Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv has inked American/Israeli forward David Bluthenthal on a new contract for one year with an option for another year. He is expected to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to take part in the Israeli National Team’s practices.
Maccabi head coach David Blatt, who is currently in Las Vegas where the NBA Summer League is taking place, said this morning (Tuesday): “I’m happy David is continuing with us. He has become a part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv tradition of excellence, and he is a player who can contribute a lot to Maccabi. I’m also very happy that he has made the wise and mature decision to give up on his rest and take part in the Israeli National Team’s key campaign this summer.”
Last season, Bluthenthal was one of the best, most stable players with Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, finishing the season with averages of 9.3 points and 3 rebounds in the Euroleague, and 11.1 points and 4 rebounds in the Winner League. On the list of top Maccabi scorers in Europe of all time, he is ranked in the top thirty with 567 points; reaching 30th place when he overtook Lior Eliyahu. He is only 23 points away from the next person on the list, the legendary Tanhum Cohen-Mints.
So far, Bluthenthal has won two championships, three Israel Cups and one Europe Cup with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
source : maccabi.co.il
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Pekovic reached 3 season deal with Minnesota
Pekovic is a big, 6-foot-11 bruising center who has had an impressive career playing in Greece the past two seasons. Pekovic averaged 14.8 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game in 23 minutes per game for Panathinikos in Euroleague play last season. One league source said that had Pekovic been in this year's draft he would have been a top-10 pick.
"He's one of the most dominant big men in Europe right now and I think he can have an immediate impact in the NBA," said the source. Pekovic was drafted with the first pick in the second round by the Timberwolves in the 2008 NBA draft. He was widely regarded as a potential first-round pick, but slid in the draft thanks to concerns about his contract situation with Panathinikos. Two years later, it looks like he's finally headed to the NBA.
The Wolves' work this summer isn't done. The team will also work hard in the coming days to re-sign Serbian center Darko Milicic while simultaneously exploring trades for Al Jefferson, according to sources.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Maccabi TA announced Richard Hendrix
Maccabi Tel Aviv announced the signing of Richard Hendrix(2.02-PF/C) via their official website and the deal is for 2 seasons. Hendrix was the Revelation Player of the ACB last season playing for Granada and according to information of the Hoop he was in talks with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Now the deal is finally sealed.
The power forward of Granada wowed the crowds and the media in Spain and made a smashing debut in Europe in his first pro season overseas. After being selected by the Golden State Warriors at number 19 in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft 2008 he spent some time in the NBDL before playing for Granada. Averaging 13.3 points 6.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 33 games in the ACB, he managed to attract eyes from all around Europe and he did deserve it. His efforts have now been paid off with a Euroleague contract.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Jaric wants to play for Olympiakos
Marko Jaric spoke to kosarka.rs and in the interview he mentioned his wish to play for Olympiakos. Jaric has a Greek passport, a valuable commodity when it comes to playing in Greece and he said that Olympiakos is the team that would interest him very much. Jaric did make similar statements before, when he wanted to play for the Serbian NT but that didn't happen. This time he expresses his wish to potentially play for Dusan Ivkovic one more time.
Funny enough, Jaric was offered to Olympiakos last season as well but Scoonie Penn was signed instead. Perhaps this time it will be different, although there is already a tall point-guard in the team, Theodoros Papaloukas so one might think where does Jaric fit in the picture. Another issue has to do with his high salary. Given the excruciating new tax laws in Greece, Jaric's contract, if it were close to a million euros would incur a 80% tax on it.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Olympiakos made an offer to McIntyre
According to superbasket.gr, Craig Spitzer (McIntyre's agent) met with the owners of Olympiakos earlier this evening where they discussed the prospect of striking a deal for Terrell McIntyre. The deal that was offered for 2 seasons with a total of 3 million dollars pay for the entire contract.
The article says that both Panathinaikos and Olympiakos want to sign Terrell McIntyre regardless of what happens with Vassilis Spanoulis. The deal must be concluded by June 30th because that's the deadline for McIntyre to break his contract with Siena by paying them 300,000 dollars. Spitzer will meet with the administration of Panathinaikos tomorrow to see what they have to offer.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Chris Monroe to sign with Montegranaro
He won't be returning to Greece after all.Chris Monroe(1.88-PG/SG) will become a player of Montegranaro according to Italian newspaper Il Messagero. The American combo-guard visited Greece the last few days to settle the debt owed to him by Paok BC but although they wanted to keep him they just don't have the money for it.
Monroe will be signing a 1+1 season deal with Montegranaro that might be announced even later today. Monroe averaged 14.3 points 4.2 rebounds 2.5 assists in a total of 27 games in the A1 league playing for Paok this past season and also averaged 7.5 points 1.8 rebounds and 1 assists in 13 games with Olimpia Milano.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Ukic renewed with Fenerbahce Ulker
Ukic (196, 25) arrived at FB Ulker midway through last season and helped the team go all the way to the Turkish League and the Turkish Cup titles. He averaged 11.2 points and 4.1 assists in 24 Turkish League games with the team. Ukic has also played for Milwaukee and Toronto of the NBA, Lottomatica Roma in Italy, FC Barcelona and Tau Ceramica in Spain, as well as for Split in his native Croatia.
