Krka released Bruce Price

Krka released point guard Bruce Elden Price (1.91-PG) who was earlier released from AEL 1964 in Greece. Price managed to play only 5 games with Krka in Slovenia and although his performance wasn't up to standard Krka didn't suffer any losses.

Price graduated from Tenneessee averaging 17.6 points 4.7 rebounds and 5 assists per game but he found it really hard to play pro in Europe.

Anwil announced Oliver Stevic

After Slask's bankruptcy quite a few players have become free agents. One of them was Oliver Stevic(2.04-PF/C) that was announced by Anwil via their official site. Anwil makes mention of offers that the player had from other polish and non-polish teams but he chose them. His contract will last until the end of 2008 where either the player or the team can break it.

Stevic also played for KK Borac KK Masinac and KK Koper in the past. He averaged 21.5 points in the 2 games he managed to play with Slask.

Egaleo BC signed Raimonds Gabrans

Egaleo BC signed latvian point guard Raimonds Gabrans(1.88-PG) that played last season for BK Ventspils. There was a complication with this transfer earlier as Gabrans had agreed with the greek team but there were people that tried to dissuade him.

Egaleo BC is adding another point-guard to their roster to reinforce their backcourt, he is a fast point-guard with very good passing ability and plays hard defense. Gabrans has played for ASK Bumerangs and BK Ventspils and he has also played for the latvian national team. Last season he averaged 6.9 points 3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the 12 games for the Uleb Cup playing for Ventspils.

Efes Pilsen announced Dwayne Jones

Efes Pilsen announced the signing of Dwayne Jones(2.11-PF/C) who played for Cleveland for the last 2 seasons in order to replace the injured Mario Kasun.

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.

Fortitudo announced DJ Strawberry

Fortitudo Bologna found a replacement for Joseph Forte and he is combo guard D.J. Strawberry(1.95-PG/SG) straight out of the Houston Rockets training camp.

He graduated from Maryland and in his last season in the NCAA he averaged 14.9 points 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 34 games. He was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, by the Suns in the 2007 NBA Draft and was signed by Phoenix for a 2 year contract. Since then he played in the NBDL for the Thunderbirds and later on was traded to Houston. He averaged 2.2 points and 0.8 rebounds in 33 games for Houston.

BC Oostende announced Nick Fazekas

Nick Fazekas(2.11-PF/C) will be playing for belgian team BC Oostende and was announced by their official website. They recently had a change of head coach and they are waiting for coach Drucker to start as a head coach very soon.

Fazekas graduated from Nevada College where he averaged 20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds during his senior year in 32 games. He was later drafted in 2007 at number 34 by the Dallas Mavericks.

Sadly for him he has not acquired a Hungarian passport yet that will allow him to play as a european player. Fazekas is known for his shooting skill which is impressive for a player of his height. Last season he averaged 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 26 games in the NBA playing for the Clippers and the Mavericks.

BC Kalev announced Kevin Lyde

Kevin Lyde(2.08-PF/C) was announced by the official site of BC Kalev as he was waived by the Utah Jazz for a second season in a row. He didn't manage to secure a guaranteed contract with Utah so he chose to play in Europe instead of the NBDL that he played in last season.

As a player of the Dakota Wizards he played 44 games and he averaged 12.3 points 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.

Fuenlabrada signed Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Fuenlabrada signed georgian forward/center Nikoloz Tskitishvili(2.12-PF/C) and they've announced it via their official website. Head coach Guil said "Tskitishvili is a player with great physical presence and he has good rebounding skills, he can also shoot from anywhere in the perimeter".

He has tried his luck in the NBA playing for 4 different teams but he clearly wasn't cut out for that style of playing. He returned to Europe and played for Cajasol and Teramo where he actually had a substantial season. He averaged 10.7 points and 4.6 rebounds in 27 games last season for Teramo in the LegaA1.

Raptors renewed Andrea Bargnani

The Toronto Raptors exercised the right to renew Andrea Bargnani(2.13-PF/C) a.k.a. il Mago as he is called in Italy.

He was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. Prior to his NBA career, Bargnani played for Italy's Benetton Treviso in the Italian Lega A and the elite Europe-wide Euroleague. He helped Benetton conquer the Italian LegaA1 before he moved on to the NBA. He averaged 10.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 78 games in the NBA

Markota the 11th player of Menorca

Damir Markota(2.09-PF) is the 11th player of Vive Menorca. The spanish club announced his signing via their official website and this will be next stop in Markota's tumultuous career as he doesn't seem to stay steady in one team. Something that might affect his career prospects in the long run..

