Khalid El-Amin of Lietuvos Rytas and Marcelinho Huertas of Caja Laboral were named the co-MVPs from Week 2 of the Top 16 phase of Euroleague.

El-Amin had 22 points on a near-perfect day shooting.

Marcelinho had 17 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.

Rounding out the list of the best Top 16, Week 2 individual performers are Juan Carlos Navarro of Regal FC Barcelona, Jeremy Pargo of Maccabi, Nikola Mirotic of Real Madrid and Fernando San Emeterio of Caja Laboral.

Minnesota GM David Kahn called a New York Times report this week on Ricky Rubio "much ado about nothing" and "not worthy of a response."

An unnamed source close to Rubio indicated that the point guard wants to play for Boston, New York or Miami when he comes to the NBA.

Kahn said he remains "absolutely" certain Rubio will join the Wolves next season after a buyout with his Regal Barcelona team becomes affordable.

Following their loss to Barcelona in Week 1 of the Top 16 phase of Euroleague, Maccabi Tel Aviv hopes to rebound against Roma.

“We need to be especially cautious of Roma’s short roster," said head coach David Blatt. "This can often be an advantage rather than a disadvantage,” Blatt said. “In every season you have high and lows, but in good teams the lows aren’t that significant.

"I think we experienced such a low in recent weeks. It wasn’t so noticeable because we won all our games other than the one in Barcelona. Nevertheless, we weren’t playing like the Maccabi we saw in the beginning of the season.

“However, we have trained superbly recently and this is the only way to get the team back on track. We want to regain our top form, especially at this crucial stage of the season.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon 88- 74 on the road on Sunday.

Maccabi trailed by four points at the break (45-41), but outscored the hosts 47-29 in the second half to improve its record to 13-1, with all its BSL wins coming by nine points or more.

Mac TA will play at Barcelona on Thursday in their Top-16 Euroleague opener.

“There is something to learn from every game, including this one,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said. “Barcelona is a great team, but not unbeatable.

“We are a better team than we were when the Euroleague’s regular season ended, but we are facing the toughest game possible in Barcelona.”

Jan Vesely told SLAM Magazine that he will enter the 2011 NBA Draft.

"I will enter the NBA Draft in 2011 and I believe that I will be picked amongst the top 5 players," said Vesely.

Vesely is a 6'11" 20-year-old playing for Partizan.

"My idol for a long time has been LeBron James," said Vesely when asked if there is a player he patterns his game after.

Maccabi Tel Aviv drew Regal Barcelona as part of Group F, but they are still expected to reach the next stage.

“On the one hand, you never want to face Barcelona,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said. “Barca is clearly one of the favorites to make it through to the Final Four and is a top quality team with endless resources, talent and experience.

“But on the other hand, at least we know we can’t meet them in the quarterfinals.”

Maccabi’s 9-1 regular season record was the best in the competition, with Barcelona losing three times in the first group stage to finish in a disappointing third place.

“It will not be easy to play Barcelona, but it will be a good challenge,” guard Doron Perkins said.

“We’ve got to take all the good things from the first round and take them to the second round and also try and improve what we can.”

The draw for the Top 16 phase of Euroleague was completed on Tuesday.

Regular season group winners Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Olympiacos Piraeus, Montepaschi Siena and Panathinaikos Athens headline the four Top 16 groups of four teams each.

Group E will feature Panathinaikos Athens, Caja Laboral, Unicaja and Lietuvos Rytas.

Group F, headlined by Maccabi, also includes Union Olimpija, Regal Barcelona and Lottomatica Roma.

Montepaschi Siena is joined in Group G by Real Madrid, Efes Pilsen and Partizan Belgrade.

Group H includes Olympiacos Piraeus, Fenerbahce Ulker, Zalgiris Kaunas and Valencia.

Every group will feature six games per team in a round-robin setup between January 19th and March 3rd with the top two teams from each group advancing.

The Final Four will be held from May 6th to May 8th at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius joined Turkish league champion Fenerbahce Ulker on Friday.

The Turkish club’s website announced that the 34-year old Jasikevicius will leave Lietuvos Rytas in his native Lithuania.