• 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.

• LeBron James is planning on switching his jersey number from No. 23 to No. 6 and the superstar wants all NBA players wearing #23 to retire the number in order to honor Michael Jordan, but is the King really making the change for altruistic reasons? We don’t think so.

• The 24-year old Andrew Bogut may never live up to the expectations of being the 2005 #1 overall draft pick, but if the 7-0 Aussie can continue being injury-free and putting up 15, 9, and 1.5 blocks while shooting over 55% from the field, no one in Milwaukee is going to protest too loudly despite other draft picks Deron Williams (#3), Chris Paul (#4), Andrew Bynum (#10),  and Danny Granger (#17) flourishing.

• Joakim Noah continues his improvement. The 6-11 center has recorded five-straight double-doubles including 15 points and 14 rebounds in last night’s 101-87 win over the Sacramento Kings. In fact, Noah has only had one game in which he didn’t have 10+ rebounds. For the season, the third-year player has started all 10 games for the Bulls and is averaging 12.1 points, 12.4 rebounds , 2.1 assists, and 2.0 blocks.

• Ask Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a question about his recent Leukemia announcement.

• After being let go by the Houston Rockets on Friday, Pops Mensah-Bonsu was immediately picked up by the Toronto, where Pops had a career-season in 2008-09. Mensah-Bonsu suited up for the Raptors last night; played six minutes, scored 5 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in the Rap’s 130-112 setback to the Nuggets. Pops played just 12 minutes with the Rockets before being waived.

• Marco Belinelli scored a season-high 16 points off the bench last night in the Toronto’s 130-112 loss to the Nuggets. The 6-5 shooter from Italy is averaging 8.9 points in 18 minutes off the bench for the Raptors this season.

• David Andersen, former Euroleague star pivot, hit 9-14 shots and scored a career-high 19 points off the bench in the Houston Rocket’s 101-91 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.  The 6-11 center-forward from Australia also pulled in 6 rebounds.

• Who are your 2009-10 NBA All-Stars?

• Sasha Pavlović scored 30 points off the bench in two Minnesota losses (17 vs the Golden State, 13 points vs. Portland). Previously, Pavlović had yet to reach double-figures all season and had scored just 33 points combined in the season’s first seven games. After the Timberwolves won their first game of the season against the New Jersey Nets, they have since dropped 10 straight.

• After Allen Iverson was waived by the Memphis Grizzlies because of disagreements over his playing time, Iverson still wants to play in the NBA, but really, who would want him after such a public debacle that was basically a temper-tantrum? An NBA team would really have to be desperate to… oh wait the Knicks want him. Makes sense.

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.

The NBA season starts tomorrow, but before the regular season begins, we’d like to present some NBA preseason pics and images of Andris Biedrins, Nate Robinson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Arroyo, Erik Spoelstra, Ersan İlyasova, David Andersen, Shaquille O’Neal, Danilo Gallinari, and others.

[Show as slideshow]

(Photos are courtesy of the AP, Reuters, Getty Images, and the NBA)

Romel Beck, a 6’8, 195lb guard/forward who has played with the Mexican National Team the last several years, has signed on with the Houston Rockets.

The  27-year old Beck will compete with Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and summer-league guards Will Conroy and Garrett Temple for the final roster spot.

The spot opened up when the Rockets decided against waiting upon Rashad McCants, who was recovering from an abdominal injury, so Houston decided to go with Beck.

Beck, who was born in Magdalena de Kino, Mexico, has been Mexico’s leading scorer in international competitions, but had come under fire this summer for his involvement in a brawl during a  friendly game  between Mexico and Uruguay.

Later in September, Beck was criticized for his selfish play, and was ultimately dismissed from the team during the 2009 FIBA Americas Tournament. Beck has participated in NBA summer league camps with the Cleveland Cavs and San Antonio Spurs.

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.

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.”

The Toronto Raptors, already the third most-international roster in the NBA last season, just added to their global diversity.

The Raptors picked up 6-5 Italian Marco Belinelli to a roster that already included six international players.

Toronto traded 31-year old journeyman Devean George and “cash considerations” to the Golden State Warriors for Belinelli.

The 23-year old Belinelli joins newly-acquired Hedo Türkoğlu of Turkey, fellow countryman Andrea Bargnani, as well as José Calderón (Spain), Roko Ukić (Croatia), Rasho Nesterović (Slovenia), and Pops Mensah-Bonsu (England).

The addition of Belinelli gives Toronto seven legitmate international players that can realistically play anywhere from 7-42 minutes a game next season.

Belinelli never found touch in Bay Area
After being drafted 18th overall by Golden State in the 2007 NBA Draft, Belinelli first made splashes stateside with his spectacular shooting performances in the NBA summer league.

But he quickly found himself on the bench during the regular season with a glut of shooting guards ahead of him – namely Monta Ellis, Kelenna Azubuike, Mickaël Piétrus, and sometimes Stephen Jackson.

