[lptitle title=”Begin the countdown”]
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By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The NBA is getting ready for the playoffs and some of the biggest stars of European basketball will fight for the title. Eurohoops looks at what the Europeans that compete in the best league in the world have done and presents in four parts what they have achieved this season and what we expect from them to do. We’ll start from those that compete in the Eastern conference teams that didn’t make it to the playoffs.
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[lptitle title=”New York Knicks“]
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Three Europeans finished their season in this year’s disappointing Knicks. The Italian Andrea Bargnani, the Spaniard Jose Calderon, who after an annoyance in his achilles from the end of February onward didn’t play any more basketball, and Alexei Shved who ended up there after Philadelphia and Houston.
We are speaking of three completely different cases of players. Calderon can become a substantial unit in the coming season and he proved that this year, while he has a contract until 2017. Alexei Shved is a restricted free agent and he has stated that he wants to stay in New York. He too has shown that he can help his team and he was one of the pleasant surprises of the season’s finale. Bargnani is now a free agent, not bogged down by the big contract he had signed in Toronto and which he never justified, but as to where he is going to end up is more than anything else a financial matter. The fact that the Knicks have stated that they want him if he accepts the minimum veteran fee makes matters even more complicated.
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