Rentzias gets his NBA chance
Exit Fotsis, enter Rentzias. Just as one Greek player’s NBA aspirations seem to have collapsed, another player is now preparing to step into basketball’s most lucrative competition. Last Friday, the Memphis Grizzlies announced they would not exercise their option to extend the contract of Antonis Fotsis for another season. The 21-year-old played sparingly last season, appearing in just 28 of his team’s 82 games and averaging 3.9 points. Fotsis’s only hope of remaining an NBA player would be to take part in one of several summer camps set up by teams to test non-NBA players and to help their own younger players gain more experience – and impress the right people. Otherwise, he may have to return to Europe. On Tuesday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that they had signed Efthymis Rentzias, 26, a former PAOK player who has spent the past five seasons playing with Spanish club Barcelona. After Fotsis and Jake Tsakalidis, a naturalized Greek currently playing with the Phoenix Suns, Rentzias is the third Greek player to sign with an NBA team. «I feel excited and extremely happy to have signed with such a historic team like the Sixers,» Rentzias said, who added that the deal had not been anticipated. «If, a month ago, someone had told me this was going to happen, I’d never have believed it. I hope to arrive in Philly (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) next Monday or Tuesday. I’ll fight until the end to honor the Sixers. I’ll give it my best.» A 2.12-meter (6′ 11») and 114-kilogram (250lb) center, Rentzias averaged 9.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per contest in 51 games for Barcelona last season in both the Spanish League and Euroleague. During his five years with Barcelona, Rentzias picked up two domestic titles, the Korac Cup in 1999, and the Spanish Cup in 2001. With PAOK, Rentzias won two titles, the Korac Cup in 1994 and the Greek Cup in 1995. Rentzias has been a regular member of the Greek national team. He made a great impact early on as a star player on the Greek junior side that won the Junior World Championship in 1995, beating easily along the way a team of young Americans which included future NBA stars Vince Carter and Stephon Marbury. Rentzias had been named the tournament’s MVP. While still playing with PAOK, Rentzias was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the 1996 NBA draft (No.23), and his rights were traded to Atlanta in 1997. Commenting on his club’s acquisition, the Sixers European scouting coordinator, Croat Danko Cvjeticanin, a former Yugoslav international in the 1980s, said Rentzias had promise. «He is pretty strong, strong body, very mobile, can run the floor and is a good person. He is more oriented as a shooting power forward,» the talent scout was quoted as telling the NBA side’s official website. «I think that he has ability and will learn to play much more aggressively here with coach (Larry) Brown. He will understand more and more of the NBA game,» he added. Cvjeticanin also said that Rentzias had attracted his attention several years earlier, both as a junior and after his move to Spain. «He was very good over there [Spain]. He promised a lot six years ago when he was the best junior. I’ve always had him in mind, but he wasn’t free because he was a Barcelona player,» Cvjeticanin noted. «We began talking and our coach liked him. I showed [Brown] some video tapes, and I think that everything will be OK.»
