Eurobasket 2011 special by greekbasketball.gr

Better late than never.

This is a collaborated effort by all the bloggers at Greekbasketball.gr but mostly Greek Hoopz and Greekbball about this year's Eurobasket 2011 contest. Most of it is in Greek so if you're not familiar with the language I do apologise. The comment about the Great Britain National Team by yours truly can be found in page 32. Enjoy!




The full document can be downloaded here.

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Will Thomas to play for BC Armia

Another experienced player for the Army club.


Army Sport Klub Tbilisi added another experienced forward to their team and this time it's Will Thomas(2.03-PF) previously of Oostende in Belgium. Thomas has been playing for the last 3 seasons in Belgium after he graduated from George Mason University in 2008.

His Eurochallenge experience will be valuable to Armia as he averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds in 17 games for Oostende. He also averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds in the Belgian League.

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Jeremy Richardson and the rumors of the day

These just came in!


Jeremy Richardson(previously of Valencia) signed for Georgian Champion BC Armia which will compete on EuroChallange in Group B. They signed earlier All-EuroChallange Honorable Mention C Joakim Kjellbom.

They are also very close to 2010 MVP of Belgian League Will Thomas (Oostende) at the PF and Sundiata Gaines at the PG (New Jersey Nets) with an NBA option until lockout is over.


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Mantzaris to Bilbao and then on loan to Aris

He needs playing time.


These days there isn't much time for any articles so I'll be as brief as I can but I'll also try to explain things in detail at the same time. There were previous reports that Vangelis Mantzaris(1.95-PG) had attracted interest from many teams and one of them was Bilbao. It seems now that he will be signing a multi-season deal with Bilbao that could possibly be announced this Monday according to basketblog.gr

Mantzaris' intention is to get some more playing time but he has the luxury of picking a team that can play in the Eurocup as well these days and his choice is most probably Aris (unless something really unexpected happens). Mantzaris spoke to Kostas Sloukas(1.98-PG/SG) who also played for Aris on-loan last season and the head coach of Aris told him that he will be enjoying a starting-five position should he choose to play for them. Mantzaris was recently the final cut from the final squad of the Greek National Team which is a testament to his skill level at the young age of 21.

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Adrian Oliver to play for Aris?

Fresh from his Twitter account.


Adrian Oliver(1.93-SG) said in his Twitter account just 4 hours ago:
Signed a contract to play this lockout season in Greece. Thank you all for the good wishes. Leave in about a week so gettin everything...

In a previous article it was indicated that Oliver could be playing for Aris BC in Thessaloniki Greece and that makes him Aris' 4th college boy to be added in the roster if it's actually them he signed with. This is a radical turn for Aris signing already 4 college boys and possibly a 5th one in the next few days or even hours. The roster needs to be completed by the end of this month so the preparation stage can begin. Oliver's name comes up today again in today's edition of Athlitika Nea.

Perhaps there will be an announcement earlier today.Many thanks to the mysterious Mr. Pek for the heads up this morning.

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Casspi could play with Parker in France

The San Antonio Spurs would undoubtedly prefer to see them playing together in South Texas, but the prospect of Tony Parker and longtime Spurs favorite Omri Casspi teaming up in France is very much alive.


Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Monday that Casspi is giving strong consideration to signing with ASVEL in France's top division.

That's the same ASVEL club which claims Parker as a co-owner and as its vice president of basketball operations.

It initially appeared that Casspi -- after being dealt from Sacramento to Cleveland on June 30 in the final trade consummated in the NBA before the start of the July 1 lockout -- was a lock to play for perennial Euroleague power Maccabi Tel-Aviv in his native Israel in the event of the lockout bleeding into November or December.

But David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported earlier Monday that Casspi and Maccabi officials, after a sitdown, have mutually agreed that they would not be able to reach contract terms that both sides can stomach.

France isn't the only destination that Casspi -- coveted by the Spurs since he was drafted No. 23 overall by the Kings in 2009 -- is considering as a lockout alternative. Various reports in the Israeli media say he's drawn interest from clubs in Russia and Spain.

But ASVEL, situatated in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne, does have one clear advantage: Casspi and Parker share the same agent. They're both represented by CAA's Steven Heumann.

Last week in London on duty with the French national team, Parker told ESPN.com contributor Ian Whittell that he will play in his native France if he plays anywhere other than the NBA this season as opposed to seizing upon the interest Parker has generated from teams in China.

"My agent talked about China a little bit," Parker told Whittell. "... I'm not going to take any decision until the end of September, after the European Championships. I want to see if I'm healthy, if I'm hurt and by then we will also know a lot more what is happening with the situation of the lockout. 


"If I play [abroad], I will definitely play in France, for my fans, for my team ASVEL." 

As for the prospect of Casspi ultimately winding up alongside Parker in the French League, one source close to the situation said it really "might happen."

Casspi is currently nursing a injured left knee that threatens to knock him out of the European Championships (EuroBasket) later this month in Lithuania. Israel's only NBA player told reporters over the weekend that "right now my leg is in a bad state."

source : espn.com


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Prokom announced Alonzo Gee

An NBAer for Prokom.


Asseco Prokom Gdynia informs that the agreement with former Clevland Cavaliers player, Alonzo Gee has been reached. Born in 1987 in Florida, American is 198cm high and graduated from Alabama university. He can play as guard or forward. In his season with Clevland Cavaliers he averaged: 7.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 0.8 apg.

source : asseco.prokom.pl

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