IS David Barlow heading to Spain?
It is amazing what you can dig up on the internet these days. As I was deciding on what to blog about today I just happened to stumble upon this rather interesting piece of news.
If I'm reading this right and getting the gist of the Spanish language, it seems the Melbourne Tiger guard David Barlow could be heading to CAI Zaragoza in the Spanish ACB League.
What I have done for the beauty of the English reader is provide a link to the Spanish article while providing a loose translation into English. I think you can get the picture of this story from the translation.
"Queremos cerrar a Barlow cuanto antes" is the title of the Spanish article which comes courtesy of diarioequipo.com.
Here is the article translated into English thanks to Google.
"We want to close sooner Barlow " Negotiations between the club and David Barlow Aragonese are becoming closer to closure
CAI Zaragoza has almost tied to David Barlow, but has to wait for the final confirmation, because "nothing is signed," explained sports director fell, Willy Villar, who was cautious about the details of the negotiation.
Villar recognized that "there is much interest in this player, we are on it and we will try to close as soon as possible", so in the coming days we could have confirmation of a new addition to the template club pink. The fall sports director warned that "it is a matter of formality" failure to ensure that the CAI Barlow played in the upcoming season, and that until everything is still closed "you can undo what we have come so far."
David Barlow, 25, is a wing of 2.05 meters very versatile, plus their English passport would leave the door open to players who occupy the seats outside. The player has a great curriculum in the Australian NBL, where he has three titles and good statistics. In the last season with the jersey of the Melbourne Tigers managed to half of 15.7 points, 5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, showing a good hand from the three point line, with a hit of 39%.
Barlow is one of the major players in the Australian selection, providing minutes of quality peer level Andrew Bogut and David Andersen. He moves well for jobs with good movements and external good hand, as well as take your height and strength to help near the rim. If it closes its recruitment is one of the key objective for the promotion."
As this has only been fresh on the net for an hour and I have heard nothing off it beforehand, I endeavour to chase the validity of this story up.
I guess the beauty of this for the Tigers is they have an import spot up their sleeve or maybe a spot for a Aussie veteran.
Fox will be back on board, just not in the capacity we are used to.
Before I get onto a recap of the Australian Boomers and Team USA game, NBL fans will be happy to know that Fox Sports will once again be on board.
Although we the fans are used to watching two and sometimes three live games a week, my mail is telling me it is being reduced to one live game per week.
"Big Wednesday" is out the door so the NBL and Fox met today (Tuesday) to discuss what day would work for both parties. By my calculations, that means Friday or Saturday becomes the only night we will view the NBL on the tube.
Now to the Boomers game.
What a great showing they put forth against Team USA. The final score, 87-76, doesn't really reflect how the Andrew Bogutless (ankle injury) Aussies hung around in this game for quite some time.
From the jump ball the Boomers made sure the Americans knew they were in for a ball game.
CJ Bruton got the scoring underway for the Aussies with a trademark three and things just flowed from there. Brad Newley scored an early five points, so the fast start allowed the green and gold to gain in confidence and continue to play well.
Sure there where some loose turnovers that led to some easy transition points for the USA team, but the Aussies were showing good patience's on offense.
Boomers coach Brian Goorijan had his troops primed on defense as well. First they took away fast break points, then in the half court they really packed it in to alleviate as much penetration as possible. A real strength of the USA team.
The half time score of 44-29 shows that the Boomers offense was sluggish but at the beginning of the third quarter, I liked what I saw.
David Barlow was getting and making wide open shots, while Newley was giving the Americans trouble with his ability to penetrate at the basket. This is the strength of both these guys and I feel they need to be achieving this for the Boomers to win.
The Boomers cannot just rely on CJ and the interior guys to get it done. Newley and Barlow need to be consistently involved to give the team some balance from the outside.
Turnovers and free throws is what hurt the Boomers. The Americans are still the best getting around in regards to offensive transition, so they make you pay when you are loose with the ball. 18 turnovers is a little high in a game like this, and many of these were converted into easy buckets at the other end.
Going 10-17 from the charity stripe hurt as well. With easy points on offer here the Boomers needed to convert at a higher percentage to take full advantage of the opportunities presented.
All in all though I was impressed with how the Boomers faired in the game. Trademark Goorijan defense was there while the offense seems to be finding its feet.
If they can continue to play at this intensity level for all games I cannot see why they cannot advance into the second week of Olympic play.
Team USA 87 (D Wade 22, L James 16, K Bryant 13, C Anthony 12 and 10) defeated Australia 76 (C Anstey 13, P Mills 13, D Barlow 12, CJ Bruton 11, B Newley 11)
NEWS
USA blogger Ben Breiner rips his team, calls Aussie team SPUNKY!
5 reasons why Australia pushed the USA.
Complete 2008/09 NBL season draw.
Nathan Jawai learning NBA ropes.
Some footage from the Boomers vs Team USA game - comments from some guy who's struggling.
Boomers need David Barlow's shooting, not his so called versatility.
David Barlow is the next player I will breakdown as we are only days away from the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
I believe this tournament will be a defining moment in David Barlow's international basketball career.
Dave has shown that he has become a player at the NBL level, but can he take his game to the international stage and be consistent? I think he has been unfairly tagged as Australia's next great versatile player but his outside shooting will be greatly needed in Beijing.
Sorry, but Dave is not in the same league as a Sam MacKinnon when it comes to versatility in his game.
Barlow's strength is his perimeter shooting and there is no doubt he is the best long range sniper on the team. He is near perfect with his feet set so get this guy the ball when he is open.
Barlow can handle the ball well but I would still question what happens once pressure is applied. I know we all remember the World Championships in 2006 against Greece.
He is a good athlete with length, but I can never recall him climbing above the pack and claiming that key rebound for his team. Something that MacKinnon has made a living from.
It may seem like I'm hating on Barlow but I do like his game and his attitude. I saw this first hand in Sydney but I feel their is too much expected of him.
When you have a perfect shooting game (Barlow had one during the past NBL season.) people get caught up in the hype and start seeing things that aren't really there.
Barlow needs to concentrate on being the best shooter on this squad as it will be paramount to the team's success.
He could take a leaf out of Jason Smith's book. Smith mastered a few skills that stood by him well throughout his career.
At the international level, being a master of something serves you better than being ok at everything.
The Beijing Games will be David Barlow's moment of truth on the international stage.
NEWS
Boomers getting ready to face "Redeem Team". ESPN Live 10pm est - Tuesday
Matt McQuade of nbl.com.au gives us his Olympic thoughts.
Should we read into J-Kidd getting benched against Russia?
Carlos Arroyo leaves NBA for Europe.
Opals crush Mali 112-43. (boxscore) Boxscore from day before against China.
Mavs Josh Howard caught drag racing.
Nellie defeats Cuban for $6.3 million.
Luol Deng to stay with the Chicago Bulls.
Ex Croc Vanderjagt signs with Blaze.
36ers preseason schedule.
Cairns release preseason schedule.
Bendigo Braves defeat NW Tassie in SEABL.
New Perth assistant coach Mark "Rat" Radford has parting shot.
Cairns Marlins too much for Power.
Thanks to NBLBBALL, here is a NBL classic. ENJOY!
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