LegaDue 2010-2011

[boyd20]

What about a thread on LegaDue? Could it be interesting?
I know it’s only a 2nd division but it has great tradition with American players (Terrell McIntyre, Romain Sato, Antonio Granger, Charles Smith, Andre Hutson, Kenny Gregory, Drew Nicholas, Horace Jenkins, Marc Salyers, Keith Langford…just to name a few of those players that played in this league before reaching success) and the level isn’t that bad.

Rules for 2010-2011 are:

- 16 teams
- At the end of the regular season, first eight teams qualify to the playoffs, last two teams are relegated
- No more 2 promotions. In the previous seasons the team that finished the regular season at the first place was directly promoted to Serie A, while the other to be promoted was the playoffs’ winner. From this season there is a single certain promotion, allowed to the team that wins the playoffs’ finals (which means no more direct promotion for the regular season winner). The team that lose the playoffs’ finals remains in LegaDue and gets a 500k euros wild-card tax from the Serie A team that finishes the regular season at the penultimate (15th) place. But if this team refuses or can’t pay that sum, the team that loses the LegaDue playoffs’ finals is promoted too.
- 2 Americans (non-european players) allowed
- 1 “Bosman” player
- 1 foreign player holding an Italian passport and eligible for Italian NT
- 10 or 12 player rosters


Anyway, the most intriguing innovation is the new format for LegaDue Italian Cup. The old format consisted in a Final Four played by the top four teams at the end of the first half of the regular season. This season all 16 teams participate: a small NCAA knockout style tournament which begins in September (nice idea, this will make the preseason more interesting, I will give information about TV coverage if you are interested) will determine what teams will be playing the Final Four in February.



Team rosters are almost complete, I'll just wait a little bit for a short preview.

[cheezdoodle]

I'm very interested in Lega Due. Very curious to hear what people thought about the various signings around the league. I liked Pistoia's move signing Jarvis Varnado.

[boyd20]

- Ferrara inked PG Jermaine Boyette, who's at his fourth straight season in LegaDue, after his previous experiences with Livorno (2 seasons) and Vigevano.
Next signing could be that of Ndudi Ebi, LegaDue's top rebounder (13.6 rpg) last season.
Anyway, Ebi's name is not the only one in their list, for what I know he also has good offers from Israel.

- Pistoia officially signed Joseph Forte. Fifth straight season in Italy for him and second straight in LegaDue (last year in Pavia scored 20.2 ppg).

[ArnoldPettybone]

LegaDue newly promoted Forlì was about to sign Canadian forward Denham Brown (the deal was almost done, according to my sources), but...it seems that Union Olimpija and Prokom are very interested too.
It is confirmed here:

http://www.forlibasket.it/modules.ph...ticle&sid=2328

What happened to fortitudo's promotion (over forli) eventually?

[boyd20]

What happened to fortitudo's promotion (over forli) eventually?

Basically, it happened what everyone expected...
They choked due to huge financial problems and Forlì took their place in LegaDue. Now Fortitudo is in B Dilettanti (4th division), after acquiring the rights from another club ("Budrio", which is a small town near Bologna).

[Get Rich Or Die Playin]

I'm curious to see how well Scottie Reynolds will play in this league. MVP?

[cheezdoodle]

I'm curious to see how well Scottie Reynolds will play in this league. MVP?

He'll get some tough competition from Donell Taylor (Fastweb Casale).

Taylor is a legit NBA player who was one of the best guards in the D-League, and has European experience on top of that. He's much better equipped physically to dominate this league than Reynolds.

[boyd20]

- Rimini inked veteran SF Dusan Vukcevic with a 2-yr deal.
They're really loaded with veterans (Scarone, Myers, Vukcevic, Lollis)...

- A couple of nice additions for Ferrara, that relegated from Serie A last season. They brought back C Luca Lechtaler on loan from Siena and signed Albanian SF Klaudio Ndoja. With Lechtaler, they won't sign Ebi, but a G/F and the most concrete option is Robert Vaden, who already played in LegaDue last season, with Imola (17 ppg, 40% 3p), but he also has an offer from Greek A1 team Ikaros.

- If Forlì can't sign Denham Brown (Prokom and Union Olimpija are after him, even if it seems he appreciated that Forlì's coach and g.m. went to Athens to talk to him personally, but obviously his American agent prefers the two above-mentioned options...), as it seems, they could opt for a totally different player (Montana's rookie Anthony Johnson is one of the candidates).

[boyd20]

- If Forlì can't sign Denham Brown (Prokom and Union Olimpija are after him, even if it seems he appreciated that Forlì's coach and g.m. went to Athens to talk to him personally, but obviously his American agent prefers the two above-mentioned options...), as it seems, they could opt for a totally different player (Montana's rookie Anthony Johnson is one of the candidates).

So, Denham Brown signed for Prokom.
Forlì had agreed to terms with Anthony Johnson on Tuesday, but the club still wasn't convinced and then opted for sharpshooter Ryan Wittman (Cornell), whose signning is now official.

[M Sindo]

Veroli is the strongest team this year, will it be the right year for them ? Forza Casale !

[boyd20]

- Imola signed Ndudi Ebi (15.3 ppg + 13.6 rpg + 1.7 bpg), top rebounder and second best shotblocker in the league last year with Rimini. Also second overall in rating (24.1).

- Sad news: British PF Nick George (28 years old) announced his retirement and left Casale Monferrato. This was due to health problems. Wish him all the best.
Casale replaced him with Oluoma Nnamaka, who played for Ferrara the last 4 seasons.

