Serbian forward Nemanja Bjelica has been ruled out for this week’s World Cup qualifiers due to a calf injury and is considered questionable for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops details.
Bjelica, who signed with Turkish club Fenerbahce this offseason after winning a title with Golden State, will miss Serbia’s contest against Greece today, as well as Sunday’s game vs. Turkey. Serbia’s EuroBasket schedule will tip off on Friday, September 2 against the Netherlands.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- With the Kevin Durant saga settled, at least for now, John Hollinger of The Athletic considers what leftover offseason business we could see addressed in the coming weeks. The Lakers, Pacers, Jazz, Heat, Raptors, and Nets are among the teams that may still have some roster moves to make, Hollinger writes.
- Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report shares scouting reports for his top 15 prospects in the 2023 NBA draft class, breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of players like Texas big man Dillon Mitchell and Duke center Dereck Lively in addition to the usual suspects like Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson.
- Exactly how much does an NBA win cost? Mike Vorkunov and Seth Partnow of The Athletic make an effort to answer that question, with Partnow outlining a “wins/dollars efficiency model” and then explaining why such a model has its shortcomings.
- Katie Heindl of GlobalSportMatters.com takes a look at how the NBA has increased the diversity in its coaching ranks without the need for a rule like the NFL’s “Rooney Rule.”
Serbia up 1 late 1st… Kostas holding his own vs Jokic so far but having a rougher time trying to stop Jokers backup, former Spurs draftee Milutinov.. Giannis dominant so far, couple huge dunks, smooth midrange & a couple fts. Greece wanna run, Serbia likes the half court
Former Knicks draftee OJaramaz drains a trey at the buzzer to give Serbia a 6pt lead after 1. Game was tied when Giannis went out just under 3mins ago
Serbs rolling rn. Giannis buried a trey in his 1st shot of the 2nd qtr but Serbia running much better offense & have taken a 9pt lead w/ 8mins to go in the qtr. They’re playing extremely well even with Micic & Jokic on the bench
Game gettin spicy. Kostas just limped off with an apparent injury, which sucks bc he’s been playing well. But taking his place is his brother Thanasis & he’s sparked a bit of a comeback. Thanasis vs Jokic has been great stuff so far. Thanasis forced a Jokic turnover & buried a trey. Greece up 2 halfway thru the 2nd
Vasilje (best player in Europe) Micic was just down for a good minute after being hit in the face. This game is already very spicy, Serbian crowd very into it. I doubt this is the last blow to the face we see in this game. Tied at 42
Hard to argue to much when they’re on pace for over 100pts, but I’d def love to see Serbia play thru Jokic a bit more. Especially now that Greece is guarding him with a 6’6 guy. Jokic took advantage of his opportunities in the 2nd qtr & led Serbia on an 11-0 run late in the qtr. Thanasis’ put back dunk cut the Serb lead to 7 at halftime. Hopefully Kostas & Micic can come back in the 2nd half
Back & forth 3rd qtr, former Rockets wing KPapanikolau drains an open corner trey to cut the Serbian lead to 5 late in 3rd
Greece is absolutely dominant in transition, they have 20 fast break pts & Serbia has 0. A few live ball turnovers that turned into dunks by the Antetokounmpo bros have cut the Serb lead to 3 with about 4mins to go in the game
“Jaramaz is killing us” – direct quote from the Greek coach earlier in the 3rd. He def is coach, never moreso than that huge trey off the backboard with the shot clock running down to give Serbia a comfortable 8pt lead with 2mins to go
Ofc Tyler Dorsey just tied the game with a HUGE corner trey.. Serbia ball 11secs left..
Jokic doesn’t touch the ball on the final possession & Jaramaz’s trey is short so we head to OT. Absolutely incredible comeback. Giannis playing like the best player in the world. Serbia gotta use their crowds energy to help them get their mojo back
We’re getting some epic Jokic vs Giannis 1v1 action here in OT & even tho that has produced a brutal highlight of Giannis dunking over/thru Joker on 1 possession the back2back MVP (& more importantly his team) has the upper hand so far. Serbia up 6 w/ 3mins left
Giannis has scored all 5 of his teams pts so far in this OT, he’s up to 38 or something like that but Serbia still leads by 3 w/ a lil less than 2mins to go
40pts for Giannis, 29 for Jokic. Both guys stepped up down the stretch. Serbia comes out on top in a game they desperately needed. Both teams suffer pretty crucial injuries. Hopefully Kostas & Micic are back in time for EuroBasket. And hopefully we get a rematch bw these 2 teams in the knockout round
In a league with revenue sharing, and a salary cap, it is absolutely worthless to calculate how much a win costs. I’d be more interested in data that shows how long you have to be bad before you get lucky enough in the lottery to be good again.