Milos Teodosic

And-Ones: Bronny, Ataman, Teodosic, Instagram

A lot of high-profile college programs are pursuing Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, according to ESPN national recruiting director Paul Biancardi (Insider link).

There’s a “strong feeling” that Bronny James will go the college route next year, according to Biancardi, with UCLA, USC, Michigan, Oregon and Ohio State among the teams recruiting him. LeBron has said his dream is to finish his NBA career playing with his son, who will be draft-eligible in 2024.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

  • The EuroLeague’s reigning coach of the year Ergin Ataman says it’s unlikely he’ll wind up as an NBA head coach, he indicated an interview with Turkish digital channel VOLE (hat tip to Eurohoops.net). “My goal to go to the NBA has decreasing chances because I see that the NBA is a different world,” he said. “… Their perspective of basketball head coaches in Europe is very different. No European coach has ever gone from Europe to the NBA as a head coach. There is no NBA history, zero.” 
  • Former NBA guard Milos Teodosic had an agreement in place with Serbia’s Crvena Zvevda but it was nixed by Virtus Bologna, according to Sportando. Crvena Zvezda president Nebojsa Covic made that assertion in a Pink TV interview. “I’ve spoken at length with Teodosic and we agreed on pretty much everything about him joining us,” he said. “It was Virtus who said no, because it would have made things difficult for the club and because their supporters are fond of Teodosic.”
  • In the Instagram world, the NBA is much more popular than any other U.S. professional league. The NBA officially surpassed 70 million followers on Instagram, making it a top-10 most-followed brand on the platform, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball News. The NBA has more followers than all the other major American sports leagues combined — the NFL (25 million), MLB (8.9 million) and NHL (5.5 million).

International Notes: Gallinari, Dragic, Teodosic, Russia

Danilo Gallinari is looking forward to the next phase of his NBA career with the Celtics, but his immediate priority is the Italian national team. In an interview with Italy’s Sky Sport, Gallinari talks about the challenges that lie ahead in both the next round of EuroBasket and the 2023 World Cup qualifiers (translation by Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops).

“There are many very strong teams carrying multiple NBA players,” Gallinari said of Italy’s EuroBasket competitors. “We will have to be amazing and maybe exceed expectations. But a team like ours has been successful in the past and we can be again.”

Once his international commitment is done, Gallinari will return to the U.S. to start training camp with the Celtics. He signed a two-year, $13.3MM contract with Boston after reaching a buyout agreement with the Spurs last month, believing the Celtics offer his best chance to win an NBA title.

“The goal is the ring with Boston,” Gallinari said. “Despite being in the NBA for 14 years, I feel excited for the next chapter in my career. As long as I can feel the excitement, I don’t want to stop. At the Celtics, there are definitely many responsibilities and expectations. I have already talked with many of my new teammates and members of the coaching staff. They can’t wait to get back in action, there is great enthusiasm. Some are already there. Myself, I am focused on Italy, and after I will focus on the Celtics.”

There’s more international news to pass along:

  • Goran Dragic is ready for a different role with Slovenia than he had when his country won the EuroBasket gold medal five years ago, according to a Eurohoops report. Dragic was the team leader in 2017, but now that role belongs to Luka Doncic. “I was Batman, but now I’ll be Robin,” Dragic said. “The most important thing will be to make sure we have good chemistry and be a leader on the court and lift guys up when it’s most difficult.”
  • European star and former NBA player Milos Teodosic has been cut from the Serbian national team heading into EuroBasket, per Askounis, relaying a report from Mozzart Sport. The 35-year-old guard, who spent two seasons with the Clippers, is one of the top players in Serbian history and served as team captain during the 2016 Olympics.
  • In a separate story, Askounis reviews the players who have left their teams in Russia since the nation was disqualified from EuroLeague play in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion. The list includes some familiar NBA names such as Kevin Pangos, Will Clyburn, Joel Bolomboy, Alex PoythressLorenzo Brown, Jordan Mickey and Mario Hezonja.

And-Ones: Teodosic, Bennett, Cunningham, Macon, Brown

Former NBA guard Milos Teodosic has reached a contract extension agreement with Virtus Bologna through the 2022/23 season, according to a team press release. Teodosic played 60 games with the Clippers from 2017-19. He was waived in February of his final season and signed with the Italian club during the summer of 2019.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Cangrejeros de Santurce in Puerto Rico has terminated Anthony Bennett’s contract and replaced him with Dante Cunningham, Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. Cunningham had a stint in China after appearing in 715 NBA games from 2009-19. Bennett, the top pick of the 2013 draft, hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2016/17 season.
  • Former NBA guard Daryl Macon is expected to sign with Panathinaikos BC, Greek journalist George Zakkas tweets. Macon played for Galatasaray Istanbul and AEK Athens this past season. He began the 2019/20 season on a two-way deal with the Heat and was waived that January. He also played for Dallas.
  • Larry Brown has been named the recipient of this year’s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced on Thursday via a league press release. Brown was a head coach for 42 years at the college and pro level, winning the NBA title with the Pistons in 2004 and NCAA championship with Kansas in 1988. He’s the only coach to lead eight different NBA teams to the playoffs.

