Kazlauskas to coach the Greek National Team

Jonas Kazlauskas seems to be the strongest candidate to coach the Greek National Team according to the latest news from the greek media. Georgios Vassilakopoulos went to Lithuania to discuss with him the prospect of taking up the head coach position for the men's National Team of Greece. If Kazlauskas agrees to coach Greece then this means that the era of Panayotis Giannakis will be officially over and the team will play a different style of basketball, similar to the one of Lithuanian National Team.

Kazlauskas is no longer the head coach of China and he has even bought a house in Athens lately which means that he hasn't cut off all ties to Greece from when he was the head coach of Olympiakos.

Hollis Price left Dynamo

Dynamo Moscow announced the dissolution of the contract with Hollis Price(1.89-PG/SG) as they couldn't keep his contract anymore. The announcement says that Price is a target for Euroleague teams that want to reinforce their teams for the TOP-16.

Dynamo thank Hollis Price for this contribution to the team and they wish him all the best in his next career move. Price averaged 6.7 points 1.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 12 games for the Russian Superleague. Latest rumors from want Hollis Price to move to Armani Milan.

Aris signed Andy Betts

Aris Thessaloniki agreed terms with British center Andrew Betts (2.17-C) until the end of the regular season. Betts received an offer from Aris yesterday and today he sent his contract signed. The transfer was announced by the team's site and Betts said that he always wanted to play for the crowd of Aris that he remembers from the days he was a player of AEK.

Andrew Betts said that he spoke to Andrea Mazzon and he was thrilled when he heard that the team want him to help them qualify for next year's Euroleague. Aris participated in the Euroleague between 2006 and 2008 and they want to return to the top league in Europe. Betts also said that he hadn't accepted an offer all this time because he wanted to play for a team with a purpose. Andrew Betts is a seasoned veteran of the Euroleague having played there between 2001 and 2006 with AEK, TAU Ceramica and DKV Joventut.

These are his stats for last year with Cajasol.
2007-2008: Cajasol Sevilla (Spain-ACB): 34 games: 7.4ppg, 5.4rpg, 2FGP: 51.0%, FT: 64.0%

He arrives this Sunday and he will have his chance for a first friendly game against Kavala BC this Wednesday.

source : eurobasket.com

Rumors about Mulaomerovic and KK Zagreb

There is a rumor in greek media that Damir Mulaomerovic(1.94-PG) has already agreed to continue his career in KK Zagreb. That means that as Mulaomerovic is leaving the sinking ship there might be other playes leaving Paok within this week.

Mulaomerovic averaged 12.4 points 2.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 11 games for Paok in the Greek A1 league.

Aris made an offer to Andrew Betts

According to sports.e-go.gr Aris have made an offer to Andrew Betts(2.16-C) and they are waiting for his reply to arrive very soon. According to the article the administration of the team is quite optimistic and they believe that Betts will reply positively.

The british center has played in Greece before for AEK and has also played for Tau and Badalona in the past and is also a member of the British National Team. Betts played in Cajasol last season where he averaged 7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 34 games in the ACB.

Paok is falling apart

Paok is falling apart according to latest news and they are releasing at the moment up to four players from their roster. Following the rumors of imminent departure of Kenny Gregory and Mamoutou Diarra the greek team is also releasing Kostas Vasileiadis(2.00-SG/SF)(who is on-loan from Olympiacos) and Damir Mulaomerovic(1.94-PG).

These 4 players are key members of the roster of Paok and perhaps the team is cutting down on expenses since the team has no fear of relegation like last season having already accumulated a 9-6 record. It is unknown whether other players will leave. If this comes true there will be a total of 5 players leaving the team including K'Zell Wesson.

EDIT : Today, the representative of former president Drosos that left the team told the players that there is money at the moment to pay one more salary. It seems that Drosos will cover the debt at the end of the season but at the moment the players are free to do as they please. This potentially means that any given player can leave the team if they wish so.

Marbury wants to hear what Olympiacos has to say

Stephon Marbury told The Post yesterday he's all ears as far as playing for the Greek team Olympiacos, whose owners have interest in bringing the point guard to Greece.

According to reports in Greece, Olympiacos owners have said they are interested in offering about $15 million - a development that has Knicks New York Knicks officials excited.

"I will listen to what they have to say," Marbury wrote in an e-mail.

