JEREMY LIN & VASSILIS SPANOULIS HAVE SIMILAR GAMES - BUT LIN GOT HIS CHANCE TO DO HIS THING AT THE TOP OF THE KEY

JEREMY LIN IN PERFECT SYSTEM TO ATTACK RIM - SPANOULIS WASTED IN HOUSTON

The Jeremy Lin story has been a great thing to watch, of an underdog kid from Havard University finally getting his shot to show what he could do with the ball from the point-guard spot in the NBA. After being let go by the Warriors and the Rockets, Lin got his chance in New York, and the internet and sports talk radio has been Jeremy Lin all day long, and many sports talk shows have interviewed former NBA players, along with NBA coaches to get their opinion on how so many teams missed on Jeremy Lin.

Mad Dog Radio and Murray in the middle show interviewed former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, to get his thoughts on how so many scouts and NBA coaches missed on this true point-guard and it got EUROJOHNBBALL to think about some guys who never really get a shot to show their stuff in the NBA. Jeff Van Gundy is the same coach that had European and Greek star guard Vassilis Spanoulis during the 2006-07 season, and used him as though he was just a spot-up Kyle Korver type of 3 point shooter, who stood in the corners while Tracy McGrady and Rafer Alston pounded the ball at the top of the key, as the main ball handlers. Jeff Van Gundy and Spanoulis got into it about playing time, and how he was used, and at times, Luther Head, along with John Lucas Jr., were ahead of Spanoulis in the rotation.

Spanoulis returned to Greece, and won a Euroleague title with Panathinaikos, and was named MVP of the Final Four, as he got his chance to share the top of the key with Dimitris Diamantidis, as he did with the Greek national team at the 2006 World championship, in their upset win over Lebron James, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and coach K, when Spanoulis led Greece with 22 points. Spanouils and Jeremy Lin have similar games, as they are both smart players, who love running the pick and roll, and though both can hit the open jumpers, they love to turn the corners to attack the rim for layups. Both Lin and Spanoulis were behind other players, and in the back of their minds, they were thinking, if they just get a shot at the top of the key with the ball, they could show the coach and the NBA their skill level.

Fans in Europe, and NBA announcers Doug Collins, along with Mike Breen, already knew the stuff Spanoulis could do with the ball, but Jeff Van Gundy never gave him his shot to be the man on pick and roll plays. Jeremy Lin got his shot with his coach in New York, and he has not looked back, with amazing numbers in his first 7 games as the point-guard, and if Vassilis Spanoulis played for another coach, who used him in the proper way, more basketball fans in the NBA would know his name, just like the European basketball fans do.

One of my European scout friends talked to a scout from the NBA at the Euroleague Final Four. The Knicks own the NBA draft rights to Georgios Printezis. Printezis hit the game winning shot to clinch the Euroleague championship.

The European scout said that they talked about both Spanoulis and Printezis and said that NBA teams definitely have interest, especially in Spanoulis. This is what was said,

NBA scout:

On Georgios Printezis:

"After how he played at the final four and hitting that game winning shot, it was really great to see how well he played. He's a free agent, but he would like to sign a long term extension with Olympiacos. But he would also like to take a shot at playing in the NBA.

On Vassilis Spanoulis:

He's a very impressive player. His basketball IQ is extremely high and the way he runs his team as a point guard is really impressive. The way he plays in big games and big moments was quite impressive. He was so calm and so composed out there. He's incredibly clutch and a terrific decision maker. There is no doubt in my mind that he can really help a lot of NBA teams.

Spanoulis to Printezis, to win the Euroleague 2012 championship:

Vassilis Spanoulis 2012 Euroleague Final Four MVP:

Vassilis Spanoulis has joined a select group of players to be chosen as Final Four MVPs multiple times!

Spanoulis became just the 4th player in Euroleague history to win more than one Final Four MVP, the most prestigious award in European club basketball.

Toni Kukoc - 3x (1990, 1991, 1993)

Dejan Bodiroga - 2x (2002, 2003)

Dimitris Diamantidis - 2x (2007, 2011)

Vassilis Spanoulis - 2x (2009, 2012)

Vassilis Spanoulis was named to the All-Euroleague First Team and finished second in the MVP voting.

