By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
That could be the summer, where Olympiacos would consider if they would re-sign Zoran Erceg. The Reds got him the summer of 2008, giving him a four year contract and paying almost a million euros buy out to FMP. However, the Serbian power forward is the new signing of CSKA Moscow, a move that turned heads all around Europe and it’s the biggest official Euroleague transaction for the month of June.
Back in 2008, Erceg was presented like a younger answer to Panathinaikos Kostas Tsartsaris, a big man who could rebound and hit the three, but he never lived up to the hype in Greece. He seemed always unfocused and after a mediocre season under coach Panagiotis Giannakis he was loaned for 2009-10 to Panionios. He returned to Olympiacos the summer of 2010, under coach Dusan Ivkovic, who had just cut him from the Serbian national team. Not exactly a good sign. Finally after mutual agreement Erceg got released and went to Besiktas where he had his best season yet. Can he do the same stuff in Moscow after a year break from Euroleague? Coach Ettore Messina certainly believes that. That’s the second big move from CSKA who also added American guard Aaron Jackson from Bilbao and will lose Andrey Vorontsevich and Alexey Shved to the NBA.
In Berlin, Alba is moving fast in order to build a Euroleague caliber team. They got their former player and old coach back, Sasha Obradovic, and he brought with him from BC Donetsk Serbian point guard Vule Avdalovic, a player that was considered when he was playing for Partizan (1998-2005) the next great Serbian hope, but he ended up being just a dependable asset. Alba got one more player from the Ukrainian league, American small forward Zach Morley, his compatriot and also forward Nathan Peavy from Artlant Dragons and also kept veteran big man Sven Schultze and 28 years old point guard Heiko Schaffartzik.
In Lithuania, Lietuvos Rytas got on loan from EA7 Milano Leon Radosevic, signed power forward Dejan Ivanov and 21 years old guard Nemanja Nedovic, not exactly marquee moves, since they will not have next season Jonas Valanciunas who is preparing for his NBA debut as a Toronto Raptors player.
Milano could loan Radosevic, after adding Richard Hendrix from Maccabi Tel Aviv to its roster and the team is rumored to have its signs on one more player from the Israeli team, Keith Langford. At least Maccabi renewed the contract of experienced swing man Devin Smith and added Giorgi Shermadini.
In Turkey everybody expects a big summer with headline signings, but for now there is only rumors and 22 years old small forward Birkan Batuk added to the roster of Anadolu Efes.
In Spain, Caja Laboral got Tiber Pleiss from Brose Baskets and Fabien Causer from Cholet. Brose Baskets reacted by signing 22 years old center Maik Zirbes and by renewing the contract of guard Karsten Tadda, but their roster will be very altered next season after loosing also P.J.Tucker to Spartak Saint Petersburg. Unics Kazan, competing in the qualifying round, also made a big move in June by signing to a three season deal Marko Banic, who spend the last seven season at Bilbao.