The 2009 Euroleague American Tour inaugurated a yearly basketball exhibition Tour organized by the Euroleague in the United States. The aim of the Euroleague American Tour is to expose to American basketball fans a different basketball approach than the one presented by the NBA, a lot more similar to the NCAA one.
The Euroleague teams that participated in that first edition were Partizan Belgrade, Olympiacos and Maccabi Tel Aviv. On the other hand, the NBA franchises that played against them were the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns, the San Antonio Spurs, the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The NBA rules that applied to the event combined with the fact that the opponents were all top class NBA teams led to consecutive losses for the Euroleague representants. In Partizan's case, things were even worse as they competed without future All-Euroleague point guard Bo McCalebb and power forward Lawrence Roberts.
Overall, in spite of the fact that Euroleague teams seemed unable to threaten their NBA competition within the United States, they demonstrated some of the advantages that make them high-class basketball organizations: Solid fundamentals, outstanding team play and some of the best players of FIBA Basketball like Theo Papaloukas, Miloš Teodosić, Aleks Marić, Ioannis Bourousis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis to name a few.
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EuroLeague, known as the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for sponsorship reasons, is a European professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier league in Europe. The league consists of 18 teams, of which 16 are given long-term licences and wild cards, making the league a semi-closed league. The league was first organized by FIBA in 1958, subsequently by ULEB in 2000 and then solely the Euroleague Basketball.
Maceo Demond Baston is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at the University of Michigan. At a playing height of 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), and a playing weight of 230 pounds (104 kg), he played at the power forward position.
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Terence Darea Morris is an American former professional basketball player. He was twice the Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, in 2007 and 2008. He was an All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2008.
Lawrence Edward Roberts III is an American former professional basketball player. Standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he played at the power forward position.
Slavko Vraneš is a Montenegrin former professional basketball player. He also represented the Montenegrin national basketball team in the international competitions. Standing at 2.29 m, he was one of the tallest players in the world.
Košarkaški klub Partizan, commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the multi-sports Belgrade-based club Partizan. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes in the ABA League, the EuroLeague and in the Basketball League of Serbia.
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Lester "Bo" McCalebb is an American-Macedonian former professional basketball player. He represented the senior Macedonian national team internationally. Standing at 1.83 m, he played at the point guard position. Born and raised in New Orleans, he attended the University of New Orleans. A two-time All-EuroLeague selection, McCalebb was part of the All-Tournament Team at EuroBasket 2011.
Aleksandar "Aleks" Marić is an Australian-Serbian former professional basketball player. Marić gained a reputation as a winner over the course of his successful European career, securing contracts with several basketball powerhouse outfits. Rising to stardom at Partizan Belgrade in 2010, he was part of a Serbian Cup and Adriatic League championship winning team, as well as an All-EuroLeague First Team member. That breakout season earned him selection to the Australian national team for the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 London Olympics. In 2019, he became an assistant coach with the Sydney Kings.
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