By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Till further notice (since you can never be sure… about tomorrow), Fenerbahce Ulker concluded the signings for the roster they will present at Euroleague, with JR Bremer’s signing for one year.
It was in the middle of September (18/9) when he heard (actually we read) Claudio Sabatini saying “only the details are missing from signing JR Bremer at Virtus Roma. We have a verbal agreement”.
But you know what they say: it’s not over, till it’s over, which in professional sports… actually meens if you don’t have signed contracts, you can’t be sure of anything. You see that was when Fenerbahce Ulker decided to look for a third guard. They got to learn that Bremer didn’t sign anywhere yet, they offered him a better contract (for one year) together with the chance to play at Euroleague and three days later, they stole him from the Italians.
The American combo guard (owner of a Bosnia & Herzegovina’s passport) will only play in Euroleague, as Kemal Dincer (Fenerbahce’s GM) said few hours ago. At TBL, six foreigners allowed on the roster, but only five are allowed on the 12-man-gamesheet (and these are Sato, Andersen, Batiste, Bogdanovic and McCalebb), while a minimum of two Turkish players must be on the floor simultaneously for each team at all times. “Additional foreign players may be signed for the European competitions, but none of those may replace one of the already registered foreigners in the Turkish league. And one naturalized player (in this case, Preldzic) allowed to count as “native””.
Bremer has a very… long CV, with experiences ranging from the NBA (with Celtics, Cavaliers and Warrions), to Spain (Unicaja Malaga), Italy (Biella and Olimpia Milano), Russia (Spartak Primorje, Triumph Lyubertsy, Krasnye Krylya Samara and BC Nizhny Novgorod) and Greece (PAOK). He is also a member of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s national team. Among the candidates for the position was Thodoris Papaloukas, who is now at limbo about his future.