Petteri Koponen Watch: H.T. playing hardball

You may have been wondering why the Petteri Koponen updates have been slowing down. I'm sad to report that our long-time embedded Finnish operative H.T. has been holding out due to tense contract negotiations with DeceptivelyQuick. I knew it was a bad sign when he signed with Finnish power-agent Jukka Rosenhaus. (Ba-dum Ch!)

To keep the vast DeceptivelyQuick readership (Ba-dum Ch!) abreast of the situation I figured I would share a recent message sent to me by the beloved H.T. :

Yeah, I've been pretty slow with the Italy updates but you know, I think we should re-negotiate my salary because of economic crisis. I mean, the trouts you've been sending me over last three months aren't enough to feed me and all the 28 kids I have in my igloo with me.

This from a man recently seen hanging out with the likes of Ron Jeremy and soaking up other perks of the Finnish-Celebrity scene. Luckily we have agreed to a deal in principal with the help of mutual friend Stig Dogg and H.T., as a good faith gesture, has provided us with another Petteri Koponen Update. Make sure to check out the latest picture of Koponen, that big frame is looking more and more NBA ready by the day.

Petteri Koponen update: Virtus wins their 6th and 7th in a row

Just a month ago, Petteri Koponen's Virtus Bologna suffered their absolutely worst loss of the season in a road game against Solsonica Rieti, a team currently 14th in the 16-team Italian Serie A standings. Right now it seems that the terrible, 25-point loss was a wake-up call for Virtus, which has been supposed to be one of the top three teams in the league with Montepaschi Siena and Lottomatica Roma.

Ever since that hard-to-forget March 7th game, Virtus has been dominating its opponents in both Serie A and FIBA EuroChallenge Cup. Both leagues included, Virtus has extended its win streak to seven games these last two weeks.

March 29th, Virtus Bologna met their cross-city rival, GMAC Bologna, in much-anticipated derby between two top teams of basketball-crazy Bologna. GMAC Bologna's season hasn't been that much of a success this year, but they managed to make things extraordinarily tough for Virtus. Virtus Bologna forward Dusan Vukcevic became the hero of this hard-fought battle by sinking the deciding jump shot at the buzzer and giving Virtus a 75-74 (34-30) victory. Petteri Koponen started the game and played 19 minutes, collecting 7 points (fg 2-2 ft 3-3), 3 rebounds and 2 steals, making most of his damage in the opening five minutes.

Here you can see a picture of Petteri schooling some opponents in the Bologna derby.

A week later, Virtus hosted once again one of the weaker teams in Serie A when Eldo Caserta came to town. Caserta has been slowly making progress these last weeks trying to make a late playoff run, and Virtus trailed for 36 minutes before their starting punch finally pulled things together and were able to snatch a 86-81 (46-47) victory. Petteri started the game, but played only five minutes, ending up with one rebound and two turnovers (g 0-1).

Here's a brief statistical recap of these two games:

GMAC Bologna - Virtus Bologna 74-75 (7-13, 30-34, 49-55)
GMAC: Marcelo Huertas 24/3/5as, Lazaros Papadopoulos 17/14, DJ Strawberry 13/5/3as.
Virtus: Dusan Vukcevic 14/1/4as, Earl Boykins 12/1, Sharrod Ford 9/7.

Virtus Bologna - Eldo Caserta 86-81 (20-20, 46-47, 65-68)
Virtus: Earl Boykins 19/3, Sharrod Ford 16/15/3bl, Keith Langford 12/5/4as.
Caserta: Guillermo Diaz 17/6/6as, David Brkic 14/6, Fabio di Bella 11/6/3as.

Italian basketball homepage www.legabasket.it is showing that Serie A game between Solsonica Rieti and Virtus Bologna has been postponed. I'm not sure whether it has something to do between these easter week Italy earthquakes.




-H.T.

Finnagler aka Petteri Koponen UPDATE

Just when you think Finland has cast you aside forever, they come back all smiles like an absentee father. And as much as I was hurting from them leaving, I can't help but let them back into the DeceptivelyQuick family. Especially when its H.T., our Invisible Finnish Hand embedded informant, long feared to be lost forever.

H.T. brings not only news of being alive, but some Petteri Koponen updates as well. I've been curious how Koponen's military service would effect his play, to which H.T. brings some insights (bolded stats are my doing):

Koponen began his military service just two days after the 2007/2008 campaign tipped off. Koponen started the season slowly, battling against fatigue and struggling with turnovers while going through intensive army recruit training. In November, Koponen has performed stronger than everbefore, averaging 19,7 points, 4,2 assists, 4,0 rebounds and 2,3 steals agame while shooting .549 at 2pt, .464 at 3pt and .818 from the charitystripe. He still averages three turnoves a game, but his assist-to-turnover ratio is still among the best in the league. Blazers fans might be pleased to hear that Koponen has improved quite a lot in the defensive end. Maybe that is the reason he went to the Finnish defence forces? Anyway, Koponen's possibilities to crack Trailblazers' rotation in 2008/2009 are looking good at the moment.

