Things get violent during players' strike in Greece

It was only a matter of time.

It started yesterday and today the police special forces intervened, in order to remove the protesters from the game of AEK vs Ikaros, the 1st day of the regular season(2010-2011) in Greece. A group of members of the  Hellenic Professional Basketball Players Association(PSAK) gathered in the middle of the court in order to delay the game or stop it if possible. 

Police special forces were already present at the scene and tried to forcefully evacuate the group of 20 or so players that were sitting in the middle of the court. After about 15 minutes of "prodding" by the police special forces the players decided to leave themselves. Eventually the situation diffused and the game started but not before things got slightly out of hand as you can see in the video found at the end of this article.At the moment the Greek league is being ridiculed around the world because the people who run the league, directly or indirectly, are still doing nothing. Another member of PSAK resigned today, that was Demos Dikoudis, who had a heated debate with the president Lazaros Papadopoulos. One might say that things will start moving towards a certain direction when it serves someone's agenda.

What will come out of all this is yet uncertain. The players' association is losing members, its unity has been compromised and the powers that be are still waiting for the dust to settle before they just pick up the wreckage. Basketball used to be the number one sport in Greece once upon a time. It's the only team sport that gives Greece medals consistently yet it has been abandoned in such a way that created one of the most corrupt pro leagues in Europe. It managed to find its way back to the limelight again, but this time through conflict and violence. However they say that there is no such thing as bad publicity.





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The San Antonio Spurs are scouting Milos Teodosic

And his contract is running out this season..


According to Serbian portal, sportal.rs, the vice-president of the San Antonio Spurs, Dennis Lindsey was at the SEF stadium in Athens a few days ago watching the game of Olympiakos against Real Madrid. According to the Serbian article the reason he was there was to scout the Serbian star, Milos Teodosic, whose contract with Olympiakos expires at the end of this season.

Obviously in Olympiakos they have enough money to offer Teodosic a very big contract so it is also possible that his contract will be renewed before the end of this season.

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Trent Plaisted returns to Croatia

It was meant to be this time in the NBA.. back to Croatia now.


Trent Plaisted(2.11-C) had his breakout season when he played for KK Zadar in the Adriatic League in season 2009-2010. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 2008 and was drafted by as number 46 overall the same year. After being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers, he is heading back to Europe now and this time he won't be playing for KK Zadar. He will be replacing Aaron Pettway(2.11-C) who didn't peform as expected for Cedevita according to vecernji.hr.

Plaisted played for KK Zadar last season and he averaged 8.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 6 games in the Eurocup and also 6.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 26 games in the Adriatic League.

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Lazaros Papadopoulos to leave PAOK - Chaos in the Greek league

The Greek players strike has just started in Greece but it seems that unity is absent on their camp.


Lazaros Papadopoulos(2.13-C) is going to leave PAOK according to basketnet.gr. The president of the Hellenic Professional Basketball Players Association, also known as PSAK in Greece (www.psak.gr), will be leaving the team of PAOK according to the article. Papadopoulos has not played a single game for PAOK yet and he probably won't even get to play one. PAOK played against Panathinaikos yesterday using only his 5 non-Greek players.

The article says that Papadopoulos is aware of the heat that he has brought down on his team for declaring the strike and standing by it. Other members of the Association were too scared to go against their wealthy bosses (Olympiakos and Panathinaikos) and defied the strike decision. They were also scared about the loss of their earnings by stating, "who's going to compensate us if we go on strike".

Obviously the loss of their earnings concerns them more than the plight of their fellow players in the lower leagues that don't even have medical insurance when they play. It was another day that damaged the integrity and the dignity of the suffering Greek league. At least Ioannis Bouroussis submitted his resignation as the vice-president of the Association that was the only right thing to do. He chose money and obedience over his fellow countrymen after all. Others weren't so courteous.

What happens next? All the possibilities are open to exploration at this stage. It only took one day to debunk all the "Greek icons" like Diamantidis, Papaloukas and Spanoulis. It also took only day to display the true bosses of the league. To them no other team matters.

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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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The latest NBA cuts

It's bargain season again!


This is the time of the year where the pre-season show the exit door to a plethora of basketball players that didn't make it into an NBA roster for one reason or another. Obviously the season is not over for these players who will be back on the market searching for a contract overseas. Some of them prefer the half empty courts of the NBDL and the measly salaries with the hope of being reactivated again sometime during the regular season or the playoffs.

