Dawson did not arrive to Ljubljana

A case of cold feet?


BC Union Olimpija Ljubljana agreed and signed a contract with US player Eric Dawson prior this week. Despite the valid contract signed by both sides and the fact that the management obtained all the necessary papers and Letter of Clearance, the player didn't arrive to Ljubljana, Slovenia on agreed date. Union Olimpija will take appropriate actions in this matter.

source : union.olimpija.com

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Olimpija signed Eric Dawson

Union Olimpija agrees with Eric Dawson


Union Olimpija signed center Eric Dawson (208cm, 1984) until end of season with option to extend him for another one. He started the season in D-League with Austin Toros where he had an average of 16,2 points and 10,6 rebounds per game. He played collegiate basketball at the Midwestern State University. He already played twice international basketball as he spent time in Japan and South Korea. This will be his first time in Europe.

source : union.olimpija.com

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Olimpija announced Danny Green

With an NBA-out clause.


BC Union Olimpija Ljubljana signed one-year contract with NBA-out option with former Tar Heel Danny Green. He will join Deon Thompson, his former teammate from University of North Carolina.

Green was drafted by the NBA in 2009 and played for Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs in the last two seasons. In the last season he was also part of D-League team Reno Bighorns where he averaged 20.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.


source : union.olimpija.com

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Olimpija announced Aleksanda Capin

Good addition for Olimpija


Union Olimpija signed one-year contract with Slovenian point guard Aleksandar Ćapin today. He started his career in youth categories of Partizan Belgrade but he soon moved to Krka, where he stayed for three years. He applied for Slovenian citizenship and played for Slovenian National Team on two European Championships. Last season he was part of Lithuanian Euroleague club Žalgiris Kaunas.

He didn't get much chance to play during last season, but year before he averaged 6.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in Euroleague. Besides Partizan, Krka and Žalgiris, Aleksandar Ćapin played for German club Telekom Baskets Bonn, French Gravelines Dunkerque, Italian clubs Reggio Calabria and Varese, Greek Panionios and Panellinios, Ukraine's Azovmash Mariupol and Russian Lokomotiv Kuban where he already had the chance to work with current Union Olimpija's coach Sašo Filipovski.

source : union.olimpija.com

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Deon Thompson to sign with Olimpija

His good season in Greece paid off.


Deon Thompson(2.06-PF/C) is very close to signing a contract with Olimpija Lubljana according to sport24.gr. The Greek portal says that Thompson will be signing a 2 season contract with the Slovenian team that will make him 500,000 dollars in total for the next 2 seasons. His previous contract with Ikaros was 125,000 dollars so effectively he doubled his earnings. Not bad..

Thompson had his first pro contract with A1 fledgling Ikaros BC in Greece where he had a very good season averaging 14.1 points 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 25 games. He graduated from North Carolina in 2010 but went undrafted. He is currently in the stage of exchanging contracts with Olimpija and if all goes well he should be announced soon.

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Bracey Wright to sign with Olimpija

His good season with Cedevita paid off.


Another player who managed to revamp his career seems to be Bracey Wright(1.91-SG). According to kosarka.si, Wright will be playing for Olimpija Lubljana next season in the Euroleague and the Adriatic League. The former NBA shooting guard had a good season in the Euroleague with Aris Thessaloniki as his first European contract and then moved on to Badalona he left halfway through the season. He then returned to Aris for a short while and since then he's played for Oostende as well.

He started the season with Paris Levallois but then moved on to Cedevita Zagreb where he played in 3 leagues(Croatia, Adriatic League, Eurocup). In the Adriatic league he averaged 11.8 points 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 11 games, in the Eurocup he averaged 16.7 points 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists and in Croatia he averaged 13.7 points 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 14 games.

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Lakovic to leave Regal Barça

After six seasons at the Club, Jaka Lakovic will not be playing for Regal Barça next season. The Slovene has won a total of ten trophies in his time at the Club.


Jaka Lakovic will be leaving Barca at the end of his contract this season after six years with the Club in which he has proved himself to be a versatile player who showed he could star in a variety of positions and he has played a key part in Regal’s success over his time at the Club.

Aim was to win the Euroleague 

Jaka Lakovic joined Barça in 2005/06 after winning almost everything with Panathinaikos and with the aim of taking the one title he’d not yet won –the Euroleague. He fulfilled that objective with Barça at the Final Four in Paris in 2010. He became a reference point for the team and a key member of the 2008/09 ACB winning team.

