Monday, June 30, 2008
Dynamo Moscow makes a move for Baston
According to russian media David Blatt wants Maceo Baston in next year's roster of Dynamo Moscow. But it's not only Dynamo that wants him, Maccabi Tel Aviv wants to sign the power forward that played for them during 2003-2006.
Dynamo is ready to buy-out his current contract and pay him a salary of 2.5 million dollars per year. Maceo Baston holds the record of most blocks in a Euroleague Final Four game scoring 6 blocks in the semi-final against Tau Ceramica in 2006.
Baston didn't have a good year playing for the Toronto Raptors averaging 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 15 games.
Fortitudo is waiting on Basile, transfers on hold
Fortitudo has put other transfers on stand-by waiting on Gianluca Basile to see if he will be released from Barcelona. Savic is still waiting to see what will happen with Gianluca Basile in order to make a decision on the case of Cristaps Janicenoks. The latvian guard-forward had a decent year with Fortitudo averaging 8.4 points 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 28 games for Fortitudo.
Another transfer that is sitting on stand-by as well is the case of Giuseppe Poeta who still has a contract with Teramo until 2011. There is a buy-out in his contract though that is 300.000 euros that Fortitudo could easily afford. Poeta averaged 11.8 points 2.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists in
32 games last season.
Virtus is close to Bonsu and Best
Virtus Bologna is gearing up for next year's season even if they're playing in the Fiba Eurocup. Next possible transfers for Virtus is Travis Best and Nana Mensah-Bonsu.
European basketball veteran Travis Best(1.81-PG) started last year in Prokom Trefl but financial problems of the team lead him away and back to Virtus where he played for 18 games averaging 12.7 points 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
Nana Mensah-Bonsu(2.05-PF) also played in the italian league last year for Benetton Trevizo. The dynamic power-forward played for 33 games in Benetton averaging 9.2 points 9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. He also played for 1 game for Granada scoring 22 points 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Bonsu is currently training with the Dallas Mavericks that released him last year as a free agent.
Sekulic is coming to sign for Aris
Blagota Sekulic is coming to sign his new contract with Aris Thessaloniki according to an interview he gave to the greek newspaper metrosport. Sekulic said in his interview that he had propositions from many teams but coach Mazzon and the administration of Aris won him over because they showed him that they wanted him more than other teams.
He says he never met coach Mazzon in person but he knows of him and he is also aware that he will be the starting center in next year's season. He also said that there are some final details to be sorted and then he will sign his new contract with Aris. He doesn't know when he will arrive in Thessaloniki as he needs to sort out his girlfriend's viza but it could be any day now.
Blagota Sekulic played for Real Madrid the last 1.5 seasons. This season he averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 32 games in the ACB.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Goran Dragic wants to move to Phoenix
Goran Dragic was picked at number 45 in the 2nd round of this year's NBA Draft but was traded to Phoenix straight away. The young slovenian combo-guard wants to move to Phoenix next season and play alongside Steve Nash according to the East Valley Tribune.
According to the article David Griffin who is Dragic's agent said that they will try to do whatever they can so that Dragic can play sooner rather than later for the Phoenix Suns. The buyout for Goran Dragic from Tau is 1.5 million dollars which is something that the Suns cannot afford this year. General Manager Steve Kerr, who had never seen Dragic before the workout, would rather not wait. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves and see what we can get done,” he said. “After what I saw, the sooner he gets here, the better.
Goran Dragic averaged 9.7 points 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in the Euroleague this season in 13 games for Olimpija Lubljana.
Dynamo Moscow is after Dragicevic
Tadija Dragicevic ended up in the number 53 of the 2nd round of this year's NBA Draft selection. The 22-year old power forward was the leading scorer of the Adriatic League leading Red Star Belgrade to the 4th position in the league.
Dragicevic is one the most promising serbian talents of his generation and he has already attracted the attention of many rich european basketball clubs. According to serbian media Dynamo Moscow made an offer to the young player offering him 850.000 euros per year for a one-year contract with the possibility of renewing it for another year.
Dragicevic averaged 20.5 points and 5.9 rebounds in 28 games of the Adriatic League.
Everybody wants Van Rossom
Everybody wants the belgian youngster Sam Van Rossom(1.88-G) who played for Oostende last season in Belgium. The 22-year old combo-guard has attracted lots of teams from Italy with Scavolini being the first one to make an offer but later five more teams on more followed (Cantu, Capo D'Orlando, Milan, Virtus, Montegranaro).
