Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB)

200 ULEB Logo
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1991
Commissioner	Gianluigi Porelli (September 1991 - March 1998) Eduardo Portela (March 1998 - Present)
Country(ies)	16 League Members: ABA League National League Members  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Montenegro  Serbia  Slovenia Plus The National League Members Of  Austria  Belgium  Czech Republic  France  Germany  Greece  Israel  Italy  Lithuania  Netherlands  Poland  Russia  Spain  Switzerland  United Kingdom
Continent	FIBA Europe Members
Official website	ULEB.com

ULEB (acronym of the French Union des Ligues Européennes de Basket-Ball, in English, Union of European Leagues of Basketball) was founded in 1991, with the aim to help in the cooperation and development of European professional club basketball leagues. Its headquarters are located in Barcelona, Spain.

History[link]

ULEB was founded in June 1991, by the top professional basketball leagues of France (LNB), Italy (LEGA), and Spain (ACB), which were then joined in 1996, by HEBA (Greece). In 1999, the BLB (Belgium), BBL (United Kingdom), and LNBA (Switzerland) were added.

The group then expanded with the BBL of Germany, DBL (Netherlands; then known by the Dutch initialism FEB), and PLK (Poland) in 2001. The ABA (Adriatic League) was added in February 2002, while October 2002 brought in the ABL (Austria). Following that, in June 2003, came the membership of the LKL (Lithuania), then the 2004 membership of the NBL (Czech Republic), and in July 2005, the BSL of Israel joined the ULEB. In 2011, the PBL of Russia also became a member.^[1]

In 2000, ULEB decided to break away from FIBA Europe and begin the new Euroleague competition with the Euroleague 2000-01 season. That first season of the Euroleague featured a five-game series final (instead of the traditional one-game final), but that was dropped after one year. FIBA, that same year, also formed its own league, called the SuproLeague, but after just one year it was dissolved, as the new ULEB Euroleague became the accepted new top tournament in Europe. The Korać Cup and Saporta Cup tournaments were also dissolved and joined into a new ULEB tournament, originally called the ULEB Cup, and now known as the Eurocup. ULEB has had only two Presidents since its inception. Gianluigi Porelli of Italy, between 1991-1998, and the current one, Eduardo Portela of Spain, since 1998.

Rules changes[link]

ULEB also broke away from FIBA Europe, and adopted rules closer to the NBA, with the NBA's jump ball and 24-second rules being the first to be adopted, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The hope was that ULEB would play with rules which would favor players and spectators, which the rules of FIBA Europe did not specifically cater to.

In 2004, ULEB adopted more rules changes which made their game more similar to the NBA. It adopted the NBA jump ball rule (no possession arrow, unlike in FIBA Europe rules), as well as NBA-type rules regarding the position of the ball in the final two minutes, following a time out (center line), and block and charge fouls within 1.22 meters (4 feet) of the basket. Italy's controlling club basketball body, Lega Basket, also adopted an instant replay rule, which eventually led to the Italian Championship being decided by instant replay, as a field goal made in the final second of the game which determined if a team had won, or had been forced to a deciding game, had to be reviewed for minutes by officials.

In 2005, ULEB decided to work in conjunction with FIBA Europe, with the competition rules being made more uniform in nature. For example, the Euroleague and Eurocup, which are organized by ULEB, as well as the European national domestic leagues, which also fall under the ULEB umbrella system, and the EuroBasket and EuroChallenge, which are organized by FIBA Europe, would have the same rules. So ULEB replaced the NBA-type rules, eliminating the jump ball and block-charge arc. FIBA Europe then later reintroduced the block-charge arc, effective in 2010, for international national team competitions, and in 2012, for national domestic leagues; at the same time, the trapezoidal-shaped lane area, that was historically used by FIBA Europe, was replaced by the rectangular-shaped lane area that is used in the NBA. In addition to this, the 3 point line was moved out from a distance of 6.25 meters (20 feet 6 inches), to a distance of 6.75 meters (22 feet 2 inches).

16 ULEB league members[link]

^[2]

Country(ies)	Domestic League / Regional League	Membership Year
Spain	ACB	1991
Italy	LEGA	1991
France	LNB	1991
Greece	HEBA	1996
United Kingdom	BBL	1999
Belgium	BLB	1999
Switzerland	LNBA	1999
Germany	BBL	2001
Poland	PLK	2001
Netherlands	DBL	2001
Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia As One Single League Member	ABA Adriatic Regional League	2002
Austria	ABL	2002
Lithuania	LKL	2003
Czech Republic	NBL	2004
Israel	BSL	2005
Russia	PBL	2011

ULEB Executive Committee members[link]

^[3]

Executive Committee Members	Domestic League / Regional League
Eduardo Portela (President of ULEB and ACB)	ACB
Spain	ACB
Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia As One Single Committee Member	ABA Adriatic Regional League
Italy	LEGA
Greece	HEBA
France	LNB
Germany	BBL

See also[link]

• Euroleague
• Eurocup
• ULEB League Rankings
• European professional club basketball system

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

• ULEB official website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

Brock Andrew Gillespie is an American professional basketball player. He has played in the United States (NBA and NBA Development League) and in various countries abroad. He was named as a high school All-American by USA Today, Street & Smith's and McDonald's while he was attending Clarksville High School in Tennessee. He had a standout college career as one of Rice University's all-time leading scorers with 1,007 points, while playing in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). He also appeared in the Walt Disney movie, Glory Road.

