Lega A 2008-09
Napoli sacked coach Piero Bucchi.
Avellino will sign coach Zare Markovski very soon.
Andrea Capobianco (last year with Legadue's Jesi) will be Teramo's new headcoach.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
It's now official.Originally Posted by rikhardur
GM Michele Uva left Roma.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
He today became Milano's headcoach for the next 2 seasons.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
YAHOO!!!Former Raider lands $1 million deal with Italian team -- by Marc Katz, 6/17/2008, Dayton Daily News
As much as the Italian Series A team in Cantu, Italy, loved former Wright State Raider DaShaun Wood last season, Treviso Benetton is prepared to love him more.
Wood said Tuesday, June 17, he signed a two-year contract worth at least $1 million with Benetton, and he's the one who has the out. In case the 5-foot-11 dynamo — who was the Horizon League's player of the year two years ago — makes an NBA team this summer, he can sign and play there.
"This is great," said Wood, who is in town this week and is working out at the WSU facilities. "I'm thrilled. It's a dream come true."
Wood, who last summer was named MVP in a pre-NBA-draft camp in Portsmouth, Va., was working out with the Atlanta Hawks when the Cantu team contacted his agent. Wood considered the six-figure offer from Cantu something he could not pass on.
"It was a lot better league than I thought it would be," Wood said.
"It's not like it has minor talent. It might not be exactly like the NBA, but there are plenty of good players. I like playing there, but I only had a one-year contract. This team offered me more and a chance to see if I could make an NBA team."
Monday, Wood plans to attend a tryout camp run by the Miami Heat and next month expects to play with the Cleveland entry in the NBA Summer League.
At Cantu, Wood led the team with an 18-point scoring average while also averaging four assists. Considered a weak team before he arrived, Cantu made the playoffs. Wood was so spectacular, he was the subject of several YouTube videos, which are still on-line.
"Some people told me about those videos," Wood said. "I finally looked at some, and I could believe what I did. I can tell I got a lot better."
Wood played four years at Wright State out of Crockett High School in Detroit. As a senior, he was embraced by first-year coach Brad Brownell and led the Raiders to the Horizon League regular-season and tournament championships. The Raiders also made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years.
Wood graduated with his class before embarking on his professional playing career.
Wood is a real hometown hero in Dayton. He played at Wright State and is an NBA-calibar player, in my opinion. I hope his professional career is as succesful as Wright State's other star: "Dollar" Bill Edwards. Not to brag, but I'm going to go down to the courts this week and try to play with Wood.I played a few games with him. He was the best player on the court and I don't think he was trying at all. Great guy, great player.
Wood is a very good player, an extremely talented PG who performed pretty well in his rookie season. But, according to the last rumors, it seems the deal with Benetton is not done, there are some problems and we're still waiting for this story's outcome.YAHOO!!!
Wood is a real hometown hero in Dayton. He played at Wright State and is an NBA-calibar player, in my opinion. I hope his professional career is as succesful as Wright State's other star: "Dollar" Bill Edwards. Not to brag, but I'm going to go down to the courts this week and try to play with Wood.
Uh-oh.I'll be disappointed if he doesn't get the contract. Yes, Wood had an incredible rookie year. He's the smallest player on the court, but always the most talented (in my opinion, of course
I hope the same! I really like him, I would like him to stay here in Italy, Fortitudo is also very interested. But some Spanish teams also made good offers, so let's wait and see if Benetton will be able to sign him.Uh-oh.
Let's make a recap:
Siena has a deal with PG Morris Finley (Rieti), who should replace Terrell McIntyre, if he leaves
Milano signed SG Jobey Thomas (Montegranaro) and should soon annonuce the deal with C Richard Mason Rocca (Napoli) and PG Luca Vitali (Montegranaro)
Treviso signed PF C.J. Wallace (Capo d'Orlando) and should also announce the signing of PG DaShaun Wood (Cantů) and SG Gary Neal (Barcelona)
Pesaro signed PG Maximilano Stanic (Pau Orthez), SG Ramel Curry (Hapoel Jerusalem), PF LeRoy Hurd (Rieti), C Casey Shaw (Milano)
Virtus Bologna signed SG/SF Dusan Vukcevic (Milano) and C Sharrod Ford (Montegranaro)
Capo d'Orlando signed PF Phil Martin (Novara), Canadian player with Italian passport
Teramo should announce the signing of SF David Moss (Jesi), one of the best players in LegaDue, this season.
