Bilbao interested in Vangelis Mantzaris

It seems Katsikaris wants to establish a Greek colony..


The latest Greek acquisition for Bilbao can be Vangelis Mantzaris(1.95-PG) according to gazzetta.gr. The Greek portal says that Fotis Katsikaris wants to sign Mantzaris as he is a free agent next season when his contract with Peristeri expires. Let's not forget that Bilbao also hold the rights to Nikos Pappas(1.98-PG/SG) who is currently playing on loan for Kolossos Rhodes and who also has one more season in his contract with Bilbao.

So Mantzaris could be the next addition for Bilbao and could join Kostas Vasileiadis and Dimitris Mavroeidis in the roster of the Basque team. Mantzaris has had his breakout season when placed at the helm of Peristeri averaging 8.4 points 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 19 games in the Greek A1 league so far.

The key detail here is the ties to a specific Greek agent that represents Vasileiadis, Mavroeidis, Katsikaris and Pappas and he also has ties to the owner of Bilbao and his players agency. He doesn't represent Mantzaris at the moment but you never know if this changes.

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CSKA announced Jonas Kazlauskas

PBC CSKA Board named Jonas Kazlauskas as the new head coach of the team.


Well-know Lithuanian signed the contract until the end of 2012-13 season.

Andrei Vatutin, PBC CSKA President:
During the Board meeting it took a long time for us to carefully discuss all the pluses and minuses of signing the new coach now, with three and a half months until the end of the season. Finally we concluded that certainty on a head coaching position will allow us to solve two tasks – to improve team’s game this season and to start creating the new team for the next season. Taking over in CSKA now will give Kazlauskas enough time to get know the players abilities from inside the process. We are very serious about club’s future so we were very cautious and careful in choosing the coach, we analyzed the market of all the coaches who are available now and who will be available in the summer. Jonas is an experienced and motivated coach who is known for his abilities to build balanced game and who knows how to work with the young players. It is important that he took part in development projects – his work in Chinese National Team can be considered as the one. His knowledge in English and Russian languages is also a big factor. We liked his big desire to work in CSKA. We are grateful to Dmitry Shakulin for his readiness and enthusiasm to work during tough transition times and for several big wins in PBL and VTB League. I am sure that Dmitry got invaluable head coaching experience. As for the coaching staff, it will be confirmed soon.


source : cskabasket.com

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Pinkney and Olimpija parted ways

Union Olimpija reached mutual agreement with US center Kevinn Pinkney about breaking the contract.


Pinkney left good impression in Ljubljana at the start of the season, but in last couple of games he showed less than everyone expected. Due to the fact that both sides were not satisfied, the club and player broke the contract by mutual agreement.

Pinkney was averaging 14.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in Euroleague Regular Season, while in Euroleague TOP16 he had an average of 3.2 points in 10 minutes of playing time. In Adriatic League he averaged 10 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.

Janez Rajgelj, General Manager of Union Olimpija: "We broke the contract by mutual agreement with Kevinn Pinkney today. The wish to break the contract was mutual, that's why the negotiations about breaking the contract were fast and without any problems. We believe we accepted the decision which is good for both sides involved, because in last couple of weeks we didn't see each other on the same track. We would like to thank Kevinn for everything he gave to the club and we wish him all the best in his future basketball career."


source : union.olimpija.com

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Khimki announced Lazaros Papadopoulos

Today BC Khimki has signed a contract with a famous Greek center, an ex-PAOK player Lazaros Papadopoulos. The consent was agreed to the end of this season.


On Wednesday Lazaros successfully passed medical examination and joined BC Khimki squad.

Victor Bychkov, BC Khimki General Manager:

— After the departure of Benjamin Eze from BC Khimki it became necessary for us to invite a center, since a lot of important games our club will have ahead. They will determine our position in BEKO PBL Championship and VTB United League. Immediately after the departure of Ben Eze, we began to consider candidacies for this position. One of them was Lazaros. He is a strong center, who played a lot of games for the national team of Greece, and in the leading clubs of Europe. He has Russian roots and spent couple of good seasons in Dynamo Moscow, so I don't think he will have any problems with adaptation. We made an offer that immediately interested as the player as his agent. Then, in a quiet and working mode all the matters relating to the contract were settled. Today, after passing a medical examination we are pleased to announce that Lazaros Papadopoulos has became a full member of BC Khimki.


Oleg Meleschenko, BC Khimki acting head coach:

— We needed a player in the rotation of "big" (4th and 5th "numbers"). With Lazaros coming we will have more opportunities. For example, we can use Loncar in position of power forward. At the moment the candidacy of Papadopoulos seems to be the optimal choice for us. His abilities are well known. He is a leader by nature and is able to pass, plays well by his back to the hoop and on the rebounding, and, importantly, puts the team interests above personal ones. We are confident that Lazaros will help us achieve good results.

PERSONAL FILE

Lazaros Papadopoulos

Position — center

Birthday – June 3, 1980.

Height – 213 cm. Weight – 127 kg.

