Panionios announced Demos Dikoudis

Panionios announced the signing of Demos Dikoudis(2.07-PF) via their official site. The imminent signing of Dikoudis was made final today and now the Greek team has the option to replace potentially a player in the front line.

He has signed a contract until the end of this season that he started playing for Valencia in the ACB. Dikoudis has averaged 5.6 points 3 rebounds and 2 steals per game in the last 6 games of Valencia in the ACB.

Trikalla announced Vangelis Aggelou

Vangelis Aggelou is finally the final decision of the administration of Trikalla 2000 in order to cover the head coach position. According to their official site the former head coach of AEK Athens will be taking over the team trying to score as many wins as possible in order to save the league rookies from relegation.

This will not be an easy task as Trikalla have only suffered losses this far in the league although they've already changed one head coach as Giannis Tzimas left the team during the preparation period and was replaced by Giannis Christopoulos.

Manresa is not out of harm's way yet

Manresa issued a statement via their official website explaining why they are not out of harm's way yet as it might have been implied in the spanish newspapers recently.

The announcement says that the financial situation of Manresa is still delicate and that it is false to assume that the team is safe although there have been sponsoring deals of 500,000 euros, that in some cases are still pending to conclude. The shareholders will also be making a capital increase of 700,000 euros as another means of securing the longevity of Manresa. They also announced the opening of a new store selling the team's "We are ALL Manresa" t-shirts in downtown Madrid. Even Juan Carlos Navarro bought one!

This is a wake-up call more than anything else for all supporters of Manresa that a battle was won but the war is far from over.

Shermadini to make his debut with Panathinaikos?

Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C) will be making his debut with Panathinaikos against Egaleo BC today. Panathinaikos's assistant coach Dimitris Itoudis made statements in the official website of Panathinaikos saying the Sarunas Jacikevicius and Stratos Perperoglou might not be included in the roster.

This opens the way for Shermadini to make his first appearance wearing the colors of Panathinaikos in the Greek A1 league. Shermadini was declared in the Euroleague roster of Panathinaikos but he is yet to play a game.

Drucker leaving Oostende.. again..

Sharon Drucker will be probably be coaching BC Oostende for the last time against Dexia Mons as his departure will be announced in a press conference. The israeli coach will travel to Israel and become Pini Gershon's assistant in Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Drucker replaced Vlada Vukoicic at the helm of Oostende and now he is leaving the Belgian team to look again for a head coach.

Dikoudis released and heading to Panionios

Demos Dikoudis(2.07-PF) was released from Valencia officially and is now heading to Panionios according to greek media. The saga of Dikoudis' release from Valencia is now over and the greek power forward is free to continue his career being a free agent.

His transfer to Panionios is being held back by bureaucratic issues. There is a law pending to be signed in Greece that will allow Greek players to play in Greece after they've started playing for a team abroad. Panionios is waiting for minister of sports in Greece, Giannis Ioannidis to sign the law before they officially announce the signing of Demos Dikoudis

Ural Great dismissed Christian Dalmau

Ural Great have announced via their official website that they are dismissing puerto-rican combo guard Christian Dalmau(1.92-PG/SG) for breaching his contractual obligations. This confirms previous rumors regarding him and Darius Washington who were due to leave the club.

The announcement explains that Dalmau was asked to provide proof as to why he skipped training sessions with the team but was unable to do so. So far in the Russian Superleague he has averaged points 2.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 5 games.

Rumors about Paulius Jankunas

According to mondobasket.it Olimpia Milano is after lithuanian power forward Paulius Jankunas(2.03-PF/C). The article says that because of the financial crisis that has been plaguing Zalgiris (among other teams) they might also lose Paulius Jankunas to Olimpia Milano.

Jankunas has been a player of Zalgiris for the last few years and he has averaged 12.8 points 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 4 games in the Euroleague so far.

Arroyo returning to the NBA?

There is a rumor according to krespinis.net that Carlos Arroyo(1.88-PG/SG) may leave Maccabi behind and return to the NBA. Arroyo seems to be a candidate for the Orlando Magic but he is still tied to a contract with Maccabi that won't just let him go without a compensation.