Some more rumors...
Roma is very interested in F Jumaine Jones (Napoli) and is working to confirm Ibrahim Jaaber. Hard to confirm Roko Leni Ukic, who should return to Barcelona, the team wants to renew contract with Erazem Lorbek (offer from Maccabi, CSKA also could be interested), while Roberto Gabini, Rodrigo De La Fuente, Jacopo Giachetti and Gregor Fucka will stay. Allan Ray has contract but will stay only if healthy, so if he remains, the team will have to sign the starting PG and will also try to confirm David Hawkins, who will try to make it to the NBA, playing in the summer leagues. Jon Stefansson will go, Milano should be his destination.
Many teams are interested in Tadija Dragicevic (Roma, Treviso, Fortitudo Bologna).
Pesaro will sign another PG: the main candidate is Sam Van Rossom (Oostende), but he's on the list of several other Italian teams (Capo d'Orlando, Fortitudo Bologna, Virtus Bologna), so the team may also decide to sign Latvian veteran Kristaps Valters (Triumph).
Fortitudo is getting closer to bring back SG Gianluca Basile from Barcelona and is also interested in Czech F Lubos Barton (Joventut Badalona). SG Joseph Forte will stay almost certainly.
Avellino made an offer to C Andrea Crosariol (Roma) and is interested in Angelo Gigli (Treviso), but he seems closer to Roma and has offers from Fortitudo Bologna too.
Ferrara (promoted from LegaDue) confirmed all of its key players including: PG Andre Collins, PF Harold Jamison, F Oluoma Nnamaka, PG Daniel Farabello.
Caserta (the other team promoted from LegaDue) confirmed SG star Guillermo Diaz, but he has an NBA escape which expires in July.
Siena officially signed PG Morris Finley (Rieti) with a 3-yrs deal. Great move, if you ask me, a scorer capable of passing the ball and a good defender too. I won't be surprised if he'll be the next Siena's star in the future. He'll replace Vlado Ilievski, who has contract but did not fully convince the team staff, so he'll go elsewhere. Now it's time to wait for the T-Mac/affair outcome. I know PAO keeps saying they're not interested but it's not like that. The fact is that right now Barcelona offers big money and Jaka Lakovic, but Siena doesn't seem to be very enthusiast about the Slovenian PG. Olympiacos is interested too, would like to sign T-Mac and send Lynn Greer to Siena (Greer was on Siena's market list 2 years ago, Minucci likes him a lot), but Italian champions and McIntyre still have to take a definitive decision.
After signing Mason Rocca and Jobey Thomas (although Thomas is not official), Milano is close to sign PG Luca Vitali and young prospect PG Ariel Filloy, from Argentina (Rimini/LegaDue).
Good deal for Cantů that renewed Hervč Tourč's contract for 2 more seasons.
Roma is getting closer to confirm Ibrahim Jaaber (who is going to get a Bulgarian passport), his agent told that and added they are going to pay a buyout to Panionios. Furthermore, Roma offered Erazem Lorbek a 3-yrs contract worth 900.000 euros/season.
Before signing foreigners, Avellino wants to start building the roster for Euroleague with some Italian players. Young SF Luigi Datome can be loaned by Siena, other targets are Angelo Gigli (Treviso), Andrea Crosariol (Roma), Marco Mordente (Treviso), but he seems to be headed to Spain or, if he stays in Italy, will probably go to a "bigger" team.
Nice signigs for Milano. They need a player like Rocca. If he stays helathy he will be good. And Vitali is a player for now and also for the future. But will Watson stay in Milano for another year?
