IN THE GAME

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Key attributes

• pesky on the ball defender
• possesses excellent quickness, does a very good job pushing the ball in transition and thus creating early scoring opportunities
• good slasher and enjoys a solid pull up jumper from midrange
• three point shot is inconsistent
• pushes the ball well up the court in transition
• not a creative passer, but does a solid job leading the floor

(last update: 27 Nov 2008)
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11 Nov 2008; Full article
Key player: Earl Calloway
Averaging 19PPG in the NBA development league is not necessary an indication the respective player will do well in Europe. However, Earl Calloway’s game has easily translated to European basketball and the US-point guard is quite an important piece on the 08/09 Cibona roster already. Starting at the one spot, he was outstanding in a brilliant team effort on Thursday, finishing with 17 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. While Nikola Prkacin was excellent again and Rawle Marshall both made good plays and bad plays, it was the 25-year-old Calloway who fuelled an outstanding defensive team effort by the home team by playing pesky on-the-ball-defense on the opponent’s main ballhandler, which led not only to a couple of direct steals, but also to a lot of stuttering in the guest’s offensive motor. While the experienced Theodoros Papaloukas managed to stay calm and routinely set up his team’s offense, Calloway managed to get into the head of young Milos Teodosic, one of the big point guard prospects in European basketball, who had problems setting up the offense and made several bad plays as the game went on. On offense, Calloway started the game looking for his teammates, first finding Prkacin inside for the easy two, then hitting Vedran Vukusic for the open three pointer. He managed to get to the line on two fastbreak plays before taking over the game in the third quarter by first finding again Vukusic on the fastbreak, second making a difficult fadeaway over Georgios Printezis, third making a long distance three point shot, the first and so far only of his still young Euroleague career – both with the clock winding down – , fourth slashing into the lane for the pull, and fifth deflecting a Teodosic entry pass into the air, securing the loose ball and taking it to the basket before getting fouled on the shot. Among that, he continued drawing fouls before icing the game on decisive free throws in the game’s closing stages. Calloway shows great promise in thinking team-first, playing excellent defense and letting the shots come to him on the offensive end of the floor. Definitely not your average US-import, but rather a player with an unorthodox playing style, who brings things to the table many European teams are looking for.

Below: Earl Calloway vs. Olympiacos on Youtube

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7 Nov 2008; Full article
Cibona had a nice team effort: Earl Calloway gave a solid display a the point, not forcing the issue too much and rather trying to get the ball into the right spots instead. Calloway is a decent scorer and it speaks for the player that he quickly understood scoring was not what the team needed from him on that day.