Now that Greek media decided to reveal his name, I guess I can reveal it too. Artsiom Parakhouski(2.11-C) is the best prospect to come out of Belarus in a long time. I did say he has the physique of Aleks Maric as they are of the same height and also the same wingspan(7'1'' or 2.16m) but Parakhouski is actually more athletic than Maric. He is a player that draftexpress.com ranks as number 11 in this season's top centers. Not bad for Belarus.
Parakhouski wanted to big the first player from Belarus to play in the NBA but he didn't manage to secure a contract this summer although he put up a decent effort to impress the NBA scouts during the Boston Summer Camp and the Las Vegas Summer League where he played for Boston averaging 5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 4 games. Coach Sharon Drucker managed to see him in action in Las Vegas and set the wheels in motion to acquire the player for Aris.
He graduated at the end of this season from Radford averaging the impressive figures of 21.4 points 13.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in a total of 31 games in the Big South Conference. He was born in Minsk and he only started playing basketball at the age of 16. Needless to say that he has come a long way since then and perhaps in a few years time he will indeed become the first Belarusian in the NBA.
Alexander Koul(2.15-C) and Yahor Meschcharakou(2.07-PF) have also played for Aris in the past so he will be the 3rd Belarusia in Aris if all goes well. He still has one game to go with his country's National Team against Romania this Saturday and after that he will be free to join the rest of the team of Aris. In his last game he was sidelined after 1 minute of play by light ankle injury. Information coming from the player's side suggests that his injury is already gone, that the deal between him and Aris is very close and Parakhouski is glad to start his European adventure(his own words) in Aris and Greece. Minsk 2006 also approached him, but coach Andrei Krivonos knew that they couldn't attain him.
If all goes well the deal could be announced very soon. On another issue Filip Videnov will probably prefer the money of the ACB as Aris didn't managed to match his demands (well over 180,000 euros) and he will probably go for one of his 2 offers from Spain. That means Aris will sign an American small forward that could also be announced very soon.
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