HoopsHype.com Rumors

Pops Mensah-Bonsu had an agreement in principle with Cimberio Varese but in the last hours Olimpia Milano made a better offer for him and the British forward decided to accept the proposal of the club coached by Sergio Scariolo. Pops, whose agent is the same as Scariolo, had already the flight booked to join Varese this week and make his debut in the weekend against Vanoli Cremona when Olimpia Milano entered in the negotiations convincing the player to join them. Sportando

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Italy, Cimberio Varese, Olimpia Milano 

Olimpia Milano has an agreement with Pops Mensah-Bonsu since last week, as Sportando reported. The agreement between the two parts was confirmed yesterday to us by another source close to the British forward. But his arrival in Milano for the physicals, expected for this week, has been likely delayed a few days. Sportando

Free Agency, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

Carlos Arroyo's agent, Manuel Capicchioni, denied that the Puerto Rican PG is close to joining Olimpia Milano. Capicchioni talked to Basketitaly. "The player was offered to Milano over the last weeks but nowadays, the Italian team has not made an offer for him. Carlos would love to play in team as important as Milano but I rule out the chance for him to wear EA7 jersey. We are in talks with two Turkish teams (Galatasaray and Fenerbahce), really interested in signing him. Of course, everything can happen in the coming days". Sportando

Free Agency, Carlos Arroyo, Italy, Turkey, Olimpia Milano 

Emiliano Carchia: Olimpia Milano is in advanced talks with Carlos Arroyo according to @Ismail Senol Twitter @SportandoBasket

Free Agency, Carlos Arroyo, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

"Mike wasn't just a player," said Marco Crespi, a professional coach in Italy and former assistant of D'Antoni in Milan and with the Phoenix Suns. "He was a franchise player. The difference maker." Or, as Gheradini said: "In Italy, he was everything." So much so he caught the eye of an American kid living in Italy at the time named Kobe Bryant, whose father, Joe Bryant, was a teammate of D'Antoni's on Olimpia Milano. D'Antoni was a revelation to Bryant, who was still in the process of formulating his skill set and would study the best players of the day trying to mimic and steal aspects of their game to incorporate into his own. "Growing up, I tried to watch and learn from so many basketball players, all the top ones," Bryant said. "He was certainly a top one. He was certainly a player that I admired. He was tough. He was a tenacious guard that made great plays. He was probably the greatest guard ever to play over there." Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni, Italy, Joe Bryant, Olimpia Milano 

Bryant was soon emulating D'Antoni and the others, taking the court at halftime of Olimpia Milano games and wooing the crowd as a precocious 12-year-old. "We'd practically have to kick him off the court to get the second-half started," D'Antoni says now, laughing. After games the American players and their families would often hang out together, with Kobe tagging a long and listening intently as D'Antoni and the others would talk about basketball. Little did D'Antoni know he was helping spawn one of the greatest basketball players of all time. "I had no idea he'd grow up to be Kobe Bryant," he said. Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni, Italy, Joe Bryant, Olimpia Milano 

According to Il Corriere di Bologna, Petteri Koponen will leave Virtus Bologna in the summer. The Finnish combo guard is targeted by Olimpia Milano who made a €500.000 offer to him. Kopone wants to talk also with the Dallas Mavericks who owns his rights in the NBA. Sportando

Dallas Mavericks, Italy, Petteri Koponen, Virtus Bologna, Olimpia Milano 

Emiliano Carchia: Olimpia Milano has one more signing. The last arrival should be one between Justin Dentmon and Darius Washington Twitter

Washington Wizards, Italy, Olimpia Milano, Justin Dentmon 

Olimpia Milano is again on the market looking for a new combo guard who will be replacing the injured JR Bremer for the final part of the season. The Italian team made an offer to Aaron Brooks in the last days but the player turned it down. Brooks has spent the season in China with Souther Tigers losing the final against Beijing Ducks led by Stephon Marbury. Sportando

