Kristaps Porziņģis

Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvian pronunciation: ['kris.taps 'pʊ͡ɔr.ziɲ.ɟis]; born August 2, 1995) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Knicks with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft. Standing 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m), he plays the power forward and center positions. While being brought up in Liepāja, Latvia, Porziņģis started out his career with youth teams in his hometown before trying out and making the Baloncesto Sevilla youth squads. Following multiple years with the junior teams of Sevilla and representing them in Nike International Junior Tournaments, he was promoted to the senior squad. Porziņģis competed with the Latvia youth national team at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship.

Early career

EuroBasket 2017

The EuroBasket 2017 will be the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that is organized by FIBA Europe. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships will take place every four years with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Host selection

Following the decision to relocate the 2015 tournament, original hosts Ukraine were offered the chance to host the 2017 edition, but they declined, citing the ongoing unrest in the country. Countries expressed interest in hosting were Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland (possible joint bid),Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, and Bulgaria (possible joint bid),United Kingdom,Israel,Poland,Slovenia,Belgium.

On 5 November 2015, FIBA Europe announced that five national federations have applied to organise the EuroBasket 2017: Finland, Israel, Poland, Romania and Turkey.

On 11 December 2015, FIBA Europe announced that the tournament will be hosted by four countries: Israel, Romania, Finland and Turkey with the knockout stage host at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), and is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.

The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with its rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

ESPN

ESPN (originally an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is a U.S.-based global cable and satellite television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network) and the Hearst Corporation (which owns a 20% minority share).

ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut. The network also operates offices in Miami, New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, and Los Angeles. John Skipper currently serves as president of ESPN, a position he has held since January 1, 2012. While ESPN is one of the most successful sports networks, there has been much criticism of ESPN, which includes accusations of biased coverage,conflict of interest, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts.

As of February 2015, ESPN is available to approximately 94,396,000 paid television households (81.1% of households with at least one television set) in the United States. In addition to the flagship channel and its seven related channels in the United States, ESPN broadcasts in more than 200 countries, operating regional channels in Australia, Brazil, Latin America and the United Kingdom, and owning a 20% interest in The Sports Network (TSN) as well as its five sister networks and NHL Network in Canada.