Markota was drafted in 2006 by San Antonio at number 59 in the 2nd roud. During the summer of 2006, the Bucks signed Markota to a multi-year contract after the Spurs traded his draft rights for the higher of the Bucks' two 2007 NBA Draft second-round picks. Markota was playing for Spartak St. Petersburg and Zalgiris in the previous season when he averaged 10.5 points 5.3 revounds and 2.9 assists in 13 games for Spartak St Petersburg in the russian superleague.

Ural Great signed Darius Washington

Ural Great signed american combo guard Darius Washington(1.88-PG/SG) and announced it via their official website. Washington was trying to secure a contract with the Chicago Bulls during pre-season but he was waived by Chicago. He plays as a european player as he owns a european passport.

He has played for Paok in Greece, Nymburg in Czech Republic(won the czech league) and played for Aris Thessaloniki last season after he was waived by the San Antonio Spurs that he played for briefly. Washington averaged 10.2 points 2.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 9 games in the Euroleague last season and also averaged 10 points 2.1 assists and 3 rebounds in 17 games in the greek league.

Coach Pedoulakis in scrutiny

The rumors regarding the replacement of the first head coach in Greece have already started. Coach Argiris Pedoulakis is in serious scrutiny by the fans of Poak as the team managed to lose 2 games at home and not only that but they lost with a serious margin as well.

The losses to Panellinios and Panionios have started a serious of rumors amongst the fans that have already hit the greek sport media and because of Dimitris Drosos' tendency to replace the head coach at the first sign of trouble which is what he did last year when he was the main shareholder of AEK. The names of Giorgos Kalafatakis, Pini Gershon and Nenand Markovic were some of the most prominent ones. Certainly not good times for Paok as they feature quite an expensive team that seems to lack motivation when they play.

Nick Fazekas to replace Mike Hall?

Rumors from Italian media are saying that Olimpia Milano is considering replacing Mike Hall(2.03-SF/PF) with Nick Fazekas(2.11-PF). The reason for that is that Mike Hall has not satisfied the coaching team with his performance. Having said that it's worth mentioning that in today's loss of Olimpia to Caserta Mike Hall put through a formidable performance with 9 points and 11 rebounds.

Fazekas was recently waived by the Denver Nuggets and he is back on the market for Europe but also for the NBDL as well as the Reno Bighorns would love to have him on the team. That seems unlikely though as he will earn a lot more money in Europe.

Sadly for him he has not acquired a Hungarian passport yet that will allow him to play as a european player. Fazekas is known for his shooting skill which is impressive for a player of his height. Last season he averaged 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 26 games in the NBA playing for the Clippers and the Mavericks.

Rumors about Stack returning to Aris

According to sportdog.gr Ryan Stack(2.11-PF/C) has started negotiations with the administration of Aris regarding his return to the greek team. Ryan Stack played in Aris for 4 years before leaving them to go to Olympiakos where he played for a season and later on moved to BC Kyiv where he played for last season and also he has played for them 3 games this season but with diminished playing time. He has a european passport and he doesn't occupy the position of a foreign player.

The signing of Jovo Stanojevic leaves no room for Stack in BC Kyiv who didn't play in the last game of the ukrainian team versus Poltava. According to the article the official response of Aris was that there will be a change if the coach deems it necessary and at the moment nothing like that stands. Ryan Stack averaged 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in 29 games of the Ukrainian Superleague last season.

Who will replace Willie Deane?

A long list of candidates has been compiled by sportalas.com in order to find a substitute for Willie Deane. The american point guard is rumored to be departing from the team of Zalgiris soon and so the lithuanian team needs to find a replacement for the starting point guard position.

Zalgiris has been plagued by major financial problems this year and already they've lost Marcus Brown to Maccabi Tel Aviv. The main name on the list is NBA veteran Eddie Gill who played for Dynamo Moscow in the past and has been playing in the NBDL last season averaging 18 points 5.1 rebounds and 8.5 assists.

Other names on the list are rumored to be Tyus Edney, Darius Washington and Robert Hite.

Menorca interested in Damir Markota

According to solobasket.com Vive Menorca seems to be interested in croatian/swedish forward Damir Markota(2.09-PF). Markota was drafted in 2006 by San Antonio at number 59 in the 2nd roud. During the summer of 2006, the Bucks signed Markota to a multi-year contract after the Spurs traded his draft rights for the higher of the Bucks' two 2007 NBA Draft second-round picks.

