Monday’s cigarettes

Here we go for the Euroleague bye week. And we’ve put together some interesting stories in order to get through these 14 days without Devotion.

• Take a look into Nicolas Batum’s mind.
• In the German Bundesliga, the Giessen 46ers had to go for a road game on Saturday against EnBW Ludwigsburg. For this 250km trip, the staff planned a 3.5-hour drive by bus. Pretty normal. However, Giessen got stuck in a monster traffic jam 50 kilometers outside of Ludwigsburg and did not manage to arrive in time for the game. Ludwigsburg did not accept an offer to postpone the game to a later hour of day, and so they won the matchup, 1-0.
• What trouble for Partizan Belgrade these days. Not only did they lose against archrivals Red Star, the team is also in serious financial trouble, as their accounts have been blocked. Dusko Vujosevic also explains that they have contracted debt at a 17.5% interest rate. Crazy times…
• Always nice, always interesting and funny: Don’t forget to check regularly Kristian’s blog on FIBA.com. Sorry Kris, I always forget to check what you write, so thanks for the mail!
• Marcus “Highlight” Haislip got elected player of the week in the Spanish ACB.
• The TBB Trier players do a victory dance after their tough win against EWE Baskets Oldenburg in the Bundesliga.
• A tough weekend for some Euroleague teams.:As mentioned above, Partizan lost but also very bad defeats for Panathinaikos against Panellinios, Le Mans against Orléans and Olimpija Ljubljana against Bosna Sarajevo.
• Derby time in Lithuania, with Lietuvos Rytas beating Zalgiris Kaunas. But I see that Lithuanian basketball fans have serious metal troubles, as the tune “La Paloma Blanca” was used as background music on a basketball clip…

Yarone’s weekend Joints

Lots of three-ball action took place this week. Some went in with great accuracy. Others will have to pay for the rim damage. Lazos, Erceg and Childress are the most overpaid players of this week, the double OT in Istanbul had two sides, Spencer caught up, Nancy made history, Jennings made us proud, and one Emir Preldzic…

These are the stories of week 4 of Euroleague 2009.

In case you missed it… - CSKA tied the Euroleague record for most three pointers made with 18, and more amazingly they hit them at a 72% rate. Those who follow CSKA closely saw them only last week connect on 20 three pointers at 71.4% in a Russian cup game. Keep in mind that Holden and Smodis are injured and could probably add a couple more to the party. Do you still remember just a week ago the Euroleague champs scored only 58 points at Real and hit five three-balls at a poor 18.5% rate?

CSKA tied a record set by Lottomatica Roma, who went 18/34 back in December 2003, but it reminded me more of the most amazing three-ball display in Euroleague history: Efes’ unbelievable fourth quarter back in November 2006. In a home game against Olympiacos, the Jenkins-Nicholas-Erden-Haislip-Kuqo combination connected on 11 of 12 long-range shots in the final 10:04 of the game.

The Jennings report – Brandon Jennings, in one of the toughest arenas in Europe, explained why. Last week in a text written on this server, Jennings was asked, for the first time in his Euroleague career, to combine baskets inside and outside the arc, and right away he provided. The boxscore displayed 17 minutes on court, 13 points, 4-of-7 from the field, three assists and not a single turnover on the way to an index rating of 17. He played a key role in the third quarter when Tau pushed hard to take over, and made sure Roma stayed on top. Can’t ask for more from this kid.

Just imagine – Terrell McIntyre was 1-of-8 from long range in OAKA. Shaun Stonerook was 2-of-11 from the same distance, but Montepaschi still left Athens with only a five-point loss. If any of the above had shot at just a tiny bit better percentage…

Over? Under! – Four games into the Euroleague season and not only is Zalgiris Kaunas continuing to seek their first win, they’ve also failed to reach 70 points in a game: Their season high is 67 points at home, in the 26 point loss to Montepaschi. True, Kaunas lost Brown, misses Dean, and the go-to guy right now is the great Maciulis, who hasn’t fully adapted to the idea that he’s the main man this season. Nevertheless, it’s not that much we’re asking: In the next three games, Kaunas hosts Barcelona and Pao, followed by travel to Siena. None will be shocked to see them go 0-6, but if the Lithuanians can’t shoot to reach 70…

Standings – After four weeks, CSKA Moscow is the only undefeated team. Surprised? Group D, where CSKA play, is the only group in which just one team has reached three wins. Behind CSKA are four teams with a 2-2 record and in last is a team with no wins: Exactly the scenario predicted for this group from the first second after the draw. The only difference: Panionios was expected to be the winless team, while in fact it’s struggling AJ Milano.

It’s a close league after all – Four teams, one in each group, are still in search for a debut win, but that’s not a case of teams that are just too weak to win. All of them have already sensed a win in their hands at least once during the four weeks. Le Mans was close four weeks in a row, including an OT loss in Tel Aviv; AJ Milano has been in the neighborhood twice already and this week lost by a point; Olimpija lost once by a point as well and this week fell in double OT; finally, Zalgiris hasn’t been as close to success as the other three, but has lost their last two games by five points or fewer.

Index Morris – Last week, CSKA’s Terence Morris went 0-of-8 from long range in Madrid. This week he had three perfect hits from distance already after three minutes on the way to a 5-of-7 night.

Home sweetest home – 11 of the 12 games this week went in favor of the home team, including a double OT win for FenerUlker, a one-point win for Real, a two-point win for Alba and five-point wins for Nancy, Panathinaikos, Panionios and Avellino. The only team to drop the home game was Tau, considered one of the most difficult teams to beat on their home court, who lost by a small three-point margin.

