Rumors about Fotsis renewing with Panathinaikos

It seems that Antonis Fotsis(2.11-PF) won't be going anywhere else anytime soon.


According to prasinanea.gr, a website affiliated to the team of Panathinaikos, Antonis Fotsis has agreed to renew with the Euroleague champions for 2 more seasons. Later on though, word came from Panathinaikos BC that there will be no contacts between the player and his agent until the season is finished.

This is all well and good and they're just covering themselves in case something goes wrong but it seems very unlikely that Fotsis will not stay in Panathinaikos. The Greek power forward has improved his stamina and his
physique this season losing some weight and he has proved pivotal in Panathinaikos' quest to win the Euroleague. He has averaged this season 8.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in 28 games in Greece and also 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 22 games in the Euroleague.

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Edin Bavcic to sign with Aris for 2 more seasons?

Bavcic likes Greece!


Many teams want to secure a good catch and in this case Bosnian forward/center Edin Bavcic(2.11-PF/C) could be signing his next contract with Aris BC. Bavcic recently signed with Aris to help em in the last few
games of the regular season and the play-offs after the departure of Dejan Borovnjak(2.09-PF/C) and the administration and the coaching stuff of Aris have been quite happy with his performance.

Bavcic came from Khimik of Ukraine but before that he played a few games for Brindisi in Italy. He seems to have found his role in Aris now and he is one of the most important players in their front line. So far he has
averaged 10 points and 6.2 rebounds in 9 games in Greece for Aris. According to Greek newspaper Exedra the deal is going to be announced in the next few days and what seems to be holding it back is the shifts in the
team's administration. Bavcic did say that it's up to Aris now.


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Palacio returns to Baskonia

He did it again.


Now that the Greek play-offs are over for Kavala BC and Milton Palacio's(1.93-PG) services are no longer needed the Belizean point guard will return once again to Baskonia exactly like he did last summer, helping Baskonia conquer the ACB. His services were required at Baskonia again and he comes out of a very productive season where he was the cornerstone of the Greek team leading them to the play-offs.

He averaged 15.6 points 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 26 games for the Greek team leading them to the 6th position in the leaderboard. The deal should be announced soon by Baskonia once the medical tests have been completed.

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Oklahoma Thunder interested in Bouroussis

If the lock-out doesn't happen..


According to redplanet.gr, a site affiliated to the team of Olympiakos, Ioannis Bouroussis(2.10-C) is a target of the Oklahoma Thunder. The NBA franchise expressed interested in the case of the Greek center through the words of David Vanderpool who now works for Oklahoma.

The buy-out clause for any NBA team is 1 million euros in the contract that expires at the end of season 2011-2012 between Olympiakos and Bouroussis. NBA teams have a rule not to pay more than 500.000 dollars to buy-out players out of their contracts in Europe so it seems unlikely that Bouroussis will give up some of his own money to go and play in the NBA. Bouroussis has not had the best of seasons with Olympiakos so far due to injuries and a bit of friction with head coach Dusan Ivkovic but he remains one of the best centers in Europe. He has averaged so far 10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in the Euroleague in 18 games and also 11.7 points and 6.5 rebounds in 23 games in the Greek league so far.

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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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Aris dismissed Thomas, 2 centers to follow

If the flip-flop flies...


Rumor has it that John Thomas(2.06-C) launched a flip-flop against his head coach Slobodan Subotic and in an act of defiance left the video screening and subsequently the team. Regardless of the reason Aris BC are going to file a case against Thomas' contract in the league and the team announced via their official website that the American veteran is no longer a player of the team.

The announcement only mentions a disciplinary offense but it's no secret that Thomas wanted to leave the team so now he got his chance. Perhaps though not on the terms that he would have wanted. Perhaps a team in Israel could be his next stop.

In Aris they're thinking of the next day and are waiting patiently on the end of the Adriatic League Final Four to see if they can sign Marko Skekic(2.07-PF/C). His agent told basketblog.gr that they would be very much interested in signing with Aris but it's up to Buducnost to release the player after the Final Four. The assistant coach of Aris BC Thanassis Papachatzis spoke to arisfm.gr and he said that the team will be signing 2 centers. However none of them will play in the last game of the regular season against Ikaros tomorrow.

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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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