Zmago Sagadin joins KK Zadar

After starting the Last 16 of the Eurocup with consecutive defeats, KK Zadar has replaced interim coach Denis Pleslic with veteran Zmago Sagadin. The move came on Sunday night after Zadar lost an Adriatic League road game 79-70 at 12th-place Zagreb. Pleslic, 41, had been running the team since Zadar let go Aco Petrovic in late December. It was announced at the time that Pleslic would be an interim coach, but he subsequently stayed for four Eurocup games, of which the team won one, whichi qualified it for the Last 16.

Sagadin, 56, gained a reputation as one of the top talent developers in European basketball during a decade as head coach of Union Olimpija in Slovenia between 1991 and 2002. While
there, Olimpija won the 1994 Saporta cup and reached the Euroleague Final Four in 1997. He also won the 2002 Adriatic League, as well as 20 Slovenian Leagues and Slovenian Cups with Olimpija. He also coached KK Split of Croatia, Crvena Zvezda Belgrade and Lietuvos Rytas in brief stints, winning the Serbian Cup trophy with Crvena Zvezda in 2004.

source : eurocupbasketball.com

CSKA Sofia - the end?

The article below was taken from eurobasket.com and it follows an article previously published here that shows the deteriorating situation of one of Bulgaria's most historic basketball clubs that is ironically already history.

Sterianopoulos and Prelevic, president and GM of the team respectively, declared to the bulgarian federation of basketball that the team will no longer compete in the league. The alleged reason for that is "criminal interference", which means that somehow the wages of the players were stolen although no such reports were filed to their respective embassies nor to the Police force of Sofia. Furthermore it explains how the players and coaches left to play for other teams and how they managed to dissolve the team, member by member.

The full article can be found here.

If CSKA Sofia has an official statement to make regarding this article we'd like to hear it as The Hoop would like to get both sides to this story. Thank you.

Aris announced Bracey Wright

Aris BSA announced the signing of Bracey Wright (191-PG/SG/SF) who returns to the team that he played as a pro in Europe for the first time. As it was published previously Aris stroke a deal with Wright who returns to provide much needed scoring. This also means that Sean Marshall will no longer play for 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. In his first time in the Euroleague last season he averaged 14.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 18 games.

Rumors about Jonas Maciulis

According to the lithuanian website krepsinis.net Jonas Maciulis(1.98-SF) seems to be a candidate to replace Ruben Douglas in Valencia. Douglas was recently released by Valencia and so the spanish team is looking for a player to fill in the gap he left behind.

The article also mentions other names like James White and Dijon Thompson. The name of Maciulis has appeared in numerous rumors since the beginning of the season. He averaged 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 10 games for Zalgiris in the Euroleague.

Lokomotiv Rostov announced Capin

Lokomotiv Rostov announced slovenian point-guard Aleksandar Capin(1.86-PG) via their official site. He started the season with Azovmash Mariupol but he got injured and so he was out of action for about 3 months. The last 2 weeks he has been practicing with Lokomotiv and he finally convinced the coaching staff that he is fit to play and signed a contract until the end of the season. Capin has also played for the Slovenian National Team.

Olimpija announced Marko Maravic

Olimpija announced via their official site another slovenian player, the experienced forward Marko Maravic(2.01-SF/PF) who played for BC Kyiv last season. Marko Maravic returns to Olimpija after 5 years. The last time he played for them was the 2003-2004 season and his contract will last until the end of the season.

He started his career in Geoplin and since then he has played for Krka, Olimpia Milano, Manresa and Menorca. Last season he averaged 11.8 points 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 16 games as a player of BC Kyiv for the ukrainian superleague.

Nancy signed Stephen Brun

SLUC Nancy signed the french forward Stephen Brun(2.02-SF/PF) for the remainder of the season and they announced it via their official website. Brun comes to replace the injured Lamayne Wilson(2.02-SF/PF) who had a good start got injured along the way.

Stephen Brun arrived yesterday and has already had his first practice session with ihs team. He started the season in KK Split where he averaged 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds in 13 games in the Adriatic League.

Tony Parker investing in ASVEL

In these hard economic times, it's never too early to begin thinking about your retirement.

Take Tony Parker, for example, age 26.

The NBA All-Star has just bought himself a nice little retirement package: a French basketball team. In an interview aired on France's Infosport cable network, Parker announced his purchase of the second largest share of ASVEL, France's most titled professional basketball team, and he will, he says, begin serving immediately as the club's Director of Operations.

source : www.people.com

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