He won the Spanish King's Cup title, reached the Spanish League finals and the Euroleague Final Four with Tau Ceramica in 2006. Ukic lifted another Spanish King's Cup trophy with Barcelona in 2007 and at the start of his career helped Split win the Croatian League title in 2003 and the Croatian Cup crown in 2004. He is also a regular member of the Croatian national team and took part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. At the junior level, Ukic led the Croatian under-18 national team to victory in the European Championships in 2002. He is expected to represent Croatia this summer at the World Championships in Turkey.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Rakovic confirms moving to Siena
Milovan Rakovic(2.08-C) confirmed that he will be playing for Siena, probably for the next 3 seasons. The powerful center of Spartak St. Petersburg will be leaving the Russian team and as he confirmed to novosti.sr, he will be moving to the Italian powerhouse. He said that his agent, Dragan Delic helped him secure the deal and now its certain he will become a player of Siena next season.
He also said that he was disappointed with how he was treated in Partizan and so he chose to make a path of his own for his career. The article also says that Rakovic will be considered by Dusan Ivkovic for the shortlist of the Serbian National Team. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 17 games in Russia. He missed a few games to injuries.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Maccabi signed Elishay Kadir for 3 seasons
Israeli forward and most recent MVP of the Winner League Elishay Kadir has signed with Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv for the next three seasons. Kadir: “I’m very happy to have reached this place and this moment. It’s something you dream about from childhood, and suddenly it’s reality.”
Kadir (22, 2.03 meters) began his career with Maccabi Ramat Gan, where he played from 2005 – 2008 on both the youth and adult teams.He moved to Hapoel Gilboa-Galil for the 2008 – 2009 season. This past season was a break-through year for him, when he was named Winner League Most Valuable Player and helped his team win the Israeli Championship. In 22 league games, he averaged 14.2 points (68.7% from two point range), pulled down 5.9 rebounds, and finished with an overall index score average of 16.3.
As a player on the Under-21 Israeli National Team, Kadir finished, together with Omri Casspi, in sixth place in the European Championship, where he scored an average of 13 points and took 4.4 rebounds.
The outstanding forward is a member of the current Israeli National Team and will be playing in the preliminary rounds in Europe this summer.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Juan Dixon could return to Malaga
According to diariosur.es, Juan Dixon(1.91-SG) might return to action sooner than expected. The American scorer was found positive in a drug test sample in Greece for nandrolone so Malaga suspended his contract once the information became public. What also happened is that a second sample was sent to Germany as the Greek labs weren't sure if his case qualified as a positive test because the nandrolone amount was on the limit.
Dixon himself said that the substance was there because of a vitamin complex that he used in the USA and it was legal to use there. The article says that in Malaga they're waiting for FIBA's decision on the penalty that will be imposed to Dixon. The penalty could vary between 3-10 months in Dixon's case and it's possible he might be free to join another team in Europe if he wants. In Malaga they haven't forgotten his stelar scoring performance in his first few games where he averaged 18.8 points in just 4 games.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Cantu renewed Micov for another season
The renewal was not announced by Cantu
themselves, but instead it was announced by Micov's agent. Beobasket agency announced the renewal as it usually does before the official announcement arrives. In Cantu this past season he averaged 11.8 points 4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 24 games.Micov grew up at Beopetrol Belgrade in his native Serbia and has also played for Nova Pazova, OKK Belgrade, Lavovi 063 Belgrade and Partizan in Serbia as well as Buducnost Podgorica in Montenegro and Panionios in Greece. Before Cantu he played briefly for Baskonia in Spain replacing the injured Pete Mickeal.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Fenerbahce announced Neven Spahija
Spahija, 47, replaces veteran Bogdan Tanjevic, who announced his resignation on Thursday after having led Fenerbahce
to its third domestic title in four seasons. Spahija arrives from Valencia, a club he helped qualify for next season's Euroleague by winning the Eurocup title in April. Spahija resigned from Valencia last month. Fenerbahce will be the sixth Euroleague team that Spahija coaches since he debuted in the competition in 2000.The others were Cibona Zagreb of Croatia<
, Krka Novo Mesto of Slovenia, Lietuvos Rytas of Lithuania, Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel and Tau Ceramica of Spain. In each of those countries, Spahija took the national title at least once. Additionally, Spahija has been head coach in Russia with Avtodor Saratov, in Italy with Roseto and in his native Croatia with Gradine Pula. In addition to his sole continental trophy, this season's Eurocup, Spahija reached the finals of the 2002-03 Eurocup, with Krka, and the 2008 Final Four, with Tau Ceramica, losing to eventual champion CSKA Moscow.Thursday, June 10, 2010
Olympiakos waiting to make offer to Spanoulis
According to Greek sports newspaper Sportday, Olympiakos want to make an offer to Vassilis Spanoulis but he is still legally bound with contract with Panathinaikos and on Friday he will meet with the administration of Panathinaikos to discuss the possible renewal of his contract.
If that doesn't happen then Spanoulis will essentially be a free agent and it will be up to any team to make him the biggest or best offer. So the newspaper says that in Olympiakos they're willing to offer him 2.5 million euros per season in order to make him one of their own players. And this is just the starting price. Obviously if this happens then Panathinaikos will be deprived of one their main weapons and Olympiakos might actually gain the advantage they've always needed to break the Panathinaikos dominance in Greece. This is quite handy for Olympiakos that it has been leaked to the press so they don't actually have to approach the player. More on this to follow in the next few days.
Go to: May, 2010