Olympiacos is the same team former Hawk Josh Childress plays for. Contrary to a report, Knicks president Donnie Walsh claimed he had yet to hear from Olympiacos, but his European sources tell him the interest is genuine. The Knicks prefer Marbury playing in Europe.

Hal Biagas, representing Marbury for the players' union, told The Post he hopes to listen to their spiel this week, but has yet to be contacted by Olympiacos.

Two years ago, Marbury told The Post of his intentions of playing in Italy when his contract expired, but he does prefer to play in the NBA this season and has a commitment from at least one NBA team, believed to be Boston. That is why he recently put his $1M giveback on the table.

Knicks owner James Dolan supposedly has told WFAN's Mike Francesa he'd take the buy-out offer of $2 million less. But the Knicks may be able to get a lot more savings if Olympiacos' interest is for real.

"We'll proceed and see what they have to say," said Biagas, who is proceeding cautiously because of the recent hoax involving Real Madrid's interest when two people posing as Swiss investors connected to Real Madrid approached Marbury.

source : New York Post

Maccabi made an offer for Begic

Maccabi made an offer to buy promising slovenian center Mirza Begic(2.20-C) from Olimpija Lubljana according to ekipa.org. Begic's contract was recently extended until the end of the 2011 season. Hence Olimpija reserves the right to sell the player if they wish to the highest bidder. At the moment the current buy-out that Olimpija is willing to offer for the player is 500,000 euros.

Maccabi's offer though wasn't even close to that size and the administration of Olimpija rejected the offer without even thinking about it. Begic averaged 11.1 points 6.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in 10 games in the Euroleague.

Panellinios signed Shakur

Panellinios seems to have signed Mustafa Shakur according to the latest news from the greek media. Panellinios signed Shakur for the next 2 months in order to play in the games of the TOP-16 phase of the Eurocup. He wouldn't be able to play in the Greek A1 league as there are only 2 non-european players allowed but there is no such limitation in the Eurocup.

Shakur averaged 5.5 points 1.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 10 games for Tau Baskonia in the Euroleague. Shakur is arriving in Athens tonight to join the rest of the team of Panellinios.

Khimik signed Nenad Canak

Nenad Canak signed a contract with Khimik until the end of the season to help them in the Ukrainian Superleague and it was announced via their official website. Canak started the season in Lukoil Academic but had to leave the team because of financial problems.

Canak has so far averaged 6.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 3 games in the Eurocup.

Olympiacos eyes Marbury

Representatives of the Greek club Olympiacos contacted the New York Knicks earlier in the day in an effort to begin a dialogue on what it would take to get Marbury released from his contract, sources told ESPN.

Olympiacos recently lost Josh Childress for six to eight weeks after he returned to the United States for surgery to repair a sports hernia, and the club is seeking to acquire a replacement player in time for the start of the Top 16 phase of the Euroleague season, which begins Jan. 29 and runs through March 12.

Marbury has been exiled since early in the season by the Knicks, who have been unable to make any substantial progress in buyout talks with the former All-Star. Marbury is in the final season of his contract and is making $20.8 million to sit on the sidelines. He has offered to give back $1 million to secure his release, but the Knicks have asked for more. Also, Knicks president Donnie Walsh remains convinced that a viable trade opportunity involving Marbury could arise between now and the Feb. 19 trade deadline.

Marbury is aware of Olympiacos' interest but has had no contact with the club, according to a source close to the Knicks, who said he expected additional dialogue on the subject over the next few days. It would be highly unusual, but not unprecedented, for a Greek club to broker a buyout between an NBA team and a player. In the summer of 2007 when the Houston Rockets acquired the rights to Luis Scola from San Antonio for Vassilis Spanoulis, the Greek guard had grown so disenchanted with the NBA that he was willing to forego the $4 million he was due to be paid. Olympiacos' rival, Panathinakos, ended up paying the Spurs an undisclosed
sum to secure Spanoulis' release.

source : espn

Marc Salyers is looking for a team

Marc Salyers(2.05-PF) is looking for a team by the looks of things. According to greek media Marc Salyers was proposed to Aris by his agent but the player was considered to be too expensive for the administration of Aris who are currently scouring the market for players.

Salyers was the top scorer of the Euroleague regular season playing for Roanne last season and this season he started playing for Azovmash. The financial troubles of Azovmash have forced him out of the club like other players before him. As a player of Azovmash he averaged 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in 12 games for the Ukrainian Superleague.