Emir – If you’re a big prospect and want to make a break, then shower, shave, grab a bottle of water, some orange Tic Tacs, pack a small bag and go stand outside the house of coach Bogdan Tanjevic. Wait patiently, have some Tic Tacs and hope he’ll take you in. From there, you’re set. 18 points, more than 50% from the field, seven rebounds, five assists and just a single turnover: That’s the line Emir Preldzic produced this week. He’s playing inside Tanjevic’s system as much as a Bosnian can play inside a system, but also gets a lot of freedom from his coach to bring his skills and creativity to the floor. Follow this kid. He’s much more than just great numbers: He’s fineness and finesse.

Double OT, triple lead – The interesting thing about the game in Istanbul, only the third in Euroleague history to go 50 minutes, was that in all three crucial possessions FenerUlker were up. In regulation, it was a huge running three-pointer by Saso Ozbolt (Welcome back!) to tie the score. Then Damjan Rudez scored on a layup to force another overtime, and finally Vlado Illievski took the chance when down by two with a long distance attempt that went out.

Vlado + Saso > Europe – Olimpija’s Ilievski and Ozbolt played a double OT but still combined 79:50 minutes of play so they didn’t hold a much bigger margin on other backcourts. Nevertheless they took no less than 21 shots from long range (11 by Vlado). Those 21 attempts by only two players represented more three-point attempts than those taken by the entire teams of Panathinaikos, Panionios, Alba, Cibona, Maccabi, Barcelona, Prokom, Real, Avellino, Le Mans, Roma and Nancy this week.

Joventut > Europe – Vlado and Saso weren’t the only ones. Demond Mallet and Luka Bogdanovic of Joventut also combined for 21 attempts from long range, and they played much less obviously. Luka was on a big night hitting 7-of-12 from long distance without taking a single shot inside the arc or the charity stripe. Mallet was a tiny bit less glamour at 1-of-9 from the same distance.

Both were merely executing Joventut’s game plan, or so it seemed on the court. Rudy’s former team took 23 shots inside the arc, but no fewer than 37 outside: a huge difference that hints at a lack of guiding hand and another reason to hang a “We miss you Ricky!” sign in the lockerroom. Joventut had the last ball of the game down by two at Alba, and take a wild guess what their play was…Wrong! Pau Ribas tried to find an open man for the three, but Alba did a great job in the passing lanes, forcing the young guard to go to the rim. He added one more miss to his pocket and Alba celebrated their second win.

All Blacks – OK, the national team of New Zealand isn’t playing in the Euroleague yet, but while I was watching Nancy-Zalgiris on Wednesday night, I suddenly noticed something refreshing: With Cyril Julian out due to injury, Nancy this week was a team composed of only black players, probably the first time ever in European basketball history. Quickly, Mr. Ney was sent to check the NBA rosters and figure how many NBA teams have only black players on the roster, and his answer was one: The Philadelphia 76ers, thus making the occasion in Nancy this week very unique indeed. From the Greer duo to the promising young Zaki, it was a refreshing occurrence. The fact they have won isn’t as exciting as the happenings in Illinois not too long ago, but certainly is a happy episode.

Double OT, triple miss – While Olimpija had to come back from behind time after time in the finals seconds, the Turkish side can be happy to win a close game, but proved he can miss time after time in these situations. Devin Smith had a decent shot from the three-point corner to win the game in regulation but missed. At the end of the first OT, Fenerbache had 6.5 seconds to win the game but managed to lose the ball, while at the end of the last overtime Marque Green missed his first free throw in the final seconds, leaving Olimpija a chance to win.

Whole story in one Zoran – Olympiacos paid around <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €700,000 just to buy out Zoran Erceg from FMP Zeleznik. His contract probably isn’t cheap, either, and the buyout plus contract is worth around $1.5 million easily. This is more than Maccabi’s second-highest paid player. Erceg played less than seven minutes this week, and other than pick up one foul did nothing on the court. No rebounds, no shots taken, no assists, no turnovers. His team still won by 19, the second-greatest margin of the week. His story tells the difference between Olympiacos and a second-tier Euroleague team.

Frustrated Milanese - If you’ve ever had the chance to stop whatever it is you’re doing in your daily life and wonder what’s more frustrating, to lose a five-point lead in the last minute or a 23-point lead in the second half, well, your search for an answer is over! AJ Milano solved this riddle for you! Once again, one player shone above all: This time it was Michael Hall, who won the MVP of the week award, and once again Milano seemed on the sure path for a win. Answers shall be provided after the debut win.

Looking for Lazos – Not too long ago, in the summer of 2007, Lazaros Papadopoulos was a hot item in the market. At 210cm with post moves, decent rebounding and one of the smartest brains in the Euroleague chasing up a 14.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg and a season index rating of 20.3 with Dynamo Moscow. Then came a multi-season deal with powerhouse Real Madrid, who wanted to return to greatness. On that paper, it says Lazos will make more than <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €2 million per season, but he never really proved worthy of it.

His decline already began last season, when his season numbers dropped to 6.9 ppg with 3.2 rpg and season index of no more than 7.8. If someone was waiting for Lazos to come back to life this season, well…maybe later. Right now, he’s finished two games in a row with no points, something that hasn’t happened to him in a European competition since January 9th, 2003. His index ratings in the past three games were 2, -2, and 2. His minutes dropped from 20 to 12 to five. Lazos is no longer a factor. Can’t wait to have him back in shape.

Weekly battle – After Bluthenthal wrote a landslide last week, it was time for Dewarick Spencer to retort. This week, the US guard won the “let’s see who shots more” battle 15-4. Le Mans, no news, lost a close game in Italy. Overall score: Bluthenthal 2, Spencer 2.

Shooting Josh – If you think Lazos is the most overpaid player this week, well, Josh Childress is giving him good competition. The $7 million man finished the game against Maccabi with four points on 1-of-6 from the field and five turnovers. Maccabi gave him a lot of space to shoot from long range, and Josh didn’t punish. The tale from Piraeus is that after the game, while media walked around the lockerroom, looking for Childress, the US swingman went back to the court to work on his jumpshot, to make sure no team will bet on his shots again. Time will tell…

Three-ball Rawel – Cibona’s Rawel Marshall arrived to Malaga with a 7/17 ratio from long range. He finished the game 7 of 10 from that distance. Cibona scored only one additional three pointer. Unicaja combined for a team total of six three-pointers.

