Selected by Milwaukee with the 36th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Ersan Ilyasova (pronounced air-san ee-lee-a-SO-va) didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he entered the League. After spending the entire 2005-06 season with the Tulsa 66ers in the D-League, he appeared in 66 games (14 starts) with Milwaukee the following season, but played under 15 minutes a night. Opting to head back overseas, Ilyasova spent the next two seasons playing for FC Barcelona before giving the NBA another shot. Read More »

Derek Fisher was the fill-in host on Jim Rome’s ESPN talk show yesterday. (This is why guys want to play in places like L.A. and New York. Sure, the network could’ve flown in a personality like Mo Williams or Aaron Brooks, but Fisher is right down the street.) Among the studio guests for 1-on-1 interviews with Fish were Brandon Jennings and Kobe Bryant. While Jennings used the spot as ad space for his new Under Armour kicks, Kobe talked about championships and legacies … Kind of funny to see Fisher all suited and booted while Kobe was rocking shorts and a track jacket. Read More »

After an up-and-down couple of weeks that saw them perform up to their potential and down to some lesser competition, Team Spain is right where they’re supposed to be at the FIBA European Championships: playing for the gold medal. In yesterday’s semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 18 points and Rudy Fernandez added 14 and three steals to lead Spain in a blowout win over Greece, while Ricky Rubio continued his underwhelming (at least stats-wise) tourney with a 5-point, 3-assist effort. Spain will face Serbia in the final, the team that upset them on the first day of the tournament. In Serbia’s semifinal, Milos Teodosic dropped 32 points (6 threes), and Nenad Krstic had 18 points to lead them past Slovenia … Read More »

Real life hit the NBA once again yesterday, when reports surfaced that a number of Miami Heat employees — most notably Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra — accepted pay cuts up to 20% in an effort to prevent further layoffs in the organization. It’s been public knowledge for years that some NBA teams are in financial trouble (Grizzlies, Bobcats, etc.), but Miami usually wasn’t in that group. It’s not like Riley or Spoelstra is starving or anything, but it’s got to be scary for a lot of people around the League. And of course, it kicks off an easy round of “Why can’t Underachieving Player X take a pay cut?” Read More »

So much for Ricky Rubio. Word out of Wisconsin is that Ramon Sessions could be on the verge of receiving an offer sheet from the Timberwolves, which in all likelihood would end his time in restricted free agency limbo this summer. While T-Wolves fans should rejoice, I can’t say that Jonny Flynn is happy to hear this. Read More »

Thank Oscar that the program directors at NBA TV decided to start showing some of the best games from the ’08-09 season in neat little one-hour increments this week, otherwise the general inactivity these days would draw a basketball fan stir crazy … The NBA free agent landscape is like combing through the used CD rack at a store that’s already been raided by the broke college students: There’s still some interesting, slightly attractive product, but nothing too great. Case in point: The most intense “bidding war” lately has been over C.J. Watson — a second or third-string PG on most teams — and that just ended since the Magic pulled out of negotiations and it’s looking like C.J. is headed back to the Warriors … Meanwhile, David Lee is the biggest name left on the board that anybody seems to want (sorry, A.I.). Read More »