2011-12 All-Euroleague First Team:

Vassilis Spanoulis

Dimitris Diamantidis

Andrei Kirilenko

Erazem Lorbek (will supposedly play with the Spurs next year)

Nenad Krstic

2011-12 All-Euroleague Second Team:

Bo McCalebb

Juan Carlos Navarro

Henry Domercant

Milos Teodosic

Mike Batiste

2011-12 Euroleague MVP Voting Results:

1. Andrei Kirilenko

2. Vassilis Spanoulis

3. Erazem Lorbek (will supposedly play with the Spurs next year)

4. Dimitris Diamantidis

5. Nenad Krstic

Ricky Rubio's Euroleague stats:

31.0 Field Goal %

22.4 Three Point Field Goal %

83.6 Free Throw %

6.5 Points Per Game

3.5 Assists Per Game

3.2 Rebounds Per Game

1.6 Steals Per Game

Vassilis Spanoulis' Euroleague stats:

54.2 Field Goal %

44.1 Three Point Field Goal %

88.1 Free Throw %

19.8 Points Per Game

4.9 Assists Per Game

1.8 Rebounds Per Game

0.7 Steals Per Game

That is how incredibly easy the NBA is for Euroleague point guards. Ty Lawson, Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings have all seen ENORMOUS LEAPS in their stats when they went from the Euroleague to the NBA, because the defense against point guards in the Euroleague is VASTLY SUPERIOR, as compared to the NBA.

There isn't a no-hand check rule in Euroleague. There is no defensive 3 second rule in Euroleague. There is a true zone defense allowed in Euroleague (unlike the fake zone of the NBA), refs allow more contact in Euroleague, unlike in NBA, where if you barely touch a PG, he gets a foul..........

The court in the NBA is bigger, and there is more spacing between the defenders and the 3 point line, and the picks are set higher because of this, giving the point guards more room to get to wherever they want to with their dribble. In short, the NBA is child's play for any PG compared to the Euroleague, where the game is IMMENSELY more difficult for point guards. That is why Lawson, Jennings, Rubio have seen HUGE increases in their production in the NBA, as opposed to their big time struggling in the Euroleague.

Now look at Spanoulis' numbers. He ALREADY has super production in the Euroleague, and since Lawson, Rubio, Jennings had huge increases in their stats in going to the zero defense NBA, Spanoulis could have out of this world stats in the NBA.

Just remember that Jennings, Rubio, and THIS YEAR'S Ty Lawson, in THIS SEASON'S Ty Lawson, were all scrubs at the Euroleague level, while Spanoulis was considered the best player in Europe, at the same time they all played there. Spanoulis is way better than Bibbly, Douglas, Davis, Lin.

Spanoulis is the championship starting point guard that the Knicks are looking for.

Here are clips from two games during this current season of Greek point guard Vassilis Spanoulis. Spanoulis plays with the Euroleague club Olympiacos Piraeus. Spanoulis is also the future starting point guard of the NBA club, the New York Knicks.

29 points (18 in the 4th quarter) and 6 assists in the Euroleague, against the Spanish League/Euroleague club Bilbao Basket:

Vasilis Spanoulis against Bilbao Baskets 29 points, 6 assists (via theweakside)

29 points (including the game-winning 3 pointer) and 5 assists in the Greek League, against the Greek League/Eurocup club Aris:

Vasilis Spanoulis 29 points against Aris (via RedHoopsTV)

The New York Knicks have ordered game tapes of the 2011-12 Euroleague's leading scorer, Olympiacos guard, Vassilis Spanoulis. The word is that the New York Knicks are extremely interested in acquiring Vassilis Spanoulis and consider him to be a better defense playing, prime version of Steve Nash.

The New York Knicks are said to be going after Vassilis Spanoulis, if they cannot acquire Chris Paul.

Euroleague 2011-12 leading scorers:

1. Spanoulis, Vassilis

http://nba.sport24.gr/article/858443/spanoulis-mpasket-logw-bulls

http://www.redplanet.gr/basket/spanoulhs-mpasket-logw-bulls.859355.html


Spanoulis: "Basketball, Because Of The Chicago Bulls"


Nikos Papaioannou

Posted: Thursday, May 11, 2011 02:02
Updated: Thursday, May 11, 2011 04:57


"I started to love basketball because of the Chicago Bulls", admits Vassilis Spanoulis, who spoke to the official Greek language version of the NBA website about the Houston Rockets, the best European players that have played in the NBA, and the NBA Coach of the Year, Tom Thibodeau.