Marshall hit just a single bucket inside the arc. Each and every one of his long balls is worth a look. He showed great diversity making off dribble and catch and shoot attempts, eith with a hand in his face or wide open, right on the arc or a step behind…

Why French teams will never win the Euroleague again

This week, I had the opportunity to follow the two French teams’ Euroleague games. On Wednesday, I was in Nancy for the game against Panathinaikos and today I followed the game between Maccabi and Le Mans via Euroleague TV. Both times, the French team lost.

I went to Nancy in a very neutral fashion, neither supporting Panathinaikos nor the French champion. I expected a blowout win, as SLUC had really disappointed me so far in the top European competition. So it was not a surprise to see the game going on like it did. Panathinaikos did no more than necessary and Nancy was fighting like crazy in order to stay in the game.

But what the three referees did to the French was simply incredible. OK, I admit that Nancy is a Euroleague rookie and Panathinaikos is a powerhouse. But every, really every close decision went in Panathinaikos’ favor. What in the beginning looked like two or three decisions that could have gone either way, became more and more obvious during the game. In the paint, where Nancy is really “light,” every bit of contact was called and so the SLUC post players were in serious foul trouble.

It went so far that even youngster Roger Zaki had to come to the court. And no surprise here, either: Three fouls in four minutes. But of these three fouls, two were rookie calls. The first was after playing proper defense and trying to front Mike Batiste; the Greek center got the pass on a high-low post play but was falling backwards taking Zaki with him to the floor. Foul on Zaki. On the game’s last possession, Panathinaikos has the ball and misses their shot but on the rebound situation, Kostas Tsartsaris falls down from out of nowhere on the FT line, foul on Zaki, 2 free throws.

I’m not saying that Nancy lost the game because of the referees, Panathinaikos was clearly the better team and Diamantidis and Jasikevicius knocked down the decisive shots in the final moments. But I have barely ever seen more pro-big team refereeing in my whole life. Every time Nancy wanted to come back, a call stopped their run.

If you don’t have the financial power, you don’t have the real big guys and you even don’t have referees calling the basketball game in a neutral way: It’s very tough to win a game.

Another game and a different story. Le Mans returned to Tel Aviv and it must have felt like déjà vu for them. In their season opener from last year, they lost in Tel Aviv by three points in a very close game at the end. This time it was even worse. After having led nearly the whole game, Le Mans again came into a close setup in the decisive moments. Being up by three points with nine seconds on the clock, it should have been possible to take the game home. But Maccabi scores a wide open three-point shot after an inbound play right after a timeout. How is this possible?

You have two choices in such a situation: You foul on the first pass in order to avoid the three-point shot or you play defense like crazy without giving an open shot. Of course, Maccabi won the game in overtime afterwards. I really don’t understand what Le Mans was thinking at that moment. We don’t know what coach J.D. Jackson told his players to do, but I would guess this was not the option he preferred.

Aside from being very close, both games showed once again why French teams will never win big games or advance to decisive phases in the Euroleague anymore. Le Mans needed three years in order to get a certain lobby with the referees but they still cant manage to win the close games (Unicaja, Cibona and now Maccabi). And the second French team is always a Euroleague rookie (Roanne last season, Nancy this year) and doesn’t get any calls.

So is the only possibility to win these games glorious French teams such as Elan Béarnais Pau-Orthez or CSP Limoges did to return to the top European competition? Well, Pau is currently last in the French ProA with 0 wins and CSP Limoges is struggling somewhere in the 2nd division. So we won’t see these two former powerhouses anywhere soon representing French club basketball. What a pity…

Euroleague: Le Mans, France

Laurent Sallard is one of the main authors of the newly launched website basketnews.net and has a long time experience writing for the Paper version of the French Basketnews magazine. Laurent gives us his view on the 2nd French Euroleague team this season: Le Mans.

Overall record prediction:5-5

This summer, a real French revolution happened in Le mans. Jean-Pierre Goisbault, the long-time president, stepped back. Vincent Collet, the trademark coach of the MSB moved to ASVEL and Nicolas Batum, the most talented player that the club ever brought up, has crossed the Atlantic ocean to play in Portland.

You could expect that the team will struggle or go into a period of transition, without real goals. This won’t be the case. Christophe Le Bouille, who is now the president of the club was the GM for a long time now. JD Jackson, who is a rookie in terms of coaching was the team captain during the MSB championship run in 2006. The two guys are ambitious, want to reconquer the National Championship in France but also improve the results in the Euroleague after only 6 victories in 18 games during the last two years. Additionally, the team has lost its 3 year deal because of the poor results and is only participating to the Euroleague because they finished first of the regular season of the ProA.

To be competitive on the European scene, the team needed some experienced players. That’s why they signed David Bluthenthal who has already several season behind him on this level. The Israeli combo-forward has won the Euroleague with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2004. Very humble, he declared when he arrived in Le Mans that he wants to become the leader of the team and be a more complete player, also in defense.

Another big name to arrive in Le Mans this summer is Dewarick Spencer. French Champion and MVP of the ProA in 2007 with Chorale de Roanne, he comes of a difficult season with Virtus Bologna and Efes Pilsen and he tries to re-launch his career with the French team.

Brian Chase will play the Point Guard position. Even if his European experience is very limited, he has shown his potential in the NBA and the D-League. The Center JP Batista knows on the other hand the Euroleague because of his season with Lietuvos Rytas before winning the FIBA EuroCup with Barons Riga the last season.

Le Mans has also signed some well known players from the ProA. National Champion together with Dee Spencer in 2007, Pape Badiane played another final with Roanne last summer and had a chance to discover the Euroleague. This has not been the case so far for the Senegalese Maleye N’Doye who is considered as one of the most under-estimated players in the ProA for years.

