Efes Anadolu announced Elias Zouros

Days after being eliminated from the playoffs race in a season for which it had Final Four hopes, Anadolu Efes decided to change course by bringing in a new head coach, Ilias Zouros, on Monday.


Zouros will replace Ufuk Sarica, who had joined Efes at a similar juncture last season, but was unable to put the team into position to try to make the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul this May. Efes remains the only Turkish team ever to make a Final Four, but last did so more than a decade ago. Zouros, 45, began this season with Zalgiris after having taken over that club in a similar situation in January of 2011. He and Zalgiris won the the Baltic League and Lithuanian League titles together last spring. Zouros was released by Zalgiris after the team lost the opening game of this Turkish Airlines Euroleague season at home against CSKA Moscow.

Zouros, a former Eurocup Coach of the Year with Panellinios of Greece, has also coached Olympiacos, Peristeri and Aris in his home country. He also coached Sagesse Beirut to the Lebanese League title and the Asian Club Championship and spent a season-plus with Paris Racing Basket of France. Efes said in a statement that Sarica, who had been assistant coach previously, would stay with the club. Efes hosts CSKA in its last Euroleague game of the season on Thursday.

source : euroleague.net

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Patrick O'Bryant to play in Puerto Rico

This is his last game.


According to basketnet.gr, Patrick O'Bryant(2.13-C) has received an offer he can't refure from Indios BCN and after tonight's game he will be leaving the team of Kavala BC. The offer is quite good and it's for 14,000 dollars a month for O'Bryant who came from the NBDL and had his break-out season in Europe.

The only other time that O'Bryant played outside Europe was in China for Fujian Xunxing. He has also played for Golden State, Boston and Toronto in the NBA and Bakersfield and Reno in NBDL. O'Bryant was the 9th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft but his stock didn't go up as expected. Nevertheless he had a productive season in Greece averaging 9.5 points 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in a total of 18 games.

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Michalis Giannakidis offered to Spanish teams

The next one to leave Paok..?


Giannis Kalambokis(1.95-SG/PG) will be playing for Alba Berlin after Paok's next game in the A1 league against Peristeri. The next player to leave though could be rising star Michalis Giannakidis (1.92-SG). Giannakidis has seen more playing time the last 2 seasons in Paok and his ability to shoot behind the arc is amongst his strong points.

According to basketplus.gr, his agents have offered him to Spanish teams that have shown some interest in the player who has a tiny contract with Paok. Valladolid and Obradoiro seem to be 2 of the teams that the player has been offered to and the success story of Kostas Vasileiadis of Bilbao seems to work in his favor. Vasileiadis started his career in Paok as well. Giannakidis has averaged 6.1 points 2.2 rebounds and 1 assists in the last 18 games in the A1 league.

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Azovmash signed Othello Hunter

Azovmash deepened their frontcourt.


The Mariupol team agreed on terms of contract with Hunter Othello (203-F-86, agency: David Lee services, college: Ohio St.). The forward started the season in China. He played for Shandong Flaming Bulls.

Hunter Othello averaged 18.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in CBA. Last season the forward spent in Italy. He had a spell for Dinamo Sassari. Hunter Othello produced 14.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game in Seria A. He participated at Seria A All-Star Game. Eurobasket.com named the forward into All-Italian Seria A 2nd Team. Previously the forward had stints in Greece, NBA and D-League.


source : eurobasket.com

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Alba Berlin interested in Giannis Kalambokis?

A better offer from Germany.

According to olapaok.gr, a website affiliated with Paok BC, Giannis Kalambokis(1.95-SG) is a target of Alba Berlin. The Greek shooting guard had a good season with Paok so far and according to article, his agent Kostas Papadakis is in talks with the German team.

Obviously there has to be a deal with Paok before he is released as the player is bound by contract until the end of the season but on other other hand it is possible that he is owed part of his contract which will make negotations easier for Alba. He has averaged so far 12.4 points 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 17 games in the A1 league.

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Pacesas denies rumors of Motiejunas move

Although Donatas Motiejunas has been linked with a move to Anadolu Efes by Turkish media, it might turn out that these talks are just unweighed rumors.

Tomas Pacesas, the player’s coach at the Polish side Asseco Prokom, was surprised to hear such a scenario.

"He's moving where? Turkey? First time I've heard about it. We're on a bus together with him in Moscow. We have just flown to a VTB League game. There are no talks of someone leaving the club," the Lithuanian specialist told lrytas.lt.

The 21-year-old Motiejunas, whose draft rights belong to the Houston Rockets, was averaging 12.5 points and 7.9 rebounds for Asseco Prokom in the Euroleague this season.


source : lithuaniabasketball.com

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Dominic James paid for his letter of clearance

It's almost over..


BDA Sports will be paying Aris a compensation of the order of 40% of James' current contract with Aris according to allaboutaris.com. Rade Filipovic spoke to the president of Aris and this deal was agreed. BDA Sports did not even file any notes against Aris as the case was sent to FIBA BAT, knowing full well that Aris were well within contract limits.


Unfortunately for BDA Sports, they didn't handle the case very well and a compensation will be paid to Aris to secure James' letter of cleareance sooner rather than later. It's rumored that James will soon be free to join Partizan for a more lucrative contract than that of 8,000 euros per month.

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Uzoh was offered to release James

Negotiations are afoot..


Dominic James(1.80-PG) left Greece and went to Serbia to join Partizan but that doesn't seem to be ending well for him. The player did try to make amends and return to Aris BC by calling his former players but the team's administration are sticking to their decision to let FIBA make a ruling through B.A.T.

According to basketplus.gr, Ben Uzoh(1.91-PG/SG) was offered to Aris BC as a "boon" in order to release the letter of clearance for Dominic James. Uzoh signed initially for Montegranaro but he left them out to dry and fled hastily towards the dollars of Lokomotiv Kuban. That didn't really end too well for him and after 2 games he went back home. Now he's playing in the NBDL for the Rio Grande Vipers averaging a decent 17.9 points per game. Uzoh might be a bit on the pricey side for the shoestring budget of Aris this season and there is always the compensation to the NBDL league to release him. The Aris administration want a compensation instead.

There will probably be more to follow in the James melodrama..

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Nikos Pappas moves to Paok

Could be a good opportunity for both parties.


A few years ago (back in the summer of 2008) Nikos Pappas(1.95-SG/PG) signed a 4-season contract with Bilbao. This season would have been his last but it seems that Pappas and Bilbao went on their separate ways and Paok seized the opportunity to add a guard to their frontcourt.

Pappas was the star of the young National Teams of Greece especially in the New Zealand U19 2009 World Championship but since then he has shown very little improvement in his skill, technique and physique. He played for Kolossos Rhodes for the last 2 seasons on loan from Bilbao but still not much improvement. He's got the 2nd half of the regular season to show something but chances are he will get very little money out of Paok this season(if any) but he could convert that into a better contract next season.

Last season he averaged 7.5 points 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 25 games in the A1 league playing for Kolossos.

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