Markota was playing for Spartak St. Petersburg and Zalgiris in the previous season when he averaged 10.5 points 5.3 revounds and 2.9 assists in 13 games for Spartak St Petersburg in the russian superleague.

This summer he signed with Cibona but due to bad relations with coach Perasovic he was kicked out of the team.

Angelico Biella announced Goran Jurak

Angellico Biella announced a 2-month contract (with an option for the team to renew it until the end of the season) with slovenian veteran Goran Jurak(2.03-PF) who comes to reinforce the game in the low post for the italian team.

Jurak played for Zalgiris last season in the Euroleague and the Baltic and Lithuanian leagues. He has also played for Olimpija Ljubljana, Olympiakos, Cantu, Jesi and Pivovarna. Last season he averaged 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 19 games in the Euroleague for Zalgiris.

BC Kyiv announced Stanojevic

BC Kyiv announced the rumored transfer of Jovo Stanojevic(2.07-C) that will strengthen the front line of the team for the upcoming EuroCup games and the Ukrainian league. The rumors were actually true and it remains to be seen if this will development will show the way out for Ryan Stack who doesn't get much playing time with BC Kyiv anymore.

Stanojevic arrived from Besiktas where he only managed to play one game in the regular season. He also played for Prokom Trefl, which he helped win the Polish League championship last season.

Before that he spent five seasons with Alba Berlin, during which he won one German League championships, two German Cups and was named to the all-star team three times. He has also played for Vojvodina Novi Sad, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade in his native Serbia, as well as for Maccabi Ironi Ra'anana in Israel. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, Stanojevic won the bronze medal at the 1999 European Championship. He averaged 9 points and 4.6 rebounds over 20 minutes per game in 10 Euroleague games and 10.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 18 minutes in the Polish League with Prokom.

Willie Deane to leave Zalgiris?

According to krepsinis.net, Willie Deane(1.85-PG) is negotiating with his old team, Lukoil Academic as the financial problems seem to be cirppling the legendary Zalgiris Kaunas, one player at a time. After the departure of Marcus Brown to Maccabi and the potential departure of Jonas Maciulis to Barcelona, although it was dismissed by Zalgiris, the next player to leave might be Willie Deane who was signed by Zalgiris in July for a 1+1 contract.

Willie Deane had an exciting career so far in Europe after graduating from Purdue, playing in Greece for Ilisiakos, for Turk Telekom in Turkey, for Spartak Vladivostok in Russia and for Lukoil Academic last season in Bulgaria. That year was his ticket to the big leagues. Willie Deane alongside with big man Pero Antic were the best players of Academic and won the bulgarian league undefeated.

In the Uleb Cup Academic managed to proceed to the Last-16 but they knocked out by Dynamo Moscow. Willie Deane averaged 18.5 points 4.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in 13 games in the Uleb Cup.

Rumors about Stack and Stanojevic

According to basketcentral.it Jovo Stanojevic(2.07-C) is heading to BC Kyiv to replace Ryan Stack. The article says that Ryan Stack was waived by BC Kyiv a few days ago although there has been no official confirmation of this and nothing else similar has been reported in the european press so we can't really elaborate any further.

Stanojevic and Besiktas mutually agreed to part ways recently and the article although it doesn't say much, it indicates that Stanojevic will be heading to BC Kyiv in order to replace Ryan Stack(2.11-PF/C).

Maccabi and Fortitudo are after Gaines

According to mondobasket.it Maccabi and Fortitudo are after Charles Gaines to re-inforce their front lines with a strong and experienced power forward. Charles Gaines was recently waived by the San Antonio Spurs.

Charles Gaines(2.01-PF), a player who although lacks in height (2.01m) he makes in ferocity and athleticism. He is a very capable rebounder. Gaines is a seasoned player in the european market having played for Reggio Calabria, Villerbane, Badalona and last season for Galatasaray. Last season he averaged 12.9 points and 8.1 rebounds in 28 games in the turkish league.

Ivan Koljevic stays with Cherkassy

The Cherkassy Monkeys signed Ivan Koljevic(1.83-PG) until the end of the season after they tried the player for a month. The montenegran point-guard has played in quite a few teams in the past like Olympiakos, Lietuvos Rytas, Bilbao and Buducnost. He is also a member of the Montenegran National Team.

