By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Just hours after beating Hapoel Eilat in the Israeli preseason cup’s quarterfinals (86-63) on Tuesday, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced the signing of Malcolm Thomas (photo). The talented power forward will have big shoes to fill as he is the replacement of injured Pops Mensah-Bosnu who was recently cut from the team. After a season between Mobis Phoebus of South Korea and the NBA D-League, Thomas will have to adapt quickly to his new team with Euroleague season starting next week.
Injury problems plague also Caja Laboral. The team’s new center Tibor Pleiss is a victim of mononucleosis, meaning that he will be off the court at least for the start of the Euroleague season and his situation will be monitored in a regular basis. Caja is hoping for a quick recovery, because Serbian big man Milko Bjelica is also fighting with a knee injury, back up power forward Unai Calbarro will have to remove a hernia and Polish center Maceij Lampe is hurt on his back.
Zalgiris Kaunas also was unlucky. The Lithuanian champions beat Juventus 71-53 in a game for their domestic league, but as it was revealed power forward Tadas Klimavicius torn his right ACL and will miss the next six months.