Professional career[link]

Gillespie played for the Auckland Stars in New Zealand in the 2005–06 National Basketball League (New Zealand) season and won the NBL Championship. He was selected in the 3rd round of the 2006 NBA D-League Draft by the Austin Toros with the 34th overall selection and played the 2006–07 season under the legendary Dennis Johnson, for the Toros in the NBA Development League. He spent the final part of 2007 playing for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. He also was a member of the Bobcats' NBA Summer League and training camp rosters the following summer. He played the 2007–08 season in Europe for Plus Pujol Lleida in the Liga Española de Baloncesto of Spain and BK SPU Nitra in the ExtraLiga of Slovakia. In 2008, he was again selected in the NBA D-League Draft by the Sioux Falls Skyforce and finished the 2008–09 season in the ULEB Cup with Benetton Fribourg Olympic of Switzerland. He led Benetton to the 2009 Swiss Cup Championship. In the summer of 2009, he was invited and participated in mini-camp with the NBA's Houston Rockets. Later in 2009, he participated in training camp with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and soon after joined Xacobeo Obradoiro CAB of the ACB League in Spain. On March 19, 2010 he was assigned to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA D-League for the playoff stretch.^[1] In 2010-2011, he played briefly for the Cuxhaven Bascats in the Basketball Bundesliga of Germany and on January 5, 2011 he moved up to join SCM CSU Craiova in the Romanian Basketball Division A of Romania, where he was voted to the All-Star Team for the league. In 2011, he again selected in the NBA D-League Draft by the Sioux Falls Skyforce, but did not report to training camp and instead chose to sign with ŁKS Łódź of Poland. However, without playing a single game in Poland, he left to finish the season with the Toyama Grouses of the Bj League in Japan.

Personal[link]

Gillespie leads a busy life away from basketball. He has been very proactive in the political arena. He has stated publicly that he plans to run for political office at some point after his playing career finishes in his home state of Texas and prides himself as a supporter of the Republican Party. He has met and discussed policy with many key political figures, including President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, among others. In 2005, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the City of Houston's Mayor's Office. In 2006, he was cast by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and appeared in the Walt Disney movie, Glory Road. He was chosen to speak at Dennis Johnson's funeral in 2007, after playing for Johnson with the Austin Toros. Prior to coaching the Toros, Johnson was most known for his success with the Boston Celtics, guiding them to three NBA Championships in the 1980s and in 2010 he was inducted to the NBA Hall of Fame. He looked at Johnson as not only a mentor, but like a second father. In the summer of 2010, he was a guest speaker at the NBA Players Association Top-100 Camp, for the top high school players in America. A former camper himself, he lectured the kids on life choices and career paths. He is the son of notable long-time college coach, Marty Gillespie, who had his own standout athletic career as a two-sport athlete (baseball/basketball) at Iowa State University in the 1970s and was drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft twice; once by the St. Louis Cardinals and once by the Minnesota Twins. Due to his father's coaching career, he spent the majority of his childhood on the move, but credits his most memorable places of residence were Peoria, Illinois; Racine, Wisconsin; and Clarksville, Tennessee. The city of Clarksville regularly claims him on the internet and in their local media as one of the famous persons from the area. He has stated in various interviews that some of his influences and inspirations include Jesus Christ, Niccolò Machiavelli, George W. Bush, Bill O'Reilly, Tupac Shakur, Shawn Respert, Pete Maravich, Dennis Johnson, Stan Albeck, Jerry Tarkanian and Larry Gillespie (grandfather and World War II hero).

Player history[link]

• 2005/06 Auckland Stars
• 2006/07 Austin Toros
• 2006/07 Charlotte Bobcats
• 2007/08 Plus Pujol Lleida
• 2007/08 BK SPU Nitra
• 2008/09 Sioux Falls Skyforce
• 2008/09 Benetton Fribourg Olympic
• 2009/10 Xacobeo Obradoiro CAB
• 2009/10 Maine Red Claws
• 2010/11 Cuxhaven Bascats
• 2010/11 SCM CSU Craiova
• 2011/12 ŁKS Łódź
• 2011/12 Toyama Grouses

External links[link]

• SoloBasket: In Deep With Brock Gillespie
• Official CB Lleida website

References[link]