Newley Moves To New Greek Team & Other Hoops News

Barkley's golf swing will do this to anyone. Find out more below.

Brad Newley is learning what life is about as an import.

Before departing Greece about a month ago he felt that he was going to return to the club, Panionios, that he had just completed his first Greek season with.

After some water had passed under that bridge and no spot there, Newley has signed with a new Greek club, Panellinios.

When I last chatted with Brad he was disappointed in having to change clubs because his old team had just qualified for Euroleague next season. For people that don't know, Euroleague is the best competition outside of the NBA.

After getting over the original heartache, Brad is looking forward to his new team and the added responsibility he will have within the team.

Panellinios still has to qualify for ULEB. ULEB is the second best European competition, so he still would be playing against some strong international competition as well as the tough Greek domestic league.

Although Newley has to possibly wait another season to take his game to Euroleague, I'm sure another season in the Greek league will only improve his game. He will be asked to score more on a consistent basis with his new team, so Newley's game will only keep getting better.

I'm looking at his situation rather selfishly for Australian basketball's future. With his continued improvement, he will be one of the best international two guards by the time the 2012 Olympics come around.

I personally feel this will be the Olympics where the Boomers will really push for a major medal.

With Newley signing now instead of waiting till later to see what is available, his mind will be clear for a good performance in Beijing.

If he had waited to sign till after the Olympics, that would have created a lot of weight on his mind.

All the best to Brad for the Olympics and his continuing career in Europe.

Gold Coast Blaze have re-signed import Luke Whitehead for the upcoming NBL season. They have an excess of front court players now. Ben Melmeth, Pero Cameron, Scott MacGregor, Casey Frank, Juaquin Hawkins and Whitehead will all be fighting for minutes.

Basketball Australia is not sure how to approach marketing the Boomers. Andrew Vlahov knows how.

Spirits not so high in Bendigo right now. They want Sydney's spirits dampened, for good.

Check out fellow blogger A Stern Warning. He has some great articles, especially the one about Atlanta Hawk, Josh Childress potentially walking away from the NBA. Seems like some top European teams are making a push for some credentialed NBA players. $20 million over three years will make most think twice. More on Childress.

TrueHoop's review the Vegas Summer League. A insightful recap of what happened over the week.

ESPN's Chris Sheridan takes a look at what Team USA has been up to.

Who's Hot and Who's Not in Utah's Summer League.

"I thought the way [the Nuggets] went about it was classless," he said. "I thought it could have gone down a whole lot better. I'll get over it once training camp begins when I'm around the guys. You never forget. I'm definitely looking forward to those couple games we play against Denver." - Marcus Camby (Associated Press)

"I've tried everything," Barkley says. "Tiger can't help me 'cause the hitch is there no matter what. I even tried getting hypnotized for 45 minutes and still woke up with the same crappy swing." And so it went the rest of the day: Barkley making people laugh and hug him, interrupted by these sporadic fits that made them look away in sympathy. "Hey, I know I suck," he yelled on the eighth hole, still lying two and not yet to the women's tees, "but I got nice equipment." - Charles Barkley. Check out my favourite sports author Rick Reilly's article on Sir Charles.

Long Live The Snakepit