According to the italian media the rumor is that he will end up playing for Milan with a 3-year contract with the possibility of the 1st year playing for another team on-loan which in this case might be Montegranaro.
Van Rossom averaged 11.5 points 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 36 games in the belgian league.
Armani Milan announced Jobey Thomas
Armani Milan announced Jobey Thomas who will be wearing the red and white shirt for the next 2 years. He will picking up shirt no. 11. Jobey Thomas is the best 3-point shooter in the italian league averaging a 45.5% behind the arc last season making 87 out of 191 3-point shots he attempted.
Thomas has been playing for Montegranaro for the last 2 years and the last 5 years in Italy and now he has moved to Armani Milan. A natural scorer for Milan averaging 15.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 34 games of the LegaA1. Thus Montegranaro loses 2 of their best players including the signing of Sharrod Ford earlier to Virtus.
Malaga is releasing Sanders and keeping Chilynski
According to sur.es Unicaja Malaga will be releasing Melvin Sanders(1.98-SF) as they don't want to renew his contract for another year. Sanders was bought from Panellinios of Greece halfway through the season as he has a georgian passport and counts as an EU player. The player did not perform as expected and given the departure of coach Skariolo he won't be staying in the team.
On the other hand Michael Chilynski will be staying in Malaga as the administration activated the clause on his contract that is called the right of refusal. Unless another team comes up with an offer that Malaga cannot match by the 18th of July they will keep the youngster Chilynski.
DKV is keeping Sonseca
According to tubasket.com Eduardo Hernandez-Sonseca(2.12-c) will be staying with Badalona for the next seasons. The team renewed his contract for another 2 years as from next season he will be a very important part of the team.
Badalona already lost Rudy Fernandez and Gerome Moiso and possibly Lupos Barton very soon so they did all they could to retain Sonseka who was also monitored by Pamesa Valencia.
Sonseca averaged 8 points 5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 34 games of the regular season.
Acker leaving, three new transfers for Barca
According to sport.es Alex Acker might soon be leaving Barcelona who has already released Marconato and Sanchez. Only four players so far have secured their place in the roster and they are Grimau, Trias, Vasquez and Kasun. Alex Acker did not produce the performance everyone was expecting and it seems unlikely that Barcelona will be renewing his contract.
He averaged 6.7 points 1.7 rebounds and 1 assists in 30 games in the regular season.
On the other hand there are 3 transfers that are rumored to be concluded very soon according to the article. They are Victor Sada from Girona, Lupos Barton from DKV and of course the highly anticipated transfer of Terrell McIntyre from Siena.
There is also the matter of releasing Jaka Lakovic and his 1.3 million euros contract that Barcelona wants to get rid of.
Rodriguez might leave Malaga
According to spanish website sur.es that deals with Malaga stories Berni Rodriguez might be leaving Unicaja Malaga next year. The reason for that is the player did not manage to agree with the administration of Malaga about renewing his contract.
The same thing was reported earlier with Carlos Cabezas who did not manage to get his contract renewed. The agent of Rodriguez, Miguel Sola said they are still trying to negotiate with Malaga
about the amount on his client's contract but the administration of Malaga does not seem to agree with them.
Rodriguez averaged 5.6 points 2.4 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 30 games for the ACB league.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Olympia Larissa is close to Marlon Garnett
According to sport.gr Olympia Larissa has found the replacement of Fanis Koumpouras who moved to Maroussi BC for 3 years just a few days ago. Coach Bartzokas needed a player that can score from the point guard position and they have found him in Marlon Garnett.
Garnett played for KK Croatia Split last season and before that in Estudiantes in Spain. The 33 year old PG had a tremendous year in the adriatic league where he was the 2nd leading scorer with 19.2 points per game. He also averaged 3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in a total of 24 games. A great transfer for Olympia Larissa if the player signs within the next few days.
Garris renewed with Montegranaro
European veteran Kiwane Garris renewed with Premiata Montegranaro for another year as it was announced today by the italian team. Garris has been playing in Italy for the last 3 years and last season he played for Montegranaro and before that Armani Milan and Fortitudo.
Garris averaged 10.2 points 2.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 32 games of the italian LegaA1 league.
Mavrokefalides agreed with Aris but..
Loukas Mavrokefalides might have not had the progress everyone thought he would. Being drafted in number 57 by Minnesota in 2006 everyone thought that Mavrokefalides' pure talent would eventually help him ascend to the magic world of the NBA. Unfortunately for Mavrokefalides, bad career choices did not give him the playing time he needed and having switched from Paok to Roma, Valencia and most recently Olympiacos he has been sidelined as a bench player.
