Lietuvos and Dynamo are waiting on Macijauskas

According to israeli site one.co.il Dynamo Moscow and Lietuvos Rytas are waiting around the corner to sign Arvydas Macijauskas. This is related to the impending release of Macijauskas from Olympiakos.

The lithuanian superstar who had an unsuccessful season in the NBA and the New Orlean Hornets returned from Lithuania with his leg in a cast. Apparently this happened while he was privately practicing with Neptunas, a lithuanian team. A clause in his contract states that Olympiakos can release the player if he is injured away from the team. That in turn will allow the team to release him and avoid the total compensation of 4.4 million euros for the next 2 years of his contract.

Macijauskas was signed as a messiah that would lead Olympiakos back to the top of the greek league but frequent injuries have not allowed him to reach his full potential and for the last 3 months there have been articles in Greece about Olympiakos and their wish to get rid of his contract.

Wesson failed his medical exams

K'Zell Wesson failed his medical exams according to greek media because of a failed MRI scan on his right knee. The american power forward who played for AEK last season will not be playing for Paok to begin with but the doors of the team won't close for him pending the acquisition of a bulgarian passport. This should allow him to play as a european player. When he was announced by Paok it was said that he already has the passport but latest articles mention that he hasn't officially acquired it yet.

Other rumours from Athens say that the bulgarian federation is reluctant to give away the passport earlier than sooner as they are currently to give one to Mike Batiste who is one of the best power forwards in Europe and he can benefit the Bulgarian National Team immensely. Other articles say that the administration of Paok will pay for the passport to speedup the process and that the player will stay out of action for about 5 weeks in order to do physiotherapy on his injured knee.

Mike Batiste will get a bulgarian passport

According to greek media Mike Batiste(2.04-PF) is going to receive a bulgarian passport so he can play with their national team. The bulgarian federation was keen to offer him a passport and as he said on his way to Zlatibor for Panathinaikos' preparation he said that the proceedings are moving on and that it is only a matter of time.

Those news will definitely spark up the transfer rumours about Panathinaikos as this means that Batiste will occupy a european player position that enables Panathinaikos to get one more american player. Given the financial capabilities of the Giannakopoulos bros it seems that only the sky is the limit as to what sort of player Panathinaikos can buy with all their money.

Rumours froms Athens said that the Giannakopoulos bros are feeling envious that they couldn't sign a player that will shake the foundations and this just might be the chance they were looking for.

Batiste averaged last season 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in 19 games in the Euroleague last season.

p.s. Mike Batiste also told the journalists that given the opportunity to obrain a greek passport he would be very much interested. According to the legislation of Greece, Batiste is entitled to greek citizenship given the fact that he has been playing there for the last 6 years. He also said that he feels like Greece is his second home after all this time.

Kosta Perovic heading to Valencia

Kosta Perovic(2.18-C) is a name in the long list of european players that just couldn't cut it in the NBA. Nevertheless he might be the answer to the prayers of Valencia that were looking for one more player to cover their front line.

The 23-year old serbian center left Partizan with high hopes and was signed by the Golden State Warriors last season after he was drafted at number 38 in the 2nd round of the 2006 Draft. Perovic unfortunately was another decorative 7-footer in an NBA roster but in Europe he can make a difference.

The roster of Pamesa Valencia was almost complete until Tomas Van Der Spiegel decided not to sign with them and go for a higher paying contract. According to spanish newspaper terra.es Kosta Perovic seems to be the main target of coach Katsikaris who sees in him the last piece of the puzzle.

Perovic only managed to play 7 games last season and averaged 1.4 points and 1.9 rebounds.

Kevin Fletcher on loan to Krasnoyarsk

According to superbasket.gr Kevin Fletcher(2.07-PF/C) is moving back to Russia and Krasnoyarsk this time on loan from Aris BC. The american forward/center with a european passport will be playing in the Russian Superleague one more time and this will be the last year of his contract with Aris BC.

Fletcher was the most efficient player of University Surgut last season but he was deemed unnecessary by coach Mazzon who didn't use him at all while he was a player of Aris. Hence he will be spending the last year of his contract playing on-loan for a second time.

