Varese renewed Ranniko and Talts

One good renewal, one good last minute addition.

Varese announced Kristjan Kangur

Varese announced their first player.

Virtus Bologna won Erceg from Zeleznik

Zoran Erceg will not start his holidays yet, the Italian play-offs await.

BC Kalev Cramo and Josh Pace are still in court battles

An existing battle between BC Kalev Cramo and the agent for former Kalev Cramo player Josh Pace still continues.

DSM to sue BC Kalev?

While Josh Pace prepares for the NBA D-League Draft, his agent Nate McCray has advised that his firm DSM will file a 1 million dollar lawsuit against Estonia's BC Kalev, which is run by President Ivar Valdmaa for the team's breach of contract.

Josh Pace From BC Kalev To NBA D-League

Former BC Kalev Cramo guard Josh Pace (Syracuse University) has been selected to the NBA D-League Draft Pool for the 2009 Draft. Pace, who just returned from Estonia after winning an Estonian League Championship in June, is projected to be drafted by a team within the D-League when the draft takes place in November.

D-League teams within the Southwest and Central Divisions have already expressed great interest in Pace and have plans to select the veteran if he's availabe at their pick.

The former Kalev Cramo guard has received interest from teams in numerous sectors which included the NBA, overseas and now the NBA D-League. Initially there were nibbles from four NBA teams and over a dozen other teams from Israel, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom who expressed heavy interest in the veteran guard. Pace averaged 9 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist per game while with BC Kalev this past season. Last summer he had tryouts with the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors of the NBA. He will sign a D-league contract in September.

source : dsm-international.com

AS Trikala announced Giorgi Tsintsadze

AS Trikala announced Georgian point guard Giorgi Tsintsadze(1.92-PG) via their official website. Tsintsadze was a personal choice of head coach Vaggelis Aggelou that had him as a player in Dynamo Moscow when he was the assistant coach to Dusan Ivkovic.

Tsintsadze played initially for the second team of CSKA Moscow and later on moved to CSK Samara and Dynamo Moscow. For the last 3 seasons he has been playing for Estonian team Tartu Rock. He averaged 8.9 points 2.8 rebounds and 4 assists in 21 games of the Estonian League, 16.4 points 3.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 21 games of the Baltic League and 10.2 points 2.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 6 games of the Eurochallenge. He is also a member of the National Team of Georgia.

AEK Athens interested in Sanikidze

Viktor Sanikidze (203-F-86) is the first target of AEK for the PF position. The Georgian forward got drafted (2rd, N.42) in 2004 from Atlanta Hawks but his rights got traded to the San Antonio Spurs. He started his career from Academy Tbilisi and next year moved in the stronger France Pro-A league to play for Dijon Bourgogne. After playing two years in Dijon he got the big transfer to play in the Spanish ACB league for Estudiantes Madrid.

The things did not go well for the Georgian player in Spain, he was not playing a lot but the second year was worst, he had a serious injury which caused him to sit out the entire season. He started practising months later in Dinamo Tbilisi but he realized in Germany, when he went for a tryout, that his career was on great danger. Viktor said to Eurobasket.com one year ago: I went in Germany for try out and on one practice I didn't feel good on my knee. So, I checked my knee with German doctors and they told me to stop playing, otherwise I would risk my career.

This season Tartu from Estonia gave him the opportunity to be back in courts and had great games. He played 20 games in the Baltic league having 9.3ppg and 6.3rpg. Already teams from France are showing interest for him.

source : eurobasket.com

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.

Tartu Rock booked Viktor Sanikidze

Tartu Rock signed Viktor Sanikidze(2.03-F) according to eurobasket.com. The georgian who covers both forward positions and who is also a member of the Georgia National Team will be playing for estonian champion Tartu Rock in the Baltic League this season. Sanikidze will join Tanoka Beard who signed with Tartu Rock earlier this summer.

Sanikidze was selected in the second round at number 42 at the 2004 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, but his draft rights were traded the same day to the San Antonio Spurs for a 2005 NBA Draft second-round pick and cash considerations. The Spurs still hold his NBA player rights, but they have yet to sign him to a contract. Sanikidze lead the Georgian National Team in the Eurobasket qualifying rounds of Division B with 21.5 points and 8 rebounds in 4 games.

Tanoka Beard signed with Tartu Rock

Euroleague legend Tanoka Beard(2.05-C) signed with Tartu Rock according to lithuanian media. Beard who started the season with Zalgiris but after 3 games and many arguments with the administration and the coaching staff Beard left Zalgiris and moved to Hapoel Holon but didn't stay there much either. He has played in numerous european teams like Real Madrid, Valencia, Badalona, Fenerbahce to name a few but he is more famous for his 5-year long career in Zalgiris where he even released his hip-hop album!

He will now be a member of estonian champion Tartu Rock and will be helping them in the estonian league and also in the Baltic League. Tanoka Beard currently holds the highest score in the Euroleague rating with 63, scoring 35 points and 19 rebounds against Skipper Bologna in 2003.