NBA - Teams head overseas for training camp

NEW YORK (NBA) - Players from the United States and around the world have joined up with their NBA teams for training camps ahead of the new season.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who made headlines during the London Games when acquiring longtime Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, are among the heavyweights looking to challenge the defending champions Miami Heat.

Howard has joined Team USA’s Kobe Bryant and Spain’s Pau Gasol in the Lakers squad.

It was almost exactly two years ago that Gasol, Bryant and the Lakers were upset by Barcelona, 92-88, in an NBA Europe Live clash at the Palau Sant Jordi in Spain.

Several teams will be hearing about that result now that they are now overseas, holding training camps and getting ready to play in NBA Europe Live, NBA China and NBA Canada Series games.

The Boston Celtics are in Turkey, getting ready for an NBA Europe Live game against Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul on Friday.

Fener, who are led by Italy's national team coach and former Montepaschi Siena boss Simone Pianigiani, will encounter a Boston side that is also looking to challenge the Heat for NBA supremacy.

Doc Rivers' team hit the practice floor in Istanbul soon after their arrival on Tuesday night, keen to banish the memory of their 4-3 series defeat to Miami in last season's NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Perhaps the biggest difference between this season and last for Boston is that 37-year-old sharpshooter Ray Allen has changed shirts and now plays for Miami.

Boston will also have a game at Armani Jeans Milano in Italy on Sunday at the Mediolanum Forum.

Olimpia Milano are coached by Spanish national team boss, Sergio Scariolo, a prominent figure at this summer's Olympics after leading the EuroBasket 2009 and 2011 champions to a silver medal.

Nowitzki in Berlin

German basketball fans are able to watch the most famous player in the history of their country with former NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in the country to take on Alba Berlin at the O2 World on Saturday.

Before setting off for Berlin, Nowitzki, who hails from Wurzburg, said: “I’ve got some family there, some friends, the atmosphere is going to be great in that gym and hopefully we’ll play a great game.

"I mean, for us as a team, we’ve got to look at this as a way to get better and bond some more.

"I think we’ve got tons of new people, so (we’ll be able to) get to know each other better on the road. It’s great.

"There will be some functions and stuff, some time on the buses and in gyms, and it’s good to bond.

"We’re on the plane forever, so I think it’s a good time to get to know each other better and make a step in the right direction.”

One of the newcomers in the Mavs' squad is Chris Kaman, who played with Nowitzki and Germany in 2008 when they competed at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Athens and then the Beijing Games, and again last year at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.

Dallas will leave Berlin for Spain and play at Barcelona on Tuesday 9 October.

Heading home

Gustavo Ayon is going home to Mexico to play with his new team, the Orlando Magic, against his former club the New Orleans Hornets.

Ayon is a promising power forward/center who left Fuenlabrada last season for the Hornets, who have a couple of very exciting international talents in Greivis Vasquez and Al-Farouq Aminu.

Vasquez is Venezuela's leading player and was on show at the OQT in Caracas this summer, while Aminu also featured at the event with Nigeria before going on to compete at the Olympics in London.

Austin Rivers, whose father is the coach of the Celtics, has left Duke University after one season and will play with the Hornets this season.

Rivers played for the USA at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men.

New Orleans also have Eric Gordon, a vital part of the Americans' gold-medal winning team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Gordon was among the last cuts for the USA's Olympic squad that travelled to London this summer and captured gold.

In addition to Ayon, the Magic have Turkey national team veteran Hedo Turkoglu and one of Montenegro's rising stars, Nikola Vucevic, a big man who spent last season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Neither Turkoglu nor Vucevic competed in the EuroBasket Qualification Round this summer, when their national sides earned trips to next year’s Final Round in Slovenia.

Big Three v CP3 in Beijing

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will lead Miami against Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers in Beijing at the MasterCard Arena on Thursday 11 October.

Indeed, a big part of the preparations for the new campaign for both sides will be in the Far East.

The sides will also go up against each other on Saturday 14 October in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

James, Wade, Bosh and Paul will take a stroll down memory lane in Beijing as each played important roles in the USA squad that won the gold medal four years ago at the Olympics.

James, last year's NBA MVP, and Paul started for the USA this summer as they won gold in London.

Paul wasn't the only Clipper to compete at the Olympics.

Ronny Turiaf, who played on Miami's NBA-title winning side earlier this year, represented France and helped Les Bleus reach the Quarter-Finals.

He is now a Clipper.

Valanciunas' NBA debut

The Toronto Raptors will remain in Canada and take on the New York Knicks in Montreal.

Raptors vice-president and assistant general manager Maurizio Gherardini was in Caracas, Venezuela, to watch their lottery pick from 2011, Jonas Valanciunas, represent Lithuania.

Valanciunas, the MVP of the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men, has left Lietuvos Rytas for Toronto, where he joins up with his Lithuania team-mate Linas Kleiza as well as fellow Europeans Jose Calderon of Spain and Italy’s Andrea Bargnani.

Kleiza played at the OQT and both he and Calderon were key men for their national teams at the London Games.

Bargnani did not play for Italy this summer as they went unbeaten and qualified for next year’s EuroBasket, the qualification tournament on the continent for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

All of Argentina will be keeping an eye on the Knicks this season because the team has signed Argentina's national team playmaker Pablo Prigioni, a  35-year-old who signed as a free agent.

Prigioni, who has spent most of his career in Spain's top flight and played last season with Caja Laboral, had a chance to meet his Knicks teammates, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, when the USA twice faced the South Americans at the Olympics in London.

International fest in Winnipeg

The Minnesota Timberwolves, who take on the Detroit Pistons in Winnipeg, Canada, on Wednesday 24 October, have caused a real stir the past few seasons by landing big-name international players.

Joining Spain's Ricky Rubio, Team USA's Kevin Love, Montenegro's Nikola Pekovic and Puerto Rico's Jose Barea in the T-Wolves squad are a couple of standout players from this summer's OQT and Olympics, Russia duo Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved.

Both were members of the CSKA Moscow side that reached the title game of the Euroleague last season.

While Kirilenko spent a decade with the Utah Jazz before signing for CSKA during last season's NBA Lockout, 1.95m shooting guard Shved is making his first appearance in the NBA.

He averaged 11.4 points per game for Russia at the Olympics and hit a important jump shot in the final minute of the bronze medal game against Argentina as they reached the podium.

The Detroit Pistons have a couple players that featured in international competition this summer.

Jonas Jerebko has returned to Michigan, fresh off leading Sweden back into the EuroBasket Final Round for the first time since 2003 when the country hosted the event.

Jerebko, a forward, averaged 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists for the Swedes.

The team has also brought Ukrainian center Slava Kravtsov into the squad.

Kravtsov played the past two summers for national team coach Mike Fratello, a former coach with NBA clubs Atlanta, Cleveland and Memphis.

He averaged eight points and 5.8 rebounds in this year's Qualification Round for EuroBasket 2013.

There were many players to raise eyebrows with their national teams this summer and one to capitalize has been Ike Diogu of Nigeria.

He is on the Phoenix Suns training camp roster.

The team has taken the former Arizona State star who has played in the NBA before with them to San Diego as they prepare for the new season.

FIBA