FIBA Basketball

    Batucadas # 4: The word around the Brazilian campfire

    [by Gustavo CARDOSO] - The fourth edition of the Batucadas starts with a prayer to Dona Ivete, Leandro Barbosa’s mother. The Brazilian guard has left the Suns preseason to be with his family members in São Paulo. Family comes first, and the Suns seem to understand that. Força Dona Ivete! In Matt Buser’s “Position Primer: ...

    [by Gustavo CARDOSO] - The fourth edition of the Batucadas starts with a prayer to Dona Ivete, Leandro Barbosa’s mother. The Brazilian guard has left the Suns preseason to be with his family members in São Paulo. Family comes first, and the Suns seem to understand that. Força Dona Ivete!

    In Matt Buser’s “Position Primer: Center” NBA fantasy series, Nenê is under Tier 6, with the following caption: “Team has paved his way for breakout season, but health will dictate”. I don’t know how much of that we should credit to fantasy basketball, as this looks as real as it gets. Being healthy is a must for Nenê, and for Denver’s cursed power forward / center position.

    On another Nenê note, the Rocky Mountain News mentions that the Brazilian is seeking American citizenship. The São Carlos native said he would keep his ties to Brazil, and it seems that the citizenship is more of a bureaucratic facilitator, since VISA issuing for both Brazil, and the United States can be a complicated process.

    On October 7th, Bob Finnan, of the Mourning Journal, published an extensive article on Anderson Varejão and his Brazilian soap opera with the Cleveland Cavs. As with Nenê, it seems Anderson should increase his role within the organization, as the big men from the Flats are ageing. The only problem might be contract negotiation next summer.

    Rafael “Baby” Araújo, or “Hoffa”, as Americans say it, continues his quest for a NBA spot. After a year in Russia, he has been back in an NBA uniform working with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yesterday, however, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda reported that with the signing of David Harrison, Baby might be heading back to the Old Continent.

    In France’s LNB opening round of play it wasn’t JP Batista who got heads turning towards the canarinho style of hoops. JP faced Michel Nascimento, who scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds for Rouen. At the end Batista’s Le Mans won by a point, but Michel made a pretty strong statement in his debut on French soil. This is his third year in Europe, where he has previously played in Czech Republic, and Germany (last two years).

    On Thursday (October 9th), Rebote’s Rodrigo Alves pointed out to the disorganization of Rio’s state league. Although the tournament started on Wednesday, until Thursday the federation’s website didn’t have any updates. This year’s edition of the Carioca will have only 5 teams, most of them comprised of talents from youth leagues. Flamengo should be an easy winner, and will use the tournament as a warm up for the National League.

    After the sucess of SuperCopa Nordeste, a pro/am league for clubs based in the Northeast of Brazil, Liga Nacional do Nordeste is getting ready to kick start. According to Ives Costa, the league’s GM, to whom I talked to this morning, there could be 35 teams listed to play in the next edition, which translated into a 50% increase from the last one. A full report on this project should be coming soon to our blog.

    Paulista League is in its 10th round, and Franca has not shown complete dominance yet. Actually the tourney has been extremely competitive, and Franca has already lost three times. Limeira has been the team to beat, and despite losing to Franca, they continue to show great team work. Renato is looking like the Renato from COC Ribeirão Preto, and is averaging over 18 points per game. Nezinho, and Guilherme Teichman provide extra force.

    Pinheiros, and Paulistano are the other two teams showing great effort in order to fight for the championship. Pinheiros is counting on former NBA campaigner Marquinhos, but Paulinho Boracini and Alexandre “Olivinha” Nascimento have been leveraging his game combining for 35 points night in and night out. At Paulistano the formula of a fast backcourt continues to work, but the addition of Mineiro, a standout at last year’s FIBA U19 WC, to the frontcourt has given Coach João Marcelo Leite a few good reasons to smile.

    One last note on Paulista basketball is the work GRSA Bauru has shown so far. A team coached by former NT point guard Jorge Guerra, Bauru has invested on a young squad, and one import player, something rare in Brazil these days. It seems the “Bauruenses” have hit the jackpot with American Larry James Taylor. He is averaging 22.9 points, and over 5 rebounds per game. The Thursday game showcased by ESPN Brasil was a good display of just how effective he has been. Not enough? Check out this slam dunk at CIBACOPA’s (Mexican league) all star weekend !