BBL (Baltic Basketball League) Official Thread 2007/2008

[rusher]

Stimac does have a lot of potential to be great in Europe but i think hes a little short for hes position to make it in NBA.
I expected more from him against Tartu Rock but Rock did theyr homework and shut him down.

Well, he was playing against Cusworth. ASK Riga or Rytas also have good centers but they didn't concentrate on him so much because these are teams of different class. And only Stimac and Bankevics can score regularly and big for Valmiera and Rock really did a great job shutting them down

[Demarr]

Kalev/Cramo signed Howard Frier (193:G). Last year he played for Polpak Swiecie (POL-DBL) where his stats were 8.7ppg, 2.5rpg, 3.1apg, 1.6spg.
In 2005-2006 season he played for Kalev, so fans know him very well.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XCbhh41va8)
The contract with Mateo Kedzo is also signed and the Croatian player is in very good physical shape.

[elaj]

Kedžo is a steal for a team like BC Kalev/Cramo. I really like him, huge body, can play inside but also has some nice shooting touch, all what needs is a bit more experience.

How long did Kalev/Cramo sign him for?

[Demarr]

It should be 1 year contract, but im not sure. Frier and Kedžo should play today in BBL match vs Neptunas. Kalev finally found themselves a right guy after Vladimir Vuksanovic got injured and Igor Jokic turned out to be a real disaster.

[Demarr]

Kalev made me sweat again We were -17 behind and lost halftime 43-30. I don't know what Veselin Matic told to the players, but second half we really geared up. We managed to beat Neptunas and the final score was 83-73. Once again I had to admit myself that there's only one Travis Reed - he had perfect night today with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Mateo Kedžo had fairly good debut - 17 points (3pts 7/4). The team defence isn't still working as it should be, it is really worrying me because next week we have to face Panionios in ULEB Cup. I still don't like Marlon Parmer, he just isn't typical pointguard. He started the game, but after 6 minutes he got benched and didn't play. I think that the team plays better without him than with him.

Some moments of todays game - http://213.35.156.10/etv/30102007_kalev_neptunas.wmv

[Troll]

Kalev rely is strugling right now they won today but the gameplay was very bad. Without Kedzos 3 pointers in 1st half i think Kalev wouldnt have been abel to stay close enough to comeback and win. I would still prefere that he spend more time under the basket than the 3pnt line tho.
Marlon Parmer is almost useless he dribbles all the time, takes an amazingly long time to cross halfway line and makes idiotic decisions. He may have some use as a sub to come in and just run at opponents, get them to make fouls but he should never be used as a PG.
Unless Kalev improves at a very fast rate i dont see them having any chance 1st ULEB game

[Demarr]

Brian Cusworth (Rock),Travis Reed (Kalev/Cramo), Vladimir Stimac (Valmiera), Armands Skele (Barons/LMT), Dwayne Broyles (ASK Riga), Paulius Jankunas (Žalgiris), Matthew Nielsen (Lietuvos Rytas) and Antonio Grant (Šiauliai) are BBL candidates for Player of the Month.

[Mayo]

Brian Cusworth (Rock),Travis Reed (Kalev/Cramo), Vladimir Stimac (Valmiera), Armands Skele (Barons/LMT), Dwayne Broyles (ASK Riga), Paulius Jankunas (Žalgiris), Matthew Nielsen (Lietuvos Rytas) and Antonio Grant (Šiauliai) are BBL candidates for Player of the Month.

Altough i wish Paulius Jankunas would win it,Vladimir Stimac is the one who deserves it the most to be honest,he has been incredible for Valmiera so far

[rusher]

Altough i wish Paulius Jankunas would win it,Vladimir Stimac is the one who deserves it the most to be honest,he has been incredible for Valmiera so far

I'd go for Šķēle (if Barons would've won Neptunas what they simply NEEDED to do) because he is a great player but it's the team that's not that great to give him additional honor.

[Demarr]

I'd go for Paulius Jankunas. 1) His shooting been almost perfect (2pts - 77.3%; 3pts - 80%; FT - 100&). 2) His team been very successful (3 wins out of 3 games). 3) His other stats are very good aswell.
Stimac been playing very well too, but I believe it is easier to score for Valmiera than Zalgiris. So again, I'd pick Jankunas.