According to greek media Andrea Mazzon has had telephone conversations with Mavrokefalides expaining to him the role he wants him to have in Aris and the outcome was positive. Unfortunately for Aris, Mavrokefalides has 2 more years to go in his contract with Olympiacos. Although he has agreed to wear the shirt of Aris for the next 2 years it remains to be seen what Olympiacos will decide about his fate.
It is obvious that Mavrokefalides' presence in the roster of Olympiacos might seem redundant especially after the signing of Vujcic and the slow but steady return of the Big Sofo. Let's not forget here that there is also Bouroussis competing for a place in the roster. Even so the relationship between the 2 teams is not the greatest and the possibility of Mavrokefalides to play on-loan for a different team is also very possible.
Mavrokefalides has averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in a total of 18 games for A1 league.
Benetton Treviso wants Pat Calathes
According to italian newspaper Corriere del Veneto, Benetton Treviso has set sights on Pat Calathes who wasn't drafted and will try to seek his luck abroad. After Dashaun Wood and Gary Neal Benetton wants to sign Calathes to make a competitive team for the Uleb Cup competition.
Sources from Greece say that Pat Calathes has not acquired his greek passport yet which means that he might have to sign as an import player to begin with. The article does not mention if the negotiations have proceeded at all. One might think that Calathes having a greek passport would interest mostly greek teams as he won't occupy an import or EU player in the roster.
Last season he averaged 17.5 points 7.5 rebounds 2.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Pat Calathes is a tall(2.09) small forward with great court vision and passing skills. It remains to be seen if he will play in that position in Europe or moved to the power forward position.
Ukic out - McIntyre in and perhaps Basile out
As we mentioned in previous article Roko Leni Ukic will probably be moving to the Toronto Raptors. This has been confirmed as well by croatian media. Another player of Barcelona who is tempted by sirens abroad and this time his homeland is Gianluca Basile who is constantly being mentioned by Zoran Savic as GM of Fortitudo. Savic wants Basile to lead Fortitudo to a better course in the LegaA1.
And finally spanish media make even more mention of Terrell McIntyre moving to Barcelona and perhaps now even staying in the same team with Jaka Lakovic. There will be more to this story that's for sure.
Real Madrid set sights on Primoz Brezec
In Slovenia they might want Primoz Brezec like crazy as it will boost the local image of Olimpija but in Real Madrid they also want another addition to their already powerful front-line after the acquisition of Jeremy Massey from Aris, according to spanish media.
The general concensus is that Blagota Sekulic will not be continuing his career in Madrid as he doesn't get the playing time he wants(who is in turn heading to Aris Thessaloniki) and the administration wants to get rid of the contract of Lazaros Papadopoulos who has not performed not even close to standards.
The rumors in Spain are that Real Madrid has made an offer to the NBA veteran and is awaiting a response at the moment. Brezec was picked on the 27th position in the 2000 draft by the Indiana Pacers and this year he has averaged 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 50 games for 3 different teams.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Cherkassy Monkeys are negotiating with Diamantopoulos
Cherkassy Monkeys of Ukraine are currently negotiating with greek wing player Georgios Diamantopoulos. Diamantopoulos was considered to be one the best talents of his generations but due to bad choices his career went downhill. It seems to be picking up now after a good year with Kolossos Rhodes in the A1 league in Greece.
Cherkassy offered 350.000 dollars per year to Diamantopoulos but at the last minute his agent changed his mind and asked for a higher amount. The administration of the team did not respond with a higher offer so it remains to be seen what will happen.
Diamantopoulos averaged 14.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 18 games of the A1 greek league last season.
The italians send McIntyre to Barcelona now
After the recent signing of Drew Nicholas the news that Terrell McIntyre is heading to Panathinaikos don't real hold up. So the italian media are now changing their story that Terrell McIntyre is heading to Barcelona. The reason for that is that Barcelona wants to get rid of Lakovic's contract. They also say that Panathinaikos does not want to pay a potentially high
buy-out for McIntyre. With the loss of Sanchez it's more likely for Barcelona to be interested in McIntyre who has already been replaced by Morris Finley. What will finally still remains to be seen in one of the biggest transfer soap operas of this summer.
Virtus made an offer to Marcus Goree
According to italian media Virtus Bologna made an offer to Marcus Goree that played last year for CSKA. Virtus will be participating in the FIBA Europe Cup next year as they didn't want to participate in the ULEB cup. Goree didn't have a great year in CSKA as he was one of the substitutes.