Apparently the Blazers have sent their own eyes to see how The Finnagler is doing, and he is doing quite well. H.T. is on it:

Portland Trailblazers' representative Steve Gordon arrived to Finland just a couple of days ago to witness how Blazer point guard prospect Petteri Koponen is progressing. Koponen didn't disappoint, playing full 40 minutes in a 76-60 victory over Joensuun Kataja. Even though Honka Playboys is struggling with injuries (three of their starters and their sixth man are out for more than a month), Koponen managed to general Honka to victory with 27 points (2p 4-6 3p 4-9 Ft 7-7), six rebounds, seven assists and four steals while allowing Kataja's point guard Louis Hinnant only 14 points.Gordon will stay in Finland for a few days and will probably suffer through a salmon overdose.

Excellent news indeed (except for the certain impending salmon overdose of Steve Gordon). To top it all off, H.T. also included another amazing Finnish music video, which is as good a way as any to end this post.

Petteri Koponen touches down in Portland

Was there really a Josh McRoberts headline on this blog for like five days? Terrible what I did to you there.

Luckily I got an email from H.T. letting me know the Finnagler himself will be in Portland Sunday to workout and get ready for summer league. The Finnagler and the Blazers, together again. Petteri should be excited to show off his growth as a player, coming off a Finnish league title and MVP. The Blazers are also excited, hoping he brings some sweet Nokia phones that haven't been released in the States yet.

I'm excited for summer league, but things have the potential to be depressing on the Koponen front. Last summer, he got very little opportunity to play pointguard. Hopefully his development will warrant an honest chance at running the team this time around. Finnaglerphiles should be hoping the Blazers don't draft any pointguards.

Also, the esteemed H.T. interviewed Koponen, which can be found achieving its manifest destiny over at Blazers Edge. If this interview is any indication, H.T. is becoming a major player in the Finnish Underground and with the darker Invisible Finnish Hand. I suggest you all click that link and read the text with your eyeballs.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Travis Best still playing edition

H.T. keeps us informed on the Italian experiences of Blazer's draftee Petteri Koponen...

Virtus Bologna was basically a minute away from Italian Cup title. Unfortunately, in basketball, one minute is half an eternity. There was just enough time in the shot clock for Montepaschi Siena's Henry Domercant to score the winning basket and for Virtus Bologna to turn the ball over once. Montepaschi Siena's dominance of Italian basketball leagues continued with 70-69 Cup final victory.

Less than two months ago, Montepaschi had smacked Bologna in Italian regular season game more than 20 points. This time it wasn't the case. Even though Montepaschi Siena maintained the lead for 38 minutes, they couldn't really pull away during the game. Siena was leading 42-28 briefly in the third quarter, but Bologna just refused to go away.

Petteri Koponen started the Cup final but was benched after just four minutes of play. Petteri looked kind of lost in the court in the opening minutes and didn't get to play before the end of third quarter, when he stepped in for Earl Boykins. Petteri answered with a three-pointer just before the third quarter buzzer and opened the fourth quarter with a defensive rebound and a jumper from the free throw line, drawing roars from the hometown crowd. With five minutes remaining in the game, Petteri was pulled to the bench for good.

Petteri ended up with 5 pts-1 reb-1 as statline in 13 minutes (fg 2/3). Keith Langford had 20 points and 5 steals and Earl Boykins 16 pts-5 reb-5 as for Virtus Bologna. The game MVP was Montepaschi Siena's Shaun Stonerook, who had 10 points, 14 rebounds and 5 steals. Henry Domercant scored 12, Benjamin Eze and Ksistof Lavrinovic 11.

In the semi-final game, Bologna ran away from Banca Tercas Teramo 98-90 with Sharrod Ford having a monster night with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Earl Boykins had 18 points and 10 assists. Petteri Koponen played only 9 minutes in the game, ending up with one missed field goal and one personal foul.

The schedule will leave Virtus Bologna no time to feel sorry for the bitter cup finals loss. Turkish team Galatasaray Cafe Crown will travel to Bologna this Wednesday for the FIBA EuroChallenge Game. This Sunday, Bologna meets Air Avellino in road game. Avellino is lead by US players Travis Best (!), Chris Warren and Drake Diener and experienced Italian power forward Nikola Radulovic.

-H.T.

UPDATE: More Koponen, including season stats, over at BlazersEdge. You know, no one has ever seen the "friendly Finnish Sportswriter" that contributes to BlazersEdge and H.T. at the same time in the same place. Finland, I'm watching you.

Finland Can Groove

Is there a blog out there with more Finnish-related basketball oddness? Why would there be? We bother Tim Kisner for insider updates, and get official reports from embedded agent H.T.

