Olimpia Milano announced Juan Fernandez

An early snatch for Olimpia.


While most players coming out of the NCAA don't even have an agent yet, Olimpia Milano announced via their official website the signing of Argentinian/Italian point guard Juan Fernandez(1.93-PG). This is the extract from their site:

Olimpia Milano basketball EA7 Emporio Armani announces that it has reached a multiyear agreement with the Italian national player of Juan Fernandez, playmaker, 1.93 in height, which has just finished his university degree at the Temple University in Philadelphia.He was born in Rio Tercero in Argentina July 22, 1990 to parents of Italian origin, for four years at Temple, Fernandez these days is playing in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, reserved for the best college players, after leading his team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In the season just ended has scored 11.1 points with 3.8 assists and average of 43.1% in the three-point shooting.

Fernandez is currently playing at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament although he is not doing as well as expected. It's very likely that he will be sent on loan to another team in the upcoming season to get experiences at pro level and sharpen his skills. He averaged 11.4 points 2.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 32 games in the NCAA playing for Temple.

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Fabricio Oberto managed to find an NBA contract

The Portland Trail Blazers have reached a contract agreement with free-agent big man Fabricio Oberto to fill a hole on their front line, according to sources close to the situation.


Sources told ESPN.com that Oberto -- who has turned down several offers from Europe in recent weeks because he was determined to keep playing in the NBA -- is joining the Blazers on a one-year deal to fortify their depth as Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla continue to recover from the serious knee injuries they suffered last season.

Oberto, 35, played for Washington last season after spending four seasons in San Antonio alongside countryman Manu Ginobili.

On the eve of the 2009 draft, San Antonio dealt Oberto to Detroit as part of a three-team deal that landed Richard Jefferson with the Spurs. Oberto was immediately released by the Pistons, enabling him to sign with the Wizards.

The Blazers, who count Marcus Camby as their only healthy true center, have been looking for a veteran big man with Oden and Przybilla still healing.

But adding Oberto will require the Blazers to release two players before opening night rosters are finalized Monday because they're already carrying 16 players, one over the league limit.


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Rumors for Songaila, Skola, Savanovic or Stojakovic and Olympiakos

Could there be one last transfer move for Olympiakos or is it a red herring?


It's said that Olympiakos hasn't made a transfer that will make a splash, or a bang in the transfer market and wow the crowds. Nothing like Kleiza or Childress who both returned to the safety of the NBA courts where fireworks, bottles and mobile phones don't get hurled at them. Nevertheless the owners of Olympiakos are not known for their money spending savvy. If nothing else they've signed quite a few disproportionate contracts in their time. Sometimes giving away too much, other times sending away perfectly good players for being too stingy..

Nevetheless, this newspaper that is affiliated to Olympiakos, by the name of Gavros(in Greek it means anchovy and is a nickname of the fans of Olympiakos due to its red color), says that there are 4 more transfer targets for Olympiakos. One might that the players of Olympiakos are perfectly good players for any Euroleague team but most of them lack a certain "star status" that the fans might have hoped for their team. Nesterovic is hardly the ex-NBA heartthrob.. And having such rich bosses makes you wonder there is actually an intention to win the last laugh of transfers or perhaps they will not do anything about it.


The targets cover a vast array of positions.. from small forward to center. They are namely Luis Scola, Predrag Stojakovic, Darius Songaila and last but not least Dusko Savanovic who is certainly the budget option, compared to the other 3 and somewhat less of a star player.


Perhaps the paper wants to attract more readers with such bold claims or perhaps there is actually something in the making. I'd opt for the first choice but you never know. Dusko Savanovic doesn't sound like a far fetched choice after all.

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