Lega A 2010-2011

[rikhardur]

PF Andrea Renzi leaves Benetton Treviso and will sign for Montegranaro.

[boyd20]

AVELLINO - Signed Omar Thomas (SF with Slovenian passport, LegaDue mvp), Marques Green (PG with Bulgarian passport), confirmed Szymon Szewczyk, Dimitri Lauwers and is close to confirm Chevon Troutman.

MILANO - Morris Finley (maybe with an Albanian passport), Marco Mordente, Jonas Maciulis, Stefano Mancinelli, Marijonas Petravicius, Mason Rocca will all stay. They're interested in PG Giuseppe Poeta (Teramo) and agreed terms with F Niccolò Melli (Reggio Emilia), hottest Italian prospect.

BIELLA - Confirmed veterans SF Matteo Soragna and PF Luca Garri.

TERAMO - Confirmed Drake Diener (SG) and is about to sign Estonian F Kristjan Kangur

TREVISO - Signed Stefan Markovic (PG, 2yrs deal), Massimo Bulleri (PG), Greg Brunner (C with Swiss passport, 2yrs deal), confirmed Donatas Motiejunas and Sandro Nicevic (PF with Italian passport) and is about to announce the signing of Ryan Toolson (SG from Karsiyaka)

VIRTUS BOLOGNA - Signed SG Marcelus Kemp (2yrs deal, 21ppg in LegaDue), Lithuanian SF Deividas Gailius (from BC Siauliai), PF Valerio Amoroso (12.2 ppg with Teramo), confirmed PG Petteri Koponen and C Viktor Sanikidze

VARESE - Confirmed SG Jobey Thomas, PF Giacomo Galanda and is trying to re-sign with a 2yrs deal Ron Slay

ROMA - Confirmed PG Jacopo Giachetti, PG Luca Vitali, Angelo Gigli, C Andrea Crosariol, while SF Luigi Datome may be sent on loan. They would like to re-sign SG Darius Washington (with Macedonian passport) and sign C Eric Williams (who's about to get a Bulgarian passport) and are close to PF Ali Traorè (Asvel). They also like Bosnian SF Bojan Bogdanovic (Cibona) and Devin Smith (Panionios). They also might keep PF Josh Heytvelt if he gets an European passport, but it's difficult.

SIENA - Confirmed PG Nikos Zisis, PF Shaun Stonerook, PF Ksystof Lavrinovic. They're trying to keep SF Romain Sato and SG David Hawkins is very close to be confirmed. Marco Carraretto and Tomas Ress should both stay. They signed Serbian C Milovan Rakovic with a 3yrs deal, whille they're very close to young SG Pietro Aradori (16.8 ppg with Biella) and C Andrea Michelori (9.9 ppg with Caserta). McIntyre, Domercant, Eze, Marconato are gone.

CANTU' - Confirmed SG Manuchar Markoishvili (2yrs deal), SF Vladimir Micov and PF Maarty Leunen. Veteran SG Nicolas Mazzarino and Austrian C Benjamin Ortner should also stay.
They signed veteran C Denis Marconato (2yrs deal) and backup PG Jonathan Tabu (Charleroi). They're chasing PG Andre Collins (last year with Virtus Bologna).

CASERTA - Confirmed F Jumaine Jones and PG Fabio Di Bella. They're trying to re-sign SG Timmy Bowers and are interested in C Eric Williams, who's getting a Bulgarian passport.

PESARO - Confirmed SF Branko Cvetkovic, they're very close to sign SG Jaka Klobuçar, F Nemanja Aleksandrov and C Marco Cusin.

MONTEGRANARO - They're trying to sign SG Chris Monroe (Paok/Milano).

CREMONA - Confirmed SF Marko Milic.

BRINDISI - They confirmed SG Giuliano Maresca, SF Michele Cardinali, F Nikola Radulovic and PF/C Luca Infante. They're close to sign PG Keydren Clark (Aris), who has a Bulgarian passport. Slovenian PF Miha Zupan may be next.

SASSARI -?

[boyd20]

Siena officially signed C Andrea Michelori, last season in Caserta (10ppg + 5.2rpg). Two years deal for him. Siena also extended Tomas Ress' contract for two more years. Now the frontcourt is complete...

X - Nikos Zisis
David Hawkins? - Pietro Aradori?
Romain Sato? - Marco Carraretto
Shaun Stonerook - Ksystof Lavrinovic - Tomas Ress
Milovan Rakovic - Andrea Michelori


Two smart moves. Michelori is a fighter, not very tall and not athletic but he's bulky and is very clever and efficient down low. And he's a great defender too. Cerainly better than what they had last season (Marconato, too old and way past his prime). Ress is a great guy to have as 11th man in the rotation. An experienced and very professional player, who never complains, able to contribute in the few minutes of playtime he gets (good 3-pt shot, athleticism and some defensive hustle).
They have a deeper frontcourt rotation, if Lavrinovic stays healthy they won't suffer in Euroleague as it happened in the last two seasons.
Three names circulate for the starting PG spot: Omar Cook, Earl Calloway and Carlos Cabezas.

[boyd20]

Caserta signed SG Martin Colussi, last season in LegaDue with Pavia (14.4 ppg).
Maybe he was the best shooter in LegaDue, I think he can be a good option for their bench. It seems the team is going to confirm both Timmy Bowers and Ebi Ere, even though Ere has drawn interest from Spain.
The team can be something like this...

Fabio Di Bella - Lukasz Koszarek
Timmy Bowers - Martin Colussi
Ebi Ere - Alex Righetti? - Aaron Doornekamp?
Jumaine Jones - Phil Martin?
Eric Williams? - X

Eric Williams is applying for a Bulgarian passport. If they sign Righetti (I know he's past his prime, but his Euroleague experience may give them a deeper rotation), then they can get rid of Doornekamp (has contract, but may be sent on loan elsewhere) and sign a backup center, which is something they desperately need after losing Michelori.

