By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Consider the deal done with Georgi Sermantini -for the next 3 years- but Maccabi Electra is still in search for the best possible solution, at position “5”. That is if they are going to keep Sofoklis Schortsanitis or not.
Maccabi informed “Sofo”‘s manager, that they cannot give the 1.500.000 $ of the contract extension they signed few months ago for the next season. So, they want to renegociate the money, after the end of this season.
Now, you have to remember what happened, at the eve of the fifth Euroleague’s playoff game of Panathinaikos vs. Maccabi. Andy Miller, Richard Hendrix‘s agent, let the world know that talks between the American power forward and the Israeli team were broken and they are going to sit on the same table, when he becomes a free agent, in a month.
So, if they want to keep him, they have to pay more than 700.000$ they gave him this year and if they do that, the most possible consummation for Schortsanitis is to terminate his contract with Maccabi. And yes, his manager has looked around for possible destinations and he already has two offers in his hands for his client. If both Sofo and Hendrix leave Tel Aviv, something that seems far fetched, then the next name on the list is Panathinaikos‘ Aleks Maric.
And this in not the only matter Maccabi’s officials have to deal with. Cause they heard a big-fat “no” from Keith Langford, when they offered him a new contract (for 2012-2013 season), but with less money than the amount he got for this year -around 1.000.000$. Immediately they began to look for other options and they… stopped at David Logan’s name, who has a contract with Panathinaikos till the end of this seson. An inside source says the American guard -with a polish passport- is not negative to continue his career at Tel Aviv, but he will say his final word at June.