Finally, Antoine Diot and Alain Koffi are still present. The first one, who will play as a back up of Chase and Spencer, should show some important progress. The second one has perfectly found his role in the group. He grabbed as much as 17 rebounds on the 2nd gameday of the ProA.

The few question marks around the team are the little experience of the head coach and the missing cohesion of the entirely rebuilt group during the summer. But Le Mans has won their first three games of the season showing good control of the game situations in the hot moments. But it will be on the Euroleague court on Wednesday in Malaga that the team has to show its real value.

Final Four participants: Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, CSKA Moscow, Montepaschi Siena

Euroleague winner: CSKA Moscow

written by Laurent Sallard

The French League explained

“A long, long time ago…” This is how fairytales for children begin, but it could also lead off the status of the French League. So, a long, long time ago, French teams were big names in the European context: CSP Limoges won the Euroleague, ASVEL qualified for the Final Four, and Pau-Orthez was the most regular participant in major European competitions. Players like Antoine Rigaudeau, Michael Young and Delaney Rudd made French fans dream and the sportive results built ProA a good international reputation. But this has changed since then.

Young French players today dream more about the NBA than the Euroleague, and yearly the best young prospects leave the ProA while most are still projects at the European level. This year, Alexis Ajinca and Nicolas Batum preferred to move overseas and risk a year in the NBDL rather than stay with their European club. So it is no surprise that France currently has nearly as many NBA players (Ajinca, Batum, Diaw, Diawara, Gelabale, Mahinmi, Noah, Tony Parker, Petro, Pietrus, Turiaf) as Euroleague players (Gomis, Sangaré, Koffi, Diot, Badiane, Leloup, Tchicamboud, Julian, Samnick, Morandais, Parker). But let’s check what the upcoming season brings.

The Big 4: STB Le Mans and SLUC Nancy will play in the Euroleague this season and both have recruited heavily by French standards. With J.D. Jackson as head coach, the all-youth years are over in the Sarthe region, and the new players are all more or less experienced on the European level. To bring Dee Spencer back to France as well as signing Euroleague players Bluthenthal and J.P. Batista was seen as enormous for a French team. The addition of Pape Badiane in the paint and the multi-versatile Maleye N’Doye are even more than a cherry atop the cake for the team. Now with such a loaded roster, the clear goal is the French Championship.

SLUC Nancy also went big in recruiting, with the addition of Rod Benson, John Cox and Lamayn Wilson, even if the names sound less flashy Le Mans’ moves. But a team core built around the Greer brothers, Wild Thing Julian and the new French backcourt composed of Tchicamboud and Morandais, who will play in France for the first time in his professional career, is pretty strong. And if Roger Zaki plays in the regular season like he started the preseason, defending the title is not an impossible task.

ASVEL Villeurbanne is probably the only team that can compete with the two Euroleague participants in terms of budget and player material. With the experience of Vincent Collet as head coach and the newly added firepower of Eric Campbell, J.R. Reynolds and Amara “The Admiral” Sy, it looks like the self-declared Euroleague wild-card team can finally battle for the title it’s been seeking for a long time. It remains to be seen how this newly composed roster will harmonize. Chorale de Roanne tries to return to the old days with the reappearance of Aaron Harper. Additionally, some proven ProA players joined the team while the coaching staff once again tries to hit the jackpot in the annual college lottery by signing some rookies.

NT members’ teams: It sounds surprising, but it were Vichy and Cholet who featured a significant number of national team players for the unsuccessful Eurobasket 2009 qualifiers this summer. Now both must integrate these guys at high speed in order to be competitive for a season that begins in just 10 days. Besides the French de Colo and Marquis, Cholet also features Iranian national team player Samad Bahrami and is somehow unique on the European scene with this signing. Besides those, the rest of the team is composed of more or less known NCAA players and some promising young guys. For Vichy, the situation is quite different as the roster is composed of four US boys and French rotation players. Despite being national team members, Issa, Gradit and Soliman won’t be the superstars that take Vichy to another level and success therefore depends a lot on the four American-born players.

The all-youth teams: Pau-Lacq-Orthez – to be correct – is attempting to rebuild its team around a very interesting core of young players this season. Ludo Vaty already knows ProA, but some youngsters like Fernando Raposo and Thomas Heurtel are ready to gain major minutes at the senior level. Hiram Fuller knows the league as well so he can teach rookies Jameson Curry and Josh Duncan how life goes in the Bearn.

The All-America teams: These teams are the most difficult to rank, as all rely greatly on their four alloted US-born players. STB Le Havre finished as high as 5th place last season with such a roster and this season looks similar as after the Americans are only prospects from the local youth program. Hyères-Toulon is a bit different, as they’re build around the comebacker Mous Sonko and veteran Vincent “Bang Bang” Massingue to guide their import players.

Of this group of teams, BCM Gravelines has aligned the most common names during the summer time. Yannick Bokolo will lead the group and Cyril Akpomedah, J.K. Edwards and Tony Stanley try to fire up the scoreboards in the traditional Sportica Arena. Chalon preferred to sign quality US guys in Brian Boddicker and Zack Wright and surrounded them with experienced Frenchmen and some younger prospects; the results in the preseason look promising so far.

SIG Strasbourg signed former Roanne sharpshooter Brion Rush and also added some players that know how ProA works. It looks all very good on paper, but now it is the team’s job to bring this to fruition. Orléans looks a bit like the “nouveau riche” squad of the league. Laurent Sciarra, Brian Greene and Adrien Moerman appear to be the most promising recruits, even if the French PG is already out with an injury in the beginning of the season.

Who?: The two teams promoted from ProB, Rouen and Besançon, could also be ranked in the All-America teams category. Still, their rosters are even more unknown to me when it comes to discussing the US players they signed than for the rest of the league. We’ll see during the season how these teams play and there may always be surprises coming from them. But it is still difficult for me to assess them at the moment.