The puerto-rican scorer has been a vital player for Maccabi averaging 15.8 points 4.8 rebounds and 5 assists per game in 4 games in the Euroleague so far.

Efes Pilsen announced Predrag Drobnjak

Predrag Drobjnak(2.10-C) returns to Efes Pilsen after 10 years. The serbian center was announced today by the Efes Pilsen official website.

Drobnjak is a veteran of the european courts with an illustrious career in Europe and the NBA. He reached the Euroleague Final Four with Efes Pilsen and Tau while he played for the Seattle Supersonics, the LA Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. In Europe he has also played for Partizan, and last season he started in Girona and then moved on to Besiktas. He averaged 8.2 points and 3 rebounds in 17 games of the Turkish league and 8.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 5 games for the Uleb Cup as a player of Besiktas.

Budivelnik signed Tomas Delininkaitis

Budivelnik hit the jackpot. They announced the transfer of Tomas Delininkaitis(1.90-PG/SG) from Azovmash Mariupol, via their official website. The lithuanian combo-guard will be continuing his career in Budivelnik that made him the best offer and wanted him more.

Delininkaitis belongs to the generation of Lithuanian players like Javtokas and Jasaitis who were the golden batch of Lietuvos Rytas that won the Uleb Cup in 2005 and the Lithuanian League in 2006. As a player of Azovmash he helped his team win the Ukrainian Superleague in 2008. In 5 games for Azovmash he averaged 15.4 points 2.4 rebounds and 2 assists for the Ukrainian Superleague.

Darko Milicic would like to play in Europe

Darko Milicic(2.13-C) gave an interview to commercialappeal.com where he stated that he is beginning not to like the game in the NBA anymore and that he would like to play in Europe where the level of basketball is very good and that he will also be closer to his homeland.

Milicic doesn't want to be typecasted into a defensive player:
"I lot of days I think that," Milicic said, "because the only way to be me is in Europe. I don't want to be a defensive player the rest of my career. It's not really what I want to do."

"In Europe, I can be a different player with the ball going through me," Milicic said. "Here, you take a shot and you just don't want to miss. You think too much.

"I want to get my confidence back on the offensive end. I want the ball to go through me so I can have a chance to miss without worrying about it. And I want a chance to make plays. (Europe) has good basketball, and it would be closer to home."

Aris extended Keydren Clark until 2011

Aris BSA 2003 extended the contract of Keydren Clark(1.81-PG) and announced it via their official website. Keydren Clark signed a contract for 2 seasons this summer with Aris and after the mutual agreement of the player and the club his contract was extended for one more season. Clark has a bulgarian passport so he doesn't occupy the position of a foreign player.

Clark has averaged 11.9 points 2.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 7 games in the A1 Greek league so far.

Rumors about Zdovc in Trikalla 2000

And another one.. that wasn't expected. Jure Zdovc seems to be the strongest candidate for the head coach position in Trikalla according to greek media. Vangelis Aggelou was approached by the administration of Trikalla but his financial demands were deemed too high for the greek club.

Recently the story about Zdovc has surfaced although that might as well be a play for Aggelou to drop his salary expectations. Anyhow, the administration of Trikalla seem to be desperate to get back into the game while it's still early in the A1 league. They are currently the only team without a single win..Zdovc is meant to be the new head coach of Slovenia so it remains to be seen what will happen.

Vojvodina signed Milan Minic

Coach season is still open. Here is another one.. Few days after the resignation of coach Zoran Sretenovic the serbian team signed his successor and he is serbian veteran coach Milan Minic(1955)

Minic will lead Vojvodina in the game against Partizan on Saturday for the Adriatic League. He has worked in a few european teams like Aris, Koln and Lokomotiv Rostov. He was also the assistant coach of Dusan Ivkovic in Olympiakos.

Zaragoza signed Carles Marco

Zaragoza signed veteran point guard Carles Marco(1.80-PG) that left Manresa and signed a contract with Zaragoza until the end of the season. Marco has played for Valladolid, Badalona, Cajasol Sevilla, Leon and this season he started playing for Manresa where he averaged 3.2 points 1.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 6 games.

Pepu Hernandez for France?