He played much more in his second season, but the Warriors still lost 53 games.  Going into his third season, the prospects of more playing time was not looking good especially with the development of Anthony Morrow and the Warrior’s selecting NCAA standout guard Stephen Curry in the 2009 draft.

With the Raptors, Belinelli will compete against rookie shooting guard DeMar DeRozan for playing time this upcoming season.  Belinelli averaged 8.9 points, 2.1 assists, and nearly one steal per game in 21 minutes last season.  He also shot 44.2% from the field and 39.7% from three.

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.

With Hedo Türkoğlu ready to sign on the dotted line with the Toronto Raptors tomorrow, there aren’t too many international NBA free agents left to be had.

Interbasket scanned the list of remaining foreign-born free agents and came up with our top ten international free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, still swimming about in free agent waters.

1. Linas Kleiza, Lithuania (r) – With Denver trying to re-sign the Birdman, Chris Andersen, the Nuggets may not have enough money in the tank to keep the restricted Kleiza from walking away without going into the luxury tax.  Kleiza’s ability to run the floor, attack the basket, and finish with momentum and strength reminds you of a Baltic Karl Malone.  On top of that, Kleiza is a reliable three-point shooter and can take other power forwards off the dribble in the half-court.  In the right situation (see: more minutes), Kleiza can have (another) breakout year.

2. Anderson Varejão, Brazil (un) – Varejao opted out of his contract last week and is testing free agent waters.  Varejao is obviously looking for more than the $6 million that the Cavs were going to pay him this coming season. Cleveland signed the 35-year old Shaquille O’Neal and still has Zydrunas Ilguaskas in tow, so will they go after Varejao?  Do the Cavs want to deal with another Varejao holdout as they did in 2007 when the Brazilian backup missed an entire month of games.

3. Marcin Gortat, Poland (r) – Gortat is a restricted free agent, despite being courted by the Houston Rockets, and reportedly offered a huge offer sheet by the Dallas Mavericks, the Magic can have the option to match the offer and keep the 7-0, 240lb Polish center.   With Turkoğlu likely out of the picture and if the Magic aren’t aiming for another free agent this year (or the next), Orlando has the money to match and keep Gortat.  Whether Gortat is worth the reportedly $5.6 million/year that Dallas is willing to give him is the real question.

4. Wálter Herrmann, Argentina (un) – Anyone need a three-point specialist with a long, silky, blond ponytail only seen on covers of romance novels?   The Detroit Pistons are reportedly letting the Argentine shooter walk without an offer. If Herrmann doesn’t get a NBA contract, he’ll be welcomed back, with open arms, in Europe where the 6-9 forward started his career.

5. Zaza Pachulia, Georgia (un) – The Hawks are close to signing David Andersen, a big man from down under and Euroleague star, as insurance in case Pachulia goes elsewhere. It will be a huge shock if the Hawks look anything like the team of this past season. With Mike Bibby, Flip Murray, Marvin Williams also free agents this summer and with Andersen possibly coming onboard, Zaza may not get the attention from the Atlanta Hawks he expects.

6. Pops Mensah-Bonsu, England (un) – The Toronto Raptors were happy with their late-season pickup, and extended Mensah-Bonsu a qualifying offer in late June. The high-energy journeyman averaged 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and 13.8 minutes in 19 games with the Raps.   As a restricted free agent, Pops can sign an offer sheet with another team, but Toronto now owns the right to match the offer.

7. Rasho Nesterović, Slovenia (un) – The once baby-faced center has moved into the category of “great veteran and locker room guy.” At 33 years old, Rasho’s basketball peak are several years behind him, but the 7-0 center has at least a couple years left in him as a solid backup for a team looking for a veteran with playoff experience, and uh…  a locker room guy.  Nesterović’s career averages are around 7 points on 50% FG shooting, 5 rebounds and one blocked shot a game.

8. Jamaal Magloire, Canada (un) – The long-armed Magloire played spot minutes as backup center for the Miami Heat last season and did a serviceable job. The 7-0 former all-star center from Canada has said that he would like to return to the Miami Heat, so much so that he would re-sign at a discounted price.  Whether or not that will happen for the 31-year old Magloire will play out over the summer. The Heat selected 6-9 Robert Dozier, who is may play a little center, but is definitely under-sized.

9. Sean Marks, New Zealand (un) – With Tyson Chandler injured, the 6-10 Kiwi played in more games in 2008-09 than in any other season of his 9-year career. Marks’ one-year contract with the Hornets, worth 1.1 million last season has expired and no word on whether the Hornets are looking to bring back the 33-year old (34 when the season starts). The 2009 NBA Draft yielded backcourt players, Darren Collison and Marcus Thorton, so unless the Hornets make a move to obtain another big man, Marks may be in New Orleans at least another year.

10. Johan Petro, France (un) – The 7-0 French center has played for two teams in three NBA season since being drafted by the Seattle Sonics in the first round of 2005.  It looks like the 23-year old will be looking to move onto his third team as the Nuggets aren’t expected to make a qualifying offer.  Without an offer, Petro becomes an unrestricted free agent.  My guess? Petro will be headed to Europe.