Budgets in the French League

Money, money, money, must be funny, in a Russian world. This is the reality at the moment in the European transfer market. But when you check the numbers published by the French magazine basketnews last week about the budgets of French teams, it what is possible for these teams is coming back to earth.

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Euroleague transfer analysis: Group A

After the first transfer mania on the European market, I want to take a look at the current roster situation of the Euroleague teams. Of course, right now, you cannot tell how the teams will perform this season as the squads have not been fixed, but let’s take a first look at who did what in the market.

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The Euroleague group draw 2008

Yesterday, the Euroleague proceeded for its annual draw in Berlin. After several speeches and awards, the big moment was coming close with the draw of the current Euroleague groups. Here is my analysis of the results.

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France ProA Transfers Table 2008/2009

Euroleague Transfers - Spain Transfers (acb.com) - Germany Transfers - Turkey Transfers

FRANCE TRANSFERS

Updated: 9/10/2008 14h56CET

NB: Please note that names in bold are confirmed transfers. Others listed are rumors published by various media or online discussion forums. The Budget figures are either officially announced numbers or estimations related in the Media.

	Arrivals	Departures
Le Mans Budget: 5.63M€	J.D. Jackson (head coach) Pape Badiane (Roanne) Maleye N’Doye (Dijon) Dee Spencer (Efes Pilsen) David Bluthenthal (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Brian Chase (Besiktas) JP Batista (Lietuvos Rytas)	Nicolas Batum (Portland Trailblazers) Sam Clancy (Ural Great) Phil Ricci (?) Vincent Collet (head coach ASVEL) Luka Bogdanovic (Joventut) Raviv Limonad (Nahariya) Nebosja Bogavac (?) Yannick Bokolo (Gravelines)
SLUC Nancy Budget: 4.98M€	Steed Tchicamboud (Cholet Basket) John Cox (Le Havre) Lamayn Wilson (ASVEL) Michel Morandais (Estudiantes) Rod Benson (Dakota Wizards)	Mike Bauer (Ostende) Zabian Dowdell (Monferrato) DJ Harrison (Fribourg) Pape Philippe Amagou (?)
ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne Budget: 4.97€M	Ben Dewar (Orléans) Ali Traoré (Le Havre) Eric Campbell (Hapoel Holon) Gabe Muoneke (Saba) JR Reynolds (Soresina) Vincent Collet (head coach Le Mans) Amara Sy (AEK Athens)	Uche Nwonsu (Mariupol) Edwin Jackson (loan to Nanterre) Yohann Sangaré (AJ Milano) Lamayn Wilson (SLUC Nancy) Marko Cakarevic (Nanterre?) Robert Conley (Maccabi Rishon) Nouha Diakité (Rouen)
Chorale de Roanne Budget: 4.32M€	Aaron Harper Etienne Brower (Massachusetts) Samba Dia (Chalons-en-Champagne) Marcellus Sommerville (Le Havre) Taj Gray (Paris-Levallois) Chris Monroe (Napoli) Brice Nengsu (Angelo State)	Marc Salyers (Fenerbahce, Dynamo Moscow,?) Pape Badiane (Le Mans) William Soliman (Vichy) Adam Hess (Artland Dragons) Brion Rush (Strasbourg) Derrick Byars (?) Raphael Wilson (Saint-Vallier) Théodore Zachée (JA Vichy)
STB Le Havre Budget: 2.51M€	Bingo Merriex (Tübingen) Kentrell Gransberry (South Florida) Brian Laing (Seton Hall) Aleksandar Bojic (BK Prostejov) Jean-Manuel Sousa (head coach)	J.K. Edwards (Gravelines) Christian Monschau (head coach Gravelines) John Cox (SLUC Nancy) Ali Traoré (ASVEL) Marcellus Sommerville (Roanne) Wen Mukubu (?)
Hyères-Toulon Budget: 2.72M€	Pierre Pierce Darrel Tucker (Eiffel Towers) Mous Sonko Anthony Myles (DongGuan) Dontaye Draper (Napoli) Luc-Arthur Vebobe (CAI Zaragoza) Drew Lavender (Xavier)	Alexis Ajinca (Charlotte Bobcats) Tony Williams (?) Daniel Horton (?) Paul McPherson (?) Laurent Legname (loan to Boulogne) Kyle Milling (Fos?)
