Connecting Every Cleveland Cavalier to an Overseas Team

Kobe isn't the only player that has connections to play in Europe. Following the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon concept, all of the Cavs can be connected to a prospective team in Europe, just in case the NBA Lockout turns sour this year (or has it already). Here are the rules to the game: 

1) Suggest the shortest connection between player and European team.

2) Connections to European teams must be through teammates.

3) The more obscure the better (think High School, NBDL or AAU).

4) If the European-connecting player still plays for the team, it’s valued higher than if he played five years ago. 

I’ll update the article with impressive connections made in the comments.

Direct Connections

The following players have all played in Europe as noted below: 

Omri Casspi - Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 

The first Israeli-born player in the NBA, Casspi played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2005-2006 and from 2007 to 2009. Casspi split those visits with a season playing for Hapoel Galil Elyon. 

Semih Erden - Fenerbahce Ulker (Turkey) 

Erden played for Fenerbahce Ulker from 2005 to 2010, teaming with the likes of Enes Kanter and Omer Asik. 

Christian Eyenga - DKV Joventut (Spain) 

Eyenga was born in the Congo, but has played two years in Spain with Prat and DKV Joventut. Eyenga played with Ricky Rubio for DKV Joventut in 2008. 

Anderson Varejao - FC Barcelona (Spain) 

After playing for Franca Basquetebol Clube in Brazil from 1998 to 2002, Varejao played for FC Barcelona in Spain from 2002 to 2004.

Daniel Gibson: Hapoel Halon (1 Degree of Separation)

Former Cavs like Sasha and Zydrunas would be too easy to connect to Europe, so let’s use Gibson’s connections at Texas to land a job during the lockout. 

Daniel Gibson can rely on Kenton Paulino to speak with Paulino’s former team in Turkey, Beykozspor, as well as P.J. Tucker’s connections with Hapoel Holon in Israel. Holon should be confident in a new Texas recruit, after Tucker’s MVP performance led the team to a Ligat HaAl championship in 2008 over Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Ryan Hollins: Brose Baskets (1 Degree of Separation)

Let’s stay outside the bounds of the NBA and NCAA in order to connect Hollins to a future team in Europe. 

Ryan Hollins played for the NBDL’s Fort Worth Flyers in late 2006, along with former Georgia Tech Center, Luke Schenscher. The Austrailian-born Schenscher played for the Brose Baskets in Germany from 2007 to 2008.

Baron Davis: BK Skonto (1 Degree of Separation)

Baron Davis was teammates with Andris Biedrins during the 2006-2007 season with the Golden State Warriors. Andris Biedrins, the best-known Latvian basketball player, started for BK Skonto in Latvia from 2002-2004.

Ramon Sessions: ASVEL Basket (1 Degree of Separation)

Ramon Sessions’ time spent at Nevada from 2004 to 2007 provides a number of connections to European teams. 

Kevinn Pinkney was a teammate for the 2004-2005 season, and has played for Angelico Biella and Pallacanestro Cantu in Italy. 

Nick Fazekas helped lead Nevada to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2004 to 2008, and went on to play for Basketball Club Oostende in Belgium, JDA Dijon, and ASVEL Basket in France. 

We’ll go with ASVEL Basket, due to the 20% share Tony Parker owns of the team, who could pass on a good word for Sessions.

Antawn Jamison: Sutor Basket Montegranaro (1 Degree of Separation)

Antawn played with Shammond Williams at North Carolina. Williams went on to play for UNICS Kazan (2004-2005, Russia), FC Barcelona (2005-2006, Spain), Valencia BC (2007-2009, Spain), CB Malaga (2009-2010, Spain), Proteas EKA AEL (2011, Cyprus), and Sutor Basket Montegranaro (2011, Italy).

Alonzo Gee: Forli (1 Degree of Separation)

Alonzo went to William T. Dwyer High School from 2001-2005 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Leemire Goldwire was teammates with Gee at William Dwyer for the 2004-2005 season. Leemire Goldwire has most recently played for Forli in Italy during the 2010-2011 season.

Kyrie Irving: BBC Bayreuth (2 Degrees of Separation)

Kyrie can rely on his dad for a connection to teams in Australia, but with a little digging, can be connected to Europe. 

Drederick Irving was coached by Mike Jarvis at Boston University (subsequently losing to Mike Krzyzewski and Duke in the 1988 NCAA Tournament). Mike Jarvis coached Rumeal Robinson at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, who later went on to play with KK Zadar in Croatia. 

Going the related player route, Kyrie played with Dexter Strickland at St. Patrick High School, who now plays for North Carolina. In Dexter’s freshman year of 2009-2010, he played with Marcus Ginyard, who has since signed a contract with BBC Bayreuth in Germany.

Tristan Thompson: Lappeenrannan NMKY (2 Degrees of Separation)

Tristan Thompson’s short career is by far the most difficult Cavalier to connect to Europe, having played at three different high schools, and only a single year of college. 

Thompson played with current Cavalier Samardo Samuels at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey during the 2007-2008 season. Samuels went on to play with the Erie BayHawks of the NBDL, where he teamed with former Buckeye Ivan Harris. Harris has played for a number of European teams, including Lappeenrannan NMKY in Finland.