Today is a good day, because H.T. has more documentation of the awesomeness that is pro basketball in Finland:

I can't say that the webpage for Finnish Korisliiga team Porvoon Tarmo is
built really well, but I must say that I love the banner. Three players in
the middle of the banner (Ville-Pertti Lind, Chris Hester, Nick DeWitz)
played in Tarmo last season, but the other three guys... well, let's
say that 1970s rocked. Take a look yourself:



And since we only have ten days left before Xmas, here's an early present
for you in form of another Finnish music video. If you don't like heavy
music, just get your earplugs or turn off the speakers; the video itself is
epic.



H.T.

I think I may have finally found the motivation to make a real banner for this site.

Koponen! Akeem Scott! More from Finland!

Seriously, what kind of NBA blog posts updates from Finland when the playoffs are in full swing here in the States? One that has a sweetpotato as a mascot.

BlueForest chimed in and reduced my fears of The Finnagler being snared in a Joel Freeland-like horrible situation with a Euro team next year. BlueForest (I assume forests are blue in Finland) assured me Koponen has enough support with enough people to avoid the situation of a horrible buy-out clause and limited minutes/development. Whew.

H.T. also sent along a nice recap of the Espoo championship game that featured a surprise injured-Koponen appearance and chants of "Who the fuck is Akeem Scott?!?" He also sent along some nice video documentation. Watch as Akeem Scott breaks out a celebratory Bird, Koponen drops someone with a crossover, and good times are had by all.

Yep,

it was a storybook ending.

Petteri Koponen broke his thumb in Finnish league semifinals. Honka Playboys
coach Mihailo Pavicevic had no other possibilities but to enter Koponen's
substitute PG, Akeem Scott, into starting line-up for the finals.

Akeem struggled with playmaking but showed incredible confidence, turning
two of four final series games into Honka victories with some last minute
heroics. Akeem scored Honka's last seven points in 70-68 game two victory
and scored a grand total of 36 points in deciding game 4, including a
running jumper with three seconds remaining which gave Honka 72-71 lead and a W.

But even Koponen got his share of shine in the finals. When Akeem Scott got
his fourth foul with eight minutes remaining in game 4, coach Pavicevic
entered injured Koponen. Koponen hadn't been able to practice in two weeks
because of the thumb but his presence was needed: Koponen stabilized Honka's
offence and gave Akeem a couple minute breather before the nitro ending.

Honka had a great opportunity to win the championship in game 3, but Kouvot
took a 67-66 lead with Corey Smith's low post basket with four seconds
remaining and Akeem Scott travelled in Honka's last possession. In game 4,
Akeem truly showed what he was made of and more than made up for his game 3
flaw.

Throughout game 4, Kouvot fans harassed Akeem chanting: "Who the f*** is
Akeem Scott, Akeem Scott, Akeem Scott / Who't the f*** is Akeem Scott, he's
a loser", but as you can see, Kouvot fans should've been more careful with
their words..

"Who the f... is Akeem Scott? He's a winner!"


H.T

Petteri Koponen Watch: Presidential Approval Edition

Below is the latest update on Petteri Koponen from the World Famous H.T. The emphasis is my doing and is meant to help our American readers with short attention spans.



A really, REALLY late Petteri Koponen playoff update

Petteri Koponen's first professional season in Europe with Italian Serie A team Virtus Bologna ended after the first round of the playoffs. After celebrating the FIBA EuroChallenge Cup championship in late April, Virtus Bologna lost their last five regular season games and dropped down to #5 spot in the Serie A standings. In the first round, Virtus was able to beat Benetton Treviso twice in their home court, but nothing could give them the much-needed away victory to proceed to the semifinal stage.

What made the first round loss even more painful for Virtus was the fact that because Brandon Jennings' team, Lottomatica Roma, also lost their first-round matchup, Virtus would've received a three-year Euroleague license if they would've gone to semifinals. Next year, Virtus will play in the FIBA EuroCup, the second-highest international club competition in Europe, but being seven points away from the cream of the crop was pretty much painful enough for the club.

Petteri Koponen didn't get much playing time in the playoffs. In four games of action, Koponen played 28 minutes and finished with 7 points. Koponen suffered a very minor ankle injury right before the playoffs tipped off, and coach Matteo Bonicinolli seemed to use that as an excuse to not give him any minutes. After game 3 of the playoffs, team president Claudio Sabatini took and had this to say (according to Italian sports newspaper Gazzette Dello Sport):

"Earl Boykins is the reason we couldn't get the home court advantage for the playoffs. I have no more patience left with him. Koponen is our future, I hope coach Bonicinolli will play him more."

