Petteri Koponen in Italy Update: I just died a little inside

Do I really need to bother coming up with a semi-clever introduction for H.T. anymore? He's from Finland. It is a lot like the United States except that they eat more fish, have a better educational system, and live longer. Oh and its cold. Here he gives us a depressing update on how our hopefully Blazer-to-be Petteri Koponen (The FINNAGLER!) is doing on his pro tour of Italy. (Previous installment here.)

In Italy, Petteri Koponen has turned from MVP to DNP. Road from semi-professional Finnish League to fully professional Italian League has been long. Koponen is one of the youngest pro players in Italy and being in the rotation behind 3 million euro man Earl Boykins is a hard task. After a stable opening game (5 pts, 2 steals, 1 assist in 12 mins), Petteri hasn't got much playing time. After five rounds of Italian League, Petteri is averaging 2,5 points, 0,8 rebounds and 0,8 assists in 11,3 minutes a game while shooting only 27,3 % from the field.

Virtus opened their league campaign with three straight victories, but after two ugly losses (65-99 defeat against Scavolini Pesaro and 71-78 against Air Avellino), head coach Renato Pasquali got fired and replaced by Matteo Boniciolli, who was named Italy's coach of the year earlier this year. Koponen was reached by Finnish news agency YLE this Tuesday and in a nutshell, Koponen stated that first two practice sessions with the new coach have been pleasant and that the whole team seems to have a new approach for the season. Koponen also wishes to see some more minutes under his new coach and the hoopheads in Finland are pretty sure that his PT increases after opening difficulties.

While we look forward to see how Koponen will perform under his new coach, here's just a brief reminder that some other Italian league newcomers have had difficulties finding their rhythm:

http://195.56.77.208/player/?id=JEN-BRA-89&year=2008&team=1161 (Oh that is cold-Ed.)

And sorry, no Finnish hip hop this time. The two-minute clip linked below is from very well known Finnish crime series "Pimeyden tyyny". No need for subtitles, all the main characters speak English:




(The Finns have mastered the art of using randomness as entertainment-Ed.)

H.T.