Last season he played for Ural Great and he averaged 7.1 points 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21 games

Ironi Ashkelon close to signing Tre Kelley

According to unconfirmed rumors Ironi Ashkelon will sign american point guard Tre Kelley(1.82-PG) that played last season for Panellinios in Greece and Cibona in Croatia and the Euroleague. Kelley was signed this September by the Miami Heat to a non-guaranteed contract but a few days later he was released. He graduated from South Carolina in 2007 where he averaged 18.9 points 5.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 29 games.

Last season he started playing for Cibona and played 13 Euroleague games where he averaged 11.1 points 2.5 assists and 1.3 rebounds. He moved on to Panellinios afterwards where he averaged 9.6 points 1.9 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 9 games for the greek A1 league.

Besiktas released Jovo Stanojevic

Besiktas and serbian center Jovo Stanojevic(2.07-C) decided to mutually end their agreement that they signed back in August. He only played one game in the regular season with Besiktas. Rumors are that they are looking for an american center to complement the front line of the team and Besiktas will be looking in the list of players that will be released from the NBA rosters until the end of the pre-season. Stanojevic arrived from Prokom Trefl, which he helped win the Polish League championship last season.

Before that he spent five seasons with Alba Berlin, during which he won one German League championships, two German Cups and was named to the all-star team three times. He has also played for Vojvodina Novi Sad, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade in his native Serbia, as well as for Maccabi Ironi Ra'anana in Israel. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, Stanojevic won the bronze medal at the 1999 European Championship.

He averaged 9 points and 4.6 rebounds over 20 minutes per game in 10 Euroleague games and 10.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 18 minutes in the Polish League with Prokom.

Elmer Bennett decided to step down

Elmer Bennett one of the most experienced veterans of the ACB and the european courts decided to step down and retire from action as it was announced yesterday by the Cajasol official site. The 37-year old veteran said that he couldn't play in the level that he wanted anymore and he thanked coach Comas for trusting him blindly with the team last season. He also said that he wanted to retire last season but he decided to help Cajasol. An athlete never wants to step down were some of his words and it's always hard to make that decision.

He graduated from Notre Dame in 1992 and in the draft of 1992 he was selected at number 38 byt the Atlanta Hawks. Benett has played for Tau, Real, Badalona and the last 2 seasons he played for Cajasol.

Vojvodina is trying Rasheed Brokenborough

According to eurobasket.com Vojvodina is testing another american player that can potentially sign for them. It is Rasheed Brokenborough(1.91-PG/SG) that played for Scavolini last season. He has also played for Tofas Bursa where he was in the starting five and also played for Ventspils in Latvia, Maccabi Givat in Israel and Kampfenberg in Austria. He won the austrian league 3 times with Kampfenberg and once with Ventspils in Latvia.

Last season he averaged 5.8 points 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 34 games in the LegaA1 for Scavolini.

San Antonio waive Charles Gaines

The San Antonio Spurs announced that are waiving power forward Charles Gaines. They signed him earlier this month but it seems that he won't be able to find a spot in their roster which now numbers 19 players.

Charles Gaines(2.01-PF), a player who although lacks in height (2.01m) he makes in ferocity and athleticism. He is a very capable rebounder. Gaines is a seasoned player in the european market having played for Reggio Calabria, Villerbane, Badalona and last season for Galatasaray. Last season he averaged 12.9 points and 8.1 rebounds in 28 games in the turkish league. This development puts him back on the european market where he can find a contract more easily.

Rumors about Terrence Morris

According to the israeli sports site sport5.co.il Terrence Morris is on his way out of CSKA. It's not clear what seems to be the reason for the release of the player but this is certainly an odd rumor.

The player's high contract(2 million dollars per year) allegedly seems to be a problem for CSKA's rotation for a player that might not be taking part initially in the Euroleague.

Terrence Morris(2.07-PF) had an impressive last year with Maccabi helping his team reach the Euroleague final where they lost to CSKA. Morris averaged 12.4 points 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

Warriors waive Dan Dickau

Dan Dickau didn't make it in Golden State either. The player was waived by the Warriors this Sunday as it was announced by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin according to realgm.com.

Dickau, who was originally signed as a free agent October 1, appeared in two of Golden State’s first four preseason games, averaging 5.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.00 steals in 12.0 minutes per game. That puts Dan Dickau back on the market as a free agent.