[rusher]

I'd go for Paulius Jankunas. 1) His shooting been almost perfect (2pts - 77.3%; 3pts - 80%; FT - 100&). 2) His team been very successful (3 wins out of 3 games). 3) His other stats are very good aswell.
Stimac been playing very well too, but I believe it is easier to score for Valmiera than Zalgiris. So again, I'd pick Jankunas.

Yeah, probably he would be the one who has deserved it. Last Valmiera game against Rock where they stopped him pretty good for me is a good argument not to give this title to Stimac (because it was an important game for Valmiera if they think about victories).

Btw, there is one Russian training with BK Ventspils at the moment and Valmiera is trying out Curtis Nash from France- ProB League.

This weekend two important games for 2 best Lithuanian and two best (at the moment, at least) Latvian clubs. ASK Riga will go for a victory, even despite these terrible problems with injuries and Millage being injured and even despite Butautas anger to whoever made BBL calendar as bad for ASK. He is so angry because tomorrow is the game against Zalgiris and monday in Riga is the big ULEB Cup opening match where all the ULEB officials will be present (it's some kind of replay of ASK- Akademik finals of European cup in the beginning of sixties) so for the city of Riga this is very important and Butautas is mad because now he need to play with full force with Zalgiris and then there's not much time to prepare for this ULEB ''show''. Anyway, ASK Riga ambitions this year are high, they still lack the budget numbers of Zalgiris and LR but now they are clearly in the 3rd place in BBL and next year could equal the numbers of big Lithuanian clubs (They said they could do it already this year but wanted to go step by step). So giving the fact that no Latvian club since the independence hasn't won Zalgiris this gives the additional expectations for fans and Butautas can't allow himself to play with teenagers in Kaunas.

The other match Barons- LR on Sunday. Well, this one Rytas should win but i'd like to see one good game from Gustas at last and from Alexander to play the full game, not only when Muiznieks says ''you lazy ass, start to pl-ay!'' I would like to see good performance from Barons throughout the game, not only in one half or quarter of the game (or no game at all, like run 'n gun in Klaipeda).

[Troll]

Well i'm looking forward to Reed vs Stimac, should be a good fight. Kalev should win this game but you never know with Estonian clubs, they can go ice cold for 6+min... like Rock did today against Ventspils.

[rusher]

Well i'm looking forward to Reed vs Stimac, should be a good fight. Kalev should win this game but you never know with Estonian clubs, they can go ice cold for 6+min... like Rock did today against Ventspils.

The problem with Estonian clubs I think is that they have good starting 5 but others simply can't hold the level. And when they start to play then teams who have more equal players, start to dominate the game. The same is with Valmiera, only they have even less good scorers.

[Demarr]

Kalev's weak spot is rebounding, so we are looking to add one more big man, substitution for Reed. Season is long and even Reed will need to rest. Mateo Kedžo looks very useful and friendly, fans already like him. He is good in both, defense and offense. Kalev still need to improve team offense and defense. Kalev's biggest problem in my opinion is Marlon Parmer. He is ment to play pointguard position, but he just dribbles behind the arc and then makes some illogical move. In game vs Ventspils he scored 28 points, but spectators whistled. In game vs Neptunas, he made some really dumb decisions and coach Veselin Matic called him on bench. Kalev managed to win second half 53-30 with Marlon Parmer on bench. Teamwork is better when Marlon Parmer is on bench. Also, Parmer can't play defense. Kalev needs to beat Valmiera today.

[Demarr]

Kalev beat Valmiera 85-77. Like usually we couldn't get it going and lost first quarter 13:26.

Valmiera's 3pts percentage was 56.5% (13/23), Kalev's was 50% (7/14). Kalev made only 6 turnovers.
Travis Reed poured 21 points, Marlon Parmer 15 and Kristjan Kangur 12 points. Kangur also added 7 rebounds.
Ingus Bankevics had 19 points for Valmiera. Big and furious center Vladimir Stimac dominated the boards and got 19 rebounds. He also poured 15 points.