The coach galore continues with Pepu Hernandez again and this time it's not Greece.. it's France. According to marca.com, Pepu Hernandez seems to be the main candidate to take up the hot seat as head coach of the French National Team.

Things are not peachy in France as their National Team failed to qualify in the upcoming Eurobasket 2009 in Poland(hopefully) so their aim would probably to produce a competitive team that will be able to qualify for the Eurobasket competition after that. The French Federation is currently in the pre-election period with 2 weeks remaining until the new president is elected and with him the decision for a new head coach will be made. Pepu Hernandez seems to be the ideal candidate but it remains to be seen what will happen..

Valencia announced Matt Nielsen

Valencia announced Matt Nielsen(2.08-PF) as expected via their official website. The australian power forward who is the captain of the Australian National Team was a personal choice of coach Spahija. Nielsen came from a good start with Lietuvos Rytas. He went through the medical examinations and was later on announced to the press as the new player of Valencia.

As a player of Lietuvos Rytas he has averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 7 games in the Baltic League and 7.4 points and 5 rebounds in 7 games in the Lithuanian league so far.

Malaga got Shirley for a month

Malaga announced Paul Shirley(2.08-PF/C) via their official site and he will sign a month's contract pending his medical examination. Shirley's contract will have effect from the 28th of November to the 28th of December and he will be filling in for the injured Marcus Haislip.

Shirley has been playing on and off between Europe and the NBA. He has played for Panionios, Badalona, Unics Kazan and Menorca. In the NBA he has played for Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix. Last season that he played for Menorca he averaged 6.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 29 games in the regular season of the ACB.

Rawle Marshall suspended for 3 months

Rawle Marshall got suspended for 3 months from the games of the Adriatic League for his excessive violent behaviour against Sinisa Stemberger. This means that Cibona will not have Marshall playing for them during the games of the Adriatic League but he can play in the games of the Euroleague as per normal. Cibona does not participate in the Croatian League currently but they will join in at a later stage.

He can rest assured though that "his card is now marked" and that the Euroleague refs will not tolerate any more antics given the nature of his outburst that you can watch in the video below property of Youtube.

Danilo Gallinari might not need surgery

Danilo Gallinari, in exclusive for basketcentral.it and in cooperation with his website www.danilogallinari.it, made a video blog in which talks even about his physical condition: "I am glad that I won't have anymore one day on and one day off. Now I know that I have to rest for 60 days and it's much better: if my back won't hurt there will be no need for a surgery. That's what I hope, becuase I really want to play!".

Mensah-Bonsu is back!

Despite the rumors that Pops Mensah-Bonsu(2.05-PF) will stay in the USA for 2 more weeks the official site of Badalona has confirmed that he has returned to Spain today. It seems that ghanese-british power forward did not stay more to have his shoulder looked after by the american specialist so now he will either continue the treatment in Spain or he might even be ready to play..?

Stoykov hit the 1000 point mark!

One of the best players this decade in Europe's second competition added another highlight to his collection on Tuesday as Todor Stoykov of Academic Sofia reached the milestone of 1,000 points scored. Stoykov entered the season as the all-time leading scorer in ULEB Cup history with 987 points in 60 games. On Tuesday, in his first game in the new Eurocup, he left his mark, too.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Kenny Adeleke grabbed an offensive rebound and set Stoykov up for a three pointer – his third of the game – to push him over the 1,000-point barrier as Academic closed the gap to 68-69. The Bulgarian champs would go on to take the lead before suffering a 79-80 loss on a Marko Popovic triple in the closing seconds. Stoykov finished with 17 points in 31 minutes and now has 1,004 career points. He is also the all-time competition leader in assists (169), free throws made (222) and attempted (301), three-pointers made (158) and attempted (458) and fouls drawn (273).

(source: www.ulebcup.com)

Hernandez dismisses rumors about Greece

Pepu Hernandez was asked by the greek site sport24.gr about the rumors that circulated regarding his negotiations with a National Team.

He seemed to be expecting the question and he said that he is actually in negotiations with the basketball federation of a specific country but that country is not Greece. He said that he never had discussions with the Greek Federation at any point in time.