[melo15]

Hi friends, i need an information about biella's point guard Carl Ona Embo, do you know if the frensh player will be part of biella's team next year ? do you have more information about his contract situation ?
he's announced in Poitiers's team in Frensh ProA
Thanks for the answer

[boyd20]

Hi friends, i need an information about biella's point guard Carl Ona Embo, do you know if the frensh player will be part of biella's team next year ? do you have more information about his contract situation ?
he's announced in Poitiers's team in Frensh ProA
Thanks for the answer

Hi, Ona Embo should have 1 more season left in his contract with Biella. I also know that he's not that "cheap" (I mean, for a team like Biella). If a team makes an offer I think Biella may let him go.


Ebi Ere officially re-signed by Caserta. This is a good choice, I think, as he's an explosive scorer, who's both effective with his standstill shot and he's also able to drain points off the dribble. Luca Garri (as a backup C, Biella) could be next.

Varese signed Phil Goss. Quite interesting. He's not a PG despite his size and this could be a problem, but comes from two very successful seasons in LegaDue (21.2 ppg, 45% 3pt shot, last season) as a scorer and terrific shooter.

Siena may have some problems now that Omar Cook signed for Valencia (I think Earl Calloway might be the main candidate now), but losing Sato (Olympiakos...) would be even worse...

[rikhardur]

Another sad day for Fortitudo Bologna - Jul 14, 2010 (by Gianni Pascucci)
It is official now: Fortitudo Amori Bologna won' t have a professional basketball team in 2010-11 season. Just after winning the Playoff Series to avdance from A dilettanti to Lega 2, the team wasn' t able to meet the financial requirements for the Lega 2 application, and the debts accumulated over the past years by the 'F' will prevent the Italian Basketball Federation to accept any other registration to a professional competition. Despite a succesful last season, the same happened to Lega 2 team MiroRadici Finance Vigevano, that disappears too from professional basketball. The new Lega 2 members should be San Severo and Forli, the two teams defeated by Fortitudo in A dilettanti playoff series.

http://www.eurobasket.com/Italy/bask...?NewsID=196143

[boyd20]

Pesaro officially signed Andre Collins, Nemanja Aleksandrov and Marco Cusin.
Collins will have lots of motivations after wasting a season in Bologna. Very unlucky indeed, he had a serious injury, he also played hurt several games, but he wasn't healthy, that's it. He will have to show why they used to compare him to a younger Terrell McIntyre during his days in Ferrara (small, fast, great shooter, good scorer)...
Very curious about Aleksandrov, really, I hope he stays healthy and shows his skills.


Caserta's still hoping that Eric Williams gets a European (Macedonian/Bulgarian) passport. It seems they will sign him in any case, but with the new rules in Italy this could mean a shorter rotation. Anyway, they're also after Trey Johnson for the SG spot, another player who's rumored to get a European passport.


Milano is very close to sign Ibrahim Jaaber (two years deal, 600.000 € per season). He should be the team's PG with Morris Finley. For the SG position, they're interested in Timmy Bowers (Caserta would like to confirm him but he asks for too much money) and Gary Neal.

Brindisi officially inked SG Chris Monroe.

Montegranaro officially confirmed Dejan Ivanov and is close to bring back Sharrod Ford.

Varese signed SF Alex Righetti, should also get C James Thomas (if the medical tests are ok) and Teemu Rannikko as backup PG.

[aforo]

FYI: I am so glad that Omar Thomas went to Avellino after how Brindisi has been to him and his family. After a stellar and quite frankly the best year of his career not only did they insult him with their offer for this next season but are now withholding his money from the previous contract. All this after stating that they were possibly the only team that was in a "good" financial situation, better than most teams in the league. The only word to use here is sad because after the love of the fans of Brindisi it must be disappointing to hear that they are treating their MVP this way. Fans of Brindisi, if I were you I wouldn't stand for it... I would acknowledge the fact that OT is only not returning because of the conditions set forth by the authoritative views of the team's head staff.

[Jazz]

Did Basile leave Barca and where is he headed if so?

[boyd20]

Did Basile leave Barca and where is he headed if so?

Dunno. If he comes back to Italy, then only three teams can afford his signing (Siena, Roma, Milano)...


Pesaro signed SG Guillermo Diaz and C Tautvydas Lydeka.

[rikhardur]

Enel Brindisi released centre Edin Bavčić.

Alessandro Ramagli is the new head coach of Teramo.

[Demarr]

Janar Talts on his way to Angelico Biella. Could make his debut v. Scavolini this weekend.

Edit: Looks like the transfer is off. He was supposed to replace the injured Goran Suton, but Suton decided not to have a surgery and instead will continue his season so Biella doesn't need to sign Talts after all.

[rikhardur]

Cremona signed PF Riccardo Antonelli.

[gdragons]

Hello, I wonder if someone could give me some informations about Bologna team, financial situation, their goals, quality, and expectations about how high can they finish.

I would also ask same for Roma since they started really bad, but things should turn around or they simply missed with squad..

Thanks for any help

[rikhardur]

Enel Brindisi sacked coach Giovanni Perdichizzi and is close to signing G Zabian Dowdell.

[Sara P]

Look at this !!

http://www.vimeo.com/18374649

http://www.davidghawkins.com/

[Jazz]

How did Bucchi survive so long in Milano?

[boyd20]

Avellino-Brindisi 79-80

With 4 seconds left, Bobby Dixon hits an off-balanced shot on the final buzzer to give Brindisi the first road win of the season...

[MarkoMilic]

What about Lavrinovic, he didn't play against Cremona this weekend?