Day 1 results:

NZL vs CPV 77-50
KOR vs SLO 76-88
CRO vs CMR 93-79
GRE vs LIB 119-62

Good to see NZ notch up a win against lowly Cape Verde. Slovenia accounted for Korea, Croatia beat Cameroon, whilst Greece annihilated Lebanon.

Today's fixture:

SLO vs CAN 13:00
CPV vs GER 15:30
CMR vs PUR 19:30
LIB vs BRA 22:00

Big game between Solvenia and Canada. The winner is likely to top their group. Germany to thrash Cape Verde, Puerto Rico to easily beat Cameroon, with Brazil doing the same to Lebanon.

I think Kirk Penney should be in the NBA. I am dead-set serious. The guy is a machine.
IMHO, he is better than Brad Newley- The guy scored 25 last night. When they played Canada he had 25 and scored 26 or so against Slovenia.
Very consistent.
Should defitnetly be in the NBA.

NPBHS
so to summarize, Kirk Penney should be in the NBA, he is better than Brad Newley (who isnt in the NBA), and lastly, he should definitely be in the NBA.

Now if you had just said ............"Wheel Of Fortune. Look at the studio filled with glamorous merchandise. Fabulous and exciting bonus prizes. Thousands of dollars in cash. Over $150,000 just waiting to be won as we present our big bonanza of cash on Wheel Of Fortune. "

.....I would have understood your point far quicker.

Watching the breakers over the last couple of seasons, and watching Kirk Penney play, i struggle to see how he made it.

He is a fantastic spot-up shooter (similar role to that of Kerr), but aside from that, he's not tall, nor quick.

I don't believe Penney is NBA material, but then again, i don't think Newley is just yet either.

SLO vs CAN 86-70
CPV vs GER 68-104
CMR vs PUR 72-81
LIB vs BRA 54-94

Slovenia easily beat Canada overnight, and probably put the nail in the coffin for the Maple Leaves.

The next games are:

CAN vs KOR 13:00
PUR vs CRO 15:30
GER vs NZL 19:30
BRA vs GRE 22:00

Canada shuld beat Korea, Puerto Rico and Croatia should be a good game - to hard to pick a winner. Germany to thrash New Zealand, and Greece to account for Brazil.

I can understand people thinking that he isn't fast enough to make the NBA(CAMEL 37).
But if he was in the NBA, He wouldn't be in the team to take the ball to the hoop. He would be in the team to shoot the ball when he is open. Let's face it-He has a very quick release and can freakin' shoot the lights out.
I'm saying he could be in the NBA to be a shooter, not to take it to the hoop.
Look at a guy like Vucajic-That could easily be Penney. Vucajic is in the team to shoot-He isn't fast or tall either. But he is in the NBA.
Camel 37, Not every player has to be tall,fast and a good shooter. NBA Coaches look wide and far for shooters-IT's a lost art.
Heaps of players have height and are fast, but only few cann shoot the damn ball.!

CAMEL37 you said:
"Watching the breakers over the last couple of seasons, and watching Kirk Penney play, i struggle to see how he made it."

Are you sure you were actually watching the breakers play!
Kirk Penney averaged 24 points last season! He was 3rd in scoring behind Ebi Ere and Julius Hodge, who are both currently playing NBA Summer League!
Your nutz Camel if you think that 24 points is struggling!
Penney freakin led his Wisconsin College team to the Final Four and averaged like 16 points a game back in college. Thats some serious ballin!

Overnight results:

CAN vs KOR 79-77
PUR vs CRO 81-95
GER vs NZL 89-71
BRA vs GRE 69-89

Canada just scraped home against Korea. Croatia with a great win over Puerto Rico, New ZEaland battled hard but lost against Germany, Greeks beat Brazil easily.

Nowitkzi had 35 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, whilst Kaman had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks against the Kiwis. Penney went for 29 points (9/21 shooting) to keep the Kiwis close. But NZ just got monstered inside the paint by Dirk and Kaman.

Final overall standings after group stage.

# Teams GP W-L For Agst Diff

1. GRE 2 2-0 208 131 77 2 wins 2-0 0-0 2-0
GER 2 2-0 193 139 54 2 wins 2-0 0-0 2-0
SLO 2 2-0 174 146 28 2 wins 2-0 0-0 1-0
CRO 2 2-0 188 160 28 2 wins 2-0 0-0 0-0
5. BRA 2 1-1 163 143 20 1 defeat 1-1 0-0 1-1
NZL 2 1-1 148 139 9 1 defeat 1-1 0-0 1-1
PUR 2 1-1 162 167 -5 1 defeat 1-1 0-0 0-0
CAN 2 1-1 149 163 -14 1 win 1-1 1-0 0-1
9. KOR 2 0-2 153 167 -14 2 defeats 0-2 0-1 0-0
CMR 2 0-2 151 174 -23 2 defeats 0-2 0-0 0-0
CPV 2 0-2 118 181 -63 2 defeats 0-2 0-0 0-2
LIB 2 0-2 116 213 -97 2 defeats 0-2 0-0 0-2

Further to my previous post, that leaves Greece, Germany, Slovenia and Croatia undefeated after the group stage.

The quarter finals are as follows:

CRO vs CAN 13:00
SLO vs PUR 15:30
GER vs BRA 19:30
GRE vs NZL 22:00

I can see all the undefeated teams progressing to the semi finals, where I calculate Croatia will play Slovenia, and Germany will play Greece, with the two winners bookinsg spots at the Olympics. Therefore by my reckoning, Germany or Greece will miss out on Beijing qualification despite looking like they are the two best teams playing in this tourney!

LC, If Greece or Germany lose that semi-final against eachother, one of them can still get into the Olympics as the losers playoff for 3rd and 4th where the winner gets to go to Bejing(Remember it's top 3)
Therefore if Greece beat Germany in the semis, Germany can still get in, but they will have to beat the loser out of Crotia and Slovenia.

Sorry - my bad...there are 3 spots up for grabs. the 3rd place to be decided between the losers of the semi finals playing off against each other.

npbhs - or rain man, here is why even if Kirk scrambles and makes a roster, he will be no more than a 10-12th man on a roster, and play junk time.

He has no second string to his bow. Look through the NBA and count how many shooters are starters that are simply pure shooters.....the list is pretty short.
Just ask a guy like T Langdon.

The guys that are elite shooters, have at least 1 other string to their bow. Ray Allen for example has a good handle, and takes it to the rack. Peja has height, and he is one of the handful that I can think of over the last 10 years that has made it. If he wasnt 6 9" or 10", he wouldnt be in the show either.

Its just a fact of the league that you need to be at least a 2 dimensional player, and Kirk, for the great shooter he is, is a 1 string guy.....

now Rain Man, go back to watching wheel of fortune. :)

CRO vs CAN 83-62
SLO vs PUR 70-81
GER vs BRA 78-65
GRE vs NZL 75-48

Semi finals:

CRO vs GER 19:00
PUR vs GRE 21:30

Greece shuld easily beat Puerto Rico, whilst I reckon Croatia can upset Germany and book an Olympic berth.

CRO vs GER 76-70
PUR vs GRE 63-88

As I predicted, Croatia beat Germany to qualify for Beijing, as did the Greeks.

Germany now play Puerto Ric for the last place at the Olympics.

how cum ders no Franz in de Olympicz ??? Franz is good with PArker, Diaw n Turiuf !!!

Back to school Playa - stop wagging class!
France didn't qualify as they were not good enough. They were not even good enough to qualify for the pre-olympic qualifying tourney.