip to Turkey for more preparation for Eurobasket. Without Pops, Great Britain went 1-2 at a recent four-nation tournament held in Seville, Spain.

The 2009 Eurobasket tournament set to begin on September 7.

It was just announced that Dirk Nowitzki will not participate in this year’s Eurobasket tournament.

The loss of the 7-0 NBA all-star forward severely hampers Germany‘s chances in obtaining a spot in the 2010 World Championships.

The owner of Nowitzki’s NBA team, Mark Cuban, would not allow Nowitzki to take part in the championship, said the German basketball federation.

German Federation president Ingo Weiss showed understanding, as Nowitzki has played for team Germany in the last several international tournaments.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve had an excellent and reliable partnership with Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks, who always made it possible for Dirk to play for the national team…” said Weiss. “We accept this decision completely.”

From a team standpoint, Nowitzki may be the most important player to miss, but this year’s Eurobasket will be missing several other key players because of injury, overextension or retirement.

Some of the big names include Andrei Kirilenko, José Calderón, Igor Rakočević, Theodoros Papaloukas, Luol Deng, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, and more.

• Greece: Hellas will be without their superstar starting backcourt of Dimitris Diamantidis and Theo Papaloukas. Diamantidis, the 29-year old defensive standout, will miss out because of an injury, and the 32-year old Papaloukas is taking time off because he needs rest.

• Spain: Pau Gasol will play for Spain despite an injured index finger that will keep him out of action right up to the tournament.  However Spain will be missing two key players in the backcourt because of injuries – José Calderón and Berni Rodriguez.

• Russia: Andrei Kirilenko recently confirmed that he won’t be in Poland for the defending Eurobasket champions Russia.  Kirilenko wants to take the summer off to rest.  Team Russia will also look to defend their title without naturalized point guard, and national team mainstay, J.R. Holden.

• Lithuania: Team Green will be missing Ramūnas Šiškauskas, who retired from the national team after last year’s appearance at the Olympics.  Lietuvus will also not have the services of their veteran backcourt Rimantas Kaukėnas and Šarūnas Jasikevičius.

• Serbia: Serbia was hopeful that Euroleague leading scorer and former NBA player Igor Rakočević would suit up, but an injury would keep the 30-year old shooting guard out until very late.  Team Serbia thought it best to move forward without Rakočević.

• Great Britain: Luol Deng recently announced that his leg injury, suffered in the beginning of the last NBA season, will keep him out representing Great Britain in this year’s Eurobasket.

• Latvia: Latvia is awaiting test results on guard Armands Šķēle after he took a blow to the head during training on Tuesday.  The 25-year-old was given painkillers after an initial series of tests found no serious problems (from FIBA.com).  Latvia will have the interior presence of their 23-year old star Andris Biedriņš.

• France: Though not yet in the tournament, France is still trying to qualifying through the AQR (Additional Qualifying Round) and if they do, they should have their star point guard Tony Parker. Two weeks ago, Parker was called back to the United States by the Spurs after suffering a sprained right ankle in a Eurobasket qualification game against Austria.

Even without the likes of Nowitzki and Kirilenko, there is still plenty of star power in this year’ s Eurobasket with the Gasol brothers, Hedo Türkoğlu, Ricky Rubio, Andris Biedrins, Rudy Fernández, Linas Kleiza, Marko Tomas, and many others.

Interbasket wants to continually keep you informed about the upcoming tournament, so check out the following updates or you can discuss/follow the breaking news  in our Eurobasket 2009 forum.

Jamie Vanderbeken has turned down the chance to represent Canada, the home of his birth and the land in which he was brought up, to play for Great Britain.

The 21-year-old center, who plays in the NCAA for Iowa State, qualifies to suit up for Britain through his Scottish grandmother and hopes to represent his adopted country at the 2009 Eurobasket tournament in Poland.

Vanderbeken is no certainty to make the British roster, with center one of their strengths thanks to former NBAers Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Robbie Archibald, but he is happy to commit his future to them rather than Canada.

Britain take on Poland, Israel and Turkey in a forthcoming warm-up event, but tougher tests lie ahead in Poland later this year in their debut at EuroBasket, where Spain will be their first opponent.