Vassilis Spanoulis went to play in the NBA for one season to fulfill what had been a big dream of his. "Kill Bill" spent the 2006-07 season wearing the jersey of the Houston Rockets. The Olympiacos point guard spoke exclusively to the official Greek language website of the NBA - http://nba.sport24.gr/ - about his beloved childhood NBA team, the all-time best European players that have played in the NBA, and also about the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Tom Thibodeau, for whom he played under, while on the Rockets.



Spanoulis first discovered the magical world of the NBA at the age of 10, thanks to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. As he says, his love for the Bulls is what began his passion for basketball:

"I grew up during the time of the 90's Chicago Bulls, following them from when I was 10 years old. Following Jordan and his team. We are all lucky to have been able to see the best of all time. My love for basketball became even stronger because of watching that team."

He admits that signing a contract with the Houston Rockets gave shape to his NBA dream. He had good and bad times in Houston, where despite the promises that were made to him by the front office managers of the Rockets, he had little playing time. Spanoulis also talks about the distinguished assistant coach of Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau.

Thibodeau, the current head coach of the Bulls, was crowned the NBA Coach of the Year a few days ago. In Houston, he was the assistant to head coach Jeff Van Gundy, and Spanoulis said that he was the one that did the bulk of the coaching work on the team:

"It was Thibodeau who did most of the coaching on our team. He was a great defensive coach at the practices. He had very good ideas, discipline, and was very good during the training. One of the assistant coaches said that, wherever he goes, he will end up being great someday. I will follow his head coaching career that has begun so beautifully for him, and I think he will continue to be a very good coach."

Spanoulis, in his career with the Rockets, averaged 2.8 points and 0.9 assists per game [including the playoffs]. Since then, he has spent the last four seasons in Greece, playing the last several months with Olympiacos. He still however monitors what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic, and in particular, this year's NBA playoffs, for which he said:

"There is not any big favorite, like in other years. Several teams could make it to the Finals. We saw two big surprises with both San Antonio and Orlando going out in the first round. And in the second round, we have already seen Memphis win in Oklahoma City and Dallas win in Los Angeles. Anyone can beat anyone. Generally, the games are unpredictable, so interest in them is high.

He also believes, that at the current time, the five best players in the NBA are: Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Garnett. Very close to the level of those players are two Europeans, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol. Spanoulis feels that the Spanish and German are perhaps the best European players of all-time, that have played in the NBA:

"Next to Howard and Garnett, you could put Nowitzki and Gasol. It is a question that many ask, Gasol or Nowitzki? They are both huge players. Two of the best European players of all-time that have gone to play in the NBA, if not the best. Certainly, in the past, there have been others that we cannot forget. Such as, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Dino Radja, and the unforgettable Drazen Petrovic. They were also huge players, but certainly, those two (Nowitzki, Gasol), are probably the best."


Watch the NBA Greece video clip, with Spanoulis' comments, at dailymotion.com:

Το NBA μιλάει Ελληνικά by NBA_Hellas

2010-11 All-Euroleague Nominees


Sofoklis Schortsanitis
Maccabi Electra

Led league in per-minute scoring (0.63 ppm.)… Averaged career-high 12.3 points per game… Drew second-most fouls in the league (97)… Performance Index rating of 38 in regular season finale was third-best in the Euroleague this season… Maccabi’s record was 9-2 when he scored in double figures.

All-Euroleague Nominees (via Euroleague)

The All-Euroleague First and Second Teams will be announced on May 7th.

Vassilis Spanoulis (possible future starting point guard of the New York Knicks) finished the Euroleague season as the highest rated point guard in the league with a rating of 14.3. This was first among all point guards and 4th overall in the league.

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague (first among point guards) in ranking:

Euroleague Ranking Leaders

He finished the season 2nd in the Euroleague in scoring:

Euroleague Scoring Leaders

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague in assists:

Euroleague Assists Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in fouls drawn:

Euroleague Fouls Drawn Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in free throws made:

Euroleague Free Throws Made Leaders

Here is a recent youtube clip of Vassilis Spanoulis, showing clips from the first games of this season (this is just from the very start of the year):

Vassilis Spanoulis --- first months with OLYMPIAKOS (via spaspakos)

Vassilis Spanoulis (possible future starting point guard of the Miami Heat) finished the Euroleague season as the highest rated point guard in the league with a rating of 14.3. This was first among all point guards and 4th overall in the league.