To put it mildly, Bonicinolli and Sabatini thought pretty differently of these two players. Right after the playoff loss, Sabatini fired both Bonicinolli and general manager Andrea Luchi. Out of all rotation players in the team, it seems that only Koponen, Alex Righetti and possibly Keith Langford have a future with Virtus Bologna. After playing majority of his minutes out of his natural position (point guard), it's unclear whether he'll be able to start as PG next year. Pretty much all the transaction rumors I have read are saying that Virtus will acquire an American point guard. Right now it's early to see how things will go, but here's what we know for certain:

-Virtus Bologna will play in Serie A and FIBA EuroCup in 2009/2010
-Petteri Koponen will play with Virtus in 2009/2010 (unless Portland wishes to bring him in or trade him to a team willing to give him a chance)
-Whole Virtus Bologna team will undergo a massive makeover

Finnish national team begins training for Eurobasket Qualifications next week and Petteri is right now in Finland, preparing for the upcoming summer. When asked about 2009 Las Vegas Summer League, Koponen said that "he's not sure yet" whether he'll participate. He hasn't said it out loud, but pretty much everybody is assuming that the Blazers have to make the first move if they want Koponen to run the point in Vegas. If not, he'll be able to concentrate 100% on the qualifications. Finland will play tough games against Italy (Bargnani, Belinelli) and France (Parker, Diaw, Pietrus, Noah etc...) in mid-August. Koponen vs. Tony Parker will be interesting to watch.

P.S. I forgot to say that Brandon Jennings wasn't even included in Lottomatica Roma's playoff roster. Even though Koponen's numbers were mediocre, Jennings' ones weren't that much better - and everybody knows Jennings will be a lottery pick. (Just to put things in perspective..)


-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: I'll never eat pasta again, Italy wins edition

You know how this works. H.T. with the latest:

Tuesday's Eurobasket Qualification game between Italy and Finland was a do-or-die type of game for both teams, since loser of the game would practically be eliminated from the competition.

Finland struggled from early on, missing their first nine 3pt attempts and basically letting Italian big guys Angelo Gigli and Andrea Bargnani walk to the paint for open dunks. Italy was leading 4-15 before Finland began to maintain their defensive form.

Even though Finland came within two points in a couple of occasions, Italy extended their lead back to 9-12 points with Marco Belinelli shooting with high percentage early on, Andrea Bargnani schooling Finnish post defenders with old school spin moves and experienced players Giuseppe Poeta, Marco Mordente and Valerio Amoroso sinking their 3pt shots.

Six minutes before the end of the game Italy took a 60-73-lead behind Andrea Bargnani's three-pointer. Finland refused to go away, though. Petteri Koponen responded with a 3pt shot of his own and just a moment later, Italian point guard Matteo Soragna got heated in the midst of Finnish defense and was given a technical foul. Teemu Rannikko sank both of his free throws and after Finland regained the ball possession, Koponen opened Kimmo Muurinen for a dunk and one, narrowing Italian lead to 68-73 with five minutes to go.

After Belinelli's heavily contested jumper, both teams missed their a couple of next shots, but Hanno Möttölä ended the drought, sinking a jumper and bringing Finland back to competition. In the other end, Belinelli had an offensive foul and Shawn Huff netted a trey to bring Finland within two, 73-75. Italy's Luca Vitali missed a three-pointer in Italy's next possession and Petteri Koponen drove from coast to coast, drew a foul from Andrea Bargnani (fouled out) and tied the game with two free throws, 75-75, with 1:42 remaining.

Marco Belinelli hit another contested jumper to put Italy up by two, 75-77, with 1:24 to go. Finland had the chance to try three relatively open three point shots in the last minute, but Petteri Koponen missed once and Teemu Rannikko twice in the end. Marco Mordente caught the decisive rebound and Italy got to head to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport with a victory.

For Petteri Koponen, the night was clearly not one of his best. Petteri opened the game with two quick fouls, two missed shots and three turnovers in the first four minutes and couldn't get the offense going. Finland got back on track with Teemu Rannikko playing PG and Petteri sitting on the bench, but in the fourth quarter, Petteri played some inspired basketball, slowing down hot-shooting Belinelli and responding with five quick points, two assists and two steals in final six minutes. He took the loss and 7-point, 6-turnover night very heavily and was clearly upset when talking to the media after the game.

Hanno Möttölä scored 16 points for Finland in a steady performance while Teemu Rannikko had 11 points and 6 assists and Shawn Huff scored 12. Top scorer of the game was Marco Belinelli with 23 (fg 10/18). Andrea Bargnani finished with 21 and 8 despite playing only 24 minutes.

Italy and France meet each other in Pau, France this Friday in a must-win game for the Italians. Finland hosts France in Vantaa next Monday.

Highlights (from the coaches game tape) here

Finland - Italy 75-77 (10-17, 34-38, 55-63)

Finland: Hanno Möttölä 16/4, Shawn Huff 12/3, Teemu Rannikko 11/3/6 assists, Tuukka Kotti 9/4, Gerald Lee 8/3, Petteri Koponen 7/3/3 assists, Antti Nikkilä 6/2, Kimmo Muurinen 3/1, Petri Virtanen 3/0, Mikko Koivisto 0/1, Samuel Haanpää 0/0, Vesa Mäkäläinen.