Spain is the silver medalists from the 2008 Olympic Games.

Although Britain will not have Luol Deng or Ben Gordon this year, they have both committed themselves for the future, and coach Chris Finch’s team has plenty to look forward to if they can qualify for 2012.

As for Vanderbeken, he was the Cyclones leading reserve last season as a junior and you can bet that plenty more is expected of him in 2009/10 where despite his size, three-point shooting is one of his strengths.

If he can continue to progress, it’s just another string to the British bow.

“Even if I don’t make it, the competition I’ll be playing against in tryouts alone will be beneficial to bring what I learned back here,” Vanderbeken recently told GoCyclones.com.

“It’ll give me a chance, if I have questions, to ask guys about it. Pops, Archibald, a bunch of other guys who played in the U.S. and Europe.”

Just as the Great Britain squad was announced, NBA star Luol Deng pulled out of September’s Eurobasket tournament.

“It’s a very tough decision not being able to play but it was just a tough year last year with my injury,” Deng said. “The fracture of my leg was such a serious injury that I need all summer in order to go full speed and I’m not full speed yet, but I’m almost there.”

The decision is a huge blow to GB, who were looking forward to having Deng’s services for the upcoming European Championships.  Deng had injured his right leg last NBA season and the stress fracture to his leg has been slow-healing for sure.

“If I was healthy I would definitely be playing and I’m sure the Bulls wouldn’t mind it,” the 24-year old Deng said. “But because of my injury, it changed a lot of things.”

Despite the disappointment of missing out on this year’s tournament, Deng is still looking forward to representing in the 2009 Olympics, which is being hosted in London.

“ I’m very committed to the (Great Britain) program, as everybody knows.  I’m really heartbroken that I’m not able to participate this summer…” Deng said. “but I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about 2012 a lot.”

Great Britain’s roster includes NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu, former Illinois star Robert Archibald, 2006 NBA draft pick Joel Freeland, as well as Kieron Achara, Andy Betts, Flinder Boyd, Dan Clark, Germayne Forbes, Nick George, Randall Hanke, Jarrett Hart, Mike Lenzly, Steve Leven, Nate Reinking, Justin Robinson, Andrew Sullivan, and Jamie Vanderbeken.

Links and Resources: Luol Deng explains decision to skip Great Britain committment (Chicago Tribune)

Great Britain has apparently started to build their squad for EuroBasket after Unicaja Malaga revealed that their center Robert Archibald had made the cut as the first player names to their 12-man roster.

The official squad announcement is not expected until the end of July but Unicaja appear to have the inside track on at least one member of head coach Chris Finch’s selection, although it probably would have been a surprise had Archibald not been picked.

The 6-11 center from Scotland was one of the first Britons to be selected for the NBA via the draft, but despite stops in Memphis, Phoenix, Orlando and Toronto, the 29-year-old never really made it in the Association and left to ply his trade in Spain.

Britain has traditionally struggled on the European and World scene but with stars Luol Deng and Ben Gordon still possible for September’s tournament.

Qualifying through a group comprising of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel and the Czech Republic was a fine achievement, but Finch is keen to see them take the next step in the finals, where Spain, Serbia and Slovenia await.  This is the first time GB has even qualified since England played as a separate entity in 1981.

Realistically, Basketball betting suggests that Britain needs Deng and Gordon to play and perhaps even Kelenna Azubuike and Pops Mensah-Bonsu to make the trip to Poland if they are to stand the chance of going any further against the giants of the European game.

Deng and Mensah-Bonsu were the stars of the qualifying campaign, and the latter benefitted from the publicity gained to get a deal back in the NBA with the Raptors, but he is expected to be available to travel to Poland as well.

But Deng’s struggles to overcome a stress fracture in his leg, suffered while playing for the Chicago Bulls, has to go down as the biggest worry for Finch, whose side found out this week they will be going up against Pau Gasol, who confirmed he will be playing for the Spanish, as they look to avenge 2007′s Eurobasket Silver.

As for Archibald, the former University of Illinois star goes into the tournament on the back of a solid ACB season.  Archibald averaged 8.7 points in Spanish League action and 7.9 in the EuroLeague for Malaga.