Rosters Announced For Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

Four qualifying tournaments to determine the final four teams in the men’s basketball pool at the Tokyo Olympics are set to tip off on Tuesday. In advance of the Olympic qualifiers, the 24 teams involved have officially set their 12-man rosters, according to a press release from FIBA.

More than two dozen current NBA players are participating in the tournament, and 11 of the 24 teams competing for Olympic spots have at least one current NBA players on their respective rosters. Of those clubs, Team Canada has the biggest contingent of NBA players — eight of the 12 players on Nick Nurse‘s squad finished the season on an NBA roster. Turkey is next with four NBA players.

The four qualifying tournaments will take place in Serbia, Lithuania, Croatia, and Canada. Only the winner of each six-team group will advance to Tokyo. Those four winners will join Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Iran, France, Spain, Australia, and the U.S. in the 12-team Olympic tournament.

The teams that move onto the Olympics may tweak their rosters for Tokyo, depending on the availability of certain players. For instance, if Greece were to win its qualifying tournament, perhaps Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo – who remains active in the playoffs for now – would make an effort to join the team in Tokyo next month.

Here are the NBA players on the OQT rosters:

Belgrade, Serbia

Kaunas, Lithuania

Split, Croatia

Victoria, Canada

There are also many former NBA players among the 24 rosters, including Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Timofey Mozgov (Russia), and Anthony Bennett (Canada).

To view the full rosters, be sure to visit FIBA’s official site and click through to each team from there.

World Cup Notes: Joseph, Spain, Teodosic, Rankings

Is guard Cory Joseph in or out of the FIBA World Cup for Team Canada? Joseph, the most prominent NBA member remaining on the depleted Team Canada roster, was withdrawing from the competition, according to a tweet from Toronto Star reporter Doug Smith. However, Team Canada coach Nick Nurse said that report was incorrect and that Joseph would indeed join the team in China, John Casey of 7Olympics tweets.

Joseph is not currently with the team during exhibition games in Australia and Sportsnet Canada’s Michael Grange notes that Joseph would have to leave for China soon, given that the tournament begins in 10 days and he needs to adjust to the 12-hour time difference (Twitter link).

We have more World Cup news:

World Cup Notes: Teodosic, Colangelo, Tatum, Fox

Former Clippers guard Milos Teodosic will miss the FIBA World Cup tournament after going through another bout of plantar fascitiis in his foot, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Teodosic, who reached an agreement last month to play for Virtus Bologna in Italy, was part of a powerful Serbian team that is expected to challenge for a gold medal.

“He suffered again a plantar fascitiis injury,” said Serbian team doctor Dragan Radovanovic. “We already started intense therapies and they will continue in the next couple of days. We will see how the foot reacts and after we will able to know more precisely how long he has to rest.”

Teodosic was a star in the EuroLeague before coming to the NBA, but only played 60 games in two seasons for the Clippers before being waived in February. He suffered a plantar fascia tear during the 2017/18 campaign that ended his season early.

There’s more World Cup news to pass along:

  • Jerry Colangelo, who serves as director of USA Basketball, isn’t concerned about the number of big-name players who turned down invitations to training camp, relays Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Even though Kyle Lowry and Harrison Barnes are the only members of the 2016 Olympic team who have returned for the World Cup, Colangelo doesn’t see it as a crisis. “There isn’t any one reason—there’s myriad reasons,” he said. “We had 30 guys here last summer — they all said they wanted to play. Things happen. I think as we move forward, the World Cup is going to played with young players. It’s going to be a training site for the Olympics.”
  • Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox were standouts in Team USA’s first public scrimmage Friday night, according to Colin Ward-Henninger of CBS Sports. Tatum led all scorers with 17 points and hit 3-of-5 shots from 3-point range. He also displayed a quicker release that was a welcome sight for Celtics fans. Fox had 12 points off the bench and brought plenty of energy to the game that resulted in several steals and fast-break dunks. He could have a significant role in the World Cup if Lowry is unable to play after thumb surgery.
  • Argentina’s final roster contains several familiar names, Carchia writes in a separate story. In addition to Luis Scola, who played 10 NBA seasons, the roster features Nicolas LaprovittolaNicolas Brussino and Patricio Garino.