Dikoudis close to Panionios

According to betsmart.gr, Demos Dikoudis(2.07-PF) is close to returning to Greece and the Euroleague, this time for the team of Panionios. According to the article the greek power forward is satisfied by the contract that Panionios is offering and the participation in the Euroleague is always a plus. With this move Panionios would effectively replace Goran Nikolic who hasn't performed up to expectations.

Dikoudis has yet to be officially released by Valencia though so it remains to be seen what will happen. Dikoudis has averaged 5.6 points 3 rebounds and 2 steals per game in the last 6 games of Valencia in the ACB. 

According to another site, novasports.gr, in Greece they are waiting for minister Ioannidis to sign the new law that would allow greek players to return to Greece after having played abroad. They also say that once this law is signed Dikoudis will be announced by Panionios.

Virtus released Blizzard

Virtus Bologna has released Brett Blizzard(1.90-SG/PG) and it was announced by their official site. According to the announcement Blizzard was not happy playing for Virtus and so he was released as he didn't want to be part of the team anymore. Claudio Sabatini says in the announcement that the club will do everything in their power to make players feel comfortable.

The american-italian guard had increased playing time in the beginning of the season but was sidelined later on playing only 4 minutes in the next game. Blizzard averaged 5.9 points 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 7 games while shooting at 44% behind the arc(11/25). 

Zalgiris opens the door to Collins

Zalgiris' GM, Paulius Motiejunas, made statements to lithuanian media 15min.lt saying that Zalgiris would welcome Dejuan Collins back. The american point-guard was recently released by Lokomotiv Rostov for disciplinary reasons.

Motiejunas said that the club is open to negotiations and that the matter of course is up to Dejuan Collins. It seems strange though that Zalgiris would like to re-book an expensive player when they don't even have money to pay the salaries of smaller contracts..

Mensah-Bonsu stays in the US for 2 more weeks

According to marca.com, Pops Mensah-Bonsu will be staying in the USA for another 2 weeks to complete the treatment on his injured shoulder. Badalona's medical team initially recomended to the player to operate his shoulder which would leave him 6 months off the courts so he went to the States to get a second opinion by a local specialist. Mensah-Bonsu was scheduled to return yesterday but this new predicament keeps Badalona in trouble that without Rubio and Mensah-Bonsu are missing out on quality and quantity..

Jure Zdovc to coach Slovenian National Team

And another one.. The executive committee of the Slovenian national team decided on Monday to give one of the best Slovenian players of all time, Jure Zdovc, full authorization and the mandate for coaching the national team in the next period according to Adriatic League official site.

Zdovc, who as a player was the world champion with the ex-Yugoslavian national team and has the silver medal from the Olympic Games in 1988, worked as a coach in Cornet, Krka, Geoplin Slovan, Split, Panionios, Iraklis, Bosna ASA BHt. For some time he was also the sport's director of Union Olimpija but in the last few months since he left Sarajevo he was not involved in any bussiness regarding basketball.

Panionios is looking for a forward

Panionios is on the lookout for a power-forward according to novasports.gr, to replace Goran Nikolic(2.07-PF) who has not satisfied the coaching staff and the administration of Panionios. The montenegrian power-forward seems to be out of place in a few games and so coach Trifunovic has started looking for a replacement. Nikolic has averaged 4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7 games in the greek A1 league.

On a sidenote, other rumors from Greece say that Panionios has expressed interest into the case of Demos Dikoudis but it may seem unlikely at this stage.

Hernandez to coach Greek National Team?

The coach galore continues!! According to spanish newspaper El Pais, coach Pepu Hernandez has an offer to coach a National Team of a european country. Hernandez said that to the media himself today attending an event at the Reconquista Public School in Spain.

Hernandez didn't want to name the country that made him an offer and said that he is quite happy and he is exactly where he wants taking a break from basketball. The media from Greece picked up on these news and earlier rumors about a foreign coach taking over the Greek National Team re-emerged.

Currently Panayiotis Giannakis is the head coach but in Greece it is considered almost certain that someone else will lead the team to Eurobasket in Poland.

