Arturo Barbosa, Leandro Barbosa’s older brother, told me that if I wanted to find basketball in Pirituba, where he and his brother spent most of their childhood, I should look no further than Professor Carlão’s basketball practices. That’s where he, as a youngster, started playing and collecting information on the sport’s basics and fundamentals. Knowledge that would be essential for his younger brother’s development and success as a future top sixth man in the NBA.

A former NCAA college basketball star has vanished in Brazil. Tony Harris, a 36 year old forward, came to Brazil on October 31st to play for Universo Brasilia during the South American Club Championships. However, since the beginning of November, the player hasn’t been seen.
Rede Globo, Brazilian largest TV network, reported on the Harris case during the Saturday (November 10th) edition of its nationwide broadcasted Jornal Nacional. One of the interviewees, Universo Brasilia’s supervisor, reported that the player was acting strangely during the tournament. “He said nonsense things, and cried …

Exactly 20 years ago in Indianapolis the Brazilian National team beat the USA squad by the score of 120 to 115 in the finals of the Pan American Games. As normal as this might sound today, the fact that an American squad was beaten by a foreign team in 1987 was by no means an easy task.
Many say that this was America’s first striking loss in the world of basketball. With a national team represented by a group of college all-stars that included Rex Chapman, David Robinson, Keith Smart, and …

I have been going to the supermarket three times a week these past two months. By going to the supermarket more often you tend not to spend as much money and time in a place that can get pretty sickening after 20 minutes. You get sick of the promoters dressed up in weird color combinations blocking the already narrow aisles while trying to sell you fake looking canned meat or American style breakfast cereal. The more you go to the supermarket the less you want to stay in there, so …

The FIBA U19 WC preliminary round ended last Saturday, and as everyone expected, teams like France, Spain, and the United States dominated the field winning all of its games. The Eighth Finals round starts today with 12 teams battling for 8 spots in the quarter finals and upcoming stars such as Andrew Ogilvy, Michael Beasley, Nicolas Batum, Paulo Prestes and Victor Claver will be on display in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Andrew Ogilvy has been sensational for the Aussies averaging 20.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Among the top teams …

This past Thursday night I headed towards Club Athletic Paulistano’s gym to watch the Brazilian U19 squad scrimmage against the Brazilian Pan American Games team in what was their last chance to have a friendly atmosphere on court. After a strong first quarter by the U19 squad (17-15), the more intense and calculated rhythm of Marcelo Huertas (Joventut Badalona), JP Batista (Rytas), and Marcelinho’s (Zalgiris) game took over. 
Coach Neto started Carlos Ortega, the Spanish-Brazilian point guard, Betinho, Thomas Melazzo, Rafael “Mineiro” de Souza and Paulo “Paulão” Prestes at the 5. …

The Brazilian U17 boys didn’t do well on the U17 South American Championships at Guanara Portuguesa, Venezuela, last week. After one month of practice in Londrina and São Paulo, the squad coached by Saviani and assisted by Cadum, a former Nat’l Team forward, succumbed in the semis to the Argentineans.
So far so good. It was a one point game (63-64), and Matias Nocedal and his boys were dreaming about revenge since last November in Montevideo (U16, read the last column). Besides, Pablo Orlietti, the 6’9 forward/center, has developed his …

For the past couple of weeks a lot of people are talking about Roko Ukic and his chances of playing in the NBA. I’ll introduce him to those of you who still don’t know this young Croatian player.
Ukic started playing in KK Split and was drafted #45 by the Toronto Raptors in 2005. He signed with TAU Vitoria (in the Spanish ACB league) two seasons ago, and last year he went to FC Barcelona where he’s playing in the ACB Finals right now. He’s a point guard who’s 6′5″, has …

Today we watch a low post move. It’s important because it has to do with the development of Tiago Splitter, the young Brazilian pearl.
Splitter started playing as a pro at a very young age and there hasn’t been a more promising player like him in the Spanish leagues until Riki Rubio appeared. Tiago started playing in the Spanish 4th league (semi-professional) at the age of 15, and he has climbed step by step towards the ACB. His game has developed, and the big guy who was known mostly for his impressive blocking …

Too bad my frequent flyer miles don’t count towards trips to Venezuela. That’s because the major airlines in Brazil either don’t fly over there, or have abolished a system that in general benefited only ‘airport’ businessmen, people who wouldn’t care a bit about what will happen this week at Guanare Portuguesa, a city in central Venezuela.
There, under the blazing sun and scorching heat (not really because they’ll play indoors, and the weather forecast says thunderstorms are on the way), the most talented South American players under the age of …