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague (first among point guards) in ranking:

Euroleague Ranking Leaders

He finished the season 2nd in the Euroleague in scoring:

Euroleague Scoring Leaders

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague in assists:

Euroleague Assists Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in fouls drawn:

Euroleague Fouls Drawn Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in free throws made:

Euroleague Free Throws Made Leaders

Here is a recent youtube clip of Vassilis Spanoulis, showing clips from the first games of this season (this is just from the very start of the year):

Vassilis Spanoulis --- first months with OLYMPIAKOS (via spaspakos)

Vassilis Spanoulis (possible future starting point guard of the New York Knicks) finished the Euroleague season as the highest rated point guard in the league with a rating of 14.3. This was first among all point guards and 4th overall in the league.

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague (first among point guards) in ranking:

Euroleague Ranking Leaders

He finished the season 2nd in the Euroleague in scoring:

Euroleague Scoring Leaders

He finished the season 4th in the Euroleague in assists:

Euroleague Assists Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in fouls drawn:

Euroleague Fouls Drawn Leaders

He finished the season 1st in the Euroleague in free throws made:

Euroleague Free Throws Made Leaders

Here is a recent youtube clip of Vassilis Spanoulis, showing clips from the first games of this season (this is just from the very start of the year):

Vassilis Spanoulis --- first months with OLYMPIAKOS (via spaspakos)

Just so you know here, the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have both been talking to the reps of Vassilis Spanoulis about signing the point guard next season. The Lakers want him to replace the aging Derek Fisher and the Heat would like him to replace Carlos Arroyo. Spanoulis is a former FIBA EuroBasket champion with the Greek national team and a former Greek League champion, Greek League MVP, Euroleague champion and Euroleague MVP in club play.

Vassilis Spanoulis Olympiacos B.C. 2010-11 Part 1 (via blacklab72653)

Just so you know here, the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have both been talking to the reps of Vassilis Spanoulis about signing the point guard next season. The Lakers want him to replace the aging Derek Fisher and the Heat would like him to replace Carlos Arroyo. Spanoulis is a former FIBA EuroBasket champion with the Greek national team and a former Greek League champion, Greek League MVP, Euroleague champion and Euroleague MVP in club play.

Vassilis Spanoulis Olympiacos B.C. 2010-11 Part 1 (via blacklab72653)

The Knicks scout was recently at 2 of his games scouting him. The Heat scout has also been at some of his recent games scouting him. He is by far and away the closest thing to Steve Nash that there is. He is the perfect point guard for Mike D'antoni's offensive system.

He will make Amare the same player he was in Phoenix with the Suns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbwbDfXoxsc

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AqfQ_TS4ef_qwBMUsJvOFN68vLYF?slug=ap-besiktas-iverson

Iverson scores 2 points in Turkish league debut

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Nov 21, 11:51 am EST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)—Allen Iverson  scored two points in his Turkish league debut for Besiktas Cola Turka in a 74-67 defeat to defending champion Fenerbahce Ulker on Sunday.

Iverson missed three shots in the first quarter and was taken off with less than a minute left. He returned at the beginning of the second half, but did not score until late in the third. He then returned to the bench for the rest of the game.

Besiktas trailed 40-35 at half time and rallied to tie the score 53-all going into the fourth quarter, but Fenerbahce regained control to maintain its perfect league record.

It was Besiktas’ second loss in a week after a 94-91 defeat to Hemofarm Stada in the European Cup on Tuesday, when Iverson scored 15 points on his debut with the team.

Box Score:

http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Turkey/2010/1121_1035_327.asp

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AqfQ_TS4ef_qwBMUsJvOFN68vLYF?slug=ap-besiktas-iverson

Iverson scores 2 points in Turkish league debut

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Nov 21, 11:51 am EST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)—Allen Iverson  scored two points in his Turkish league debut for Besiktas Cola Turka in a 74-67 defeat to defending champion Fenerbahce Ulker on Sunday.

Iverson missed three shots in the first quarter and was taken off with less than a minute left. He returned at the beginning of the second half, but did not score until late in the third. He then returned to the bench for the rest of the game.

Besiktas trailed 40-35 at half time and rallied to tie the score 53-all going into the fourth quarter, but Fenerbahce regained control to maintain its perfect league record.

It was Besiktas’ second loss in a week after a 94-91 defeat to Hemofarm Stada in the European Cup on Tuesday, when Iverson scored 15 points on his debut with the team.

Box Score:

http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Turkey/2010/1121_1035_327.asp

Big mistake by the Clippers not to sign Big Sofo.

So far in the Euroleague with Maccabi as the team's staring center (the first time in his career that he is a starting center in the Euroleague) he is playing 22 minutes per game (with greatly improved stamina), he is shooting 74% from the free throw line (where he has greatly improved) and he is averaging 14 points and 6 rebounds per game (he has also greatly improved his rebounding).