Only Basile has played more

He suffered from injuries during the 2009/10 season, but he still managed to put in a great year –winning four titles in all. In his final season at Barça, he became the foreign player with the second most appearances for the team, beating Audie Norris and only behind Basile and picked up four more titles to make it ten during his time with Regal Barça.


source : fcbarcelona.com

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CSKA and Sani Becirovic part ways

Our club did not use the contract option to leave guard Sani Becirovic on team’s roster for one more season.


CSKA appreciates Sani’s help in the end of the season and wishes him all the best in future.

Though he barely played in the VTB League Final Four (7 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist), Becirovic was one of our team’s key reserves in BEKO PBL, where he played 17 games, averaging 5.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.4 steals in 13.3 minutes.

Andrey Vatutin, CSKA President:
Sani took a difficult decision in March to change the club in the course of the season. We appreciate his professionalism, hard work, the desire to be an integral part of our team. He helped CSKA a lot in the end of the season, he starred in several games and lessened the load on our veteran leaders. His charisma, open character, sense of humor added a lot of positive energy into our team chemistry in difficult days for all of us. We’d like to thank Sani for his work which helped us to win just another championship title and we wish him all the best in his future career.


Sani Becirovic:
Surely, I hoped that I will be needed by CSKA in future. I think I was able to help the team as much as I could; I gave all of myself on the court. I am sorry that I did not have another chance to show myself but that’s life. In my opinion, I had good experience, and I leave CSKA with warm feelings towards the great team and organization, and I wish all the best to CSKA in future!

souce : cskabasket.com

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Sašo Filipovski to coach Union Olimpija

Sašo Filipovski returns home!


Union Olimpija Ljubljana agreed terms with Slovenian head coach Sašo Filipovski. Filipovski already spent more then a decade in Slovenia's only Euroleague team as an assistant coach and as youngest Euroleague head coach during 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. Filipovski signed a 3-year deal with Union Olimpija Ljubljana.

Sašo Filipovski, Head Coach of Union Olimpija: "I am extremely happy to return to the club where I already worked for ten years. I have great memories and I am already excited about the work and new challenges which come with new responsibility in Union Olimpija. In my opinion, it is good that we signed a 3 years contract because I think we can do great things in this period of time. I would like to thank everyone for the trust they are showing me and the responsibility they gave me. Right now, I am still in Italy but I am returning to Slovenia on Monday and I will immediately start working."

source : union.olimpija.com


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Maccabi Tel Aviv interested in Giorgi Shermadini

This just came in..


According to sources of the Hoop from Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv are in talks with Panathinaikos regarding Georgian center Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C)

Shermadini had a great season with Union Olimpija Ljubljana (on a loan agreement from Panathinaikos) as he was 2010-11 All-Euroleague Honorable Mention averaging 7.4ppg, 3.4rpg, 1.1bpg, 3rd in field goal percentage (71.4%), with a free throw percentage of 84.8%, all that in the Euroleague.

He was 1st in field goals in the Slovenian League (68.55%), 2nd in the Adriatic League (72.1%) and 3rd in the Euroleague (71.4%). He is also a central member of the Georgian National Team and led the Euroleague Top 16 in blocks with 2.2 blocks per game.


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Panathinaikos interested in Ilievski

He is the ideal addition for them.


Panathinaikos are interested in Vlado Ilievski(1.90-PG) according to zurnal24.si. Panathinaikos tried to buy Ilievski back in February but Olimpija denied their bid as Ilievski was one of the most vital players for them. This situation hasn't changed for now but who knows what happens next season. Ilievski would have complemented the frontcourt of Panathinaikos perfectly, especially now they're ailing in the point guard position.

Ilievski said that he wants to stay in Olimpija, which is all well and good as he is playing the Euroleague and he is also the starting point-guard but if there is a good bid in the summer who knows what's going to happen. Now that Ilievski said that Panathinaikos are interested in him I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in Olympiakos instead.

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Olympiakos looking for a center

Or how now to waste player changes.


In Olympiakos they wasted their 2 player changes for the season swapping players from their existing roster around and now that their most important big man is injured, they seem to be running out of options. The cases of players that fit the bill are numbered. And to make matters even worse, the injury of Radoslav Nesterovic(2.13-C) will keep him out of the Greek Cup final as well.

Mavroeidis(2.09-C) is bound by contract with Bilbao for 2 more seasons and it's unlikely they'll release him for nor love or money but hey, stranger things have happened. The same goes for Alexei Savrasenko(2.13-C) who has played for Olympiakos in the past and he is the owner of a Greek passport. However.. Khimki might not be so willing to release him and it's uncertain what is the status of his Greek passport. To make things clear Nesterovic also has a Greek passport but not all of his "affairs" with the Greek state are in order so he had to be declared as a Slovenian player instead.

