International candidates who witdrew from the NBA Draft

Amadou Aboubakar Zaki Nancy (France) 7-1 1988 DOB

Nemanja Bjelica Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) 6-10 1988 DOB

Georgios Bogris Ilysiakos (Greece) 6-10 1989 DOB

Vladimir Dasic Buducnost (Montenegro) 6-10 1988 DOB

Adam Hanga Albacomp (Hungary) 6-7 1989 DOB

Rudy Jomby Le Havre (France) 6-6 1988 DOB

Tanel Kurbas Kalev/Cramo (Estonia) 6-6 1988 DOB

Milan Macvan Hemofarm (Serbia) 6-9 1989 DOB

Boban Marjanovic Hemofarm (Serbia) 7-4 1988 DOB

Tim Ohlbrecht Bamberg (Germany) 6-11 1988 DOB

Carl Ona Embo Biella (Italy) 6-1 1989 DOB

Nikolaos Pappas Real Madrid II (Spain) 6-5 1990 DOB

Anton Ponomarev Astana Tigers (Kazakhstan) 6-10 1988 DOB

Paulo Prestes Unicaja Malaga (Spain) 6-11 1988 DOB

Miroslav Raduljica FMP Zeleznik (Serbia) 7-0 1988 DOB

Fernando Raposo Pau Orthez (France) 6-9 1989 DOB

Evangelos Sakellariou Pagrati (Greece) 6-5 1989 DOB

Alexandros Sigkounas Olimpia Larissa (Greece) 6-7 1988 DOB

Ludovic Vaty Pau Orthez (France) 6-9 1988 DOB

Artem Zabelin CSKA Moscow (Russia) 7-1 1988 DOB

source : nba.com

The Raptors extend qualifying offer to Delfino

The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent guard-forward Carlos Delfino. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed.

In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in order for a team to retain its rights of first refusal with respect to a restricted free agent it must tender the player a qualifying offer prior to June 30. A restricted free agent may sign an offer sheet with any team, but is subject to a right of first refusal in favour of the NBA team for which the player last played.

Delfino played last season in Russia with BC Khimky Moscow in the Russia-A Superleague. He averaged 10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 23.2 minutes in 26 games. He had a season-high 25 points against Krasnoyarsk. He also appeared in 10 Eurocup outings, averaging 13.0 points and 3.6 rebounds in 27 minutes. He scored in double figures in eight games with a high of 19 points against Benetton.

source : nba.com

Aris to renew with Tsaldaris

Aris BC are going to renew with greek combo guard Dimitris Tsaldaris(1.96-SG/PG) according to greek portal metrosport.gr. There was an interest from Panellinios previously but both, head Andrea Mazzon and Dimitris Tsaldaris want to work again next season. There is a rumored difference in the salary of the contract but it is nothing major.

Tsaldaris played for Panellinios before he transferred to Aris. He has been playing for Aris Thessaloniki in the last 3 seasons and has been one of the basic contributors in the team and last summer he was called to partictipate in the National Team's preparation stage. This season he averaged 9 points 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 34 games with Aris in the A1 league.

Rumors about Rubio and Sacramento

Ricky Rubio landed in Sacramento and the rumors had already begun about the interest of the Sacramento Kings into the spanish basketball prodigy. Below is an extract from a local blog that hosts an interview of Ricky Rubio.

Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who would have to commit to a potentially complicated legal process and/or potential trade scenario if Geoff Petrie identifies Rubio as his NBA Draft Day target (at No.4), are flying in from Las Vegas early Wednesday to watch the 18-year-old run through some drills during an early afternoon workout. Details of the session are unclear, though apparently it won't be too extensive. Rubio recently finished his EuroLeague season and has been taking a break physically. Nonetheless, I am sure Petrie and new Kings coach Paul Westphal are curious for a closer peek.

source : sacbee.com

Nick Calathes having cold feet?

First was the news that Florida's Nick Calathes is staying in the draft, which is more interesting than at first glance. The word from his camp is that Calathes may be getting cold feet about playing in Greece this year. Apparently the team Calathes signed with, Panathinaikos, is going to sign veteran point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius. If that happens, Calathes isn't getting nearly the playing time he thought he would.

If Calathes gets drafted high enough, he may try to convince the team that drafts him to buy him out of his contract now, so he can head directly to the NBA. There isn't a provision in his contract for a buyout until next year, but maybe there's a solution that will make sense. If Calathes slips into the second, most likely he'll stay in Europe and try to get the team that drafts him to buy him out next year.

source : insider.espn.go.com

Vukosavljevic moves to Oostende

Former KK Hemofarm Stada Vrsac center, Vladan Vukosavljevic (206-F/C-84), will continue career in Base Oostende. Last season Vukosavljevic played in the Adriatic league 12 games and average scored 17.6 points, 3.7 rebounds per game, on 4 Eurocup games averaged 11.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and in Serbian league on 7 games averaged 9.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

Vukosavljevic started his career in Crvena Zvezda in season 2002-2003, played in OKK Beograd and Lovcen Cetinje in season 2003-2004 before he again moved to Crvena Zvezda in season 2004-2005. From 2005 till 2009 Vukosavljevic played for KK Hemofarm Stada Vrsac. Vladan Vukosavljevic was a member of Serbia and Montenegro U20 and U21 National team, also member of Serbian University National team.

source : eurobasket.com

Cibona extends with Velimir Perasovic

Cibona reached an agreement with head coach Velimir Perasovic to extend his contract until the end of the 2009-10 season, the club announced Monday. Perasovic, age 44, led Cibona to one of its best seasons in recent history, with trophies in both the Croatian League and the Croatian Cup, as well as a runner-up finish in the Adriatic League. Perasovic, a three-time Euroleague champion with Split as a player, also helped Cibona register prestigious Euroleague home wins against Maccabi, Olympiacos and Montepaschi this season and make it to the Top 16.

