Lietuvos Rytas trying to sign DJ Strawberry

Lietuvos Rytas are making a last second push to sign a new point guard before Euroleague play resumes in the Top 16 stage on Wednesday.


It looks like former NBA player D.J. Strawberry is on the top of the Lithuanian champions list and talks have been steadily moving forward. However, the final agreement is yet to be reached, but things are moving in the right direction for the deal to come through.

“There are some issues with the D-league release and buyout that have not yet been finalized.  We will know everything by tomorrow morning in the States,” the player’s agent Scott Nichols told LithuaniaBasket.com on Monday evening.

Strawberry was drafted 59th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by Phoenix Suns, where he played 33 games averaging 2.2 points and 0.8 assists per game in an average of 8.2 minutes of court-time.

After a short stint in Italy, which ended in a meniscus injury, the combo guard returned to the States and spent the beginning of the season playing for the Reno Bighorns in the NBDL, where Strawberry is averaging 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.


source : lithuaniabasketball.com

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Ilias Zouros is the new head coach of Zalgiris

Four days before it opens the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 on the road, Zalgiris Kaunas has a new head coach, its third of the season, having signed Ilias Zouros of Greece on Saturday.


Zouros, 44, arrives from Panellinios, where he led the club to its best results in decades last season and was named the Eurocup Coach of the Year. Zouros guided Panellinios to both the Eurocup and Greek League semifinals. Zouros replaces Rimantas Grigas, who will return to his previous job of sports director for Zalgiris one month after taking over the bench when Aco Petrovic was released. Zalgiris starts Top 16 play on Wednesday in Valencia, Spain against Power Electronics.

Zouros started his coaching career at the age of 20 with the cadet and the junior teams at Panionios. He moved next to Peristeri, serving as assistant coach to the senior team. He continued as an assistant coach at Sporting, Maroussi, Olympiacos and the Greek national team. In the summer of 2000, he was named head coach of Olympiacos, replacing the legendary Giannis Ioannidis, and led that team to the Euroleague quarterfinals. He remained at Olympiacos until February 2002, and then moved to Sagesse in Lebanon, guiding the club to the Asian Club Championship. Afterwards, he returned to Greece with Near East. He coached Aris Thessaloniki in 2005-06, leacing after three months to take over on the French club Racing Paris Levallois, where he remained until he signed for Panellinios in December 2007. Zouros also enjoys the distinction of having coached Olympiacos in the historic first game of the new Euroleague in October 2000 on the road at Real Madrid. The bench at Zalgiris will be his second Euroleague job.


source : euroleague.net

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Aris to replace Drucker and Dunston?

Someone needs to stir Aris back into course.


According to salonikabasket.blogspot.com, Sharon Drucker is counting his last days, perhaps even hours, as the head coach of Aris BC. He started the season quite well but as the season went on the bad results started becoming a repeating occurence for Aris. It is the opinion of this blog that Sharon Drucker was the wrong choice of a coach for the Greek A1 league and that is reflected in losses even at home to poorer teams with weaker rosters. It is rumored that the administration of the team will start looking for a new head coach although that is not 100% certain. Drucker is under heavy scrutiny as the team made 2 consecutive losses that will prove critical in the next season and has to show a streak of bad performances against even the weakest opponents in the A1. Even if Drucker stays the team has made already made 6 losses and is in really bad shape.

Another unconfirmed rumor but from a reliable source says that Aris signed veteran center John Thomas(2.06-C) who played for Hapoel Holon last season. He averaged 12.8 points 8.6 points and 2.1 assists in 22 games in the Israeli League. He was invited last September by the Minnesota Timberwolves to participate in their training camp but he hasn't played for a team yet. He will probably replacing Bryant Dunston(2.01-PF) who was misused by Drucker as a center and averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 15.6 minutes of playing time. Rumors say that Thomas will be arriving to Greece on Tuesday.

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Allen Iverson to miss 4-6 weeks

Allen Iverson says he expects to continue playing basketball at the highest level possible once he has a lesion in his right leg examined in the United States.


Iverson posted on his Twitter page Friday that he was returning home for examinations, and possibly surgery. Iverson says he has no plans to retire and still loves the game.

Iverson signed with the Turkish team Besiktas after no NBA team expressed interest in the 11-time NBA All-Star

Gary Moore, Iverson's longtime manager, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Iverson was expected to miss four to six weeks. Moore says Iverson was hoping to rejoin his Turkish team in time for the postseason.


source : washingtonpost.com

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Jan Vesely is ready for 2011 NBA Draft

It's an extract from Jan Vesely's interview to Slam Magazine.



Jan Vesely says he’s in the Draft. The 6-11, 20-year-old told SLAM Magazine that he will “enter the 2011 NBA Draft” and that he’s“ready for the NBA after this season.”


While Partizan is struggling a bit this season and Jan’s numbers have dropped a tad from last season, he’s shown some major advancements in his game. Through the film that we checked out on Synergy Sports Technology, he appears even more athletic and more polished as a shooter than last season. Vesely is spending time between the small and power forward spots for Partizan, though he says that he envisions himself as a “power forward” in the NBA. Donned “the European Blake Griffin” by many, he’s had no problem putting guys on posters and has more bounce than any true European in recent memory.


more : slamonline.com

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Benetton announced Brian Skinner

Benetton Basketball announce the inclusion in the roster of the USA center Brian Skinner , to fill the gap of the absence of Sandro Nicevic. The new player will be tomorrow in Treviso and assist in the match against Pepsi Caserta.


After completing the medical examinations and the paperwork, Skinner will be presented on Monday to the press hours at 2:00pm at the headquarters of Benetton Basket La Ghirada. 

Brian Skinner, was born in Temple (Texas) on May 9 1976, and he comes from the Milwaukee Bucks (NBA). A total of his NBA career is about more than 600 games played in 12 seasons, averaging 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. He is a center of 206 cm., a player with great experience, rocky defender and rebounder with a particular look inside the game in offense, with good moves near the basket.

He played from '98 to 2001 with the Los Angeles Clippers (who chose him in the first round with the No. 22 pick after graduating from Baylor), then he played for Cleveland, Philadelphia, Milwaukee in 2003/04 where he played his best season in the NBA ( 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds with a block per contest and 57% from the field) , then Sacramento, Philadelphia, Portland and again Milwaukee and Phoenix, before returning to the Clippers in 2008/09 and 2009/10. This season, he joined the roster of the Milwaukee Bucks, but he was released a few days ago.

He has a personal record of 23 points (vs. Denver in 2000), 6 blocked shots (2001 vs. Memphis ) and 19 rebounds (vs. Philadelphia in 2005).


source : benettonbasket.it

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Flip Murray lands in Efes Pilsen

Less than a week before the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 starts, Turkish powerhouse Efes Pilsen has reinforced its perimeter game with the addition of veteran scorer Ronald 'Flip' Murray, the club announced Friday.


Murray (191, 31), who signed until the end of the current season, has spent his entire professional career in his native United States, playing for eight NBA teams in as many years. Murray last played with Chicago, averaging 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 29 games after arriving there in February of 2010. He has also played for NBA teams in Milwaukee, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Atlanta and Charlotte.

His longest stint was three seasons in Seattle, where he averaged 12 points over 25 minutes per game in the 2003-04 season. During his only season in Cleveland, 2005-06, he posted his highest scoring average, 13.5 points over 36 minutes per game. Overall, he had a career scoring average of 9.9 points. Murray began playing in his hometown of Philadelphia and at Shaw University, where he was named the NCAA Division II player of the year in 2002.

source : euroleague.net

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