Elias Harris in Ankara for the Efes Pilsen World Cup

[uhg80]

the championship last until september 20th but most likely not for germany.

In the german preliminary group are a strong French and Russian team. Maybe the german team has a chance to beat Latvia (they did so during a preparation tournament, however beating them at the european championship is gonna be a lot tougher since most of the latvian players are very experienced and are stars in europe). So I would say there is 50% chance that the tounrament will be over for Harris at the 9th of september.
If they can make it to the second round, I personally think their chances of making it to the quarter final are very very low, and the tournament will be over for Harris on the 15th of september.

Yes, you're certainly right. The tournament will end for Germany either at the 9th or the 15th. However, I don't think of Russia as a strong team at all. They are without Kirilenko, Holden and Savrasenko. Today they announced the C Sasha Kaun (formerly...Kansas?) will be out and Khryapa's participation is highly questionable at least for the prelims. The team has no creativity or scoring abitily whatsoever (except for winger Kelly McCarthy). It's actually quite similar to the german teams that lacks creativity and scoring as well.

I'm more afraid of Latvia. I think they are somewhat of a dark horse with their excellent center duo of Briedrins and Kampala and their bunch of fundamentally sound veterans and shooters.

I don't know what to think of France but I guess they'll blow it again. They look scary on paper and are by far the most athletic team in Europe but there's once again no shooter on the whole roster (maybe de Colo) and their coach is more or less completely unknown, but coaching is crucial in Europe. That's why the EL final is always Messina vs. Obradovic ;-)
They will need lots of second chances IMO.

If Germany qualifies for the second round (which should be possible, see Russia), they won't stand a chance against medal contenders Greece and Croatia.

[ZagNative]

I love Wiki but ..

Could one of our German friends go in and edit the first line of Elias' Wikipedia entry if indeed the google translation is correct in saying he is a "professional" player?

German wikipedia entry is here.

Someone's done a pretty good job, I think, of keeping his entry up to date, but NCAA rules being what they are, I'd rather not see Elias represented as a pro.

[uhg80]

Could one of our German friends go in and edit the first line of Elias' Wikipedia entry if indeed the google translation is correct in saying he is a "professional" player?

It just says "basketball player". Don't worry.