Olympiakos preparing offer for Kobe..?!

According to italian site basketcentral.it Olympiakos is preparing an offer for Kobe Bryant(?!?!) for next summer. The italian site claims that they have information from "inside the club" insinuating that the Angelopoulos brothers will offer the superstar a contract of 60 million dollars for 3 years with an option for the player at the end of each season.

In that contract there will be an incredible list of benefits, a villa in the Mediterranean Sea, pay all the taxes at the expense of the club, to pay the bills for the staff and for a private boat for Kobe Bryant. The article also says that they are planning to form Olympiakos into an NBA style club with a court that fits 15-20 thousand seats and a private jet for the team.

This could be just another rumor in a long list of rumors that circulated around the net this summer and what seems really odd is the timing of it. It is strange for a rumor like that to be released in a time like now when all the leagues have begun. There is no credible reason other than attracting attention.. Only time will tell if there is any validity in it..

Trikala signed Dimitris Haritopoulos

The greek forward/center found a team eventually and indeed it was Trikala 2000. He was announced today by Trikala 2000 via their official website. Dimitris Haritopoulos(2.07-PF/C) will complete their front-line and the team will be ready to fight for their stay in the A1 league this season. This comes to verify the rumors that the team of Trikala weren't entirely happy wiith the performance of Chris Massie to hold off the low-post by himself.

Haritopoulos started his pro career in Aris Thessaloniki - he trained with them during this summer - and played for Paok for the last 2 seasons. He averaged 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 26 games for Paok.

Clay Tucker broke his leg!

According to ukrainian media, american shooting guard Clay Tucker(1.91-SG) broke his leg. The player will keep his leg in plaster for about 4 weeks and you can add to that the time it will be required for his leg to completely heal. This will be vital as the replacement will need to help BC Kyiv in the Eurocup games as well.

BC Kyiv is already on the lookout for a replacement for Tucker who is a prolific scorer. Tucker impressed the italian crowds last season averaging 21 points per game in 22 games for Teramo and for that reason BC Khimky signed him near the play-offs and he averaged 10 points per game in 9 games for the russian team.

Rumors about Matt Walsh's return to Greece

According to eurobasket.com and betsmart.gr Olympia Larissa wants to replace either Mike King or Jamel Thomas with Matt Walsh who is currently unemployed in Europe. Walsh tried his luck with Miami and it didn't work out and having played for coach Bartzokas before is a plus for the greek team. It is more likely to believe he will replace Jamel Thomas as they both play in the small forward position.

The 6' 6" forward originally signed as an undrafted free agent from the University of Florida with the Heat. He was waived on November 18, 2005, playing one regular season contest. In the 2006 preseason, he was signed by the New Jersey Nets and released in October.He started his european career in Greece and Olympia Larisa(2006-2007) and the next season he started in Manresa in Spain but ended up in Chareroi in Belgium in February. He helped Charleroi to conquer the belgian league. Walsh averaged 14 games: 12.4 points 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 14 games of the Belgian league for Charleroi.

Kirk Snyder has offer from Europe

Kirk Snyder(1.98-SG/SF) is rumored to have offers from Europe, Asia and an NBA team. This was reported in the Reno Gazette Journal by his agent Chris Emmens who didn't want to go into too much detail. Emmens said that he expects Snyder to make a decision sometime next week on where he will play this season.

Snyder averaged 8.4 points (on 51.6 percent shooting), 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 27 games with Minnesota last season. The four-year NBA veteran became an unrestricted free agent in late June when the Timberwolves declined to extend him qualifying offer.

Messina is a candidate for French National Team

According to russian media (sports.ru) Ettore Messina is one of the candidates for the head coach position of the National Team of France. A french journalist asked the question to Ettore Messina after the game against the Orlando Magic and Messina did not deny having a telephone conversation with the French Federation regarding the possibility of taking up the head coach position.

Although he didn't deny the telephone conversation Messina suggested that the negotiations didn't move very far.