[boyd20]

We'll also see a couple of Finnish NT players in LegaDue, this season.

- Ferrara brought back to Italy PF Tuukka Kotti. (The team is also testing Belgian SF Wen Mukubu)

- Udine signed PF Gerald Lee.

[boyd20]

Here are some predictions about the upcoming season...

Top team - VEROLI
Other candidates for the promotion - CASALE MONFERRATO, REGGIO EMILIA, VENEZIA
The others who should make it to the playoffs - UDINE, SCAFATI, VERONA, JESI
Will fight for a playoff berth - FERRARA, BARCELLONA, RIMINI
Will try to avoid the relegation - CASALPUSTERLENGO, IMOLA, PISTOIA, FORLI', SAN SEVERO

MVP - Scottie Reynolds (Veroli), Romel Beck (Reggio Emilia), Keydren Clark (Venezia), J.J. Williams (Udine)
Italian MVP - Michele Maggioli (Jesi), David Brkic (Veroli)
Top scorer - Trent Whiting (Imola), Delonte Holland (San Severo)
Top rebounder - Ndudi Ebi (Imola), Jarvis Varnado (Pistoia)
Top defender - J.J. Williams (Udine), Michele Cardinali (Barcellona)
Top all around player - J.J. Williams (Udine)
Surprise - Myles McKay (San Severo)
Disappointments - Donatas Slanina (Reggio Emilia), C.C. Harrison (Udine), Ryan Wittman (Forlì), Stefan Licartovsky (Forlì)

[boyd20]

LegaDue Italian Cup - First round

Click on the final scores to check team and player stats.
http://www.legaduebasket.it/

Pistoia-Casalpusterlengo 90-76
Casale Monferrato-Jesi 74-71
Udine-Verona 60-90
Ferrara-Venezia 75-80
Rimini-Imola 62-72
Reggio Emilia-Forlì 72-81
Scafati-Barcellona 72-87
Veroli-San Severo 76-68

Several surprises, but let's say it's still preseason and most teams were far from being in shape or missed some players...

[boyd20]

LegaDue Italian Cup - Second round

Click on the final scores to check team and player stats.
http://www.legaduebasket.it/


Casale Monferrato-Pistoia 86-67
Verona-Venezia 73-82
Imola-Forlì 74-66
Veroli-Barcellona 87-71


So, Casale Monferrato, Venezia, Imola (surprise!) and Veroli are the teams that advance to the Final 4 (F4 will be played on February 2011).

I'm glad to see that veteran Alvin "Forever" Young is already in shape (scored 27 points in both games).
While I'd expected Jarvis Varnado to be a factor under the boards but it seems he's a lot more effective as a scorer (19 ppg but only 3.5 rpg). But he's already confirming his shotblocking skills (8 in 2 games).

[Guard]

I'm very interested in Lega Due. Very curious to hear what people thought about the various signings around the league. I liked Pistoia's move signing Jarvis Varnado.

I dont if this is correct but Varnado had a huge defensive game today.
22pts-5rbs-9blocks-9 steals!!!!
49 value

[boyd20]

I dont if this is correct but Varnado had a huge defensive game today.
22pts-5rbs-9blocks-9 steals!!!!
49 value

New LegaDue record (the previous - 8 blocks - was held by Di Giuliomaria).

Actually Jarvis Varnado and Keith Waleskowski seem to be the most intriguing big men in the league.

[boyd20]

Two of the most celebrated players are history...

- San Severo (0-4), arguably the worst team in the league, released Delonte Holland. They expected him to be a big-time scorer, but he really seemed lost, this could have been the last chance for him to bounce back at high levels. They just signed veteran PG Randolph Childress, one of the best players ever in LegaDue, he has to make a miracle to save this team. They also signed veteran sharpshooter Fabio Zanelli. They desperately need shooters (13/70 from the arc in 4 games, for a dreadful 18.5%) and scorers.

- Veroli (1-3), best team in the league on paper but very disappointing so far, is going to release Scottie Reynolds, who's been very disappointing and "homesick".

[Chigusa]

Two of the most celebrated players are history...

- San Severo (0-4), arguably the worst team in the league, released Delonte Holland. They expected him to be a big-time scorer, but he really seemed lost, this could have been the last chance for him to bounce back at high levels. They just signed veteran PG Randolph Childress, one of the best players ever in LegaDue, he has to make a miracle to save this team. They also signed veteran sharpshooter Fabio Zanelli. They desperately need shooters (13/70 from the arc in 4 games, for a dreadful 18.5%) and scorers.

- Veroli (1-3), best team in the league on paper but very disappointing so far, is going to release Scottie Reynolds, who's been very disappointing and "homesick".

Maybe the return of another celebrated named? James 'Scoonie' Penn rumored to Veroli.

http://www.legaduebasket.it/news/?id=97153

What do you think Boyd? Scoonie is in latter years but can still initiate an offense, hit shots, and get in the lane on occasion.

Here is what he did for Olympiacos last seen on Euroleague & Greek Championship level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezm0JXP1lw

[boyd20]

Maybe the return of another celebrated named? James 'Scoonie' Penn rumored to Veroli.

http://www.legaduebasket.it/news/?id=97153

What do you think Boyd? Scoonie is in latter years but can still initiate an offense, hit shots, and get in the lane on occasion.

Here is what he did for Olympiacos last seen on Euroleague & Greek Championship level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezm0JXP1lw

Penn would be great for them. Talented, experienced, already played in Italy, he would form a great duo with Jarrius Jackson.