Italy: Marco Belinelli 23/2, Andrea Bargnani 21/8, Angelo Gigli 10/6, Matteo Soragna 8/0, Marco Mordente 6/3, Giuseppe Poeta 5/1, Valerio Amoroso 3/2, Marco Cusin 1/3, Luca Vitali 0/3/5 assists, Jacopo Giachetti 0/3, Luigi da Tome 0/0.


-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Boykins free addition

H.T. providing us with the latest on the Italian adventures of Finnish Superstar and Blazers draftee Petteri Koponen...

Virtus Bologna seem to have recovered from that 26 point blowout at Montepaschi Siena faster than expected. FIBA EuroChallenge Cup action tipped off after Christmas break again this Tuesday at FuturShow Station in Bologna, when Estonian team Tartu Rock came to town trying to avenge their 73-75 loss against Bologna a month earlier.

Even though Virtus' leading scorer Earl Boykins didn't play because of FIBA sanctions, Virtus had no difficulties taking the 95-85 (53-46) victory and improving to 5-0, clinching the top spot in their group. Six players scored double figures for Bologna, lead by Keith Langford (25pts) and Ntousan Tsalikis-Vouktsevits (14p). Shooting guard Gert Kullamäe lead Tarto with 27 points.

I'm also glad to announce that Petteri Koponen maintained to double his total point saldo in EuroChallenge Cup against Tarto. In 27 minutes, Petteri scored 13 points (FG 4-9 FT 3-3) to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 personal fouls. In four games of EuroChallenge Cup action, Koponen is averaging 5,2 points, 1,2 rebounds and 0,8 assists in 16,4 minutes a game.

Virtus play their last EuroChallenge Cup regular season game Tuesday 13th of January on the road against Russian team CSK-VVS Samara (lead by Marque Perry). After the regular season is over, two best teams of each group proceed to 16-team advance round.


-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Nothing to add edition

Where would we be without H.T.? In the dark on the progression of one Petteri Koponen. Here is the latest...

Right now it seems that Virtus Bologna has overcome the post-Christmas difficulties and once again transformed into a true basketball team. Last Saturday, Bologna stole its second consecutive Serie A victory, defeating Snaidero Udine 93-86 (39-36) in an away game.

Even though Snaidero Udine is dead last in Serie A, the team has a lot of potential. Ex-Boston Celtic Joseph Forte (23/3/4as) and Rashad Anderson (22/1) had a permission to shoot whenever they caught the ball and Udine made sure that Bologna didn't run away from them. The second half belonged to Earl Boykins (32/3/5as/4st), who put on an amazing show and sparked Virtus offence in a spectacular fashion. Sharrod Ford had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Bologna.

Against Udine, Petteri Koponen scored seven points, took two rebounds and stole the ball twice in 23 minutes. As usually, Petteri started the game as Virtus' point guard and he scored six of his points in the first five minutes of the game. In second half, Koponen primarily guarded Forte, who netted 8/18 of his field goal attempts.

This Wednesday, Virtus snatched an impressive victory over undefeated BC Kyiv in their FIBA EuroChallenge Cup additional round game. Bologna's defence in the first quarter was spectacular and after ten minutes, Bologna was leading the game 18-10. In third quarter it seemed that Kyiv would be able to frustrate Virtus with some spectacular defence of their own, but in the beginning of 4th, Earl Boykins and Keith Langford sparked Virtus to 60-52 lead.

Virtus won the game 68-64 (34-30) behind stabile performances by Langford (19/5), Boykins (15/4/6as/4st) and Reyshawn Terry (14/9). Brindley Wright and Kenan Bajmarovic had 13 points apiece for Kyiv. It's also worth noticing that Kyiv netted only 10 out of their 22 free throw attempts, practically giving away the victory.

Petteri Koponen struggled early on against Kyiv. He started the game, but played only 14 minutes, missing his only field goal attempt, turning the ball over once and having two personal fouls.

Virtus Bologna will play their next Serie A game this Saturday at home against Scavolini Pesaro, currently 10th in the League. Pesaro's prime weapons are US-Italian veteran guard Carlton Myers, point guard Ramel Curry and Panaman small forward Michael Hicks.


-The Sweet H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Christmas is a time for giving

The venerable H.T. gives word that things may be looking up for Koponen after a rough stretch of games. Petteri certainly deserves to have some things go his way, hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

Bologna had a rather easy outing this Christmas Day at home against league newcomer Carife Ferrara.

Team's top scorer and starting point guard Earl Boykins only played 17 minutes when Virtus Bologna cruised to a 78-63 (41-35) victory. Petteri Koponen was inserted back into the starting line-up and he played a total of 33 minutes (team high) in the victory. Petteri delivered a steady-but-not-fancy stat line of 7 pts (FG 2/3 FT 3/4), 2 rebs, 2 assists and 2 steals. Petteri's +/- stat also shows that while he was on the court, Virtus took the game by 19 points. The clearly negative side for young pg was that he recorded a total of four turnovers, which doubles his Italian Serie A record so far.

