Thanks for the reminder, ochoopsfan.
Is Griner hurt, or just not in town for the game?
The Spanish reporter that he was relaying the news from said that Torrens and Vadeeva stayed behind in Russia and that Griner was a possible positive upon arrival in Salamanca.
Gah. I can't imagine what this game would be at right now with Griner and Vadeeva available. I taught last period today and was hoping to come back to a competitive second half.
I may eat these words later, but I just don't see how a team is going to be able to compete with Ekat without them having a down night and the other team playing the game of their lives.
Unrelated, I wish these teams sold apparel. I'd love to add both an Avenida and Ekat shirt to my rotation.
It looks like they ship to the United States:
Avenida
equipadosport.es
Not sure if @ochoopsfan has beat you to the punch on customized Samuelson gear though.
Fenerbahce has only looked their best a few times this season, but if there is one player who can get randomly unstoppable in one game, it is definitely Alina Iagupova.
The current rule for EuroLeague and EuroCup is two players without a passport from a member country of FIBA Europe and one player who received a passport from a member country, but after turning 16. Players who acquired passports at 16 or later before those rules were put into place qualify as if they received that passport before the age of 16. Compared to previous rules, naturalizing is now less of a benefit going forward and players can now play for non-European national teams and not count, which is good news for African national teams that can now recruit European-born players without it impacting their club earning potnential.Yes they are the same teams.
There may be limits for some of the domestic teams as to how many foreign players can play in a game. I have seen a healthy Griner and another Euro sit in the stands for a game.
Avenida has 7 non Spanish players on the team and 5 from Spain. They all can dress for any game, domestic or Euroleague.
Each domestic league has there own rules, but I am not aware of any that have no limits whatsoever on foreign players. Some leagues limit foreigners of any nationality, some leagues allow unlimited players of certain nationalities, and some leagues have different limits for different kinds of players (usually minimums for local nationality or youth players or maximum of non-Europeans with some countries in Europe granting players with passports from countries that are signatories to the Cotonou agreement, mostly African, Caribbean, and Pacific Island nations the equivalent of European status). For example, Batoula Camara was able to benefit from having Guinean citizenship when she signed in Spain.
I am not familiar with the current rules for domestic league rosters in all countries, but here are a few that I know off the top of my head:
Russia: Four foreigners, meaning anyone who is not a citizen of Russia or Belarus, can suit up for each game and if you have more than four you can rotate them in and out as much as you want. The Belarus exception, and their owner's massive paranoia about upset losses, is why Ekaterinburg signed Alex Bentley and Maryia Papova.
Turkey: Two players with no citizenship from FIBA Europe countries, two players with FIBA Europe, but not Turkish citizenship, one player with Turkish citizenship acquired at 16 or later, like Kiah Stokes. Teams with more than that can rotate between them for each game.
Israel: Three foreign players. Players who qualify for Israeli citizenship do not count as foreigners, which is why a number of Jewish-Americans have gotten citizenship and had long professional careers there. I believe you can qualify for that before citizenship in some cases as I think Courtney Boylan did not count as foreign as soon as she married Stu Douglass. The rule used to be four foreigners with only three being allowed on the court at the same time, but the non-foreign players went on strike one season until the league changed the rule.
Leagues outside of Europe also generally have their own restrictions, but in the last two seasons, China and South Korea have joined Japan in not allowing any players that meet their definition of foreign. Australia allows two non-Oceania players, with players who have permanent residency in Australia also not counting as imports. A number of American players play in leagues below the WNBL in Australia and a number of them have opted to relocate there permanently and then managed to sign WNBL contracts once they had local status.