JA Vichy Budget: 2.67M€	Nicolas de Jong (Tours) William Soliman (Roanne) Amadi McKenzie (Tenesse Tech) Théodore Zachée (Roanne) Shaun Fountain (Pittsburgh Xplosion - CBA) David Teague (AEL Larissa)	Jimmal Ball (Paris-Levallois) Prosper Karangwa (Paris-Levallois) Olivier Vivies (?) Curtis Sumpter (?) Rasheed Wright (Poitiers)
Cholet Basket Budget: 4.01M€	Christophe Léonard (CFBB) Thomas Larrouquois (Limoges) Michael Lee (Saint-Bonaventure) Mickael Mokongo (Gravelines) Mohammadsamad Nikkhah (Iran) Randal Falker (Southern Illinois) Vincent Grier (Gravelines) Cedric Ferchaud (Pau-Orthez)	Maxime Chupin (Aix-Maurienne) Tony Dobbins (Orléans) Steed Tchicamboud n(SLUC Nancy) Stephane Dondon (Bourg-en-Bresse) Reggie Golson (Paderborn) Justin Doellman (Besançon) Deron Hayes (?)
EB Pau Lacq Orthez Budget: 4.25M€	Frederic Moncade (Rouen) Omar Thomas (Rimini) Hiram Fuller (Kuwait) Josh Duncan (Xavier) JamesOn Curry (Chicago Bulls) Jean-Aymé Toupane (Clermont, head coach)	Jeff Trepagnier (?) Maximiliano Stanic (Pesaro) Antonio Graves (Galatasaray) Deji Akindele (Scavolini Pesaro) Antywane Robinson (?) Shaun Fein (St-Quentin) Thierry Rupert (Chalon) Cedric Ferchaud (Cholet)
Chalon/Saône Budget: 3.94M€	Stephane Risacher (Murcia) Brian Boddicker (Valladolid) Zack Wright (Braunschweig) DeWayne Jefferson (Bosna Sarajevo) INJURED Jerome Schmitt (Gravelines) Thierry Rupert (Pau-Orthez) Darnell Harris (LaSalle) TRYOUT	John Ford (Besançon) Rolan Roberts (?) Rowan Barrett (?) Jermaine Guice (?) Darrell Mitchell (?) Bryan Bracey (?) Xavier Corosine (?)
JDA Dijon Budget: 4.67M€	Charles Lombahé-Kahudi (Evreux) Alexis Tanghe (CFBB) Zeb Cope (Orléans) John Oden (Stal Ostrow) Reggie Williams (VMI) Eric Chatfield (Darussafaka Istanbul)	Laurent Sciarra (Orléans) Terrell Everett (?) David Simon (Strasbourg) Maleye N’Doye (Le Mans) Ibrahima Koma (loan to Charleville)
SIG Strasbourg Budget: 3.6M€	Steeve Essart (Gravelines) John Allen (Braunschweig) Brion Rush (Roanne) David Simon (Dijon) Frédéric Sarre (head coach Gravelines)	Eric Girard (head coach ?) Eddie Shannon (Split) John McCord (Chester Jets?) Kevin Houston (?) Afik Nissim (Prima Veroli) Aaron Pettway (Chorale de Roanne)
EO45 Orléans Budget: 4.35M€	Adrien Moerman (Roanne-Nanterre) Laurent Sciarra (JDA Dijon) Anthony Dobbins (Cholet) Frens Johwe Casseus (CFBB) Ryvon Covile (Hapoel Elyon) Brian Greene (Cologne 99ers) Cedric Banks (Maccabi Rishon) Jeremis Smith (Georgia Tech) TRYOUT	Ben Dewar (ASVEL) Zeb Cope (Dijon) Ahmed Fellah (Besancon) Theron Smith (?) Aloysius Anagonye (?) Dustin Salisbery (Braunschweig) Brandon Heath (?)
Gravelines-Dunkerque Budget: 3.7M€	JK Edwards (Le Havre) Loïc Akono (Brest) Nick George (Alicante) Cyril Akpomedah (Paris-Levallois) Rashaun Freeman (Nantes) Yannick Bokolo (Le Mans) Dan McClintock (Oldenburg) Christian Monschau (head coach Le Havre)	Vincent Grier (Cholet) Joseph Bunn (?) Thomas Dubiez (?) Stephen Brun (Split) Mickael Mokongo (Cholet) Eric Joldersma (?) Steeve Essart (Strasbourg) Aleksandr Kostoski (?) Jerome Schmitt (?) Marcus Slaughter (Bremerhaven) Paccelis Morlende (Ural Great) Philippe Namyst (head coach Lille NF1)
SPO Rouen Budget: 2.28M€	Jonathan McClark (Aix-Maurienne) Mohamed Hachad (Saint-Etienne) Kevin Houston (Caracas) Michel Nascimento (Ludwigsburg) Nouha Diakite (ASVEL) Mickael Toti (Limoges) Dante Milligan (Massachusetts)	Frédéric Moncade (Pau) Brice Vounang (Charleville) Antoine Liorel (Quimper) Martin Le Pellec (Evreux) Boris Elisabeth-Mesnager (?)
BBCD Besançon Budget: 2.4M€	Tommy Gunn (Poitiers) Raphael Desroses (Bourg-en-Bresse) Ahmed Fellah (Orléans) John Ford (Chalon-sur-Saone) Yamar Dienne (La Palma) Justin Doellman (Cholet) Justin Hawkins (New Mexico State) Alain Thinet (head coach St-Etienne) Kenna Young (BYU) TRYOUT	Terrance Johnson (?) Adam Waleskowski (?) Ekene Ibekwe (?) Sebastien Hermenier (?) Anthony Christophe (?) Xavier Delarue (?)