Watson's destiny's still uncertain. He has contract for next season, but sincerely he didn't play as expected in the two years spent in Milano. Furthermore, after signing Rocca, Milano would need a different kind of C: bigger, more athletic and offensively skilled, but Watson's contract is not that cheap and it will be hard to send him somewhere else. So there chances he will stay are high at the moment.
I really liked the other signings. Rocca is not the most talented C around, but he's a fighter, very intelligent too. He's damn precious. Jobey Thomas is a sharpshooter (best 3pt shooter in Italy) who also defends very hard, while Vitali is one of Italian best prospects and even Filloy (but I think they better give him on loan in order to let him play) is very skilled. They lack athleticism right now, so I think will sign a couple of athletic Americans.
Teramo signed SF David Moss (Jesi), one of the best players in LegaDue. Watch out, this guy (1983, 196 cm) can do it all, he's really talented and I won't be surprised to see him playing for a Euroleague team in a couple of seasons. Very good move, really.
Virtus Bologna, Milano and Roma are interested in Marcus Goree, who seems on his way back to Italy. Virtus seems to be the team that made the most convincing approach, but he would like to play in Euroleague, so Milano and Roma could be better destinations for him. Virtus Bologna and Milano are also in talks with Pops Mensah-Bonsu.
Roma extended contracts to Jacopo Giachetti and captain Alessandro Tonolli for 2more seasons, while young prospect Pietro Aradori signed a 4-yrs deal with Biella. Roma is interested in Uros Slokar.
Pesaro is getting closer to PG Sam Van Rossom, player of the year in Belgium and is interested in C D'or Fischer (Bree).
Caserta is interested in veteran PG Michael Jordan, who used to play for Cantů 2 seasons ago.
Avellino is considering Brian Chase and Vlado Ilievski for the PG spot, while Alex Righetti has received offers from Roma and Virtus Bologna.
Napoli's new head coach is Maurizio Bartocci (assistant coach). He will have to do a huge job, because Napoli has financial troubles, a very low budget (maybe the lowest in the league) and will be forced to build a brand new roster.
Benetton Treviso appears to be close to sign F Pat Calathes (Saint Joseph's).
Cantů signed Joel Zacchetti for 2 seasons.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
Capo d'Orlando signed F Greg Brunner for 1 year.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
apperently Capo d'Orlando has scouted Oostende because they were/are still interrested in Sam van Rossom.
I wonder who greg will do in the italian league. He's not that talented and doesn't have the size but he's a real hard worker and is a real teamplayer wich is not that common for a US player.
The kind of player that Capo d'Orlando gm likes. They did the same last season with C.J. Wallace, who came from Bremerhaven without any hype, and then performed very well, so that he signed for Benetton Treviso for 2008-2009 season. Anyway, I agree, I don't like Brunner that much, I think Oostende had better players in its roster.
Sam Van Rossom is still on the list of several Italian teams, while D'Or Fischer (Bree) seems to be close to Pesaro.
I do like Brunner a lot but when I looked to the uleb cup, he wasn't Oostendes best player. In Belgium league he husttle his way into one of the beste PF in the league. He's really consistent.
D'or Fisher is a verry good player. Defensifly extremly well and verry atletic. He has not really any post moves as I recall but he has a killer midrange jumper.
teams who want van rossom have to pay a buy-out of 60 000EUR(isn't that much in my opinion). Deadline is the first of august otherwise he stays in Oostende.
Pesaro signed Argentinian PG Maximiliano Stanic for 2 seasons from Pau-Orthez.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
I got to catch up two games of Pau in the past season and my impression on Stanic was quite good. A pass-first PG with some physical shortcomings but plays with passion, an execellent passer and can hit threes. very nice addition IMO.
Van Rossom has signed with Milan(3 years) but will be loaned out to pesaro for 1 year.
Oostende officialy announced this a few minutes a go. (www.bcoostende.be)
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