Fletcher averaged 11.2 points 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 32 games for University Surgut last season.

Marko Marinovic in Red Star

Only 24 hours after the coach Svetislav Pešić took over Red Star Belgrade the team published another announcement inking guard Marko Marinović on a one-year contract with an option for another year according to the Adriatic League official website. The experienced serbian guard has played BC Reflex, FMP Zeleznik, Girona and last season he played for Menorca.

He averaged 10.3 points 2.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 29 games.

Romel Beck to KK Zadar

Romel Beck(2.01-SG/SF), the american-mexican scoring forward signed a new contract with KK Zadar for the next season (2008-2009).

Beck played in Italy last season starting in Varese and then moving on to Capo Di Orlando. He has also played in Mexico, Venezuela and in the NDBL with Florida Flame. This summer he tried his luck in the Las Vegas Summer League with Cleveland but to no avail.

Last season playing for Capo Di Orlando averaging 17.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15 games. He is also a member of the Mexican National Team.

Ben Gordon to decide about CSKA

Another article about Ben Gordon has surfaced. According to greek website contra.gr the CSKA Moscow has made an offer to the NBA superstar of 5.5 million dollars per year whereas Gordon seems to want more a bit more, around 7 million dollars to match the contract the Childress got from Olympiakos.

The jamaican shooting guard was born in London and that gives him a dual nationality, so he has both jamaican and british nationalities and he is also a member of the British National Team. Gordon rejected an offer earlier this year from the Chicago Bulls for 6.4 million dollars. Although if you take into consideration the NBA taxation system that would leave him less than 4 million dollars in net profit.

The article says that the whole matter will have ended by Wednesday and Ben Gordon will give his final answer. He was the leading scorer of the Chicago Bulls last season averaging 18.6 points 3.1 rebounds and 3 assists in 72 games.

Djikanovic in Trikala 2000

Savo Djikanovic(2.12-C) was announced by Trikala 2000. The experienced serbian center has played in a few european teams like Hemofarm, Kolossos Rhodes, Olympia, Olympiakos and Lovcen Cetinje.

Djikanovic averaged 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 25 games for Kolossos in the A1 league last season.

Red Star announced Pesic as new head coach

The news was confirmed by general manager of Red Star, Milan Opačić. Pešić was already conducting the Monday’s morning practice session but the team still plans a big press conference for Wednesday according to the Adriatic League official website.

The 59-year-old coach has two European trophies behind his belt with the national team of Germany and Yugoslavia and was also the World champ with the Yugoslavian team in 2002.At the club level, Pešić won the triple crown in 2003 with FC Barcelona.

* 1982-1987 Bosna Sarajevo
* 1987-1993 Germany national team
* 1993-2000 ALBA Berlin
* 2000-2002 FR Yugoslavia
* 2001-2002 RheinEnergie Köln
* 2002-2004 FC Barcelona
* 2004-2006 Lottomatica Roma
* 2006-2007 Akasvayu Girona
* 2007-2008 Dinamo Moscow

Samara signed Sljivancanin and Hicks

CSK Samara covered the small forward position signing two new players, serbian forward Mladjen Sljivancanin(2.00-SG/SF) and american forward Eric Hicks(1.98-SF).

Sljivancanin played in Red Star Belgrade last season where he averaged 5.1 points and 1.4 rebounds last season in 26 games in the Adriatic League shooting at 34.9% from behind the arc.

Eric Hicks is a very strong and solid forward that although he stands only at 1.98m he can easily play at the power forward position in Europe due to his impressive athletic skills. He was the leading shot-blocker in Poland. In 40 games he averaged 13.6 points 7.5 rebounds and 2 blocks per game playing for Polpak in Poland.

Nesovic signed with Prokom

Prokom signed combo guard Alexej Nesovic that played in Greece last season with Olimpias Patron but was released in March. The player actually started the season in Fuenlabrada. He has also played for Hemofarm, Red Star, KK Zagreb and Ludwigsburg in Germany.

He averaged 9.3 points and 1.9 assists in 7 games in the greek league last season.