Panionios close to Raicevic

According to greek media it is rumored that Panionios has booked serbian-greek power forward Miroslav Raicevic. He will probably be the last player that will cover the front-line of Panionios.

Miroslav Raicevic(2.07-PF) who has a greek passport played for Red Star Belgrade last season, recovering from a serious injury that knocked him out most of the 2006-2007 season. He averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds in 12 games of the Uleb Cup. Raicevic played in Greece before for Aris Thessaloniki. In the Adriatic League he averaged 5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 20 games.

Panionios has already started looking for replacements for Ibrahim Jaaber who decided to stay in Roma. Amongs the candidates are Aaron Miles and Mike Wilks.

The NBA is currently blocking Ehadadi's transfer

A letter was sent out to all NBA teams by the NBA legal counsel saying the following:

"It has come to our attention that representatives of Hamed Ehadadi, an Iranian basketball player, may be contacting NBA teams to discuss the possibility of signing Mr. Ehadadi to an NBA player contract. We have been advised that a federal statue prohibits a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals.”

The NBA is applying to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for a license that, “if granted,” the league said, would allow teams to negotiate with the 23-year-old Ehadadi. Until then, no franchise is allowed to do so.

Shawn Kemp is back!

The rumored transfer of Shawn Kemp to an italian team is now a reality. Premiata Montegranaro decided to sign the "Reignman" at the age of 39 and announced the transfer via their official site. Obviously this is not the type of news you'd expect to hear in 2008 but Shawn Kemp is returning to action by the sound of it after 5 years of absence from the courts.

Shawn Kemp needs no introduction. He is one of the most spectacular players to grace the NBA courts using his ferocious athleticism to dunk the basketball like there is no tomorrow.

He went straight from high school to playing professional and the Seattle Supersonics in 1989 chose him in number 17 of the draft. In the NBA he has played 1,051 games in 14 seasons, accumulating 15,347 points, averaging 14.6 per game, capturing 8,834 rebounds (8.4 average). He participated 6 times in the All Star Game and was an NBA finalist in 1996 with Seattle against the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan (2-4 series).

He got the gold metal in Toronto in Canada in the World Championship of 1994 with Team USA. His top scoring performance was 42 points against the Clippers in 1994 and top rebounding performance was 22 in total against Dallas in 1995. He has played for Seattle, Cleveland, Portland, and Orlando.

In his last season in the NBA (2002/2003 to Orlando) he averaged 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in 79 games.

Adam Haluska joins Hapoel Jerusalem

The barrage of NBA players transfers continues with Adam Haluska(1.96-SG/SF). He will be playing for the team of Hapoel Jerusalem next season according to russian media. He joined the team of the Houston Rockets last season but didn't get any playing so he was sent to the NBDL to play for Iowa and earlier he took part in the Las Vegas Summer League.

Haluska is a deadly shooter behind the arc which makes him a powerful offensive weapon for any team especially in Europe. He was initially drafted by the New Orlean Hornets in 2007 at number 43 in the second round but traded to Houston. In his last season in Iowa in the NCAA he averaged 20.5 points 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

In his last 11 games in Iowa in the NBDL he averaged 18.7 points 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Dynamo Moscow reached agreement with Pargo

Dynamo Moscow has reached an agreement with Jannero Pargo according to russian media (championat.ru). The amount of the contract is rumored to be around 3.5 million dollars for the NBA star.

Previous articles by american newspapers mentioned a potential offer from Dynamo to Pargo. This might actually be true and this will be another expensive transfer for Dynamo Moscow after Bostjan Nachbar, Darjus Lavrinovic and Hollis Price. In the 6 years he spent in the NBA, Jannero Pargo played for the LA, Chicago and Toronto. He averaged 8.1 points 1.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 80 games last season in the NBA.

A highlights video can be found here.

Gran Canaria announced Fisher and Augustine

Gran Kanaria announced the signing of Josh Fisher and James Augustine.

Josh Fisher(1.89-PG/SG) graduated from St Louis and has played in teams like Pamesa Castellon(LEB2), Gijon(LEB1), Murcia(ACB) and last season he played for Etosa Alicante where he averaged 10.6 points, 1.8 rebounds an 2.1 assists in 39 games. He also has a spanish passport.

