May 2012 Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv Wiretap
David Blatt has stepped down as head coach of Russia's national team.
Blatt led Russia to a gold medal at EuroBasket 2007 and a bronze at the 2012 Olympics.
"With mixed feelings, I announce my retirement from the national team of Russia, a team that was a significant part of my professional life," said Blatt in a statement. "My decision is based solely on my sense of what is now the right time. I do it for personal reasons."
Blatt is also the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
After hammering out the details over the past several days, free agent Malcolm Thomas has finally reached agreement on a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, league sources told RealGM on Monday night.
While reports surfaced late last week that Thomas-to-Maccabi was imminent, the 6-foot-9 forward was still sorting through his options while negotiating logistics with the EuroLeague powerhouse, sources said.
Although Thomas had a superb Summer League showing with the Chicago Bulls in July – along with impressive workouts for the New York Knicks and Miami Heat over the last few weeks – in the end he simply could not capture the guaranteed NBA contract he was seeeking. The Bulls, Heat and Knicks were among the teams that offered him non-guaranteed training camp deals.
Privately, Thomas and his camp are hopeful he’ll land an NBA deal next offseason and confident that the chance to excel for an upper-echelon EuroLeague team will allow him to further intrigue American teams, as Jeremy Pargo was able to do.
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv Wiretap RSS Feed