Paok renewed with Dante Stiggers

A bargain for Paok.


Dante Stiggers(1.88-PG/SG) was the first player that was announced by Paok BC. The deal was announced via their official website and Stiggers renewed his contract for another season. Stiggers holds a Belarusian passport that allows him to play as an EU player instead of American.

He graduated from Southern Mississippi in 2005 and since then he's played in Belarus and Cyprus. This March he joined Paok where he averaged 7.8 points 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 16 games in the Greek A1 league. He is also a member of the National Team of Belarus.

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Cantu announced Artsiom Parakhouski

Big man made another step in his career.


Artsiom Parakhouski(2.11-C) is the new player of Cantu as it was announced via their official website earlier today. The Belarusian big man had big hopes of being the first player from Belarus in the NBA but he went undrafted in the end. So he signed last season with Riga in Latvia and played in the Eurocup, the Baltic League, the VTB league and helped Riga win the title of the Latvian league.

Now he makes the next step in his career playing for Euroleague rookie, Cantu the finalist of Lega A1. Parakhouski brings a formidable presence in the low-post but he is still developing as a player and this will be the crash test for him as he will battle it out with the best. His most notable performances were in the VTB league and the Baltic league. He averaged 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 10 games in the VTB and also 15.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in 25 games in the Baltic league.


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VEF Riga announced Artsiom Parakhouski

Riga snatched Parakhouski for next season.


In a surprising turn of events, what seemed like a done deal, buckled under the pressure from both sides. Aris was in the lead to sign Artsiom Parakhouski(2.11-C) but there was one condition that neither the player or the team would agree on. Aris wanted a 2-season contract with a buy-out clause but Parakhouski wanted just a one season contract so that he would become a free agent in the summer.

It seems that Riga didn't have that problem and swiftly snatched the player from Aris. Vice president Vandis Valters said during the official announcement that Parakhouski was quite popular and many teams were interested to sign him, so he is quite pleased with how things turned out. In Aris they're back on the drawing board looking for a new center with a few candidates in mind.

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Aris to sign Artsiom Parakhouski, Videnov heading to the ACB

He is the new favourite of the Belarusian crowds.


Now that Greek media decided to reveal his name, I guess I can reveal it too. Artsiom Parakhouski(2.11-C) is the best prospect to come out of Belarus in a long time. I did say he has the physique of Aleks Maric as they are of the same height and also the same wingspan(7'1'' or 2.16m) but Parakhouski is actually more athletic than Maric. He is a player that draftexpress.com ranks as number 11 in this season's top centers. Not bad for Belarus.

Parakhouski wanted to big the first player from Belarus to play in the NBA but he didn't manage to secure a contract this summer although he put up a decent effort to impress the NBA scouts during the Boston Summer Camp and the Las Vegas Summer League where he played for Boston averaging 5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 4 games. Coach Sharon Drucker managed to see him in action in Las Vegas and set the wheels in motion to acquire the player for Aris.

He graduated at the end of this season from Radford averaging the impressive figures of 21.4 points 13.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in a total of 31 games in the Big South Conference. He was born in Minsk and he only started playing basketball at the age of 16. Needless to say that he has come a long way since then and perhaps in a few years time he will indeed become the first Belarusian in the NBA.

Alexander Koul(2.15-C) and Yahor Meschcharakou(2.07-PF) have also played for Aris in the past so he will be the 3rd Belarusia in Aris if all goes well. He still has one game to go with his country's National Team against Romania this Saturday and after that he will be free to join the rest of the team of Aris. In his last game he was sidelined after 1 minute of play by light ankle injury. Information coming from the player's side suggests that his injury is already gone, that the deal between him and Aris is very close and Parakhouski is glad to start his European adventure(his own words) in Aris and Greece. Minsk 2006 also approached him, but coach Andrei Krivonos knew that they couldn't attain him.

If all goes well the deal could be announced very soon. On another issue Filip Videnov will probably prefer the money of the ACB as Aris didn't managed to match his demands (well over 180,000 euros) and he will probably go for one of his 2 offers from Spain. That means Aris will sign an American small forward that could also be announced very soon.

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