Dickau, 30, has appeared in 300 regular-season games during his six-year NBA career, owning career averages of 5.8 points, 2.5 assists, 1.4 rebounds and 15.4 minutes per game with Atlanta, Portland, Dallas, New Orleans, Boston and the Los Angeles Clippers. The 6-0 guard spent last season with the Clippers, appearing in 67 games (eight starts) and averaging 5.3 points and 2.6 assists in 15.5 minutes, while shooting 41.9% from the field, 33.3% from three-point range and 82.9% from the free throw line.

Chicago waive Brown and Washington

The Chicago Bulls waived Elton Brown and Darius Washington and now their pre-season roster rests at 15 players.

Brown (2.08-PF/C) appeared in two preseason games with the Bulls and averaged 2.5 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 8.0 mpg. He participated in the 2008 Vegas Summer League with the Denver Nuggets, averaging a double-double, posting 13.4 ppg and 10.0 rpg in five appearances. Brown, who played in 120 games in four seasons at the University of Virginia, spent the 2007.08 season playing for both the Colorado 14ers and for Hapoel Holon.

Washington (1.88-PG/SG) saw action in two preseason games and averaged 8.0 ppg in 13.0 mpg. He was on the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2008 summer league roster and tallied averages of 9.6 ppg, 3.4 apg, 3.0 rpg in five appearances. Washington still has a contract in Europe with Aris, the team that he played for last season in the greek league and the Euroleague.

Maccabi announced Marcus Brown

The rumors about Marcus Brown and Maccabi were actually. The israeli team announced Marcus Brown via their official site. His contract is rumored to be the same as he had in Zalgiris that was 1 million dollars. Marcus Brown(1.91-SG) is a prolific scorer and currently the all-time leader of the scoreboards in the Euroleague as he has played 8 seasons and averaged 16.5 points in 140 games.. in this case the numbers speak for themselves.

Brown recovered from a disastrous season with Malaga in 2007, where he missed most of the games due to serious injuries, by stepping up the scoring for Zalgiris. The 34-year old veteran is going to have another busy year with Maccabi.

Vukoicic out, Drucker in?

BC Oostende announced that they are parting ways with serbian coach Vlada Vukoicic and perhaps his replacement will be Sharon Drucker who coached the team in 2006 before moving to Fortitudo Bologna. The funny thing is that at some point in time Fortitudo Bologna had managed to sign 3 different head coaches (Dragan Sakota, Andrea Mazzon and Sharon Drucker).

According to their announcement BC Oostende will continue with their assistant coach, Umberto Badioli at the helm of Oostende. President Arthur Goethals met with Vlada Vukoicic and they decided to end their agreement mutually. Sharon Drucker is the next target for the position of head coach and president Goethals is inclined to sign a multi-year deal.

BC Kyiv announced Alex Scales

Alex Scales(1.93-SG) will be playing against his former team during this Eurocup. The american shooting guard will be playing for the next 3 months for BC Kyiv to replace the gap that Clay Tucker left behind when his leg broke as it was announced today by the BC Kyiv official site.

Alex Scales played in Russia for CSK Samara last season and he also played for Aris during the season 2006-2007 in the greek league and also in the Euroleague. Scales also played in Korea, played briefly for Real Madrid but he never got his shot to play in the NBA although he was signed with 10-day contracts in the past. He averaged 15.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 24 games in the russian Superleague for CSK Samara last season. He was also one of the top scorers in the Euroleague in season 2006-2007 in the regular season and the TOP-16.

Adam Wojcik returns to Poland

Adam Wojcik(2.08-PF) was announced today by PBG Basket Poznan. The polish veteran was rumored to return to his homeland after Capo Di Orlando got disqualified from the polish league.

The 38-year old veteran has played for numerous teams in the past including Prokom Trefl, the late Slask, Unicaja Malaga, Peristeri in Greece and he has also been a member of the polish national team in the past. He played for Capo Di Orlando last season as well and he averaged 7.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 34 games.

CSK Samara announced Andrew Sullivan

CSK Samara announced british forward Andrew Sullivan(2.03-F) via their official website. Last season he played for Dexia Mons in Belgium for the belgian league and the Fiba Eurocup.

He has played in the past for the Newcastle Eagles, DKV and Matrixx in Holland. Last season he averaged 9.1 points 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 12 games in the Fiba Eurocup and also 8 points 3.9 rebounds and 1 assists in 35 games of the belgian league.