Other players prefer the less glamorous courts of Europe or the latest trend, the big spenders of China. Contracts in China are quite lucrative compared to the average European contract. However there is one drawback. Basketball in China is still in its infantile stages and their stats there are not really a testament to a player's skill or capacity to play in the NBA or even Europe. Nevertheless this is the list of players that very soon could be signing their new contract for the season. It's also a good time for some teams to grab a bargain if their initial choices didn't live up to the challenge.

We'll focus mainly on October as it was reported by the official NBA page. You'll find that some of these players are already playing for teams in Europe.


October 2010


Friday, Oct. 22
• New Jersey waived center Brian Zoubek.

Thursday, Oct. 21
• Boston waived forward Stephane Lasme, forward Keith Gallon and guard Mario West.
• Charlotte waived forward Darius Miles and center Matt Rogers.
• Chicago waived guard John Lucas III, guard Kyle Weaver and forward Roger Powell.
• Dallas released guard Dee Brown, guard Rashad McCants, forward/center Sean Williams and guard Adam Haluska.
• Philadelphia waived forward/center Trent Plaisted and guard Chris Quinn.
• Washington waived forward Adam Morrison and center Sean Marks.

Wednesday, Oct. 20
• Atlanta released forward Evan Brock, guard Richard Delk and forward Ricardo Marsh.
• Detroit requested waivers on guard Vernon Hamilton and forward Ike Diogu.
• Golden State waived guard Aaron Miles.
• Minnesota requested waivers on guard Jason Hart and forward John Thomas.

Tuesday, Oct. 19
• San Antonio waived forward James Gist.
• Cleveland waived guard Danny Green.

Monday, Oct. 18
• Houston waived guard Antonio Anderson, forward Mike Harris, forward Alexander Johnson and guard Jerel McNeal.

Friday, Oct. 15
• Charlotte waived guard Javaris Crittenton.
• Sacramento waived forward/center Connor Atchley, guard Joe Crawford and forward Marcus Landry.

Thursday, Oct. 14
• Denver named Pete D'Alessandro advisor to the executive vice president of basketball operations.
• Washington waived guard Kevin Palmer.

Wednesday, Oct. 13
•Cleveland waived guard Cedric Jackson and forward Tasmin Mitchell.

Monday, Oct. 11
• Golden State waived forward Vernon Goodridge.
• Memphis waived forward Luke Jackson, guard Tre Kelley and guard Kenny Thomas.
• Phoenix waived guard Chucky Atkins.
• Portland signed center Steven Hill.
• San Antonio waived guard Kirk Penney.

Friday, Oct. 8
• Philadelphia waived guard James Florence.

Thursday, Oct. 7
• Golden State waived guard Cheyne Gadson.

Wednesday, Oct. 6
• Chicago waived forward Chris Richard.
• Milwaukee waived forward Keith Gallon.
• New Jersey waived guard Eddie Gill.

Monday, Oct. 4
• Sacramento waived guard J.R. Giddens and guard Donald Sloan.

Saturday, Oct. 2
• Cleveland waived center Greg Stiemsma.

source : nba.com




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Aris interested in Dwayne Jones and Eric Boateng (updated)

They're the 2 likeliest candidates.

A good center is hard to find and an affordable center is even harder to find. In Aris they have some candidates in mind but it seems that these 2 are the likeliest candidates according to Athlitika Nea.

Dwayne Jones(2.11-C) is participating in the pre-season camp of the Phoenix Suns at the moment but rumor has it he will be waived soon by the Suns. Jones graduated from St Josephs. In 2004-05, Jones was the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the All-Defensive Team for the second consecutive year. He ranked fifth in rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.0) in the nation, and led the Atlantic 10 in both categories. Although scoring was never his strongest skill he is a formidable presence in the low-post defensively. He was signed by the Timbewolves in 2005 and after a short pass via the Florida Flame he was traded to Boston and from there to Cleveland. He also tried his luck in Europe with Efes Pilsen and Red Star but it didn't work out.

The other candidate is Eric Boateng(2.08-C) who was recently offered to the team. Boateng will soon be released from the Denver Nuggets. He graduated from Arizona State last season and he is one of the biggest hopes of British basketball. He started in Duke but after one season he was transferred to Arizona State. He is also a member of the British National Team. In his last season with Arizona State he averaged 8.8 points and 7.2 rebounds in 33 games.

Latest information from Aris suggests that they are negotiating with the newly released Aaron Miles(1.85-PG), who was waived by the Golden State Warriors on the 20th. The president and the head coach of Aris are in negotiations with the Greek representative of the player to find out whether he will rejoin them. This means that both Pierre Pierce(1.92-PG) and Bryant Dunston(2.01-PF/C) could be replaced within a few days.

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