His index ranking is 15.3, which is very good for Euroleague, especially for the amount of minutes he is playing and the club he is playing on.

Big Sofo told reporters that he was really pissed off at the Clippers not signing him and telling him he had no stamina, was a liability at the free throw line, did not rebound, etc. He has been working really hard on all those areas and has greatly improved in all of them.

he has said again that he will play in the NBA and that if the Clippers will not sign him he will demand a trade to another NBA team.

Basketball turned into basket-brawl at the Arcopolis-Eurobank Tournament in Athens.

The final game of the tournament, between Serbia and Greece, came to an early end Thursday at the Athens Olympic Arena when an ugly, bench-clearing brawl broke out.

Players from both sides exchanged punches and kick before a handful of spectators joined the fray. Videos of the scrap show chairs being thrown.

Greece was up 74-73 in the second half when the brawl broke out. Officials decided to end the game rather than have the fight flare up again.

The brawl started when Greek forward Antonis Fotsis took offence to a hard foul by Serb guard Milos Teodosic. Serbia's Nenad Krstic, who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder, intervened and grabbed Fotsis by the throat.

Krstic then threw a chair at Greek centre Sofoklis Schortanitis and hit Yannis Bouroussis.

When the players moved into toward the locker rooms, they fought in the tunnel under the stands.

Trouble started six minutes after Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic was ejected after picking up his second technical foul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwsIp_yCrnc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaB1NCAWoVU

http://www.zougla.gr/page.ashx?pid=2&aid=165800&cid=10

http://www.sport.gr/default.asp?pid=69&vid=31385

He has the contract he wants on the table from Olympiacos and he and his agent will now force the Blazers to release him. The contract is 3 years at €7.2 million euros net income (after taxes) with his agent's fees paid for by the club. It is = to a 3 year $17.6 million gross NBA contract with the current exchange rates.

This is according to various rumors going through the agent's circles in Europe.

Just so you guys know, Sofoklis "Big Sofo" Schortsanitis just scored 24 points in 16 minutes played against the NBA player Joel Anthony. It should also be pointed out that Sofo played the game with an injured shooting hand as well. I thought that you guys would be interested to know that, since the overwhelming opinion here on this forum seems to be that he "is not an NBA level player", "is not NBA material", " is not good enough to play in the NBA", etc., etc.

BTW, yes, Greece's point guards actually passed the ball to him, unlike what happened at the NBA Summer League. You guys should really thank Del Negro. The guy is a genius at player evaluations. Either that or he based his decision on what "expert" fans write on forums.

Just to update the fans here, Sofoklis Schortsanitis "Big Sofo" has officially signed a 2 year contract  with the Israeli Euroleague club Maccabi Tel-Aviv. So that puts and end to that whole strange saga. He signed a two year contract and he said that he will not be considering the NBA again until that contract is over.

Anyway, Maccabi is one of the bigger clubs in the Euroleague and this time he will be the starting center, or at least he was signed to be the starting center. That is a move up for him in his career because he was always a backup or third string player in Olympiacos. For the first time in his career he will be a starter in a fairly big (not elite though) Euroleague club. That is IF he keeps that job. He was signed to be their starter but he does not have any guarantees of keeping that spot if he does not perform well.

Anyway, next year for the first time we will be able to see if he can handle being a starter on a decent level Euroleague team.

He will earn €600,000 euros net income per season, plus his agent's fees paid for by the club.

If you want to know the NBA equivalent (gross income and no agent fees paid) it is about $1.5 million per season as the NBA pays.

So basically, he signed for what in the NBA is a 2 year $3 million contract.

Reported in Greece media............

Sofoklis Schortsanitis signed a 3 year $10.5 million contract with the Greek League club Panathinaikos Athens. According to the reports, the Los Angeles Clipeprs first offered Sofo a 3 year $3 million contract and he turned it down because it was not enough money.

They then offered him a 3 year $6 million contract. He told them about how much he was being offered in Greece and that he would need more money from them. The Clippers told him he had "to wait until NBA free agency was over and the Clippers knew how much money they wanted to spend on him."

Schortsanitis told the Clippers that Panathinaikos was going to rescind their offer withing a week and he could no longer wait for them anymore. So he signed with Panathinaikos.

BTW........Schortsanitis said that he did not like the NBA Summer League play because his teammates refused to pass him the ball and refused to do anything other than play a glorified pickup game. He said if he knew his "tryout" with the Clippers was going to be such a joke he would have never wasted his time on it.