James Augustine(2.08-PF/C) graduated from Illinois reaching the NCAA finals with them but losing to North Carolina. He was later drafted by the Orlando Magic at number 41 in the 2nd round, spent some time in the NBDL with Anaheim Arsenal and then moved back to Orlando. Last season he didn't get much playing time and averaged 2 points and 1 rebounds in 27 games.

Panionios has booked Tapoutos

According to greek website gazzetta.gr Panionios seems to have booked greek small forward Christos Tapoutos(2.04-SF) for next season. Tapoutos was rumored a few weeks ago to be in discussions with Aris but they never went through. The reason for that might be the great progress that youngsterKostas Papanikolaou(2.02-SF) of Aris has made which was accompanied by a gold medal in the U-18 European Cup. According to the article Panionios booked Tapoutos to balance out the loss of Ibrahim Jaaber to Roma.

Tapoutos averaged 11.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 24 games this season in the Greek A1 league.

DKV announced Bracey Wright

Badalona announced the signing Bracey Wright (1.91-SG/SF) today via their official website. Penya signed one of the most charismatic shooting guards available in Europe, a player that will help to bridge the scoring gap that Rudy Fernandez left behind. Bracey Wright can score from pretty much any distance in the field and his great wingspan allows him to drive to the hoop even against significantly taller players.

He impressed the european crowds in his first year in the Euroleague averaging almost 15 points per game. He graduated from Indiana where he played for the Indiana Hoosiers. Then he moved to the NBDL where he played for the Florida Flame and later that year moved to the Minnesota Timberwolves where he stayed for 2 seasons. He had his first european experience when he moved to Aris Thessalonikiwhere he played the whole last season and alongside Jeremiah Massey (2.02-PF) were the offensive weapons of Aris.

Bracey Wright averaged 14.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 18 games in the Euroleague last season.

Stimac is going to Red Star

Vladimir Stimac(2.09-C) will be playing for Red Star Belgrade next season. Last season he played for SK Valmiera in Latvia and was announced the top rebounder of both the Baltic League and the Latvian league. In February 2007 he was released from Zalgiris and moved on to Valmiera. He was a member of Serbian U20 National Team which went Gold at the European Championship last summer in Nova Gorica. He had the same success with U18 Serbia on EC 2005 in Belgrade.

He averaged 17.1 points and 11 rebounds in 20 games in the Baltic League and 15.5 points and 11.3 rebounds in 26 games of the Latvian League.

Unics signed Veremeenko

Unics Kazan announced the signing of Vladimir Veremeenkno(2.08-C). The 24-year old belarusian center reached an agreement with Unics Kazan and signed his new contract for 2 seasons. He was drafted by the Washington Wizards with the 48th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. He has also played for Dynamo St. Petersburg in the past. It seemed unlikely for him to continue in BC Khimky with the arrival of Moiso and Garbajosa.

Last season he averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19 games.

Cherkassy Monkeys signed Dragojlovic

Cherkassy Monkeys announced the signing of Vladislav Dragojlovic(2.07-C). Dragoilovic played last season for Buducnost in the Adriatic League, the Uleb Cup and the Serbian league. He has also played for Panionios and Red Star Belgrade in the past.



Last season he averaged 10.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 10 games in the Uleb Cup and 10.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 25 games for the Adriatic League.

Barcelona announced Andre Barrett

Barcelona has signed point-guard Andre Barrett(1.78-PG) for the next two seasons(2008-2010). This was announced by the team on Wednesday. Whereas his height is restrictive in the NBA, Barrett can have a great career in Europe even with some titles.

Barrett has never played in Europe before but he has played for 4 seasons in the NBA with 6 different teams : Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, Toronto, Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers. Barrett became a top prospect at Seton Hall University, where he averaged 15.3 points and 5.4 assists over four seasons between 2000 and 2004.

Last season he drifted in and out of the NBDL having the best part with Bakersfield where he averaged 19.1 points 8.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds.