Valencia released Ruben Douglas

Valencia released Ruben Douglas(1.92-SG) after 2.5 season playing for the spanish team in the ACB. Douglas doesn't seem to be in Spahija's future plans and so the administration of Valencia decided to terminate his contract and wish him well.

The panamanian shooting guard is a prolific scorer and chances are that he won't stay without a contract for very long. He has also played for Dynamo Moscow, Fortitudo and Panionios in the past. This season he averaged 10.2 points and 3 rebounds in 20 games in the ACB with his performance dwindling down during the last few games.

Jonas Kazlauskas arrived in Greece

Jonas Kazlauskas arrived in Athens this afternoon and was welcomed by the general secretary of the Greek Basketball Federation, Panayotis Tsagronis. Tomorrow afternoon he will have his final meeting with the president of the Federation and also Fiba Europe Georgios Vassilakopoulos in order to discuss the final details of him taking up the head coach position in the Greek National Team.

When asked about it he said that he is quite happy that the people in Greece are welcoming his presence in their National Team but he didn't want to make any further comments before meeting with Georgios Vassilakopoulos.

Dynamo announced Brian Chase

Dynamo Moscow signed Brian Chase(1.78-PG) until the end of the season and it was announced by their official site. Chase comes to fill the gap than Jannero Pargo and Hollis Price left behind.

Chase graduated from Virginia Tech in 2003 and ever since then he's been trying to get a contract in the NBA taking part in training camps and also playing in the NBDL and the CBA. His last team in the NBDL were the LA Defenders. He also played briefly for Besiktas and this season he started playing in Le Mans where he averaged 13.3 points 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 16 games in the LNB league in France and also 12.2 points 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 10 games in the Euroleague.

Bracey Wright has agreed with Aris

Bracey Wright (191-PG/SG/SF) is returning to Aris Thessaloniki in order to replace the injured Sean Marshall (198-SG/SF). Sean Marshall injured his bicep in yesterday morning's practice session and the first estimate of his injury says that he will have to stay out of action for about 6 weeks. Therefore the administration of Aris Thessaloniki decided to replace him so that the team doesn't lose a lot of firepower with Marshall sidelined.

Tonight the deal was closed and Bracey Wright agreed to return to Aris that he played for last year after his release from DKV Juventut. The team and the player didn't part on great terms and the administration seized the opportunity to bag a quality player. He averaged 14 points 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 14 games as a player of DKV Juventut. Bracey Wright is arriving tomorrow to Thessaloniki to go through medical examinations before signing his contracts and he is expected to make his reappearance with yellow and black jersey this Saturday.

source : eurobasket.com

Roanne signed Uchenna Nsomwu for 3 months

Roanne announced the signing of nigerian center Uchenna Nsomwu-Amadi(2.08-C) for the next 12 weeks in order to replace the injured Taj Gray(2.03-PF/C). Nsomwu has played in french teams in the past such as ASVEL Villeurbane and Gravelines and he has also played for Hapoel Galil Elyon, BC Oostende and Galatasaray in the past.

This season he was signed by Azovmash where he played 13 games for the Ukrainian Superleague averaging 10.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 13 games. He will definitely add some size and strength under the boards of Roanne that was lacking with the injury of Taj Gray.

Lakovic out for 6-8 weeks

As Regal FC Barcelona announced Tuesday, point guard Jaka Lakovic(1.88-PG/SG) will be sidelined from six to eight weeks. After medical tests, it was determined that he will have to undergo nose surgery in the days to come, and that will cause him to miss the rest of the Top 16.

This season, Lakovic has played 9 games so far with Barcelona in the Euroleague averaging 7.8 points and 2.7 assists in almost 20 minutes of play each night. This situation will leave Barcelona with Andre Barrett as only point guard for the next games, even though Top 16 teams will be able to sign new players two days before the start of the Top 16 Week 4.

Bonzi Wells to move to Europe?

Media reports from the Far East say Bonzi Wells'(1.96-SG/SF) professional basketball contract was terminated with a Chinese Basketball Association team Saturday.

Take China off the list. So is the former Central High School and Ball State star back in Muncie? Gawen Wells, Bonzi's father wouldn't confirm anything to The Star Press on Monday afternoon.

"I don't have no comments, man," said Gawen Wells, who has declined to provide The Star Press with current contact information for his son. "I'm sorry, you know -- it always gets me in trouble. I have no comments. I'll leave it at that."

According to the Agence France Presse, Wells failed to return to the communist country late last month after returning to the United States on the Chinese New Year's holiday break. A spokesperson for Wells' sports agency, BDA Sports, said the Muncie native would prefer to finish this season in a different foreign location. "It is Bonzi's preference to finish the season in Europe, and we are reviewing some opportunities for him," BDA Sports told The Star Press in a Monday evening e-mail.

source : thestarpress.com

Bracey Wright to replace Sean Marshall?