Gershon returns to Maccabi

Tonight (Monday), the management of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv made some important changes in the team’s professional staff. The man who led the club to three European championships will become Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s head coach starting Tuesday, November 25, 2008. He has signed for three seasons with the team, including this one.

Pini Gershon, the team’s former head coach who led the club to three European championships, will once again become the team’s head coach starting tomorrow, Tuesday, November 25, 2008, for the next three seasons, including this one.

The club has parted ways with former head coach Efy Birenboim, and his assistant Roi Hagay, and thanks them for their faithful service over the past few months. Pini Gershon is expected to arrive in Israel tomorrow afternoon, and to coach Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s Euroleague game against Unicaja Malaga this coming Thursday.

(source:http://www.maccabi.co.il)

Caserta announced Horace Jenkins

Caserta announced the signing of veteran Horace Jenkins(1.86-PG) via their official website. The italian team signed Jenkins until the end of the season and he comes to replace Jamal Butler that didn't get along with coach Frates.

The 34-year old Jenkins has played in numerous teams in Europe. He has played for 2 separate seasons for Virtus Roma, he has played for AEK Athens, had a short pass via the Detroit Pistons and returned to Europe for Hapoel Jerusalem, Efes Pilsen and last season he played for Fortitudo Bologna where he averaged 15.7 points 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 31 games.

Ratko Varda's open letter to Zalgiris

Ratko Varda(2.16-C) who left Zalgiris Kaunas recently because of the team's financial issues has written an open letter via the eurobasket.com . Using the letter he is expressing his dismay about how his case was handled by the legendary club(his own words) and says that under different circumstances he would like to play for them again. Varda says how much he helped the team, to the best of his abilities but he wasn't even given a financial settlement. He says that never happened and Zalgiris has yet to contact him..

The full body of the letter can be found here.

Matt Nielsen close to Valencia

Lietuvos Rytas, the newspaper that owns the team with the same name has published an article that makes perfectly clear that coach Spahija wants Matthew Nielsen(2.08-PF) in Valencia and the offer is on the table. President Jonas Vainauskas is considering the offer and the answer will be given shortly. This is verified in a different article where it clearly says that Nielsen wants to play for Valencia.

Nielsen did not play against Asvel in tonight's game so this might indicate that he is on his way to Spain either literally or metaphorically. The captain of the australian team has been one of the most valuable players of Lietuvos Rytas. He has averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 7 games in the Baltic League and 7.4 points and 5 rebounds in 7 games in the Lithuanian league so far.

Olimpija extended Begic for 2 years

After the revelations by coach Dzikic, the administration of Olimpija decided to renew the contract of talented center Mirza Begic(2.20-C) for another 2 years. The talented center has been targetted by wealthy teams from Russia and Spain and the administration want to make sure that the club will not be left without compensation. This was a wise move considering that Begic had a contract that would have expired at the end of this season.

At the moment he is averaging 14.3 points 7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game in 4 games in the Euroleague.

Skourtopoulos from Egaleo to Trikalla?

Coach galore this week! Egaleo BC have announced that they are releasing coach Thanassis Skourtopoulous from his contract. The announcement was not posted on the team's official site which is currently under construction.

The administration says in the announcement that they've doubled the players' budget since last season according to the wishes of coach Skourtopoulos to replace players in the team but to no avail. They are looking for a replacement head coach. Rumors say that it might be coach Zevgolis. Skourtopoulos has been the head coach of Egaleo in the last 2 seasons and is one of the main reasons that the team has not been relegated to the A2 league. The future is uncertain for Egaleo now..

It seems that he won't stay ouf of work for very long though as the A1 rookie, Trikalla 2000, want to replace coach Christopoulos who didn't manage to produce any results according to novasports.gr.

Pedro Martinez is the new coach of Cajasol

Cajasol Sevilla have announced Pedro Martinez as their new head coach. Martinez will be replacing Manuel Comas that was fired a few days ago and signed a new contract until the end of the season.

Martinez was the head coach of Girona last season and despite the team's financial difficulties he managed to get a decent performance out of Girona.He has coached in numerous teams in Spain and is quite experienced in the ACB. The coach will be presented to the media this evening and then will be doing the first training session of the team.

