FICYMIs Dec 3: Barcelona youth shine in WC Qualifiers; Kalu's goal with Bayern; a new Asian super league; Kukoc documentary
FICYMIs Dec 3: Barcelona youth shine in WC Qualifiers; Kalu's goal with Bayern; a new Asian super league; Kukoc documentary
Friday In Case You Missed Its: Barcelona youngsters shine in FIBA World Cup 2023 Qualifiers; Martin Kalu talks goals with FC Bayern Munich; a new Asian super league is founded; Toni Kukoc documentary
The calendar says Friday and you know what that means: The Friday In Case You Missed Its, where the TTC substack helps you catch up with some of the things on the WWWs that you may have missed. This week: Barcelona youngsters shine around the world in FIBA World Cup 2023 Qualifiers; German 2005-born talent Martin Kalu talks goals with FC Bayern Munich; a new Asian super league has been founded; and there is a new Toni Kukoc documentary.
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Barcelona youth shine in FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers
Alright, let’s get to it … did you notice that youngsters from FC Barcelona had a pretty good weekend with their respective national teams during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
The 2004-born Teodor Simic got a chance to play against Spain for his native North Macedonia and man, did he show up! He collected 18 points and 2 rebounds in 16 minutes before fouling out. Simic also had 3 rebounds, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 13 minutes of the other European Qualifier versus Ukraine.
A couple of Barcelona 2003-born talents made the long trip back home the Americas continent and had some good success.
Gael Bonilla scored 3 points to go with 2 rebounds and 3 assists in 15 minutes of Mexico’s major upset of the United States.
Agustin Ubal meanwhile played a major role in Uruguay grabbing two victories over Colombia. In the first game, he collected 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists and then he stood out with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in the second victory.
Other Spanish-based players in Qualifiers
The Barcelona players were not the only Spain-based foreign talent who shined in the Qualifiers.
Chilean 2000-born Ignacio Arroyo, who plays for Estudiantes, averaged 10.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.0 steals in two games against Brazil. And Argentina’s 2002-born Juan Francisco Fernandez, who plays for Fuenlabrada, went scoreless in the first game against Paraguay and then picked up 8 points, 10 rebounds and 1 block in the second game.
The European Qualifiers also saw some Spanish-based prospects shine - for Spain and other teams.
Joel Parra (2000) and Jaime Pradilla (2001) both played well for the reigning world champions Spain while former Herbalife Gran Canaria (and current Mega Belgrade) big man Aleksander Balcerowski dominated for Poland - albeit in two losses - with 13.5 points on 64.7% shooting while grabbing 6.5 rebounds to go with 4.5 blocks, 1.0 assists and 1.0 steals. Two Real Madrid players also were with their national teams - though they did not really see action with Matteo Spagnolo (2003 - Italy - on loan at Cremona) and Henri Veesaar (2004 - Estonia).
Martin Kalu (2005, Germany) has big plans - first with Bayern, then in the NBA
The great Eurohopes website had an interview with German 2005-born talent Martin Kalu about how things are going thus far at FC Bayern Munich. He also talked about his goals.
“The biggest goal is to go to the NBA, obviously, and currently I plan to enter the Draft in four years, being 19 years old. But this is very far away, and today I want to escalate the ladder of Bayern Münich and build my way up until the Big Stage.”
New Asian league starts up
Big plans are brewing in Asia where they have picked up big money from former NBA players Metta Sandiford-Artest, Baron Davis and Shane Battier to start the new East Asia Super League. The EASL announced the format of its inaugural home-and-away season beginning October 2022 featuring eight teams from the Japan B.LEAGUE, Korea KBL, Philippines PBA, and the Chinese Taipei P. LEAGUE+. There will also be a team in Hong Kong SAR, featuring players from Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Chinese Taipei.
A Toni Kukoc documentary - from the Bulls
And to close this week, just came across this wonderful documentary about the legendary Toni Kukoc - brought out by the Chicago Bulls.
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