He has previously coached Estudiantes, Caja San Fernando and Tau Ceramica throughout his short coaching career, which started in 2004. Perasovic helped Tau to win the Spanish King's Cup and to reach the Euroleague Final Four in 2006. "It was important for me that goals are set very high," Perasovic said in an official press conference. "We want to keep our 18-year run as a successful Euroleague team, and we want to remain a regional and Croatian powerhouse. We want to fight for the trophy in every competition we participate in. The situation will be difficult for us next year but I hope we find good players in the market and put together a good team, just as we did last season."

source : euroleague.net

Benetton and Mahmudi part ways

Benetton Basket announced via their official website that Oktay Mahmudi did not accept their 3 season offer and so the position of the head coach is up for grabs. Potential candidates the last few days have been rumored to be Rimas Kurtinaitis and Fotis Katsikaris.

Oktay Mahmudi took over Benetton Treviso in November 2007 and this season he was named 'Eurocup Coach of the Year'. Before Benetton, Mahmudi spent 7 seasons as a head coach of Efes Pilsen and 8 more as assistant coach. He led Efes as head coach to four championship titles and the same number of trophies in Turkish National Cup. In Euroleague, Efes reached the Quarterfinals twice.

Haralambidis to be announced soon

According to sport24.gr, Kostas Haralambidis(1.89-PG/SG) is soon to be announced by Panellinios. The deal has been rumored to go down before and this will be another player from Maroussi that will be leaving the team as a free agent after Calathes, Mavrokefalides and Glyniadakis.

Haralambidis played for Maroussi the last 3 seasons and before that he played for the ailing team of Makedonikos but did not manage to help them stay in the A1 league although he was among the top scorers of the league, ranking 4th with a total of 401 points in the regular season. Haralambidis has averaged 10.3 points 1.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 36 games in the greek A1 league.

Haddadi had offer from Barcelona

The seven-foot-three center Hamed Haddadi who joined Memphis Grizzlies in August 2008, is currently on holiday in Tehran. He will go back to the U.S. on June 20 and after 10 matches in the NBA Summer League he will join the Iranian national team and accompany them in the FIBA Asian Championship.

“I’ve won most of the Asian trophies and my dreams go beyond the continent. At the moment my target is world honors and I have to concentrate to achieve more success,” Haddadi said. Paying tribute to Huston Rockets’ Chinese player Yao Ming, he said, “I respect Yao Ming. He has played in NBA for nine years. I will keep working hard to be the best Asian NBA player. I want to be an Asian symbol like him.”

“I received many offers from other teams such as European basketball champion Barcelona. But they (Memphis) requested to extend my contracts until 2013 and I am thinking about that,” Haddadi stated.

Defending champions Iran will participate in the FIBA Asian Championship which will be held in Tianjin, China in August. Haddadi said, “Iran is the Asian champion but we have to accept that China is the most powerful Asian team. We can beat them without Yao Ming in the tournament.”

source : basketballfollowers.com

Devan Downey pulls out of Draft

Devan Downey's decision to return to South Carolina isn't a big surprise. He wasn't expected to be drafted and best-case scenario had the 5-foot-9 point guard going in the second round, which wouldn't guarantee him a contract or salary. Downey also flirted with playing professionally in Europe, which could be his best option this time next year. But with all that on the table, he decided to hold off on his dream of earning a paycheck playing the game he loves.

It's had to believe that the NBA was ever a reality. As good as Downey is, and trust me, he is one of the most talented point guards I've seen in years, his size is a real concern. I wouldn't have been that surprised to see him go pro overseas, considering the money he could have made. The guy's already been in school since 2005 and while he hasn't graduated yet - although he's close - it would've been easy to forgive him for taking the pay-for-play route.

source : independentmail.com

The Cavs interested in Bourousis?

Ioannis Bourousis, 6-11, 247: One international source said the Cavs might have some interest in the Greek center, but they would not throw major money at him. He averaged 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in the Euroleague last year for Olympiacos.

The Cavs could offer their $2 million bi-annual exception to Bourousis, but probably won't offer any of their mid-level exception. Bourousis, 25, is athletic and is deadly from the perimeter. He's a smaller and younger version of Zydrunas Ilgauskas. He's a finesse player.

Olympiacos has reportedly offered him 2 million euros (about $2.7 million U.S.) to return to Greece. The source said Bourousis would not be a star player in the NBA. He said a player like Cavs free-agent forward Joe Smith would be far superior to what he could offer.

One Internet rumor reported the Spurs would offer Bourousis $4 million a year to play next year. The source said it might be more like $1.7 million.

source : morningjournal.com