Virtus wants to build a capable team again and Goree can give it power and experience. Goree averaged 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds for CSKA in the Euroleague last season.
Cajasol announced Dusko Savanovic
Cajasol announced another player after renewing Ignerski and acquiring Triguero. The next player to become member of the Cajasol roster is Dusko Savanovic from Unics Kazan. Savanovic played for 2 seasons for FMP Zeleznik before moving to Unics Kazan for another 2 seasons. He can play both small and power forward positions as he can score both from a distance and from the low post.
He averaged 11 points 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists last year in Unics Kazan in the russian superleague.
Andrew Betts signed with Efes Pilsen
Andrew Betts(2.16-C) signed a new contract with Efes Pilsen. The experienced british center will come to replace the loss of Loren Woods. Betts has played in quite a few teams in his career like Regio Emilia, AEK Athens, Tau Vitoria, DKV Juventut and last year in Cajasol.
As a player of Cajasol he averaged 7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 34 games.
Azovmash Mariupol made an offer to Dikoudis
As we mentioned in previous articles Demos Dikoudis(2.07-PF) would not find it difficult to find a team leaving Panathinaikos. The experienced greek power-forward has had yet another offer from Azovmash who accomodates another greek player Panagiotis Liadelis. Ukrainian sources say that Azovmash made quite a good offer to Dikoudis but no details have been disclosed about it yet. The ukrainian team is trying to build a powerful roster in order to conquer the Uleb Cup next season.
Dikoudis averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 rebounds this year in the greek league A1.
Azovmash signed Uche Nsonwu-Amadi
Azovmash signed nigerian center Uche Nsonwu-Amadi(2.10-C). Nsonwu is an experiend center that played for ASVEL last year in France ProA and was one of the best players of the league. He never made it to the NBA coming out of Wyoming but he played for lots of european teams like Galatasaray, Hapoel Galil Elion and Graveliines. The player will be announced very soon by the administration of the team. Nsownu will make a fine addition to the front-line of the team and will help out defensively.
Nsownu averaged 13.4 points and 7.6 rebounds in 30 games in ProA last season.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
CSKA is lending players to Spartak
According to russian newspaper Sports Daily, CSKA Moscow wants to give away potentially 4 players on-loan to Spartak in order for them to get some minutes of playing time as they will not get any playing time in CSKA given that they still want to sign Garbajosa and Lorbek.
The likeliest candidate is Anatoliy Kashirov and also Artem Zabelin, Andrey Vorontsevic and the latest addition to CSKA, Alexander Kaun who came from a very good year in the NCAA.
Kashirov averaged 4.4 points 3.4 rebouns in13 games, Zabelin averaged 3.2 points and 1.5 rebounds in 15 games, Vorontsevic averaged 4.1 points 3 rebounds in 13 games and Sasha Kaun who seems to be the most battle-ready of the 4 averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 40 games with Kansas State.
A wise move by CSKA as these players will get no experience this year sitting out all the games on the bench.
Roma wants Angelo Gigli
Roma has already started looking for replacements for the possible departure of Erazem Lorbek to CSKA. Gigli was sought after by many teams in Italy, especially Avellino and Fortitudo, but his wish to play for a Euroleague team next season might actually become true. According to
italian sources Gigli was making about 500.000 euros per year in Benetton and that sort of money should be easily available to Roma once Lorbek leaves.
Gigli didn't have a great year due to a torn ligament injury and averaged 4.3 points 4.3 rebounds in 26 games this year in LegaA1.
Scavolini announced Leroy Hurd
Scavolini Pesaro announced another player after Ramel Curry and this time it is Leroy Hurd(2.02-F) from Solsonica Rieti. This is the fourth team after Montegranaro, Teramo and Rieti in Italy for Curry who seems to find it comfortable signing for italian teams and why not?
Curry averaged 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in 34 games for Solsonica Rieti this season. The announcement can be found here.
Pepe Sanchez close to Real Madrid
Pepe Sanchez left Barcelona a few days ago and his search for a new team didn't last very long. According to championat.ru the argentinian point guard with an italian passport has agreed to continue his career in Real Madrid who wants to replace the loss of Kerem Tunceri.
Pepe Sanchez was the 2nd best in assists this year in the ACB averaging 5.3 only behind Berny Rodriguez from Malaga. He averaged 5 points 5.3 assists 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 34 games.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Ivan Zoroski is applying for a greek passport
Serbian point guard Ivan Zoroski who played for Panionios last season has applied for a greek passport which he can from his wife's side of the family. This was announced by the president of Panionios Andreas Lianos during the interview that announced coach Trifunovic as the new coach of Panionios.