Grigas left Zalgiris

Zalgiris Kaunas and Rimantas Grigas have ended their agreement mutually and the lithuanian coach will be leaving the team that he has been coaching since 2006. Grigas told krepsinis.net that it is the right time for him to move on and that he has offers from 2 other teams.

His replacement will be Gintaras Krapikas who has played for Zalgiris in the past and has been an assistant coach in Unics Kazan before Zalgiris. Darius Maskoliunas will be his assistant coach.

Marcus Brown is heading to Maccabi

According to infosports.lt, Marcus Brown is heading to Maccabi Tel Aviv and he may even be there in time to play in the first Euroleague game of the israeli team that wants to get rid of the contract of Tre Simmons.

Simmons didn't impress the coaching staff of Maccabi and he will be replaced by the looks of things by Marcus Brown, a rumor that seems to have spread in european sports media. Marcus Brown(1.91-SG) is a prolific scorer and currently the all-time leader of the scoreboards in the Euroleague as he has played 8 seasons and averaged 16.5 points in 140 games.. in this case the numbers speak for themselves.

Brown recovered from a disastrous season with Malaga in 2007, where he missed most of the games due to serious injuries, by stepping up the scoring for Zalgiris. The 34-year old veteran is going to have another busy year with Maccabi.

Slask declared bankruptcy

According to eurobasket.com, Mariusz Baluszynski, the president of multichampion team of Poland - Basco Slask Wroclaw - announced that the team is now bankrupt and it will be relegated to the amateur leagues.

It means that the team is no more a legal entity as a pro team and it also means that all players and coaches of this team are now free agents. This is a major blow for one of the most popular teams in Poland and a team with a presence in Europe as well.

Levski announced Nikolay Varbanov

National team center Nikolay Varbanov(2.08-C) is coming back to Levski and will play another season with The Blues. This was announced by the official web site of the team after he reached an agreement with the board of the club. Varbanov will play for Levski in the bulgarian league but also in the Balkan League as well.

23-year old center played 42 games with Levski last season and averaged 4.8 points and 3.9 rebounds. During the summer he was part of the national team that qualified for Eurobasket 2009 in Poland.

Janicenoks left Barons and is back on the market

Kristaps Janicenoks signed a 3 game contract with Barons in Latvia. However the team decided not to continue the contract and the player was subsequently released according to esports.lv and now he is back on the market.

He only played 2 games in the latvian league and one game against Zalgiris for the Baltic League where he accumulated 19 points 2 assists 2 rebounds and 9 won fouls! The latvian shooting guard is also part of the Latvian National Team and last season he played for Fortitudo Bologna. He has also played for Teramo, Capo Di Orlando, Telekom Bonn and Euphony Bree.

Janicenoks is known for his shooting skills behind the arc. Last season he averaged 8.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 28 games for Fortitudo Bologna in the LegaA1.

Paok released Akins - more to follow?

Paok released Tony Akins after a month via their official web site. The player who will be taking his place will be K'Zell Wesson though. It might seem a bit strange to substitue a point guard with forward/center but Paok is suffering in more positions than one at the moment and the team seems to be in a bit of a panic.

The lack of a proper point-guard to run the plays of the team was evident in the game against Panionios and the administration might look in the european market for a substitute. The reason for that is because Wesson has not received his bulgarian passport, and noone knows if he will get it ever. Tomasevic and Diarra are the only EU players in Paok so there are 2 more spots to fill. The rumors regarding veteran Tyus Edney seem unlikely as he will occupy the spot of a foreign player. More to come in the days to follow. It has been suggested by greek sports media that if Paok loses again this weekend others might follow Akins..

Alba booked Jenkins for 2 more years

Alba Berlin has locked up star guard and reigning German League MVP, point guard Julius Jenkins(1.87-PG) for another two seasons, the club announced Thursday according to the Euroleague Official site. Jenkins, who has spent the past two years in Berlin, had one more season remaining on his deal. Now he will remain with the club till 2011.

Jenkins averaged 17.9 points in nine ULEB Cup games and 18 points in 34 German League regular season games last season. He improved his scoring numbers to 18.9 points in the playoffs, including 20.5 points per game in the finals as Berlin reclaimed the German crown. Jenkins previously played for RCE Nuernberg in Germany and Euphony Bree in Belgium.

"This means a lot to me and I am very glad that I will be part of Alba Berlin in the future," Jenkins said. "This is my third season here and I now feel that I know the team, the club and the city really well. I hope that we will win together more titles."