Sharrod Ford lead Virtus Bologna with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Roberto Chiacig had 14, 10, four steals and three blocks. For Carife Ferrara, the Infamous Ndudi Ebi scored 11, Harold Jamison had 7 and Rick Apodaca finished with 8.

Virtus Bologna is now second in Serie A with an 8-4 record. They'll play an away game against yet undefeated Montepaschi Siena January 4th. Siena's roster is filled with some names that are familiars for those living in the States as well: Terrell McIntyre, Romain Sato, Kristof Lavrinovic and Rimaitas Kaukenas could ring a bell. In Euroleague, Siena is sporting a 6-2 record.


H.T.

Akeem The (Other) Dream

I'm still dedicated to this not contributing thing, luckily some extended DeceptivelyQuick family have been emailing me things to post and keep this blog relatively fresh. Here's another piece from Senior Invisible Finnish Hand Consultant H.T. This one offers more evidence that they are better at naming basketball teams in Finalnd, but is really about Akeem The Dream. Not that one. Akeem Scott, Finnish Sensation.

Harlem-born combo guard Akeem Scott wasn't exactly a household name when he played with High Point Panthers in NCAA. In his senior with High Point(2005/2006), he netted 14,1 points a game to go with averages of 3,7 rebounds, 2,2 assists and 2,2 steals a game. The next season Scott signed a try out contract with Korihait a Finnish league team. Scott played two full months with Korihait, becoming an instant fan favorite with his showmanship, streetball attitude and oncourt sense of humor.

In December 2006, Scott was released because the team was dwelling in the cellar and the coach wanted to have a true point guard. Scott's replacement, Swedish-American PG William Copeland wasn't the best possible alternative (of course I can't judge Copeland after just one single performance, but he shot three airballs and turned the ball over seven times against Honka Playboys), but Korihait managed to stay in the league. The home crowd missed Scott throughout the season and even though he didn't really fit the team, some Korihait fans wanted him back for 2007/2008.

Half a year later, Akeem returned to Finland, this time with Pussihukat, which has unorthodoxically been translated to "Pussywolves" (awesome. -Ed.) by the American players of the team (the correct translation is "Thylacines", but "Pussihukat" literally means "Wolves with bags"). Pussihukat plays in Division 1, the second-highest league in Finland, which is best described as heaven for loose cannons. The level of the game is notably lower than League level and usually American players, who are more athletic and stronger than their Finnish opponents, dominate the league.Pussihukat currently holds the fourth position in Div 1, while Scott has been filling the stat sheets with 28,9 points, 3,8 rebounds, 3,7 steals
and 2,3 assists a game. Even though no American player ever dreams of
lighting up the Finnish 1st Division while growing up, Scott is once again a fan
favorite and it seems that he enjoys life in the suburbs of Myyrmäki. The next Youtube clips give a great example of glorious times that can ONLY be experienced in the Cordoba of basketball, Finland:






Big up, Akeem. We love you!

The artist currently known as H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Designer Jeans edition

Finnish consultant H.T. continues to improve the common good of Blazer fans by providing us with another update on Petteri Koponen's Italian journey with Virtus Bologna...

After a couple of underachieving performances, Virtus Bologna got right back on track defeating Armani Jeans Milano 70-60 (36-23) in Serie A regular season play. Determined Bologna defence absolutely smothered Milano and it could be said that the game was already over after the first half.

When you look at Petteri Koponen's stat line in the Milano game – 14 minutes, 2 points, 2 assists – you might not be impressed, but Italian newspapers picked Koponen as the best player of his team in the game. Koponen was all over Milano's leading scorer David Hawkins, who shot dreadful 5-14 from the field and was terribly out of rhythm in the first half. Coach Matteo Bonicinolli kept Koponen on the bench for the whole second half while Bologna cruised to victory.

Sharrod Ford had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals for Bologna and Earl Boykins finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Milano's best player was Lithuanian Mindaugas Katelynas with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Virtus Bologna is currently fourth in Serie A with a 10-7 record.

This Tuesday, Bologna played yet another FIBA EuroChallenge Cup game, this time against German Bundesleague leading EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Bologna dominated the game early on but couldn't pull away because of poor rebounding – Oldenburg stayed in the game mostly because of second chance shots. In the final two minutes, Oldenburg grabbed five offensive rebounds and finally won the game 81-82 with Je'Kel Foster's last second three pointer. Bologna also shot terribly from the free throw line, netting only 13 of their 22 attempts.

Petteri Koponen played 29 minutes and finished with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Petteri's wrist was rusty this time, he only drained one out of his five three point shots. Keith Langford had 20 and 5 for Bologna, Sharrod Ford finished with 18, 7 and 5 blocks and Earl Boykins scored 13 and dished out 8 assists. Oldenburg was lead by Jasmin Perkovic (19/8), Je'Kel Foster (18/4 assists), Rickey Paulding (16/5) and Ruben Boumtje Boumtje (13/12, field goals 6/6).