Euroleague Transfers Table 2008/2009

France Transfers - Spain Transfers (acb.com) - Germany Transfers - Turkey Transfers

EUROLEAGUE TRANSFERS

Updated: 19/11/2008 22h46CET

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NB: Please note that names in bold are confirmed transfers. Others listed are rumors published by various media or online discussion forums. The Budget numbers are either official announced figures or estimations. The names in italic are those that have been updated within the last 24h.

SPAIN	Arrivals	Departures
Real Madrid	Marko Tomas (Fuenlabrada) Jeremiah Massey (Aris TT Bank) Pepe Sanchez (FC Barcelona) Quinton Hosley (Karsiyaka) Ratko Varda (Zalgiris)	Kerem Tunceri (Triumph Lyubertsy) Michalis Pelekanos (Olympiacos) Blagota Sekulic (Aris) Charles Smith (Efes Pilsen) Pablo Aguilar (Granada)
TAU Ceramica	Stanko Barac (Pamesa Valencia) Fernando San Emeterio (Girona) Ariel Eslava (Rivadavia) Guilherme Gitterer (Gandia) Mustafa Shakur (Sopot) Dusko Ivanovic (head coach)	Zoran Planinic (CSKA Moscow) Simas Jasaitis (Joventut) Neven Spahija (?) James Singleton (Dallas Mavericks)
Regal FC Barcelona	Juan Carlos Navarro (Memphis Grizzlies) David Andersen (CSKA Moscow) Lubos Barton (DKV Joventut) Victor Sada (Girona) Andre Barret (NBDL) Daniel Santiago (Unicaja)	Denis Marconato (Bruesa) Pepe Sanchez (Real Madrid) Gary Neal (Benetton Treviso) Alex Acker (Detroit Pistons) Albert Moncasi (Gran Canaria) Mario Kasun (Efes Pilsen)
Unicaja Malaga	Robert Archibald (Azovmash) Omar Cook (Crvena Zvezda) Thomas Kelati (Zgorzelec) Joseph Gomis (Valladolid) Aito Garcia Reneses (head coach Badalona)	Sergio Scarolo (head coach) Bojan Popovic (Bruesa) Melvin Sanders (Gran Canaria) Davor Kus (loaned to Cibona) Daniel Santiago (Barcelona?)
ITALY	Arrivals	Departures
Montepaschi Siena Budget: 13M€	Morris Finley (Rieti) Henry Domercant (Dynamo Moscow)	Bootsy Thornton (Efes Pilsen) Drake Diener (Avellino) Vlado Ilievski (Olimpija) Hector Romero (Udine) Luigi da Tome (Roma)
Lottomatica Roma	Sani Becirovic (Panathinaikos) Brandon Jennings (High School) Primoz Brezec (Toronto Raptors) Andre Hutson (Efes Pilsen) Angelo Gigli (Benetton) Luigi da Tome (Montepaschi)	David Hawkins (AJ Milano) Erazem Lorbek (CSKA Moscow) Roko Leni-Ukic (Toronto Raptors)
AJ Milano	Pier Luigi Bucchi (head coach) Mason Rocca (Eldo Napoli) Luca Vitali (Montegranaro) Jobey Thomas (Montegranaro) Yohann Sangaré (ASVEL) Ariel Filloy (Rimini) Marco Mordente (Benetton) Sam van Rossum (Ostende) Massimo Bulleri (Virtus Bologna) Pape Sow (Prokom Trefl) Mike Hall (Pesaro) David Hawkins (Roma) Joey Beard (Veroli)	Sam van Rossum (loan to Pesaro) Pietro Aradori (Biella) Danilo Gallinari (New York Knicks) Travis Watson (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Air Avellino	Zare Markovski (head coach) Daniele Cinciarini (Biella) Chris Warren (Cibona Zagreb) Tamar Slay (Capo d’Orlando) Marko Tusek (Unics Kazan) Dan Dickau (LA Clippers) Antonio Porta (Spartak St. Petersbourg) Travis Best (Virtus Bologna) Drake Diener (Montepaschi) Mike Nardi (Napoli)	Devin Smith (Fenerbahce) Marques Green (Fenerbahce) Daniel Cavaliero (Montegranaro)
GREECE	Arrivals	Departures
Panathinaikos Budget: 25M€	Nikola Pekovic (Partizan) Antonis Fotsis (Dynamo Moscow) Dimitris Verginis (PAOK) Drew Nicholas (Efes Pilsen) Dusan Kecman (Partizan)	Sani Becirovic (Roma) Andrija Zizic (Galatasaray) Kennedy Winston (Pamesa?) Nikola Prkacin (Cibona) Dejan Tomasevic (PAOK) Dimos Dikoudis (Pamesa Valencia)
Olympiacos	Michalis Pelekanos (Real Madrid) Nikola Vujcic (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Zoran Erceg (FMP) Theodoros Papaloukas (CSKA Moscow) Yotam Halperin (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Igor Milosevic (Crvena Zvzda) Josh Childress (Atlanta Hawks) Kosta Sloukas (Mantoulidis)	Qyntel Woods (Fortitudo Bologna) Roderick Blackney (Turk Telekom) Loukas Mavrokefalidis (Maroussi) Renaldas Seibutis (Bilbao) Kosta Vasiliadis (PAOK) Jake Tsakalidis (Phoenix?) Panagiotis Kafkis (?) Arvydas Macijauskas (?)
Panionios	Alexander Trifunovic (head coach Lietuvos Rytas) Goran Nikolic (ALBA Berlin) Branko Cvetkovic (Girona) Miroslav Raicevic (Crvena Zvezda) Aaron Miles (Cajasol) Makis Dreliozis (Gkiziakos)	Vladimir Jankovic (loanded to Mega Aqua) Adanas Kavaliauskas (Kavala) Nenad Markovic (?)
FRANCE	Arrivals	Departures
Le Mans-Sarthe Budget: 5.63M€	J.D. Jackson (head coach) Maleye N’Doye (Dijon) Pape Badiane (Roanne) Dee Spencer (Efes Pilsen) David Bluthenthal (Maccabi) Brian Chase (Besiktas) JP Batista (Lietuvos Rytas)	Nicolas Batum (Portland) Sam Clancy (?) Phil Ricci (Naharia?) Vincent Collet (head coach ASVEL) Luka Bogdanovic (Joventut) Raviv Limonad (Irony Naharia) Nebosja Bogavac (?)