Entry to club since 2011

Career


Teams played:
1992-1996 – AO Stauroupolis (Greece),
1996-2001 – Iraklis (Athens, Greece),
2001-2003 – Panathinaikos (Athens, Greece),
2003-2004 – Iraklis (Athens, Greece),
2004-2007 – Dynamo (Moscow),
2007-2008 – Real (Madrid, Spain),
2008-2009 – Fortitudo (Bologna, Italy),
2009-2001 – PAOK Thessaloniki BC (Thessaloniki, Greece),
Since 2011 – BC Khimki


Achievements:
1998 – The bronze medal winner of the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship;
2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 – The winner of the Acropolis International Basketball Tournament (aka the Acropolis Cup);
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 – Greek All Star Game participant;
2002 – The winner of Euroleague Championship;
2003 – The winner of Greek Championship, the winner of the Greek Cup;
2005 – The winner of FIBA European Championship;
2006 – The winner of ULEB Cup, FIBA World Championship silver medalist;
2007 – All-Euroleague Second Team;


Since 1996 – The player of National team of Greece.

source : en.bckhimki.ru


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Subotic the new coach for Aris amidst protests..

Slobodan Subotic is the new coach of Aris and it will be announced tomorrow.


The Slovenian veteran who coached Aris in the past returned to the Alexandrion Melathron stadium tonight after 8 years and he declared that he is happy to return home. He did after all help Aris become the legendary powerhouse of the 80s and his sharpshooting skills were an integral part of the team's arsenal. The official announcement will take place tomorrow.

However he didn't part ways with Aris back in 1997 on the best of terms. The conspiracy theory says that he lost the last game of 1997 against Peiraikos only so that Panathinaikos would gain a higher position in the leaderboard. Later that summer he signed with Panathinaikos and so he was declared a traitor by the fans. Nowadays the organised fans club of Aris that goes by the name of Super3, in an overzealous outbreak of self rightousness decided to rekindle the old hatred and declared him once again a traitor. An announcement of righteous anger and self indignation appeared on their website that begs the question.. why now?

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Udrih out, Scepanovic in for Panellinios

Samo Udrih asked to leave the team and this time they let him.


Today's game was the last game of Samo Udrih(1.95-PG/SG) as a player of Panellinios. The Slovenian combo-guard will probably be playing for Olimpija Lubljana that made him an offer after the end of the regular season of the Euroleague. Coach Skourtopoulos didn't want to let him leave but Udrih didn't take it very well. Now Udrih is the 3rd player to leave the team of his own volition.

Montenegrin veteran Vlado Scepanovic(1.98-SG) will be the replacement of Udrih and the deal is 99% done according to coach Skourtopoulos. Udrih is leaving Panellinios after averaging 10.6 points 1.5 rebounds and 2 assists in 13 games in the A1 league. Scepanovic played in Murcia last season averaging 7.7 points 1.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 30 games in the ACB.

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Aris and Sharon Drucker parted ways

It took longer than expected.


Did it take another dramatic game that could even ended in a home loss against one of the weakest teams in the League? Aris beat Ilisiakos today in overtime at home and the team managed to lose a 16 point margin and almost lose the game against a team with fight to stay in the league.

After the game it was announced via the official website of Aris BC that the team and Sharon Drucker parted ways. The administration of the team announced to Sharon Drucker that they can no longer work with him and the announcement says that they parted ways as friends. It also says that a veteran of the team and former coach, Slobodan Subotic will be travelling to Thessaloniki tomorrow to discuss with the team the possibility of becoming head coach. Thanasis Papachatzis was also named in the announcement, who was assistant coach during season 2006-2008. What is strange here is that Aris and Subotic did not part ways on the best of terms as he left the team in 1997 to become head coach in Panathinaikos. Subotic and Papachatzis have worked together before so there is common ground there.


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Khimki to sign Lazaros Papadopoulos?

All he wanted was his monies..


It seems that the days of Lazaros Papadopoulos(2.13-C) in Paok could be over but we've heard that before. Papadopoulos seems to have an offer from Khimki in Russia according to sportando.net. What's interesting here is that Papadopoulos has also Russian citizenship(he was born there) so he can play in Russia as a local player and not as a bosman player. He's already played in Russia before as a player for Dynamo Moscow and he won the Uleb Cup with them back in 2006. Khimki are looking for a replacement for Benjamin Eze who left them for Olimpia Milano.

Papadopoulos has been the cornerstone of Paok throughout this season and that would strike a major blow if he leaves. However Papadopoulos has expressed complaints about his team's inability to pay him on more than one occasions so it's quite possible that he will leave this time. He has averaged so far 11.9 points 7.5 rebounds and 2 assists in 15 games of the Greek A1 league.

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Dejan Musli on loan to Montegranaro

He will get some playing time there.


Dejan Musli(2.13-C) will be playing under Stefano Pillastrini in Montegranaro for the remainder of the season as it was announced today by the official website of Baskonia. The Serbian center cannot find any playing time in Baskonia especially after the addition of yet another center with Esteban Batista(2.09-C).

Musli is considered a great talent and this gives him the opportunity to find some playing time in a tough league like the LegaA1. He didn't get any notable playing time in the Euroleague but he did manage to play 6 games in the ACB averaging 1.2 points.

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