<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>CSKA Moscow revamped its frontcourt ahead of the upcoming season with the signing of All-Euroleague big man Terence Morris and promising rookie center Alexander "Sasha" Kaun. Less than 24 hours after the club’s center of the last four seasons, David Andersen, left, the defending champs announced three-year deals with both players. Morris (207, 29) arrives from Maccabi Tel Aviv, with whom he reached the Euroleague title game last season only to lose to CSKA. Meanwhile Kaun (211, 23) comes from the University of Kansas, where he won the NCAA basketball championship with the Jayhawks in April.</div> http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/33301/180...rris-sasha-kaun <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>After leaving Toronto Raptors Jorge Garbajosa has received some serious offers from European teams. According to Marca, CSKA Moscow made the biggest offer so far for the Spaniard. Garbajosa has already rejected offer from his former team Unicaja Malaga and could play outside Spain. Real Madrid and Barcelona have also show interest in the player but CSKA's offer is the best financially. Jorge Garbajosa has already played under current CSKA head coach Ettore Messina in Benetton Treviso in 2002-2003 season. Italian tactician could be one of the reasons to pursue Garbajosa to go to Russia.</div> http://www.talkbasket.net/news/cska-moscow...-garbajosa.html <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>According to spanish rumours, Ettore Messina wants to add to his team, TAU's Croatian guard, Zoran Planinic. After losing one of his most important players - Papaloukas -, coach Messina is looking for the best solution. Zoran Planinic seems to be this player, and also, rumours have it that Planinic is looking forward to be leaving Basconia and TAU. Planinic averaged 9.8 points and 2,8 assists per game. Also, CSKA looks after Sarunas Jasikevicius but his high buy-out is a problem for the russian club.</div> http://www.talkbasket.net/news/cska-lurks-...n-planinic.html Morris's contract is reportedly worth 2.6 million dollars/year.
It definitely looks like CSKA is looking to retool big-time, trying to top Olympiakos. The two have to be front-runners for next year's Euroleague championship. I'm waiting to see what Maccabi Tel Aviv does after all these losses...
Zoran! Sweet. What if someone wants to draft Kaun into the NBA? I always figured he could be a pretty solid player...
Anyone else intrigued with how these European teams seem to be stacking talent that would previously have been imported to the NBA? You have big name foreign players who tried out the NBA for a few years who are going back to big time european teams (Jasikevicius, Planinic, Navarro, that guy who was in NO for like a year, now Garbajosa, and its rumored they're offering Anthony Parker big money to come back to Europe). Recently in the draft you have Fran Vasquez getting drafted 11 overall and not coming over, Galinari rumored to refuse to come over unless he goes to certain teams, Pekovic seems to have no interest in coming over despite being one of the most promising young players in Europe, Kosta Perovic is rumored to be going back to Europe after a short stint with the Warriors. Now Sasha Kaun is signing a contract in Europe before the draft, opting to go a different route from most bubble 2nd round/undrafted big men who float around summer leagues, training camps, the D-League, etc. before finally playing over seas. Seems like European players are losing interest in coming to the NBA and now they're even being paid more in Europe than they are in the NBA. European teams are actually retaining a lot of talent, or at least the talent is staying over seas albeit changing teams. The NBA is no longer the goal for a lot of these players. They'd rather stay in Europe where they're stars, where they know they fit in, where they subscribe to that style of play, and now where they get paid more.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jun 22 2008, 08:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Anyone else intrigued with how these European teams seem to be stacking talent that would previously have been imported to the NBA?</div> No, most of the clubs involved in Euroleague are filthy rich.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Jun 22 2008, 09:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Zoran! Sweet. What if someone wants to draft Kaun into the NBA? I always figured he could be a pretty solid player...</div> If they draft him ,they hold his rights, just like any international player. CSKA needs to re-tool, losing Papaloukas is huge. They need to keep up with Panathanaikos, and losing Papaloukas is really gonna hurt, despite his down year last year.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jun 23 2008, 04:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Anyone else intrigued with how these European teams seem to be stacking talent that would previously have been imported to the NBA? You have big name foreign players who tried out the NBA for a few years who are going back to big time european teams (Jasikevicius, Planinic, Navarro, that guy who was in NO for like a year, now Garbajosa, and its rumored they're offering Anthony Parker big money to come back to Europe). Recently in the draft you have Fran Vasquez getting drafted 11 overall and not coming over, Galinari rumored to refuse to come over unless he goes to certain teams, Pekovic seems to have no interest in coming over despite being one of the most promising young players in Europe, Kosta Perovic is rumored to be going back to Europe after a short stint with the Warriors. Now Sasha Kaun is signing a contract in Europe before the draft, opting to go a different route from most bubble 2nd round/undrafted big men who float around summer leagues, training camps, the D-League, etc. before finally playing over seas. Seems like European players are losing interest in coming to the NBA and now they're even being paid more in Europe than they are in the NBA. European teams are actually retaining a lot of talent, or at least the talent is staying over seas albeit changing teams. The NBA is no longer the goal for a lot of these players. They'd rather stay in Europe where they're stars, where they know they fit in, where they subscribe to that style of play, and now where they get paid more.</div> Why did all the European stars ever want to go to the NBA in the first place? Money. So, if teams like CKSA and Olympiacos, whose boards are allowing never ending funds, are willing to pay those stars the same amount of money which NBA teams are offering (and sometimes much more a la Navarro), those players have no reason to fly far away from home and either sit on the bench or play a lot more games per season than they would play in Europe. I think we'll be seeing a decrease in young Europeans choosing to go to the NBA, and instead we'll see more guys like Parker or Jasikevicius, who had already accomplished everything they could in Europe, and now in their late 20's/early 30's decide to join the league. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AEM @ Jun 23 2008, 01:53 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>It definitely looks like CSKA is looking to retool big-time, trying to top Olympiakos. The two have to be front-runners for next year's Euroleague championship. I'm waiting to see what Maccabi Tel Aviv does after all these losses...</div> Maccabi are reportedly about to sign Will Solomon (he played for Maccabi 2-3 years ago I believe), and Solomon Jones + Alexander Johnson are also candidates. Maccabi don't have the financial resources needed to keep up with the Greeks and the Russians, so they'll have to do their best with what they have (still, 17 million dollars isn't peanuts). It looks like Will Bynum and David Bluthental will be released soon, Casspi may move to a different team in search of more PT and Cummings is leaving as well.
