By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Where Pooh Jeter will finish the season? He is a target with Panathinaikos, despite the fact that the Greens are in the final stage of negotiations with Zach Wright and Brose Baskets – after all Wright has experience from Greek basketball as a former player of Rethymno – but the season practically ended for Jeter in China.
Despite one game remaining at the 16th of February and a win on Friday, Shandong will finish ninth in the standings and Panathinaikos can finally get in time the player which was considered one of its prime targets. Which is the interesting part of the story? Fenerbahce/ Ulker of former Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic is also searching for a point guard, specially after the elbow injury of Kenan Sipahi and is also in contact with Jeter in order to lure him in Istanbul.
Both teams are on the same Euroleague Top16 group, they need desperately one more good guard and they want the same exact player. Add to the mix the possibility of Jeter not playing anywhere after the end of the season in China, in order to take a long vacation until July, when he will have to travel to Ukraine in order to start preparing for the upcoming FIBA World Cup. He is a naturalized Ukrainian and the leader of his adopted country national team, which is coached by the great Mike Fratello.
The fact that two top Euroleague teams, like Panathinaikos and Fener, are asking him to come to Europe, is of course more than flattering and Jeter is expected to decide what to do in the following days, or even hours. On the same time Brose Baskets confirmed the negotiations with Panathinaikos about Wright, but denied that there is already a deal in place between the three sides involved.
So there is a really big question here.
Where Pooh will end up, if he decides not to roster in order to gain experience, fame and one more good contract for the next four months? To Panathinaikos, or to Fenerbahce which can probably outbid the Greens with a better financial offer? We will know the answer soon with Brose Baskets and Zack Wright being also directly affected and involved in this tricky situation…