Matt Thomas playing with Valencia BC in Spain

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt and his team win the EuroCup over ALBA Berlin, 89-63 on their home court. It took around 23 games to get to this point (and wins over D. Hogue and M. Ejim). Matt was NOT the finals MVP as that went to WILL Thomas (he of the George Mason Final 4 team) but in Game 3, even though he didn't start, Matt had 19 PTS on 5-7 fr 3 and 3 AST, while leading the team in minutes played. He tied for the leading scorer of the game.

VERY significant accomplishment and high-level basketball. I'll try to find some highlights of Matt's shooting in Game 3. Valencia seems to have been able to postpone its normal Sunday Spanish league game.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt looks pretty happy here after winning the EuroCup. Salary of 500k Euros, living on the Mediterranean, winning trophies. Not bad for a boy from Onalaska ...

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Someone finally compiled a highlight video of Matt's 3 games in the Eurocup finals - his made shots and his best passes. They've pieced it together from Spanish and Russian (I think) broadcasts (It appears that "troika" is 3-pointer in Russian). Matt had big games 1 and 3 in Valencia; not so much in game 2. Anyway, his stroke is so pure; here's All Matt, All the Time:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I don't want to belabor the point too much about Valencia's win but there are some cool cultural things in addition to rooting for our guy. On Tuesday, they had 3 official celebrations, including at the provincial government building and city hall. I watched the video at the city hall - they announced each player and Matt got a big round of applause. So here's a short video at the end of that, from the balcony of the city hall, looking down on what is kind of the main plaza in Valencia (check out how the players start to bust a move at about the 0:16 mark). We need to do something like this at ISU's next win in Kansas City

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

If you're interested in EuroHoops, here's Matt's latest blog entry:

 

[CycloneWanderer]

I'm excited Matt gets to play in the EuroLeague next season (highest level of basketball in Europe). It will be the last season of his current contract so I hope an NBA team grabs him if he has another good year. There are a lot of teams that could use his shooting.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

A couple notes on Matt in Spain. As @CycloneWanderer notes above, it is HUGE thing that Valencia will play in the Euroleague next year. That is the 2nd-highest level of BB after the NBA (excluding national team competitions). I didn't realize that the EuroCup winner qualifies for the EuroLeague the following season. Will Clyburn has consistently played in the EuroLeague in Russia; it would be a good stepping stone for Matt if he wants to try to play in the NBA.

Valencia picked up a win in the Spanish League last night 88-73 at home against Tenerife. Matt started and had 13 points (tied for 2nd) on 3-4 shooting from 3PT. He started and played 19 minutes. Valencia is currently 4th (17 - 10) in the Spanish league (no one is going to catch Barcelona, which is 23-4 this season).

Amusing notes from Tenerife's roster: Starting at guard for Tenerife was one Lucca Staiger, who had 9 points. Also, someone named Mamadou Niang played 12 minutes for them.

 

[HFCS]

Matt looks pretty happy here after winning the EuroCup. Salary of 500k Euros, living on the Mediterranean, winning trophies. Not bad for a boy from Onalaska ..

Valencia would be an awesome place to live too. I spent a couple days there when I travelled Spain.

The climate is like southern California, right by the sea, beautiful architecture everywhere, orange trees all over the place, amazing food. Not as congested as Madrid or Barcelona but still a lot going on. It would be one of the better places in Europe to live imho.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

For this week in the Spanish league, Matt was tops in 3 pointers made in a game with 5.



Also, this is a promo for Valencia's league game on Thursday. Good shot of Matt; look how they have 3 advertisements on the BACK of the uniform (additional ones on the front):

 

[CycloneWanderer]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.la...erca-matt-thomas-20190429025923-ntvo_amp.html

Matt seems to be getting some buzz from NBA scouts.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.la...erca-matt-thomas-20190429025923-ntvo_amp.html

Matt seems to be getting some buzz from NBA scouts.

That is an awesome article and a good find.

The article says that a scout from the Clippers has been watching Matt. They also cite the Blazers as a team keeping an eye on him. He has clearly shown Spain that he can shoot the 3. It's interesting that the writer thinks that the sentiment is that the NBA teams will want to watch how he plays in the Euroleague next year since that's the highest level outside of the NBA (I'm sure it's how Luca Doncic was evaluated).

Valencia won on Sunday - they're now clearly in 4th place out of 18 teams - but Matt had only 11 points (1 for 5 from 3). I believe they have 3 games remaining in their regular season; top 8 teams go to the playoffs.

 

[ianoconnor]

Didn't want to start a new thread so I'll put this here:

Tyrus and his team Sassari won the FIBA Europe Cup today. I don't know European basketball, but Google tells me this is the 2nd tier of European ball.

http://www.fiba.basketball/europecu...e-in-wurzburg-to-claim-fiba-europe-cup-trophy

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Didn't want to start a new thread so I'll put this here:

Tyrus and his team Sassari won the FIBA Europe Cup today. I don't know European basketball, but Google tells me this is the 2nd tier of European ball.

http://www.fiba.basketball/europecu...e-in-wurzburg-to-claim-fiba-europe-cup-trophy

That's a great win for Tyrus Mc3 and his teammates. I, too, have seen the FIBA Europe Cup called the 2nd-highest level and I don't really understand that. The highest is the Euroleague (Will the Thrill and Matt should both be in that next year), the next is EuroCup and the 3rd has to be this new-ish FIBA Europe Cup. Either way, it's always good when our guys pick up some hardware. #25 looks happy:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt is injured: I finally tracked down some info on Matt, who hasn't played the last 3 games and may miss the final 2 of the Spanish league as well. It turns out that he took a shot in the quadriceps and there was some hematoma - blood building up in the tissues (or is it "a hematoma" - not sure on the usage there). The report I read said that it hasn't responded as well as they had hoped and he missed games on Friday and Sunday, both good wins for Valencia. On Friday, they went to Barcelona - the league leader for much of the season - and took a W without Matt and today, they got a win against Estudiantes of Madrid.

Let's hope the Ice Man heals soon. I'm sure he'd love to get back at least for that last game. Valencia has some depth at guard though and are being very cautious with Matt's health.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

So, Matt actually had to have surgery. When he says he's heading home, I THINK that's his place in Valencia and not Wisconsin.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt sat out Valencia's game on Tuesday - a close loss against league champion Real Madrid - with the leg injury he's been battling. I'm sure he'll sit out today's final game as well vs. #2 Baskonia since they've already qualified for next year's EuroLeague and they're in this year's playoffs (4th place is assured; the top 8 go on to the playoffs, which don't last for 2 months like the NBA). I hope that missing these last couple weeks will allow him to make a contribution in the playoffs.

Edit: They played an early one today -- the final game is over and Valencia got a good win to finish the regular season league competition, 23-11. As suspected, Matt did NOT play.

 

[Lineup]

get well quick Matt come to the NBA

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt Thomas missed Valencia's first playoff game yesterday and Valencia (4 seed) dropped Game 1 to 5-seed Unicaja Malaga (whom they offed in the EuroCup), 85-75. I believe that this is a best-of-3 so there's no margin for error. Matt has missed about 6 games in a row now with the injury that he suffered in his leg in practice. They could use him back - they only made 7 of 26 from 3.