SLUC Nancy Budget: 4.98M€	Steed Tchicamboud (Cholet Basket) John Cox (Le Havre) Lamayn Wilson (ASVEL) Michel Morandais (Estudiantes) Rod Benson (Dakota Wizards)	Zabian Dowdell (Monferrato) DJ Harrison (?) Mike Bauer (Ostende) Pape Philippe Amagou (Kavala)
TURKEY	Arrivals	Departures
Efes Pilsen	Milos Vujanic (Dynamo Moscow) Sinan Guler (Besiktas) Charles Smith (Real Madrid) Ergin Ataman (head coach) Bootsy Thornton (Montepaschi) Kaya Peker (Besiktas) Engin Atsür (Benetton) Michalis Kakiouzis (Sevilla) Preston Shumpert (Besiktas) Mario Kasun (Barcelona) Dwayne Jones (Orlando Magic)	Serkan Erdogan (Turk Telekom) Ermal Kuqo (Pamesa Valencia) Drew Nicholas (Panathinaikos) Dee Spencer (Le Mans) David Blatt (Dynamo Moscow) Rashad Wright (ALBA Berlin) Scoonie Penn (BC Kiyv) Andre Hutson (Roma) Kenny Gregory (PAOK)
Fenerbahce Ülker	Devin Smith (Air Avellino) Marques Green (Air Avellino) Gordan Giricek (Phoenix Suns)	Will Solomon (Toronto Raptors) James White (?) Tarence Kinsey (Cleveland Cavaliers)
LITHUANIA	Arrivals	Departures
Zalgiris Kaunas Budget: 6M€	Willie Deane (Lukoil Academik) Loren Woods (Houston Rockets) Tadas Klimavicius (AEL Larisa) Ratko Varda (Menorca) Tomas Masiulis (Prokom Sopot) Ronalds Alijevas (CSK VVS) Tryout	DeJuan Collins (Lokomotiv Rostov) Goran Jurak (Biella) Mamadou N’Diaye (?) Marko Popovic (Unics Kazan) Vladimir Stimac (Crvena Zvezda) Donatas Motiejunas (Aisciai-Atletas) Damir Markota (Vive Menorca) Marcus Brown (Maccabi Tel Aviv) Ratko Varda (Real Madrid) Loren Woods (?)
RUSSIA	Arrivals	Departures
CSKA Moscow	Victor Keyru (Unics Kazan) Sasha Kaun (Kansas-NCAA) Terence Morris (Maccabi) Zoran Planinic (TAU) Erazem Lorbek (Roma)	Theodoros Papaloukas (Olympiakos) David Anderson (FC Barcelona) Thomas van den Spiegel (Azovmash) Marcus Goree (Triumph Lyubertsy) Anatoly Kashirov (loan to Spartak)
SLOVENIA	Arrivals	Departures
Olimpija Ljubljana Budget: 4M€	Damjan Rudez (KK Split) Jaka Klobucar (Geoplin Slovan) Vladimir Golubovic (Vojvodina) Vlado Ilievski (Montepaschi) Jonathan Wallace (Georgetown) JaJuan Smith (Cleveland) Frank Robinson (Cal. State Fullerton) Ivica Jurkovic	Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns) Hasan Rizvic (BC Kiyv) Ronnie Taylor (AEL) Chris Booker (?) Sasa Doncic (?) Jan Mocnik (?) Maurice Bailey (Spartak Primorie)
POLAND	Arrivals	Departures
Asseco Prokom Sopot	Piotr Szczotka (Slupsk) David Logan (Zgorzelec) Ronald Burrell (Telekom Baskets Bonn) Koko Archibong (Frankfurt) Aleksej Nesovic (Olimpias) Daniel Ewing (Khimky) Pat Burke (Khimky)	Simonas Serapinas (Azovmash) Milan Gurovic (Galatasaray) Pape Sow (AJ Milano) Christos Harissis (PAOK) Jovo Stanojevic (Besiktas) Mustafa Shakur (TAU Ceramica) Donatas Slanina (?) Tomas Masiulis (Zalgiris)
CROATIA	Arrivals	Departures
Cibona Zagreb	Robert Troha (Helios Domzale) Velimir Perasovic (head coach) Branimir Longin (Oldenburg) Nikola Prkacin (Panathinaikos) Earl Calloway (Fort Wayne) Damir Markota (Zalgiris) Davor Kus (loaned from Unicaja) Rawle Marshall (Hemofarm) Jared Homan (Slask)	Ivan Sunara (head coach Krka ?) Chris Warren (Air Avellino) Sam Hoskin (China)
ISRAEL	Arrivals	Departures
Maccabi Tel Aviv Budget: 17-18M$	Jason Williams (Bnei Hasharon) Dror Hagag (Hapoel Jerusalem) Yaniv Green (Samara) Effi Birenboim (head coach) Tre Simmons (Hapoel Holon) Rodney White (Arecibo) D’Or Fischer (Bree) Carlos Arroyo (Orlando Magic) Marcus Brown (Zalgiris)	Nikola Vujcic (Olympiakos) Terrence Morris (CSKA) Yotam Halperin (Olympiakos) Will Bynum (Virtus, Detroit Pistons) Vonteego Cummings (Estudiantes) Zvi Sherf (?) David Bluthenthal (Le Mans) Alex Garcia (Bruesa) Marcus Fizer (?)
SERBIA	Arrivals	Departures
Partizan Belgrade	Jan Vesely (Geoplin Slovan) Luka Basta (Beovuk) Aleksandar Rasic (ALBA) Vukasin Aleksic (Takovo) Žarko Rakočević (Buducnost) Joao Soares (Portugal) Stephane Lasme (Miami Heat)	Nikola Pekovic (Panathinaikos) Milt Palacio (Khimky) Dusan Kecman (Panathinaikos) Dejan Borovnjak (Vojvodina)
GERMANY	Arrivals	Departures
ALBA Berlin Budget: 7.5M€	Adam Chubb (Artland Dragons) Steffen Hamann (Brose Baskets) Rashad Wright (Efes Pilsen) Ansu Sesay (AJ Milano) Casey Jacobsen (Memphis Grizzlies) Dragisa Drobnjak (Krka)	Goran Nikolic (Panionios) Phillipp Heyden (Ludwigsburg) Dijon Thompson (Azovmash) Aleksandar Rasic (Partizan) Mladen Pantic (?) Goran Jeretin (BC Kiev) Bobby Brown (Sacramento Kings) Nico Simon (Ehingen)
ULEB CUP WINNER	Arrivals	Departures
DKV Joventut	Sito Alonso (head coach) Luka Bogdanovic (Le Mans) Simas Jasaitis (TAU) Henk Norel (return from loan: Alicante) Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Benetton) Bracey Wright (Aris)	Rudy Fernandez (Portland Trailblazers) Jerome Moiso (Khimky) Lubos Barton (Barcelona) Dmitry Flis (Lleida)Aito Garcia Reneses (Spain NT)