Real renewed Llull and Van Den Spiegel

Real Madrid has used its option to extend Sergio Llull's contract for two more seasons; the point guard will stay on the team until the end of the 2010/11 campaign. The Club has also signed a new contract with Tomas van den Spiegel to keep him on the team for another season, with a unilateral option to extend it for one more.

source : realmadrid.com

Olympiakos to push for 3 foreign players

According to redplanet.gr, Olympiakos will try to push for 3 foreign players spots in the greek A1 league. Currently in Greece there are only 2 foreign(non-EU) players allowed in each team and 4 other european players giving a total of 6 non-greek players in the greek teams.

The general consensus in Greece, is that the league is suffering as a combination of both the economic crisis and the massive gap between the 2 first positions in the league and the rest of the teams. Olympiakos are interested in signing more NBA caliber players and that would work in their favor, as until now they could only use 3 foreign players in the Euroleague that has no such distinction as the greek A1 league.

The decision is meant to be taken on July 6th and it has been rumored to happen for quite some time. This effectively would allow more players from the american market into the greek league giving greek teams the opportunity to create more competitive rosters.

The Hoop goes on holiday!

The Hoop will be on a much needed holiday as of now until the 28th of June. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and hope to see you again soon for even more basketball news. Take care.

Simon

Skele has offers from Italy and Spain

It seems that Armands Skele(1.92-PG/SG) will leave Latvia and Barons after all. He spoke to latvian media and he commented on the rumors about him and Lietuvos Rytas and also about offers he has had. Skele said that he has offers from Spain and Italy but his priority is to consider the offers from Spain.

He also commented on the rumors that circulated in the european media about him playing in Poland or talking to Lietuvos Rytas and he said that its utter nonsense and he doesn't know where do the journalists get all their stuff from. This season playing for Barons, he averaged 17.5 points 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 24 games in the latvian league and also 16.3 points 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 21 games of the Baltic League.

Real Madrid aiming to steal Bourousis

According to redplanet.gr, Ioannis Bourousis(2.10-C) is a target of Real Madrid. The administration of the spanish team were impressed with Bourousis' performance this season and they are basing their offer on the difference between Olympiakos and Bourousis. The greek team made him an offer for 2 seasons earning 1.2 million euros per season. Bourousis on the other hand asked for 2 million euros. So the difference is quite formidable.

Apart from that Bourousis is waiting for offers that will come from NBA teams in July so there is a long way to go with this story. Chances are that Olympiakos will make him a better offer when this time comes as the general consensus is that Bourousis would prefer to stay in Greece. He averaged 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in 22 games in the Euroleague for Olympiakos

Turkoglu denies rumors about Olympiakos

According to greek media, NBA finalist Hedo Turkoglu(2.08-SF/PF), spoke to greek radio station Sentra 103.3FM regarding the rumors about him and the team of Olympiakos. Turkoglu denied the rumors about an offer from Olympiakos saying that he or his agent have not spoken to anyone from Olympiakos.

However he said that if there was an offer from Olympiakos then he would definitely consider it but until then there is nothing really on the table. He also said that being a free agent he will consider all options and he would do but what's best for him and his family. Turkoglu averaged 15.8 points 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Orlando Magic in 24 games in the play-offs helping them get to the NBA finals.

More targets for Messina

According to sportske.net, one of the things that Ettore Messina asked for from the administration of Real was to sign serbian rising star, Novica Velickovic.(2.05-SF/PF). The article says that Messina's original intention was to bring Velickovic to CSKA but the situation has changed now. In the case of Velickovic a 500,000 euros buy-out would need to be paid to Partizan Belgrade that still has a contract with the player.

The article talks about other targets such Radoslav Nesterovic(2.13-C), who he worked with in Bologna, Rimantas Kaukenas(1.94-SG) of Siena and also Lazaros Papadopoulos(2.12-C) that was loaned to Fortitudo as he was out of coach Plaza's plans.

Siena to renew Stonerook

According to solobasket.it, Shaun Stonerook(2.03-PF) has already renewed his contract with Siena for 2 more seasons with the option of one more. The president of Siena, Ferdinando Minucci made some statements in a press conference after the end of the finals announcing the renewal of the contract of the american power forward.

Stonerook, who has an italian passport, has been playing for Siena since 2005 and before that he played for Cantu. He has been the cornerstone of Siena's defense and it's only natural that they would want to renew his contract. He averaged 6.9 points 6.4 rebounds 2.2 assists and 2.5 steals in a total of 39 games in the LegaA1 for Siena.

Partizan to try Klemen Lorbek

Slovenian youngster Klemen Lorbek (198-G-88) is being on try-out with Serbian champion and Euroleague team Partizan Belgrade. The youngest of brothers Lorbek (Erazem, Domen and Klemen) played this season in Hopsi Polzela and averaged 5.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 1.1apg in 25 games.

Before signing with Hopsi Polzela he played for Postojna and youth teams of Union Olimpija, Helios Domzale and Triglav Kranj. He was also part of U18, U20 and U16 Slovenian NT.

source : eurobasket.com

Kecman released, new contract for Shermadini

According to sportdog.gr, Dusan Kecman(1.97-SG/SF) has been officially released from Panathinaikos. The serbian guard/forward had another season in his contract with Panathinaikos but the recent transfers of Calathes and Tepic, and also the renewal of Hatzivrettas make his presence obsolete in Panathinaikos. Possible destinations for Kecman are Panellinios or Partizan.

Panathinaikos also cancelled the contract of Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C) in order to sign him a new contract with more money and for a longer period. Head coach Zeljko Obradovic was quite pleased with the progress of Shermadini and asked from the administration of the team to keep him.

Roanne signs Amagou and extends Choulet

There was a double announcement by Roanne via their official website. They announced the signing of french combo-guard Pape Philippe Amagou (1.85-PG/SG) and also the renewal of the contract of head coach Denys Choulet.

Amagou started his career in Le Mans and in his last season in France he played for Nancy. Last season he played in Greece for Kavala BC. The greek team wanted to retain him in the roster but they couldn't provide him with the money that he wanted. He averaged 8 points 1.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 26 games.

Roanne also extended the contract of head coach Denys Choulet that lead them to the conquest of the ProA league back in 2007 and also to the finals last season.

Sandro Nicevic renewed with Benetton

Sandro Nicevic(2.10-C) renewed with Benetton Treviso for 2 more seasons according to his agent website, beobasket.net. The croatian center received the italian nationality near the end of last season playing for Benetton and now he can play in the italian A1 league without occupying the position of a bosman player.

Nicevic has also been a member of the croatian national team and had a long career in Europe having played for teams like Le Mans, Besiktas, Malaga, AEK Athens and Olimpija Lubljana. This season he averaged 11.8 points 5.6 rebounds 1.6 assists in 34 games in the italian LegaA1 league.