If Zoroski gets a greek passport he will become a very popular prospect for many greek teams as he will not occupy the position of an EU player.
Zoroski averaged 11.3 points 2.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 35 games.
Olympiakos announced Yotam Halperin
Olympiakos announced yet another player this summer. Yotam Halperin will be a player of Olympiakos for the next 3 years signing a contract with the team of Piraeus.
This is yet another bold move and an addition to an already all-star roster that Olympiakos is building this summer following the transfers of Erceg, Papaloukas and Vujcic. The signing of Halperin might have meant the end of Rodrick Blakney although after the release of Macijauskas that might not be the case. Halperin is a member of the israeli national team.
Unics Kazan made Dikoudis an offer
According to greek media Unics Kazan has made Demos Dikoudis and offer that is close to 1.5 million euros per year for 2 years contract.
Dikoudis had reduced time this season in Panathinaikos and he might not be continuing his career in Panathinaikos. He has played in Russia before for CSKA so it should be familiar territory for him although Kazan might not be as hospitable as Moscow.
The rumors say that Dikoudis might not be taking up the russians on their offer and will probably look for a career elsewhere in Europe. Dikoudis averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 rebounds this year in the greek league A1.
Panionios entered negotiations with Papamakarios
As we published a few days ago Panionios has already started negotiations with Manolis Papamakarios (according to greek media) who will be leaving Olympiakos by the look of things as the peripheral line of Olympiakos is getting increasignly crowded by superstars and Papamakarios is well out of his league.
The greek combo-guard sees Panionios as the next step in his career and the first talks with the Panionios administration were positive. Coach Trifunovic wants Papamakarios in his team and very soon he will be starting talks with more players.
Papamakarios averaged in 22 games 13.4 minutes 3.5 points 1 assist and 0.9 steals per game.
Barac moved to Charleroi
Pankracije Barać chose Charleroi over Zadar. Barac signed a 2-year contract with Charleroi instead of renewing his contract with Zadar.
The main reason that Barac moved out of Croatia was his expressed concern about his reduced playing time under coach Petrovic in Zadar. Another reason that he preferred Charleroi is the presence of croatian coach Drazen Anzulovic in Charleroi that conquered the belgian league after the transfer of Anzulovic last February.
Barac averaged 8.5 points 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 30 games playing for Zadar with an averaged playing time of 17:31.
Granada announced Daniel Kickert
Granada announced their first transfer for this summer and it's Daniel Kickert who played last season in the LEB Gold championship in Spain for Breogan. Kickert was the MVP of the final four of LEB. Coach Ojeda says that he is a player that can cover both 4 and 5 posistions and that he has the shooting touch to play from the perimeter as well as near the hoop.
Kickert averaged 9.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in 29 games for Breogan.
Cabezas has not renewed with Unicaja Malaga
Carlos Cabezas decided not to renew his contract with Unicaja Malaga this season according to la opinion de malaga. His contract ends 30th of June and the agent and his team decided not to renew the contract for another year.
His agent said that Malaga promised them a good deal to renew his contract but that deal hasn't come. He seems to be disappointed with the way the administration of Malaga is handling this matter and he said that it's hard to renew the contract with a team that does not communicate with them.
Cabezas will surely be a highly sought after player in the european market. Barcelona and Real are already looking for a PG so this might actually be good timing for Cabezas.
DKV is after Simas Jasaitis
As mentioned a few days ago Tau Ceramica do not want to keep Simas Jasaitis in their roster for next season. The lithuanian small forward is the favourite player of Neven Spahia and without him in the team his days are numbered. According to acb.com DKV has expressed interest in Jasaitis who is very effective shooter behind the arc.
Jasaitis averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 28 games in the ACB league.
Josipovic and Djikanovic close to AEL 1964
Ivo Josipovic and Savo Djikanovic are close to AEL 1964 according to greek media. Coach Alexandris had these players in Kolossos Rhodes last year and now he wants them in AEL. Kolossos decided not to renew their contracts and the 2 players will probably form the front-line of AEL.
Josipovic averaged 10.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in 26 games, Djikanovic averaged 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 25 games for Kolossos in the A1 league last season.
Coach Alexandris also wants some players on-loan from Aris Thessaloniki but the matter will be cleared when coach Mazzon arrives for Aris.
