Panathinaikos in talks for a buy-out deal

End of an era or publicity stunt?


The president of Panathinaikos, Pavlos Giannakopoulos, has been saying for some time now that him and his brother are tired and they want to retire. They've been around for a long time leading Panathinaikos to numerous titles especially after they brought Zelimir Obradovic on board. But now the news that comes from the side of Panathinaikos are much different.

This was published today as an exclusive report by the Greek portal theplayer.gr and it says that the son of the president of Panathinaikos, is in the city of New York invited by the president of Galatioto Sports, Salvatorre Galatioto, in order to discuss the sale of the shares of the team to the new owners. Now these new owners are meant to be American investors and that this has been going on for the last 40-50 days that they have been discussing this.

The funny thing is though that theplayer.gr, is owned by Dimitris Giannakopoulos and he even got a statement from his father in the site to confirm the validity of the deal. However.. Greek sites and journalists started calling Mr Galatioto, who recently realised just how famous he has become. He did admit that he's only found out about the existence of Panathinaikos the last few days and that he hasn't actually met Dimitris Giannakopoulos but spoke to him on the phone once and that their "project" has just begun. No further comments. Mr Galatioto is one of the most famous "mediators" of sports business deals and his involvement adds validity to the story if nothing else.

It all points to a publicity stunt for more reasons that one and possibly as a leverage to involve someone else in the process. The article names "a wealthy family of shipowners" that want to get involved as well in the deal and their names will become apparent in the next few days, if they haven't become already. It also keeps the name of Panathinaikos in the spotlight and people guessing as to what happens next, especially what happens to all of the contracts of the team should the owners leave..



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Dzikic and Seibutis sign with Lietuvos Rytas

Double whammy!



After arriving in Vilnius only a day after lifting the Slovenian title with Krka Novo Mesto, Aleksandar Dzikic signed a deal with Lietuvos Rytas already after a couple of hours. However, this wasn’t the only news in the team’s camp, as the team from the Lithuanian capital shocked the market by signing the Lithuanian national team guard Renaldas Seibutis as well.

The 40-year-old Serbian specialist agreed to a two year deal with the team option on the third year, while the 26-year-old Seibutis linked his future with Lietuvos Rytas for three years.

“We have to gather players, who aren’t afraid of hard work and understand what’s best for the team and can sacrifice themselves for the team’s success. We’ll try to build a strong team with a priority to Lithuanian players,” Dzikic, who has won back-to-back Slovenian championships and the EuroChallenge trophy, spoke after arriving in Vilnius.

Seibutis arrives in Vilnius after a great season in Turkey, where he led Olin Edrine to the Turkish Basketball League (TBL) playoffs. Lietuvos Rytas had signed a contract with the guard’s teammate from Olin, Predrad Samardziski, only a week earlier.

“The negotiations with the Vilnius side had been going for two months. There was serious interest from Galatasaray, but I wanted to play in Lietuvos Rytas and I’m happy that I have signed a deal,” said Seibutis, who averaged 18.7 points, 4.0 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game in the TBL.


source : lithuaniabasketball.com

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Valanciunas to meet with 7 NBA teams in Treviso

He is hot stuff this summer.


Although Jonas Valanciunas is not participating in the Adidas EuroCamp this weekend, the Lithuanian prospect still made his way to Treviso, where he will meet with seven NBA teams. The 19-year-old rising star has drawn the attention of many NBA teams and is hoping to get drafted in the first half of the lottery.
Unlike three other Lithuanian players – Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Eimantas Bendzius and Donatas Motiejunas – Valanciunas isn’t actually participating in the camp, but will be presented to the seven interested teams individually.

A couple of days ago Valanciunas underwent medical checks and is planning to attend some individual work outs with one or a couple of NBA teams.


source : lithuaniabasketball.com

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Olympiacos interested in David Andersen

They were interested last season too..


According to the Greek sports newspaper Protathlitis, Dusan Ivkovic wants David Andersen(2.11-PF/C) to play for him once again. The 2 of them worked together in CSKA Moscow and Andersen is almost at the end of his contract in the NBA after he's been traded around and ended up with the New Orlean Hornets.

Andersen's contract makes him 2.5 million dollars, which is money that Olympiacos could easily afford for that kind of player. Andersen has a Danish passport too so that makes him even more appealing for European teams and in Olympiacos they're looking for another worthy player for their front-line. Andersen has averaged 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 28 games in the Hornets and it seems that he won't get another option in his contract with them. This will open up the doors of the free agent market for him and the most lucrative contracts will come from the other side of the Atlantic.

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Spanoulis trying to persuade Zisis?

Is everyone forgetting the contract?


According to basketnet.gr, Vassilis Spanoulis spoke to Nikos Zisis recently in an effort to convince him to join Olympiacos in the next season. The 2 of them are very close friends for a good number of years so it's only reasonable that Spanoulis would have some influence over Zisis but there is one very important detail that seems to put a gigantic block on things.

And that is that Zisis has another season in his contract with Siena. Siena's GM Minucci is reknowned for his strict decisions regarding players bound by contract with Siena. It's very unlikely that he would allow Zisis to leave Siena so that he'll go play for one of their main contenders in the Euroleague. Even if he were to allow Zisis to leave there would be a handsome compensation for Siena and even for Olympiacos these are tought financial times. Although this sounds like a good story, unless there is a minute buy-out clause in Zisis' contract with Siena it seems like a far fetched scenario.

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Spartak deny rumors about Kirilenko

Obviously..


According to gazeta.ru Andrei Kirilenko doesn't actually have an offer from Spartak St. Petersburg. The athletic director of Spartak, Alexei Karvanen said that this is simply not true. The rumors that mentioned a 2-season deal that would cost 12.5 million dollars seem to be untrue as this actually bigger than the budget of the team itself.

Kirilenko will become a free agent this summer and he'll test the waters in the NBA to see what kind of contract he will get. It's true he is a player highly coveted in Europe and it's natural that more rumors will surface in the next few weeks. This becomes even more apparent especially now that the lock-out prospect looms menacingly over the magic world of the NBA.

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Treviso agreed terms with Chrysikopoulos?

He'll need to strut his stuff..


Linos Chrysikopoulos(2.03-SF) has travelled to Treviso for the annual Eurocamp this time sponsored by Adidas. According to basketblog.gr this is not the only reason that Chrysikopoulos has travelled there. The article says that he has agreed to play for the team of Treviso next season and this would be a good opportunity for the Italian team to check on him. Chrysikopoulos played in that camp last year as well but now he has to show how much he has progressed the last 12 months.

He is still bound by contract with Aris BC but its a contract that the team unilaterally activated according to the Greek legislation. This is a bit of a grey area here as this type of contract is officially recognised by FIBA
and if the player chooses to terminate the contract there will be a compensation to his team that is relevant to his playing time and also his participation in any National Teams. As it stands at the moment Chrysikopoulos could even file a lawsuit against the contract in the Greek courts as anti-constitutional contract and get it dismissed. Actually he already did that but after some deliberation with the team's administration his agent decided to drop the lawsuit last March. Chrysikopoulos is considered to be one of the best emering Greek talents of his generation but at the age of 18 he still hasn't shown any of that potential. Admittedly playing for a team like Aris it's difficult to secure some playing time but then again that will be the case in a team like Treviso. At the Eurocamp he'll have his chance to dazzle them with his skills or fail trying.

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