Virtus Bologna plays its next Serie A game on the road against the bottom team of the league, Snaidero Udine. Udine has recently acquired former Boston Celtic Joseph Forte into their roster. Udine also has two other former NBA players in the roster, ex-Houston Rocket Oscar Torres and NBA journeyman Jermaine ”Motown” Jackson.

In FIBA EuroChallenge Cup, Virtus Bologna will fly to Ukraine to play against the yet unbeaten BC Kyiv next Wednesday. Kyiv's key players include Clay Tucker, Scoonie Penn and Manuchar Markoishvili.


-The Lovable H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Don't Watch Edition

Thanks to Finnish Superstar H.T. we have been able to keep up on Petteri Koponen's Italian experiences. There have been highs and lows for the second youngest player in Lega Serie A. The roller coaster continues...

Two weeks have passed by and things aren't looking too good for Petteri Koponen and his Italian Serie A team Virtus Bologna. A week ago, Benetton Treviso made mincemeat of their Bolognese rivals, jumping to a quick 23-11 start after first quarter and maintaining the lead until end numbers of 81-65.

Petteri Koponen played the second-highest minute amount of his team (31), but registered only 4 points (fg 1/2) to go with 2 steals and 4 turnovers. Keith Langford had 17 points and 7 rebounds, but the rest of Virtus was somewhere between mediocre and miserable, with Earl Boykins scoring 5 points (fg 1/6) and turning the ball over six times. Team shot only 26,7 % from behind the arc and 48,1 % from the free throw line while turning the ball over 21 times and losing the rebounding battle 42-33. In Petteri Koponen's defence, it has to be said that during his time on the court, Bologna only lost by five points. Gary Neal lead Treviso with 21/7 and Bobby Dixon responded with 18 points, 5 assists and 6 steals.

Last night was even worse for Bologna. Angelico Biella, one of the below average teams in Serie A, steamrolled in the second quarter and never gave up the lead, defeating Bologna in their home court 93-84 (53-41). Petteri came off the bench and played only eight minutes, finishing with 3 points (fg 1/3), one rebound and one turnover and not playing a single minute in the whole second half. Boykins was back to his normal form, scoring 18 (fg 7/11) and Guilherme Giovannoni tuned in for 16, but something is definitely going wrong for Virtus Bologna at the moment. They have dropped down to 6th spot of Serie A with nine wins in 16 games.

Reece Gaines lead Biella with 17 points. Swedish national team forward Jonas Jerebko had 16 points and 10 rebounds and James Gist finished with 16 points as well.

This Sunday, Bologna tries to snap the losing streak at home against league-eighth Armani Jeans Milano and their elite players Pape Sow, David Hawkins and newest acquisition Hollis Price.

And after a two week break, Bologna heads back to FIBA EuroChallenge Cup. The team travels to Turkey's Galatasaray to play the opening game of qualification to Elite Eight this Tuesday. Galatasaray sports a very intriguing roster, with American guards Rashid Atkins and Antonio Graves carrying most of the scoring load alongside Serbian power forward Milan Gurovic, who was voted the MVP of Polish finals last year. Another player worth mentioning is Turkish 7-1" behemoth Hüseyin Besok.


-The Notorious H.T.

Koponen, Finnagler in Arms

News is that Petteri Koponen will begin his required six month service with the Finnish Defence Forces soon, where we hope he upholds proud Finnish tradition and masters the black art of Ski Warfare.

He will return to run point for the Honka Playboys (who have a picture of Albert Einstein on their homepage, naturally) this season, so season ticket holders need not be concerned. According to DeceptivelyQuick/Invisible Finnish Hand dual-operative "H.T.", he is likely to complete service next April at the rank of Lance Corporal. Of course, once they get a taste of his one handed no look passes, I estimate he will be elevated to at least Brigadier General.

Also from H.T., a Finnish music video that apparently takes place in a space station, I guess. I'm cautious in posting this, as I imagine it is some sort of tool used by Invisible Finnish Hand Operatives to communicate with each other in the field. But the dance at the beginning sort of reminds of Crank dat Soulja Boy:

Petteri Koponen Watch: Don't pay attention to this post

My best Finnish friend in the world, H.T., has decided to bless us with another Petteri Koponen update:

Saturday night: Start, 16min, 2pts (FG 1-3), 5 rebounds. Petteri didn't see more than three minutes of action in the second half. Virtus lost to Eldo Caserta 78-68 (35-38), their first loss under new head coach Matteo Bonicinolli.

Virtus turned the ball over smashing 29 times. Earl Boykins had 10 turnovers, Sharrod Ford had six and Keith Langford five. Petteri had no turnovers.

Virtus is in the second place of Italian Serie A with seven wins in ten games.

-H.T.