Yaniv Green might return to Maccabi
According to one.co.il Yaniv Green has been approached by Maccabi and been offered a new contract in order to return to his old team. Green did not renew his contract CSK Samara and is rumored to sign a new contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv soon that is going through a major renewal.
Green averaged 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 23 games of the russian superleague wearing the shirt of CSK Samara.
Spartak announced Alexander Dedushkin
Spartak announced russian center (2.07-C) Alexander Dedushkin for a one-year contract with the prospect of renewal next year. Dedushkin played for AEL in Cyprus last season and then he moved to Ural Great where he averaged 5.3 points and 4 rebounds in 12 games of the russian superleague
Lorbek ever closer to CSKA
Erazem Lorbek seems to be ever close to CSKA according to italian sources. Mondobasket says that Lorbek had the largest offer from CSKA which amounts up to 1.3 million euros while Bodiroga could only make an offer of 1 million euros. The CSKA offer was bigger than the one from Real Madrid.
Lorbek if he's gone he will be a great loss for Roma who will be on the lookout for their starting-five center. Lorbek averaged last year in the italian league 14.3 points 5.7 rebounds and 1 blocks per game in 45 games including playoff games.
Zeljo Zagorac signed with Helios
Zeljo Zagorac (2.04-PF) signed a 2-year contract with slovenian runner-up Helios. Zagorac left Helios 2 years ago and he played for Anwil last year. He is also part of the reserves for the slovenian national team and he will be participating at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Athens next month. Earlier in his career Zagorac was also playing for Union Olimpija, Triglav, Geoplin Slovan, Braunschweig, Helios, Ural Great and Lokomotiva Rostov.
Zagorac averaged 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 20 games of the polish league last year.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Rafa Martinez will finally sign with Pamesa
One of the most anticipated transfer stories in the ACB league this summer is coming to a happy end for Pamesa Valencia. Rafa Martinez passed his medical examination and he is now ready to sign his new contract with Pamesa Valencia.
Valencia will have to pay a compensation of 300.000 euros to Ricoh Manresa for the transfer of the player. The young spanish point guard averaged 14.9 points 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 34 games of the ACB league for Manresa.
Herve Toure renewed for 2 years with Cantu
French forward Herve Toure(2.03-SF/PF) renewed with Tisettanta Cantu for the next 2 years. Herve Toure came from Armani Milano where he had a successful year to Cantu where he also had a good year. He will be in coach Dalmonte's disposal now for 2 more seasons that found the french forward very useful to the team.
He averaged 11.4 points 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 25 games for Cantu in the LegaA1.
Panathinaikos announced Drew Nicholas for 2 years
Panathinaikos announced just a few minutes ago signing a 2-year contract with Drew Nicholas. The announcement is very short and can be found here.
A great new transfer from Panathinaikos that along with Pekovic and Fotsis are building one of its strongest rosters ever. The fans of Panathinaikos will remember Drew Nicholas this year scoring 29 points against them in the Top-16 stage with 5/12 3-point shots.
Nicholas is great combo-guard and a natural scorer who career ended shortly this year after his refusal to board the plane to Belgrade. The administration of Efes Pilsen was not so happy about that and they decided to end his contract. Nicholas averaged 16.5 points 3 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 14 games in the Euroleague for Efes Pilsen.
Unics Kazan announced Eugeny Voronov
Unics Kazan announced the signing of Eugeny Voronov (1.92-SG). The last 2 seasons he played for CSK Samara and before that he played for Dynamo St Petersburg and Lokomotiv Rostov. He won the Fiba Challenge Cup with Samara last year.
This year he averaged 10.4 points 2.9 rebounds 1.9 assists in 23 games.
Siena announced Finley and still wants Greer
Another expected announcement took place this week. Montepaschi Siena announced signing a 3-year contract with Morris Finley who has a great year with Solsonica Rieti averaged 0.3 points and 3.3 assists per game in 30 games.
Finley will be replacing Terell McIntyre who remains to be seen where he will end and the italian champion is still after Lynn Greer of Olympiakos to complement Finley.
Spartak has signed Alexei Zozulin
Unicaja agreed with Robert Archibald
According to ukrainian media Unicaja Malaga and Robert Archibald have agreed to sign a contract for the new year. Archibald (2.11-C) will be replacing Daniel Santiago who will be leaving the club by the looks of it.
The scottish center played for Azovmash Mariupol this year where he averaged 11.9 points 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 18 games of the ukrainian superleague. He was also voted as the MVP of the ukrainian league finals.