Rafer Alston another candidate for China

The Chinese Basketball Association may not have the same draw as more prestigious European leagues, but what it does have is a type.



Stephon Marbury. Steve Francis. Maybe Allen Iverson. The CBA has become a post-NBA destination for low-efficiency scoring point guards, and according to the Hoops Market, we can now add two more prospective names to that list: Flip Murray and Rafer Alston.

The Zhejiang Lions (home of former lottery pick Rodney White and quasi-NBA big man Peter John Ramos) are reportedly interested in bringing in either Murray or Alston. The Hoops Market notes that Murray does have a few NBA offers that would dissuade him from signing in China, but Alston, on the other hand, appears to be knocking on NBA doors without anyone answering.

NBA GMs know what Alston can do, and they're not interested. They've seen him top 40% shooting just two times in 11 seasons, and that such a mark has never deterred him from firing away. Alston has pouted and caused trouble, in spite of being an infinitely replaceable player. My only concern: did all of that seriously take 11 years to discern? I suppose we have the Toronto Raptors to blame for signing Alston to a six-year, $25 million contract in 2004, but part of me is still surprised that no team tried to cut Alston loose prior to both the Nets and Heat doing so last season.

Apparently his trade value (as either contract filler or overvalued player) was just high enough to avoid such a fate.

Murray may be hanging around (which makes sense; for all of his faults, Murray is still useful as a bench scorer), but Alston seems to have been kicked out. Whether he ends up joining Zhejiang or not is his choice, but the NBA isn't his home anymore.


source : nbcsports.com

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Union Olimpija decided not to keep Trevon Hughes

Union Olimpija decided not to keep Trevon Hughes who was on try-out during last week. The 23 years old and 183 cm tall player, who came out of University of Wisconsin (NCAA) didn't meet the expectations. Union Olimpija continues search for new players.

source : union.olimpija.com

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Philadelphia acquired Darius Songaila

Philadelphia, Pa. – September 23, 2010 – Philadelphia 76ers President Rod Thorn announced today that the team has acquired forwards Darius Songaila and Craig Brackins from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for guard Willie Green and forward/center Jason Smith.


“We made the move for these two players to add additional depth to our front court and to add out-court shooting, which was an area that we felt needed improving,” Thorn said. “Songaila is a hard-working, veteran forward who will give us another option up front and Brackins is a rookie that we feel has a chance to develop into a very productive player at this level.


“On behalf of the Sixers, I want to thank Willie Green and Jason Smith for their contributions and professionalism during their time with us.”

Songaila (6-9/248) is set to enter his eighth NBA season. In 485 games played with 79 starts for Sacramento, Chicago, Washington and New Orleans, he has averaged 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.9 minutes per game while shooting 49.9% from the floor and 84.6% from the line.

A native of Lithuania, Songaila attended high school in the United States and went on to star at Wake Forest, earning Honorable Mention All-America honors from The Associated Press his senior season. He has been a member of the Lithuanian National Team since 1998 and has played in the past three Olympic Games (2000, 2004 and 2008). Songaila was originally the 50th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in the 2002 NBA Draft.


source : nba.com

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Prokom signed Bobby Brown

Asseco Prokom announced signing of Bobby Brown  (188-G-84, college: Cal.St. Fullerton) to a one-year deal.


The American guard is back to Europe after two years in NBA. He started the latest one with the New Orleans Hornets averaging 6.6 points and 2.1 rebounds for 22 games. In January, Brown moved to the Los Angeles Clippers adding 3.5 ppg, 1 rpg and 2.1 apg in 20 appearances. On season 2008/09, Brown also changed two teams. He had 5.2 ppg and 1.9 apg for 47 games with the Sacramento Kings, where he played until February of 2008. Than he was traded to the Wolves, where he added 4.7 ppg and 1.4 apg in 19 games.

Bobby Brown played for ALBA Berlin on season 2007/08 helping them to win the German title. He appeared 45 times for the club collecting 13.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg and 3.7 apg. ALBA also participated in ULEB Cup that season, where Brown was even better registering 16 ppg, 2.6 rpg and 4.2 apg for 10 games.
Bobby Brown is a product of the California State Fullerton University, where he graduated in 2007. In his senior season Brown has 20.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg and 5.1 apg. His new team will compete in PLK and Euroleague next season. They managed to defend the title in Poland and to reach the Euroleague Quarterfinals in 2009/10.  

source : eurobasket.com

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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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Fernandez rejected a trade to New Orleans

Will Rudy Fernandez get traded before Carmelo Anthony?


I don't know. But it's hard to believe that Fernandez is still on the Blazers' roster a week before the start of camp, after the team and his agent, Andy Miller, have spent the summer trying to broker a trade for the unhappy guard. Fernandez has made it clear he doesn't want to play for Nate McMillan any more, and the Blazers have made it clear that they'd try to accomodate him. But Portland wants a first-round pick for the 25-year-old guard, who averaged 8.1 points in 23 minutes a game for Portland last season, and not just any old first-rounder.


Fernandez, according to a source, rejected a possible trade to New Orleans, where he could have played for former Blazers assistant Monty Williams, now the Hornets' coach.


The Blazers won't send Fernandez home while they try to work out a trade, and they won't cut him. Reports that Fernandez had agreed to terms with FC Barcelona last week were false. So Fernandez will have no choice but to report to camp next week, even though everyone knows he doesn't want to play in Portland any more.

"I'm still trying to accomodate his request," GM Rich Cho said Sunday.


source : nba.com

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Bojan Popovic is a taget of Aris

Bojan Popovic shouldn't stay a free agent for very long.


Aris BC made an enquiry into the case of Bojan Popovic(1.91-PG). The Serbian point-guard was recently released by Partizan Belgrade. The player didn't fit the style of the team according to the Euroleague official site and so now he is back on the market as a free agent. Bojan Popovic has both Euroleague and Eurocup experience and Aris are still looking for that one final guard to complete the backcourt. Quite handily coach Drucker and Bojan Popovic still share ties with the same agent.

The first target is Milos Vujanic whose asking price is still in excess of 200,000 euros. Yotam Halperin is also a target of Aris but it seems that Olympiacos and Dusan Ivkovic still haven't made a decision about whether they'll keep him or not. Also Halperin wants more money than what Aris are offering and what Olympiacos are offering as a compensation. So Popovic could actually fit the bill here as he is more of a point-guard than Halperin and could end up costing less than either of them. Jason Hart was also a target but his asking price was quite high and Curtis Jerrells still wants to pursue a contract in the NBA and will remain in the training camp of the Spurs until October. Popovic played for Lietuvos Rytas and Efes Pilsen last season. In Lietuvos Rytas he averaged 11.2 points 2 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 10 Euroleague games and in Efes Pilsen he averaged 3.3 points 2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 6 Euroleague games.

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