According to the latest reports from greek media Bracey Wright(1.91-SG) is close to returning to Aris that he played for last season. Wright started the season in Badalona but due to family problems and issues with the Badalona administration he was released from the team. It was rumored that he had agreed terms with KK Zadar but the deal was never announced by the croatian team. It seems that Sean Marshall(1.97-SG/SF) was injured in today's practice session but it is unknown what the actual injury is. Nevertheless Sean Marshall seems to be on his way out from Aris.

In his first year in the Euroleague he averaged almost 15 points per game. He graduated from Indiana where he played for the Indiana Hoosiers. Then he moved to the NBDL where he played for the Florida Flame and later that year moved to the Minnesota Timberwolves where he spent 2 seasons. He had his first european experience when he moved to Aris Thessaloniki. He averaged 14 points 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 14 games in the ACB as a player of Badalona and also 12.8 points 2.8 rebounds and 1 assists in 8 games in the Euroleague.

Rumors about Kakiouzis and Aris

According to greek media Michalis Kakiouzis(2.07-SF/PF) has had an offer from Aris. The greek forward is currently a player of Efes Pilsen that is at the top of the turkish league. But according to the rules of the league Efes Pilsen would have to release one of their foreign players as they currently have 6.

It seems that the offer that Aris made to Kakiouzis is substantial for the veteran and that there isn't much difference between them as far as the financial part is concerned. It is now up to the administration of Efes Pilsen to decide whether they would like to release Kakiouzis or not.

Kakiouzis also made statements to a greek radio station saying that he would like to play for Aris at some point and that when he was asked by Andrew Betts he had only good things to say about Aris. Betts and Kakiouzis were teammates last season in Cajasol. Kakiouzis is very popular with the fans of Aris for some strange reason although he never admitted being a fan of the team.

So far he has averaged 8.1 points and 4 rebounds in 15 games in the turkish league and also 6.4 points and 3 rebounds in 10 games in the Euroleague. If Kakiouzis were to play for Aris this would probably mean the end for either Sean Marshall or Spencer Nelson..

Olympiakos hired Boudouris as team manager

Nikos Boudouris, a celebrated veteran of the greek courts was announced today as the new team manager for one of the wealthiest clubs in Europe, Olympiakos, that announced it via their official website.

Nikos Boudouris has played for Olympiakos between 2000 and 2003 and he has also played for Paok for the longest part of his career and then also played for Panathinaikos, Makedonikos, Maroussi and Olympias Patron and he has also been a member of the Greek National Team. He ended his career in Maroussi last season while this season he started as the technical director of Paok but was fired shortly thereafter by president Drossos, who recently announced that he cannot support the team any longer financially. Therefore Boudouris had to seek the next step in his career.

Olympiakos welcomed him back after 5 and a half years and wishes him all the best in his new post.

Crisis in CSKA Sofia

Some news from Bulgaria came recently to our attention regarding CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria. During a recent press conference the bulgarian players in the team and the coaches (Ivaylo Jeleff and Ivan Ganchev) revealed lots of unknown facts about the state of the team.

The cause of their problems lies with the management of Georgios Sterjanopulos and Branislav Prelevic(retired greek-serbian veteran player) who according to them (coaches and the team) are running the team unprofessionally and with a high degree of negligence.

Below are some of the key points they made during their press conference.

1. The bulgarian players and the coaches have yet to receive 2 salaries.
2. The foreign players of the team, (serbians and greeks) don't have that problem.
3. The condition of the gym is an absolute disaster. The locker rooms and toilets don't work and there is no staff to clean the floors in the gym, medical supplies are close to running out etc.
4. Contacts between the management and the coaches are done only via e-mail!
5. The director of the team, Branislav Prelevic orders wich players will play and how many minutes.
6. The players of the club are not insured.

There is an open letter from the players and the coaches to the management of the team which describes this situation in detail and its translated version can be found here.

Adeleke failed medical tests and cut by Alba

Alba Berlin on Saturday voided a contract signed with center Kenny Adeleke(2.05-C) earlier in the week after the results of his medical tests, which were part of the deal, were known. Adeleke, who averaged 13 rebounds per game for Lukoil Academic Sofia in the Eurocup regular season, had been signed by Alba on Monday but did not join the team for its road game to play Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, which resulted in a 31-point loss.

He was to have fortified Alba's frontcourt, which recnetly lost veteran center Patrick Femerling(2.15-C). Alba must now play the next two Top 16 games with only one center, Adam Chubb(2.07-PF/C), because under Euroleague rules it cannot register an additional player until between the third and fourth games of this round.

source : euroleague.net