Lokomotiv Rostov dismissed Dejuan Collins

Lokomotiv Rostov announced that they are dismissing Dejuan Collins(1.88-PG/SG) that they signed earlier this summer. The reasons behind this decision according to the team's official statement were systematic violations of the internal rules of the team and so the player was not included in the 2ng leg Russian Cup game against Dynamo Moscow.

He has played in Varese, Aris, Alba and Bamberg in the past. Dejuan Collins was one of Zalgiris' leaders last season where he averaged 10.9 points 3.9 assists 5.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 20 games in the Euroleague. This season he has averaged so far 8.4 points 5.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds in 7 games in the Russian Superleague for Lokomotiv.

Fortiduto announced Gregor Fucka

Fortitudo Bologna announced the signing of veteran Gregor Fucka(2.15-PF). Fucka needs no recommendations as he is a highly decorated veteran of the european courts both in national and international level.

The italian/slovenian forward returns to Fortitudo after 6 seasons away, 4 of them in Barcelona where he acquired a Euroleague title, 2 Spanish league titles and a Spanish Kings Cup. He started his career in KK Triglav Kranj and then moved on to Olimpija Lubljana. In Italy he played in Trieste first and then moved to Olimpia Milano and later on to Fortitudo between 1997 and 2002 where he helped them conquer the Italian League. He also played for Girona where he won the Fiba Eurocup and last season he played for Lottomatica Roma where he averaged 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 19 games. He has also won a gold medal and a silver medal with the Italian National Team in the Eurobasket Championship.

Washington and Dalmau to leave Ural Great

According to championat.ru, Darius Washington(1.88-PG/SG) and Christian Dalmau(1.92-PG/SG) will be released by Ural Great. The press officers of Ural didn't make any comments regarding this but the 2 players were not included in the team's roster for the quarterfinal game of the Russian Cup against Unics Kazan and according to the article, the 2 guards will be released in time.

Washington has so far averaged 11.5 points 2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 2 games, whereas Dalmau has averaged 9 points 2.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 5 games for the Russian Superleague.

Roanne replaced Somerville with Sumpter

Roanne has announced Curtis Sumpter(2.01-SF) that played for Vichy last season. Sumpter graduated from Villanova in 2007 averaging 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in 32 games in his last season with the Wildcats.

He signed his first contract with the Koln 99ers but left the team only after one game and signed with Vichy later in February. He played 12 games in the regular with Vichy and averaged 9.8 points 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists. He also played 2 games in the playoffs averaging 9.5 points and 4 rebounds. Sumpter was training with the LA Clippers during the pre-season and he will be replacing Marcellus Somerville(2.00-SF) who is estimated to stay off the courts for around 45 days.

Ponkrashov returning to CSKA?

According to Sports Express, Anton Ponkrashov(2.00-PG) might be recalled to CSKA from Khimki that he is currently on loan. The player didn't take part in Khimki's game yesterday for the Russian Final Four of the Russian Cup.

Coach Kemzura was asked about this and he said that the player was recalled by CSKA as he belongs to them and he cannot do anything about it. Funny enough when Ponkrashov was asked the same question he said he didn't play due to an injury. When the reporters told him what coach Kemzura said he simply replied that the coach probably knows more than he does. Ponkrashov has averaged 7 points 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds in the last 7 games with Khimki.

Olimpija to release Jonathan Wallace

According to eurobasket.com, Union Olimpija parted ways with Jonathan Wallace (1.87-PG). Wallace failed to impress coach Aleksandar Dzikic this season. He averaged 19,5 minutes, 6,3 points 1,3 rebounds, 1,3 assists and 0,3 steals in four Euroleague's games and 16,5 minutes, 4,4 points, 1,3 rebounds, 0,6 assists and 0,4 steals in 8 games of NLB Adriatic League.

Dwayne Jones returning to the NBA

According to the Charlotte Observer, Dwayne Jones(2.11-C) will be released by Efes Pilsen in order to return to the NBA and play for the Charlotte Bobcats. Jones didn't adjust to the european style of basketball and barely managed to pull some numbers through in the 2 games he played for Efes Pilsen.