Le Havre announced Slaven Rimac

Le Havre announced veteran shooting guard Slaven Rimac(1.96-SG) via their official site. Slaven Rimac has played in numerous european teams like Badalona, Armani Milano, Cibona Zagreb, AEK, Paris among others and last season he played for Croatia Zagreb.

The 33-year-old played last season at Croatia Zagreb where he averaged 16 pts, 2.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1 steal per game in 31 minutes. He also played 2 games of Eurocup where he averaged 15.5 pts, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on average. He was selected in the Croatian All Star Game of 2008.

Dixon officially in Treviso

Benetton Treviso announced on Thursday the signing of point guard Bobby Dixon for the upcoming season according to the Uleb Cup official site. Dixon takes the place of the injured Dashaun Wood, who is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right knee in Italy on Friday. Dixon (1.78-PG) played for Polpak Swiecie in Poland lasts eason, where he led the league in assists with 5.1 per game and was fourth in scoring with 16.6 points per game. Dixon had agreed to play this season for the Cherkassy Monkeys in Ukraine but decided to abandon the team for Benetton.

He spent the 2006-07 season in France split between Saint-Etienne and Gravelines Dunkerque. Dixon enjoyed an outstanding college basketball career, first with two seasons at Kankakee Junior College, which he finished as the school’s all-time leading three-point shooter. He then transferred to Troy St. and was named to the All Sun Belt Conference first team after averaging 17.9 points and 6.6 assists per game as a senior. Dixon could make his Benetton debut today against Air Avellino.

BC Zadar signed Marlon Garnett

Marlon Garnett(1.88-SG), ex-Split, travelled to Zadar on Thursday and signed the official contract with the club immediately afterwards so that he will be able to help Zadar already against Bosna ASA BHT according to the Adriatic League Official site.

Garnet was a target of greek teams but in the end he decided to stay in Croatia. was the 2nd leading scorer of the Adriatic League last season with KK Split averaging 19.2 points per game. He also averaged 3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in a total of 24 games.

He played in the past briefly for the Boston Celtics in the NBA but then he moved to Europe where he played for Estudiantes, Benetton, Milano, Messina and Varese in the past.

Enisey signed Millage and Makshantsev

Enisey announced 2 new players via their official website. They are Curtis Millage(1.85-PG/SG) and Stanislav Makshantsev(2.03-SF/PF) who will be playing for Enisey next season.

Curtis Millage began his career at the University of Arizona and later played in China, Croatia and Latvia. The last two seasons he played for ASK Riga. In the Latvian league Millage averaged 11.5 points 3.7 assists 2.3 steals. In the Uleb Cup he averaged15.4 points 4 assists and 3.2 steals. Curtis Millage is known for his great athletic skills.

Stanislav Makshantsev played for Spartak Primorie last season and he has played in the past for Ural Great, Unicaja Malaga, Lokomotiv and Dynamo Moscow. Last season he averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in 24 games.

Krka announced Dragisa Drobnjak

Krka signed Dragisa Drobnjak(2.00-SF) who played for Turow last season in Poland. The slovenian small forward returns to the team that he played for back in 2003 for the last time. Since then he has played in several european teams like Turow, Olimpia Lubljana, Geoplin Slovan and Triglav. He reached the final of the polish league last season with Turow but they were defeated by Prokom in the play-offs.

Last season he averaged 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 14 games for the Uleb Cup with Turow.

Montegranaro announced Ricky Minard

Premiata Montegranaro announced the signing of Ricky Minard(1.94-SG) who also played for Montegranaro last season. He will be replacing Darius Rice who did not convince coach Finelli with his performance.

He has also played for Reggio Emilia and Angelico Biella and he played for the Colombus Riverdragons in the NBDL. He was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 2nd round (48th overall) of the 2004 NBA Draft. He averaged 14 points and 3 rebounds in 33 games last season in the regular season for Montegranaro.