Eric Boateng to join Peristeri in Greece

Great Britain big man Eric Boateng has signed with Greek side Peristeri B.C for the coming season.

Jamie Vanderbeken to play in Greece?

Only a rumor at this stage.

Baskonia made an offer to Pops Mensah-Bonsu

The hero of Granada could return to Spain to the team that almost signed him last summer.

Barcelona announced Joe Ingles for 2 seasons

Now it's official.

Barcelona to sign Joe Ingles?

Another forward for Barcelona.

Budivelnyk signed Andrew Betts

Budivelnyk strengthened their frontcourt.

Aris turning now to Ndudi Ebi and waiting on Haralambidis

He was one the best players in LegaDue last season.

Pops Mensah Bonsu to play for Baskonia(announced)

The British-Ghanese forward moves from Russia to Spain.

Steve Leven to play in Greece

This one was tipped off by greekbball.blogspot.com.

Valencia interested in signing Joe Ingles

Nielsen to replaced by another Ausie?

Worcester Wolves to sign Justin Dobbins

Former Eastern Michigan Forward Justin Dobbins is headed to the United Kingdom to play for the Worcester Wolves. 

Gordon commits to play for GB

The Great Britain national team received a huge boost when Pistons guard Ben Gordon committed to play for the team.

Rumors about Bonsu and Real Madrid

Great Britain forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu has been surprisingly waived by the Houston Rockets after less than a month of the NBA campaign.

Simmons out, Sullivan in?

Cedric Simmons(2.06-PF) might not be playing for Peristeri after all, according to sportnet.gr. Simmons was found to be physicall unfit and the administration of the team might waive his contract and look swiftly for a replacement. The article says that Simmons has not trained for the last 3 days due a sprained ankle but the team of Peristeri are already looking for a replacement.

Another addition for Peristeri, according to the same website, is likely to be the captain of the UK National Team Andrew Sullivan(2.03-SF/PF) who played for CSK Samara last season averaging 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16 games in the Russian Superleague. Nothing has been officially announced by Peristeri as of yet and this means that all options are open.

Mensah-Bonsu joins UK team

Great Britain have received a shot in the arm ahead of the EuroBasket following the late arrival of Pops Mensah-Bonsu from the NBA. Mensah-Bonsu, prevented from joining the national team this summer while he negotiated a contract with the Houston Rockets, also needed to be properly insured before showing up for national team duty. Once his insurance was in place, Mensah-Bonsu joined training on Wednesday.

It remains to be seen how his inability to play in any of the friendly games affects the player, and team chemistry. "We're really excited to finally have Pops with us," Britain coach Chris Finch said.

"Adding him is a boost; it keeps on strengthening the front line. The challenge now is to make sure we get him in as quickly as possible and hope he is in some sort of shape. If there is a strength for Great Britain, it is their depth at power forward and center. Andy Betts, Robert Archibald and Joel Freeland were already in the group and now Mensah-Bonsu should make the front court even stronger.

At his best, as he was during Britain's successful qualifying campaign for the EuroBasket, Mensah-Bonsu is a beast. The 2.06m power forward/center averaged 12.2 points and 10 rebounds per contest. He would have been a no-show in Poland were it not for Britain's ability to get him properly insured.

Ron Wuotila, head of basketball operations for British Basketball, said: "Thanks to the help from the Rockets and Pops we were able to put a policy in place in short order. This is a complicated process and was only possible with the help from many key people." At the EuroBasket in Warsaw, Poland, Britain will play in Group C against Serbia, Slovenia and world champions Spain.

source : eurobasket2009.org

Brits Hopeful Of Getting Pops Soon

Nothing would make British basketball fans happier than to discover that big man Pops Mensah-Bonsu will join the team for the EuroBasket. Mensah-Bonsu has had protracted contract talks in the NBA and has reached a verbal agreement with the Houston Rockets but so far, he hasn't been given the all clear to join up with Chris Finch's British side with the EuroBasket tipping off in Poland in less than two weeks.