That sounds sort of depressing. The good news is that it seems that the wheels came off when Koponen was riding the bench. Take that, Coach.

This game could be a good indicator of how tenuous a grip Petteri really has on the starting role and decent minutes. Although it seems not to be his fault, this is a League notoriously unforgiving of young talent. Will one loss mean it is back to the bench with our fair Finnagler? It is worth reminding Coach Bonicinolli that the team is still 2-1 with Koponen starting, and 2-0 when he starts and gets over sixteen minutes of burn. Here's hoping that Petteri avoids becoming the scapegoat and continues happily along the path to Portland Trailblazerdom.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Not really. Well sorta. A break from trade rumors, anyways. Edition

I would like to share with you the latest from our Finnish Insider, H.T. Rumor is he sent me this e-mail right before taking the stage to perform a cover of "Dangerous" at the Michael Jackson tribute. While Petteri Koponen isn't mentioned specifically, I think it is safe to say we know what he is up to: watching IHMEBANTU!

Cheers,

since nothing new is happening in basketball frontier, here's some more Finnish TV awesomeness for you. The following is a clip from amazingly popular reality TV series, kind of Finnish version of "Cheaters":



-H.T.

Petteri Koponen watch: Another start, another win

It was a huge deal around these parts earlier in the week when H.T. informed us that Petteri Koponen had started a game, and gotten 24 minutes of playing time, for his Italian club. If you still don't understand why this is a big deal, read this.

We were cautiously optimistic that Petteri's play would earn him another start and another wad of minutes, but you never know with those crazy Euros. So we were even more excited when H.T. dropped us another update this morning:

Petteri last night:

Start, 24 minutes, 9 points (FG 3-7), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 turnovers in
75-69 victory over Russian team Samara in FIBA EuroChallenge Cup.

Yes! The Finnagler is indeed starting in the back court with the World's richest midget little person Earl Boykins. If the wins keep coming you have to believe Koponen's respectable burn will continue. Good news for everyone.

A Nation in Mourning: Akeem Scott a Playboy no longer

Fresh from H.T., undeniable star of the blog Akeem Scott has left the Honka Playboys. (No crying!) Akeem is one of the most entertaining athletes on the planet and we will continue to follow his exploits in the future.

The Akeem Scott Era in Espoo is now officially over.

Honka Playboys entered the Finnish Korisliiga playoffs as no. 1 championship contenders after mid-season trades which brought in experienced role player Elias Kajander, Finnish national team power forward Tuukka Kotti and Denmark national team's starting point guard Chanan Colman. Honka had indeed the best individual players in the league, but after only three semifinal games, they found themselves swept against hustle-and-grind team Namika Lahti (lead by former German Bundesleague slam dunk champion Ray Nixon and NCAA 2001/2002 scoring champion Jason Conley).

After losing the semi-final series 0-3, Honka had an opportunity to grab the bronze medals at home, but long and tall Tampereen Pyrintö, which featured an impressive starting five of 7-0", 6-10", 6-8", 6-5" and 6-5" tall players, defeated Honka 74-83. It's sure going to be a rebuilding year for those Honka Playboys.

You can't blame Akeem Scott, though. Scott never became that true point guard he wanted to be, but he had the fighting spirit, the intangibles and the will to make his team better. In regular season, Scott averaged 17 points, 4,1 rebounds, 2,2 assists, 2,5 steals and 2,3 turnovers a game with percentages of 58,3% (2pt), 30,0% (3pt) and 72,0% (Ft).

In playoffs, Akeem the Dream registered 16 points, 4,3 rebounds, 1,9 assists, 1,9 steals and 2,4 turnovers a game, with percentages of 48,5% (2pt), 46,5% (3pt) and 74,1% (Ft). Despite finishing only fourth in Finnish Korisliiga play, Scott will be remembered as a willing player whose pure hustle brought Honka Playboys their second consecutive championship while Petteri Koponen was sidelined with an injury.

Thank you for all the memories, Akeem!


-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Update from Finland

I asked, and Finnish Hoops Correspondent H.T. responded. Here, we have an update on The Finnagler and his Honka Playboys:

The last three weeks have been kind of slow for him, because Honka Playboys have been recovering from dreadful injury situation and it takes time before the engine gets running. American forward Matthew Williams (6-7", 1977, Montana State) returned to Honka after spending the first half of the season in Switzerland, Tim Kisner just played his first game in nearly two months after suffering a back injury and starters Jukka Matinen and Monte Cummings have only played a couple of games after injuries. Honka was able to beat league underachiever KTP Basket 94-87 after 25 minutes of struggle and 15 minutes of good team basketball. Petteri netted 21 points (FG 6/8 FT 7/8) and delivered three assists, but turned the ball over five times. Anyway, don't be alarmed; when the meaningful games begin in March and April, he'll be ready, steady and truly motivated
for his (last?) stint in the Finnish league.

More from H.T. on the horizon.