Free Agency, Italy, Aaron Brooks, Olimpia Milano 

Emiliano Carchia: Source close to Olimpia Milano denied the rumor that the Italian club is interested in free agent Wilson Chandler Twitter

Free Agency, Wilson Chandler, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

Marko Jaric has been offered to Olimpia Milano. The Serbian PG is free agent and is ready to have a tryout period with the Italian team to check his condition. Olimpia Milano's priority is JR Bremer. Sportando

Free Agency, Marko Jaric, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

As reported by Chema de Lucas on Twitter, Olimpia Milano is not planning to add any player for Euroleague Top 16. In the last hours Slovenian forward Bostjan Nachbar was linked to the Italian team as replacement of the injured Malik Hairston (out four weeks) for the Euroleague Top 16. Nachbar is actually free agent and is trying to get a contract in the NBA. Sportando

Free Agency, Italy, Bostjan Nachbar, Olimpia Milano 

Apart from Unicaja Malaga, there are still five other clubs interested in Tiago Splitter as reported by Luis Martin, one of his agents. They are Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Olimpia Milano (Italy) and also the Spanish clubs Real Madrid, Valencia Basket and Caja Laboral, team where Splitter played from 2001 to 2010. Esporte

San Antonio Spurs, Tiago Splitter, Real Madrid, Caja Laboral, Lockout, Spain, Israel, Italy, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Valencia Basket, Olimpia Milano 

Have you ever thought about signing Kobe Bryant? Sergio Scariolo (Olimpia Milano's head coach): Olimpia has received a lot of calls from Bryant's agent because the player was interested in playing in Milano. But from the beginning we had decided we would not sign locked out players and we only made an exception with Danilo Gallinari because of his personal links with the team. VAVEL.com

Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Lockout, Danilo Gallinari, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

You were in talks with Olimpia Milano… How close were you to signing with this team? Wilson Chandler: Very close at one point, but like I said the situation here was a lot better. I had three games a week and over there I had only one game a week. This league is a better imitation of the NBA with three games a week. HoopsHype

Wilson Chandler, Lockout, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

Andrea Centenari: 12 points (1/2, 2/4) for Danilo Gallinari in his first friendly game with Olimpia Milano Twitter

Denver Nuggets, Danilo Gallinari, Olimpia Milano 

Vittorio Festa: -@Andrea Bargnani tweeted "going to Milan" and media/fans just got excited thinking he was going 2play in Olimpia Milano Bball but not at all. Twitter

Toronto Raptors, Lockout, Italy, Andrea Bargnani, Olimpia Milano 

Olimpia Milano officially announces the return of Danilo Gallinari during the NBA lockout. The Italian International spent the last three years in the NBA with New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets averaging 13.8ppg, 4.4rpg and 1.5apg in 171 games. Sportando

Denver Nuggets, Lockout, Danilo Gallinari, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

"I am very excited for the chance given to me by Milano. I really hope I can give to the supporters a lot of satisfactions" said Gallinari who will join the team in the tournee in Spain from September 22nd to October 2nd. "As I said several times, Danilo Gallinari was the only exception we could make about 'part-time' players. We are excited about having him in the roster for the beginning of the season. He will give us a big help to reach Euroleague Top 16. I am sure that playing with us will also help Danilo in his growth as a player" said coach Sergio Scariolo. Sportando

Denver Nuggets, Lockout, Danilo Gallinari, Italy, Olimpia Milano 

As per La Gazzetta dello Sport, Danilo Gallinari reached an agreement with Olimpia Milano until the end of the NBA lockout. Il Gallo will also travel with the team to Spain on Thursday where Olimpia is going to play some friendlies with also the new arrivals, Antonis Fotsis and Ioannis Bourousis and meet with coach Scariolo. Gallinari should have signed the contract late yesterday or he will do it this morning. Sportando

Denver Nuggets, Lockout, Danilo Gallinari, Italy, Olimpia Milano