NBA cancels Las Vegas Summer League

The lock-out looms menacingly over the magic world of the NBA..



NEW YORK -- The NBA has told the players that it will cancel its Las Vegas Summer League for 2011. An announcement will be made during the weekend.

The Vegas Summer League, which would have run for nine days beginning in early July at Cox Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack Center, has been in operation since 2004.

Speaking after the latest round of collective bargaining negotiations, deputy commissioner Adam Silver stressed that the cancellation of the Vegas league was simply a function of the calendar, not a threat to the players.

The NBA's labor agreement expires June 30. Owners and the players association are still hundreds of millions of dollars apart on how to split revenues, and the owners are still asking for a hard salary cap system.

source : espn.com

editor's note : So what's going to happen to all these players that were waiting for the Summer League to strut their stuff? perhaps some of them will just sign contracts in Europe. And I'm not talking about the ones that had guaranteed contracts but the ones that were aiming to make a pre-season camp in order to make some easy bucks and add another line to their CV.


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Olympiacos interested in Christos Tapoutos

Drastic budget cuts anyone?


According to onsports.gr, Christos Tapoutos(2.07-SF/PF) could be a target of Olympiacos after his good season with Aris Thessaloniki. Assistant coach Vangelis Aggelou recommended Tapoutos to Dusan Ivkovic and the article says that it's likely for Tapoutos to be signed.

This also comes after reports that Marko Keselj(2.09-SF) could be loaned to another team as Dusan Ivkovic was not very happy with his performance. This is an understatement actually as Keselj was very disappointing and couldn't even do the one thing he was hyped about and that is to be a deadly perimeter shooter. Tapoutos had a great start with Aris but later in the season an injury caused him to lose the initital momentum but still had some good intermittent games.He averaged 13.3 points 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 13 games in the Eurocup and 11.6 points 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 31 games in the A1.

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Vaty in Gravelins for 2 seasons

And the first one for Gravelines is..


Ludovic Vaty(2.06-PF/C) will be a player of Gravelines for the next 2 seasons as it was announced via the official website of the team. Vaty spent last season in Orleans amongst an injury saga that kept him away from a transfer to the ACB.


Vaty played in Pau Orthez before Orleans and last season he averaged 8.2 points and 4.6 assists in 32 games in the ProA and also 6.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 14 games in the Euroleague playing for Orleans during season 2009-10. This past season he averaged 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 24 games for Orleans in the ProA.

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Rubio already signed a contract with the Timberwolves

BILBAO, Spain -- Ricky Rubio has already signed a contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the holdup keeping him from leaving Barcelona is related to his buyout agreement, multiple sources told ESPN.com.


"This is just a bump in the road for (the Timberwolves)," said one source.

Rubio's Spanish club won the ACB championship Tuesday, after which Rubio said:

"We are talking with Barcelona and we will soon see."

Despite Ricky Rubio's offensive struggles this season at Barcelona, he's still seen as the Timberwolves' point guard of the future.

That fueled speculation Rubio might not come to Minnesota for the 2011-12 season. But two sources told ESPN.com Rubio has already signed with the Timberwolves. He still must receive a letter of clearance from FIBA, the sports' international governing body.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press and The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported that Rubio, the No. 5 pick in the 2009 NBA draft, had reached an agreement to join the Timberwolves after two seasons with Barcelona.

The Timberwolves did not confirm those reports, which followed years of speculation that Rubio, 20, did not want to leave Europe or pay the multimillion-dollar buyout of his Barcelona contract out of his own pocket.

Rubio said he was "very happy" after Barcelona won the Spanish league title, according to the Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo. "This title is the most widely appreciated. At last I have it and we must all be proud of it."

On Wednesday, a source close to Rubio told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that he is unaware of any change to Rubio's plans to play in the NBA next season.

Timberwolves president David Kahn called Rubio "a virtuoso and somebody special" after drafting him in 2009. Kahn and agent Dan Fegan had an agreement to bring Rubio to the NBA that summer, but Rubio withdrew from that deal at the last minute after deciding he did not want to pay a $6 million-plus buyout.

With the passing of two seasons, Rubio's buyout from Barcelona has decreased to $1.4 million. The Timberwolves can contribute up to $500,000 of that amount under current league rules.

Rubio averaged 6.5 points a game on 39 percent shooting this season at Barcelona, where he dealt with a foot injury and fell out of the starting lineup. The Timberwolves believe Rubio will flourish in the NBA, where guards have more freedom to create than they do in the stricter offensive schemes common in the European game.

"He's gotten bigger and he plays outstanding defense, and because he's a pass-first guard he's going to be liked by everybody who plays with him," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said last year. Krzyzewski coached Team USA against Rubio and Spain in the Beijing Olympics.

Rubio dominated the junior circuit in Europe and turned professional at 14. His flashy style and baby face made him an instant sensation in Europe.

Although Rubio's stock dropped this season, the woeful Timberwolves -- winners of a combined 32 games the past two seasons -- remain in need of a point guard to feed the ball to Kevin Love and Michael Beasley.


source : espn.com

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Barcelona to make offer to Fotsis

It just came in this morning.


It seems that these news were good enough to be kept under the radar and the people in Greece who had the news in Greece only released it about an hour ago to the media. One of them, basketblog.gr, put up an article that Barcelona is going to make an offer to Antonis Fotsis(2.11-PF), perhaps one that he can't refuse.

Fotsis has already had an offer from Turkey and it seems that he hasn't renewed his contract with Panathinaikos yet. This might seem odd to the fans of Panathinaikos that Fotsis hasn't renewed his contract yet but amongst the rumors of the Giannakopoulos brothers leaving the team it makes some sense. Fotsis played a pivotal role in helping Panathinaikos conquer the Euroleague by getting back in shape and becoming the athlete he once was. He averaged 8.4 points and 5.1 rebound in 22 games in the Euroleague.

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Cedric Simmons to get Bulgarian passport

That'll come in handy.


Former NBA prospect Cedric Simmons(2.08-C) had his breakout season in Europe with Kavala BC in Greece averaging 12 points 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in a total of 28 games in the A1 Greek league including play-off games. These performances attracted attention from all over Europe and now he is about to become even more popular. Simmons was the number 15 pick of the 2006 Draft but constant injuries never let him reach his true potential. However in Greece he managed to relaunch his career in a way.

According to sport24.gr, Simmons is going to get his Bulgarian passport by the end of next week. Obviously this is not the first time that his has been reported but it seems that now it's going to be even closer than before. This will allow Simmons to play as a bosman player in Europe 

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Gentile renewed with Treviso until 2014

They're building a team of gifted young players.



Benetton Basket Treviso announced that they extended the contract of Alessandro Gentile until 2014, with mutual consent from both parties.

Alessandro Gentile has been in Treviso since 2007, he won a junior championship in 2009 and since last year is permanently in the first team, although only in November 2010 the age of 18. This season he averaged 8.1 points per game (11.3 in the second round) with 56% 2 point shots, 31% from behind the arc in 21 minutes per game.

In Eurocup instead he averaged 7.7 points per game with a 22-point high. Gentile was also named Best Player Under 22 in Serie A.

He said : " Treviso is a city where I am fine, and the Benetton Basket I think is the best place to grow for a young player. I'm glad to be here in Treviso in the coming years and I hope we can create a young and ambitious, as the tradition of this society . "

souce : benettonbasket.it

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