According to this report in Greek media Sofoklis Schortsanitis is looking at a contract offer from the Los Clippers with the offer being a wage of about $1 million gross annually per season. That is not enough money and unless the Los Angeles Clippers offer a contract that pays him more money than that he will continue his career somewhere in Europe (where he can make far more than $1 million gross per season).

He is waiting on receiving the Clippers' final proposal so he can make his decision from there.

http://sport24.gr/html/ent/985/ent.375985.asp

I see that in every US basketball forum and site, it is being said that Panathinaikos never contacted Rudy and never made any offers. First, that's a lie and people are making that up. They story I posted clearly confirmed they have talked with him and some idiots are lying that did it not.

Secondly..........since it seems everyone in the US thinks this is all a lie, the coach of the Spanish national team gave an interview where he said that Rudy told him on the phone when asked about this that he will play in Europe next year.

http://sport24.gr/html/ent/589/ent.375589.asp

I find it really funny reading comments on realgm.com from people using "google translator" saying things like "it says they never even talked, this story is fake".  Yeah sure, Rudy and now his national team coach both personally talking about it in one of the biggest papers in Greece and it's all "made up".

As I told you guys in this thread:

http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/7/14/1570054/panathinikos-3-years-18-3-million

When Panathianikos wants a player they get him. Rudy Fernandez just personally confirmed to one of the largest papers in Greece in an interview that he is in talks with Panathinaikos Athens and that he hopes to be join the club soon. Basically, he's saying that within a very short time he expects the transfer to be officially completed.

So basically, he should be signing with Panathinaikos any day now.

http://www.gazzetta.gr/basket/a1/item/93140

The Greek League club Panathinaikos Athens is desperate to make a "big free agent" signing this summer after they lost their franchise player Vassilis Spanoulis to their hated arch rivals Olympiacos Piraeus. So they are going hard after Rudy Fernandez. They offered him a 3 year $18.3 million contract.

They would also pay the remaining salary left on his contract to the Portland Trail Blazers in order to get him released from the club.

The Houston Rockets are said to be trying to work out a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves to get the draft rights to their 2008 second round draft pick, the Montenegrin center Nikola Pekovic (6-11 265) who is currently with the Greek League club Panathinaikos Athens. His asking price is 3 years $21 million and the Houston Rockets are said to be willing to pay that much to acquire his services.

http://www.sentragoal.gr/article.asp?catid=10601&subid=2&pubid=18714659

The Rockets are said to have the inside track on acquiring Pekovic because so far the Wolves have only offered him 3 years and $15 million, which does not meet his salary demands.

http://prasinanea.gr/basket/article385975.ece

http://basketblog.gr/pages/ViewContent.aspx?l=1&e=c&p=3&c=140&m=1

Panathinaikos Athens is negotiating with him and trying to extend his contract. He has up until July 15th to opt out of his contract. The Rockets and Wolves might be working on a trade according to US sources. David Khan would make no comment on the matter when asked other than "we don't know what we are going to do with Pekovic".

BTW, even though the name of that site has the word "blog" in it, it is NOT a blog. It's the biggest sports jounralist site on basketball in Greece and is from sports reporters. It's a news site and not a blog. They just took the site name when they bought it off the original owner. But it is NOT a blog. If you will skim through the site you will see that and also that the articles are written by sports journalists.

So it's more like an equivalent of an ESPN like site, and is NOT a blog.

Rockets And Wolves Working On Trade For Nikola Pekovic

It was reported in Europe that the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Wolves are working on a trade for Nikola Pekovic. It would most likely be a draft day trade. If Rockets fans don't know Pekovic, he was the 31st pick in the 2008 NBA draft. He is a 6-11 265 center and he currently plays with the Greek League club Panathinaikos Athens.

Pekovic wants to come to the NBA next season and the Wolves offer of $9 million over 3 years isn't enough money for him so they are discussing a trade with the Rockets, who would be willing to pay him what he wants, which is the MLE.

http://www.talkbasket.net/news/spanoulis-to-nba-if-not-then-its-real-madrid-3053.html


Spanoulis to NBA, if not then it's Real Madrid

Vassilis Spanoulis might not be staying in Panathinaikos next season. According to various reports, the Greek guard's priority is to go back to the NBA next season. In case that plan doesn't go the way he hopes, Spanoulis has another option which is to move to Spain to join Real Madrid.