Finch, whose team is about to take part in the Efes Pilsen Cup in Turkey, said: "We are currently working with the Rockets and the NBA to sort out the details that will allow Pops to play. He is keen to join his teammates. Hopefully, he will be able to join the team in Turkey."

Mensah-Bonsu averaged 12.2 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game last year for the Brits in their successful qualifying campaign.

source : fibaeurope.com

Gordon and Villanueva to Detroit

DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons wanted to add talent and get younger this offseason. On the first day of free agency, Detroit did both. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva agreed in principle to five-year contracts with the Pistons, a person with the knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because NBA rules prohibit announcing deals with free agents until next week, said Gordon's contract is worth $50-plus million and Villanueva will make at least $35 million.

The 26-year-old Gordon averaged 20.7 points for the Chicago Bulls, leading them in scoring for the fourth straight year. He improved his market value by scoring 42 points in a playoff game against the defending champion Boston Celtics and averaging a team-high 24.3 points in seven postseason games.

Bulls officials had said re-signing Gordon, the No. 3 pick in 2004, was a top priority after previously failing to keep the former Connecticut star with a long-term contract. Villanueva, who turns 25 next month, averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last season for the Milwaukee Bucks. He went from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted one when Milwaukee chose to not make him a qualifying offer.

source : sports.yahoo.com

3 transfers for Dexia Mons

Dexia Mons-Hainaut has signed England NT guard Nate Reinking (188-G-73, college: Kent St.) for another season. Two young Belgian players will also be on the Mons roster next season, Alexandre Libert (186-G-90) and Lorenzo Giancaterino (190-F-90).

Both are members of the Belgian U21 national team which will take part in the EC. This EC takes place in July on the island of Rhodes. Assistant coach on that U21 NT will be Mons-Hainaut assistant coach Johan Roijakkers who has also extended his stay in Mons with 2 seasons. The team has also announced they are close to finalizing deals with Travis Conlan, Ben Ebong and Jim Potter who should all be on the roster for the 2009-2010 season.

source : eurobasket.com

Rumors about Gordon are dismissed.

There has been plenty of talks about the rumors that surfaced on greek media regarding Ben Gordon and a possible transfer to Olympiakos. The player's agent spoke to ESPN and said that he definitely has not spoken to Olympiakos nor has he offered the player to the greek team.

Raymond Brothes, who is Gordon's agent, said that his main goal is to get his player to sign again with the Chicago Bulls, regardless of the fact Ben Gordon is a free agent this summer. This takes one big name out of the list of the potential candidates for Olympiakos for sure. What's worrying though is that there will probably be more names appearing as candidates and the summer and the transfer season have only just begun. Gordon might still visit Europe if he decides to join the Great Britain National Team in the Eurobasket 2009 in Poland.

On a sidenote, redplanet.gr spoke to the administration of Olympiakos and what they said was the until July 1st, there is absolutely no talks with any players coming from the NBA due to the contract restrictions. They want to do things by the book so any names that come up from the NBA until that date are purely speculations and should not be taken seriously.

Freeland heading to Malaga?

Unicaja are thought to be primed and ready to sign Great Britain big man Joel Freeland (208-F-87) at the end of the month. Freeland has enjoyed a superb season at Gran Canaria but his contract expires at the end of the month and it is expected that Unicaja will wrap up a multi-season deal for the 22 year old.

The center was voted in the top five revelations of the season in the ACB andformer Spanish National team boss Coach Aito Reneses has had plenty of time to assess his potential with both respective teams having faced each other in the play-off quarter finals and the Copa Del Rey, as well as the regular season. Freeland enjoyed a brilliant EuroBasket qualifying campaign with Great Britain last summer and took that form into the ACB season and bar a frustrating foot injury, the Trailblazer draft has enjoyed a breakthrough season.

source : eurobasket.com