Lazaros Papadopoulos(2.13-C) has played for Ivkovic in the past with success but he can't play again in Greece as he has already played for Paok. Kostas Koufos(2.13-C) is still in the NBA play-offs with the Denver Nuggets and after the Printezis debacle, it's improbable that Malaga will release him. Printezis is not a center but he could help in the PF position.

All this wouldn't have happened if the technical staff of Olympiakos hadn't thrown away 2 foreign player changes  in the 2nd round of the Greek league and now they can't even bring Matt Nielsen back. There is also one more case that hadn't been mentioned of Jake Tsakalidis(2.18-C) but it seems that he's dropped off the face of the earth and has probably quit basketball altogether. So it seems now that Andreas Glyniadakis(2.15-C) will be re-activated and he doesn't have much time to adapt within the team and help out Bouroussis who will be the starting center of Olympiakos.

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CSKA announced Sani Becirovic

Slovenian guard Sani Becirovic (29 years, 195 cm) signed the contract with CSKA until the end of the season with club's option for one more year.


The agreement became official after medical exams today. Becirovic will start practicing with the team tonight.

Becirovic started playing basketball at KK Bistrica. He signed his first important contract when he was 18 becoming Olimpija Ljubljana player. His career was difficult: he played for different clubs in Italy, Greece and Slovenia, he missed 2002-03 season to injury which did not prevent him from being drafted by NBA club. His accolades include U18 (1998) and U20 (2000) European Championship MVP titles, 2007 Euroleague win with Panathinaikos, multiple national championships medals. The Slovenian National Team guard participated in the Eurobaskets three times, played in 2010 World Championship. Sani started current season in Turk Telecom (20 pames, 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals).

Jonas Kazlauskas , CSKA Head Coach:
When I started to work with the team the injuries and illnesses were my nightmare. That is why we wanted to strengthen the roster. We need the player who can help us on the pick-n-rolls offensively, who can find the shooters on their spots. Finally, the team needs more competition inside. In my opinion the club like CSKA should have at least 14 active players. I think that Becirovic is the best option for us to improve. He is not young, he does not need to be teached much, he is ready to play. Sani is the 'two' who can play 'one'. I know him well for his play for Slovenian National Team, I remember him from his playing days in Panathinaikos.

Sani Becirovic :
I am happy and excited. Everything happened so quick that I did not have time to realize what's going on. I had to do all the paperwork needed and fly to Moscow. I hope to help the team to reach all its goals.

source : http://www.cskabasket.com/news/?a=news&id=9516&lang=en

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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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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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Begic wants to leave Zalgiris?

He had a change of heart or is there something else happening..?


According to tubasket.com, Mirza Begic(2.16-C) sent a fax to the team of Zalgiris requesting that his contract with them is terminated. The article says that Begic has not returned yet from his winter holidays to Zalgiris and this new development puts a new spin on Begic's case as many clubs were interested in him in the past.

Standing at 2.16 meters tall, he is one of the few big men in the market with such a skillset as his but he has 1.5 more seasons in his contract with Zalgiris and they wouldn't be very happy to see him leave. Unless of course there is a sufficient compensation for them. At the moment there are negotiations between the 2 parties but nothing concrete to report.

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Kolossos in talks with Jurica Golemac

Time to bring in some experience into the team.


One might say that the team of Kolossos Rhodes is too young for its own good. So Jamine Peterson(2.03-SF/PF) was internally replaced by Steve Panos(2.05-PF/C) and now another player could soon be added to their roster according to sport.gr. This time it might be Slovenian veteran Jurica Golemac(2.09-PF/C). Golemac started the season in KK Zadar but left shortly thereafter due to problems in his relationship with head coach Daniel Jusup.

Golemac has also played in Greece for Panellinios and Panathinaikos so he has experience playing in the Greek league which means that he will not need any adjustment time. He averaged 8.3 points 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 4 games in KK Zadar.

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Olimpija signed Davis Bertans

BC Union Olimpija signed Latvian small forward prospect Davis Bertans on professional multi-year contract.


18 years old and 205 cm tall forward is known to be one of the most talented European players of his generation. He started the season in Latvia, where he played for BK Barons Riga in Latvian first division. Bertans averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

During summer 2010 he also played on European Championship U18 in Lithuania, where he led his Latvian team to third place, averaging 14.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.6 blocks per game. He was also selected into all-tournament lineup.

source : union.olimpija.com

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