Jones graduated from St Josephs. In 2004-05, Jones was the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the All-Defensive Team for the second consecutive year. He ranked fifth in rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.0) in the nation, and led the Atlantic 10 in both categories. Although scoring was never his strongest skill he is a formidable presence in the low-post defensively.

He was signed by the Timbewolves in 2005 and after a short pass via the Florida Flame he was traded to Boston and from there to Cleveland. In his last season in the NBA he averaged 1.4 points and 2.5 rebounds rebounds in 56 games.

Rumors about releasing Adrian Henning

According to esports.lv, Barons will be releasing Adrian Hennings(2.03-SF/PF). The reason behind that is that he is not a frontcourt player.

Coach Muiznieks said that Hennings, although being a very good player, is a perimeter player and he is not strong enough to play in the low post. Furthemore more the president of the team, Ivo Zonne, said that his agent promoted the player as a forward/center but it seems like Hennings is an athletic small forward and can't cover the needs of the team. The team also tried to cut down on the player's salaries but it go down very well with the player.

President Zonne also made a comment about this situation, putting in the spotlight the players' agents that are giving misleading information to the teams. Adrian Henning averaged 12 points and 3.6 rebounds in 5 games with Barons so far.

Cajasol dismissed Manuel Comas

Cajasol announced via their official website that they are dismissing coach Comas who came last season in order to save Cajasol from going down the drain. The last game that ended in a defeat against Murcia was the final straw.

His replacements for the time being will be his 2 assistants Rocky Jarana and Angel Jareno. Comas came in last January to replace Ruben Magnano and managed to save the team from being relegated. Rumors from Spain say that the next possible candidate might be Pedro Martinez who coached Girona last season.

The credit crunch hit Russia

The wave of the credit crunch has hit the Russian teams as well. According to an article from Ball In Europe the russian teams are having difficulties paying their players at the moment.

To quote directly from the article:
Much depends on the Dollar value. If the oil price keeps dropping - the Ruble (Russian currency) will fall. It is expected that the Ruble will fall. From here - everything will get worse. The Russian basketball contracts are in dollars, and the sponsoring of the clubs and salaries is in rubles. - meaning the clubs will have to pay more money to their players.

CSKA Moscow, Dinamo, Khimki, Triumph and CSK VVS don’t pay their salaries right now. It also says that Carlos Delfino refused to play in the 3rd quarter for Khimki during their latest game. Perhaps there will be more player-bleeding in the weeks to come and this time it might come from Russia.

Paok fired coach Pedoulakis, Gregory out?

Paok announced via their official website that they have ended their contract with Argiris Pedoulakis who was the head coach of Paok in the last 6 games for Paok in the greek league. This might come as a suprise to some people as a few days earlier the president of Paok, Dimitris Drosos made statements to basketblog.gr saying that he will support coach Pedoulakis like no other head coach was supported by a president before.. obviously that didn't happen..

The likeliest candidate to take over is the usual suspect, Giorgos Kalafatakis, who is used to being hired in order to save troubled teams. Paok also ended their contract with technical manager Nikos Boudouris who is an old veteran of Paok as coach Pedoulakis was his suggestion.

Further rumors from Greece say that Kenny Gregory is also to be released in order to get a low-post player in his place and also give some playing time to Alexis Kyritsis who was sidelined in the last game against Aris.

Maccabi is bringing back Marcus Fizer

Maccabi Tel Aviv is bringing back Marcus Fizer(2.01-C). Fizer will be monitored by the medical staff of Maccabi to deem if his condition progresses good enough for the team to re-instate him in their roster in a few weeks time.

Fizer returned to Israel on Sunday. According to the Euroleague Official Site, Fizer is scheduled to be examined by the surgeon who operated on him a few months ago and be under the close supervision of Maccabi's physiotherapist, Rafi Virshuvski. "The operation on Marcus’s knee was successful," said Virshuvski. "The problem is the knee needs to be strengthened. Right now, there’s little-to-no strength in the knee, and it can’t support much weight, particularly that of Marcus himself." According to Virshuvski, Fizer is expected to be back on court in late December if the rehabilitation goes as planned.