Aris Thessaloniki – a bit better, but far from a competitive roster
Aris Thessaloniki – a bit better, but far from a competitive roster
Another glorious club from the city of Thessaloniki has some problems due to the financial crisis. A couple of weeks ago we presented the hard times they’re facing, with all the foreign players that have left the team and nobody was brought in to replace them.
At the beginning of the summer, they signed the Bosnian Milan Milosevic from Lavrio which was the first transfer for Aris. Last season he averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Aris has brought in also two Americans players, Marcus Lee, a 25-years forward and Jaylen Morris, 23 years-old, as a guard. Both of them played in G-League last season averaging good numbers. Morris played in 10 NBA games for Atlanta and Milwaukee. The only decent Greek player signed this summer is Vagel Sakellariou from Panathinaikos. He played in two games for the Athens club and now he came to Aris to regain his trust and play more minutes.
The most solid transfers for Aris is coming from Partizan Belgrade and is the Serbian big man Djordje Gagic. Last season in 25 ABA League games he averaged 6.8 points and 2.8 rebounds.
Those are the transfers that Aris managed to complete by now. It`s very hard for them to predict anything good, taking into consideration the fact that the roster looks very small and weak, with 7, 8 experienced players and the others are only young players from the junior side. I don`t know if they will add any other players, but as for now, if this is the final roster for them, the season will be tough. All other Greek teams have more foreign players and more complete squad, so to avoid the relegation is the main objective for Aris next season. I feel so bad for this big club and their fanatic fan-base, but with this roster, you can`t compete at a high level.
Photo credit: championsleague.basketball
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