And-Ones: Pacers, Favors, Zhou, Teodosic

The Pacers were thrilled to see Goga Bitadze still available when the team picked at No. 18, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star relays. The scribe hears that many within the league were surprised Bitadze was still available at that spot. However, several executives told Michael that had they been running the Pacers, they wouldn’t have taken the center unless they planned on trading either Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis.

Most of the executives Michael spoke to believe that if the team decides to trade either Turner and Sabonis, the latter will be the one to go. Turner is entering the first season of a four-year, $80MM contract, while Sabonis is entering the last year of his rookie deal.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • The Pelicans were Derrick Favors‘ preferred destination once it was clear the Jazz were moving him, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Utah needed to trade Favors in order to accommodate the Bojan Bogdanovic signing.
  • Former Rockets center Zhou Qi plans to play in Europe next season, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Zhou has not yet picked a team.
  • Milos Teodosic will make slightly over €5MM during his three-year contract with Virtus Bologna, Carchia passes along in a separate piece. Teodosic last played for the Clippers during this past season.

Milos Teodosic To Play In Italy

Former Clippers guard Milos Teodosic has signed with the Italian club Virtus Bologna, relays Nicola Lupo of Sportando. The team announced the new contract, which will cover three years.

Teodosic, 32, was a disappointment during his time in L.A. after being a huge star in Europe. He played just 60 games in two seasons, including 15 this year, before being waived in February. He averaged just 10 minutes per night this season and was lamenting his lack of of playing time all the way back in November.

Teodosic is a six-time All-EuroLeague selection and was the league’s MVP in 2010. He helped the Serbian team capture the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, as well as silvers at the 2009 EuroBasket tournament and the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Free Agent Notes: Pasecniks, Jefferson, Teodosic, More

Shortly after having his draft rights renounced by the Sixers, 2017 first-round pick Anzejs Pasecniks has joined the Wizards‘ Summer League roster, tweets Michael Scotto of The Athletic.

Pasecniks, a 7’2″ center out of Latvia, has played professionally in Spain for the last few years, but is reportedly interested in making the move to the NBA this season. Since the 76ers didn’t want to carry his cap hold on their books, they made him an unrestricted free agent, giving him the ability to sign with another team. While it remains to be seen if the Wizards will be that team, it seems they’ll give him a look this month.

Here are more updates on a handful of NBA free agents:

  • Could we see Richard Jefferson back in the NBA in 2019/20? After retiring as a player last fall, Jefferson said on Tuesday night (via Twitter) that he wants to come out of retirement to play for one more year. If Jefferson is serious, we’ll see whether there will be an NBA team willing to add him to its roster. If not, he at least made his way into a Hoops Rumors free agent round-up one last time.
  • Veteran point guard Milos Teodosic, who spent a season and a half in the NBA before being waived by the Clippers in February, has reportedly received a two-year contract offer from Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Teodosic is also said to be drawing interest from EuroLeague clubs Olympiacos and Anadolu Efes, as well as Italy’s Virtus Bologna.
  • Free agent guard Darrun Hilliard, who appeared in 91 NBA game from 2015-18 for Detroit and San Antonio, has signed with EuroLeague club CSKA Moscow, the team announced in a press release.
  • Shortly after last month’s draft, word broke that undrafted Boston College guard Ky Bowman will sign with the Warriors. According to Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle, Bowman’s deal is expected to be a two-way contract.

Teodosic Not Expected To Return To NBA This Season

After being waived by the Clippers earlier this month, veteran point guard Milos Teodosic looked like a strong candidate to return to a team in Europe if he didn’t draw immediate NBA interest. Now, it sounds like Teodosic may not play for an NBA team or for a European club for the rest of the season.

According to a report from Nikola Stejkovic of Serbian outlet MozzartSport.com (Twitter links), Teodosic is expected to suit up for Serbia’s national team in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, then plans to sit out the rest of the season to prepare for the 2019/20 campaign (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

Serbia, which has a 6-4 record in qualifying matches for the 2019 World Cup so far, has games against Estonia and Israel in the coming days. The squad is in position to secure a spot in this fall’s event, assuming it can hold off Georgia (5-5) and Israel (4-6) in the standings.

As for Teodosic, while his focus is on international play for now, the longtime EuroLeague star is still just 31 years old and presumably has several good years left in him. In a season and a half with the Clippers, he averaged 8.0 PPG and 4.0 APG with a .420/.378/.811 shooting line in 60 games (21.4 MPG). He saw his role dwindle this season due to a crowded backcourt rotation in Los Angeles.

Based on comments he made in the fall, Teodosic sounds prepared to return to the EuroLeague going forward, after having given the NBA a shot. Having played for CSKA Moscow (Russia) and Olympiacos (Greece) in the past, the veteran guard was said to be drawing interest from Anadolu Efes Istanbul (Turkey) earlier this season, though he figures to have multiple suitors in the offseason.