Divac has become an advisor for Serbia

Former NBA star Vlade Divac has become an adviser in Serbia's government. The 40-year-old says he will be in charge of humanitarian issues and sports, and will work with Vice Premier Ivica Dacic. The ex-Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings center told reporters Thursday he has taken up the post in order to help promote humanitarian work in Serbia. After retiring from basketball, Divac moved to his native Serbia where he has a business and runs a humanitarian organization.

Aris BSA are not worried about Clark's passport

There has been an issue on greek sports media lately that there was a problem about Keydren Clark's(1.78-PG) passport. The issue was that the bulgarian basketball federation wanted to revoke his passport because he didn't take part in their National Team's games for the Eurobasket when Ibrahim Jaaber couldn't compete anymore.

According to goalday.gr the administration of Aris is not worried about the matter as the bulgarian federation did not officially notify anyone that they wanted Clark to take part in the games. Coach Gershon initially had sent Clark home as he preferred to use Ibrahim Jaaber instead. Keydren Clark himself said he was unaware of anything like that happening. Clark has been playing as an EU player since last season where he played for Scavolini in the LegaA1.

Helios signed Ivan Todorovic for 2 months

Helios Domzale announced the signing of center Ivan Todorovic(2.15-C) for a 2 month contract. Todorovic will have to convince the coach and his staff that he is good enough for the team to renew his contract until the end of the season.

The serbian center played a few games last season for Egaleo BC in Greece and has also played for BC Reflex in the past. He has been playing with Zeleznik for the past 5 seasons. He averaged 5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 5 games with Egaleo who had to dismiss him due to financial problems.

Cibona signed Homan for a month

Cibona signed american power forward/center Jared Homan(2.08-PF/C) on a month's contract to try him out. If the player satisfies the coach with his performance the contract will be extended until the end of the season.

Homan played for Slask in Poland last season. He has also played in Greece for Maroussi and in Mersin in Turkey among other teams. Homan averaged 11 points and 6.3 rebounds in 12 games last season in the Uleb Cup for Slask.

Drobnjak is heading to Alba

Dragiša Drobnjak needed only one game, played in the NLB League for Krka, to receive an offer from abroad and on Thursday the slovenian power forward already packed his bags and moved to Germany and Alba to play for coach Pavicevic according to Adriatic League official site.

When Drobnjak joined Krka ten days ago, he put a clause in his contract which allowed him to leave the team whenever he will receive a good offer from abroad. The German Euroleague team Alba was the kind of challenge he didn't hesitate to take it and therefore his only appearance in the 2008/09 NLB season will be the one against Helios on Saturday.

Artland are trying Jamon Gordon

The Artland Dragons are trying Jamon Gordon(1.90-PG/SG)who was signed and released in less than a week by Trikala 2000 in Greece. The head coach of Trikala changed in the process and perhaps the players was not in the plans of head coach Christopoulos.

He graduated from Virginia Tech where he played for 3 seasons and in his last season he averaged 11.4 points 4.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 34 games staring in the point guard position for most of them. Last season he played in Turkey, in the team of Antalya BSB where he averaged 10.8 points 4.5 rebounds and 3 assists in 23 games. He also played 4 games in the playoffs averaging 10.8 points 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Navikauskas resigned from Zalgiris

The GM of Zalgiris, Gediminas Navikauskas resigned according to the Zalgiris Kaunas official site, as he took full responsibility of the crisis that is going through the team. The board of directors of Zalgiris Kaunas accepted his resignation.

In his place Paulius Motiejunas was appointed acting as the GM. According to lithuanian media Zalgiris signed a sponsoring deal with a lithuanian bank, roughly of 650.000 euros, to help the team financially. This was confirmed by Motiejunas and Zalgiris will not be losing any players in the process as they started getting paid. They will play their first game against Panathinaikos in the Euroleague with a full roster.

Shermadini to Panathinaikos?

According to eurobasket.com, Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C) is now a member of the team of Panathinaikos. The georgian youngster who is considered a possible NBA prospect and shone this summer in the U-20 Eurobasket championship this summer.

The administration of Panathinaikos is saying that this is simply not true while greek media in the last weeks mentioned his name related to a possible transfer to AEK. This seems high unlikely as his buy-out is quite high for a team like AEK. Shermadini averaged 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds and also 3.7 blocks per game in 6 games for the U-20 National Team of Georgia.