There are also international free agents that have left the NBA, but are free-agents in the eyes of the NBA nonetheless.  That list includes Carlos Delfino, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Ersan Ilyasova.

Many teams have already agreed in principle with some free agents (Turkoglu with Toronto, Gortat with Dallas), but cannot be announced or become official until tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8th, 2009.

* (r) = restricted (un) = unrestricted

* British national Pops Mensah-Bonsu had a solid game in his fourth outing with the Toronto Raptors. Mensah-Bonsu scored 21 points (5-10 shooting) in 21 minutes and grabbed 8 rebounds in a 110-87 drubbing of Indiana this Sunday.

The Raptors wore green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Mensah-Bonsu was recently released by the San Antonio Spurs and gobbled up by Toronto.

Mensah-Bonsu played well for Great Britain this summer, helping the Brits qualify for EuroBasket. The high-flying athlete previously played for the University of George Washington, the Dallas Mavericks, Benetton Treviso, CB Granada, DKV Joventut, and the Austin Toros.

* In the same game, Italian Andrea Bargnani continued his dramatic upswing by scoring  27 points (9-11 FGs, 3-3 threes), 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Since the New Year rang in, “Il Mago” (The Magician) is averaging 18.8 points, shooting 47% from the field and 44% from beyond the three-point arc.

* Remember Darko Milicic? The forgotten 23-year old scored 12 points and 11 rebounds in a Memphis Grizzlies victory against his former team, the Detroit Pistons.  He had a sick block against one of his replacements, Amir Johnson. After the block, he reportedly bent down and ripped his socks down the middle. Not really, but knowing Darko, it could’ve happened.

* Four Spaniards were in NBA action on Sunday (all wins):

• Jose Calderon had 15 points and 12 assists in the aforementioned Toronto win over the Indiana Pacers.  Todays game marked Calderon’s third missed free throw of the season.  The 6-3 point guard is now 123-126 for the season for 97.6% from the line, and still on pace for the best single-season percentage.
• Pau Gasol scored 25 points (12-13 shooting), and added 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in the Laker’s 107-100 victory over the Mavericks.
• Younger brother Marc had 11 points and 7 rebounds while Darko took center stage in the Griz victory over Detroit.
• Rudy Fernandez returned after his ugly fall that sent him to the hospital for observation and caused him to miss two games.  Fernandez had zero points, missing all 4 of his three-point attempts. He did register a block though.

Links and Resources: Andrea Bargnani improving, yet inconsistent (Interbasket),  Video: Rudy Fernandez injured by Trevor Ariza in Blazers’ Rout of Lakers (Interbasket)

• The severely-undermanned Thunder continues to surprise.  OKC have won 5 of their last 6 games with Kevin Durant out with an injury, thanks in large part to Nenad Krstic’s 15.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks during the run.  Oklahoma City is also doing it without the second leading scorer, Jeff Green.

• Dirk Nowitzki scores a game-high 34 points and grabs 13 rebounds in the Dallas Mavs’ 122-117 win over the Phoenix Suns.  With the win, Dallas pushes Phoenix 5 games out of the #8 spot as well as taking a 2-1 lead in the regular season series.  It’s not looking good for Steve Nash, Shaq and the Suns.   And they aren’t getting any younger.

• French rookie Nicolas Batum dunks on Pau Gasol again.  The 6-9 rookie raises two fingers after serving up the facial…

• Rudy Fernandez falls hard on flagrant foul by Trevor Ariza, taken to hospital on stretcher. Blazers beat Lakers 111-94.  Though I don’t Ariza meant to hurt Fernandez, I think he has played enough basketball that making that kind attempt at the ball with the momentum and directions each player had was a definite risk.

• Memphis can’t keep Yao Ming (24 points, 17 rebounds) and Luis Scola (18 points, 14 rebouds) from dominating the paint, Rockets win 93-83 sending Memphis to their 10th loss in the last 11 games (Mar 9th).

• Marc Gasol, aka the Spanish Tank, has career high 30 points (and 13 rebounds) in Memphis Grizzlies 110-105 loss to the Philadephia 76ers…  Gasol is putting up 11.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in his rookie campaign (Mar 7th).

• Artisom Parakhouski of Belarus leads little Radford University into March Madness, the 7-0 center was Big South Player of Year and Radford won the Big South regular season for the first time in school history (Mar 7th).

• Luc Richard Mbah a Moute tallies career-high 21 points and 5 steals (and 11 rebounds) in the Bucks’ 117-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls.  In a frustrating Milwaukee season, Mbah a Moute has been a bright spot for the future, the Cameroon native has averaged 7.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 25 minutes of play…  (Mar 6th)

• After sending Aussie rookie Nathan Jawai to the NDBL, the Raptors sign 6-10 British baller and journeyman Pops Mensah-Bonsu to bolster Toronto’s interior.  (March 6th)