Earl Boykins CUT from Italian Club! More time for Koponen?

Earl Boykins has received frequent attention from this blog. This was mostly because of his station as the player that made Koponen's minutes inconsistent and role ambiguous. (Although he made another special appearance after getting outplayed by our man Akeem Scott.) Even as H.T. updated us with game after game featuring Boykins racking up ridiculous amounts of turnovers, we figured he would nonetheless remain a fixture of the team, him being the highest paid player in league history and all.

Ladies and Gentleman, those days are over. Thanks as always to H.T. for the news break that Earl Boykins has been cut by Virtus Bologna:

Virtus Bologna will cut Earl Boykins. The president of Virtus, Claudio Sabatini announced it to Sky Sport: 'The player have asked us 4 days of holiday but we did not give them to it. However, he decided to fy to US today. This is an unacceptable behavior for a guy born in '94. We have clear ideas on what we have to do'.

Boykins during the game against Ferrara has almost striked not shooting during the entire game and having a behavior on the parquet that has raged the fans and the coaching staff.

Bolonia may ink the experienced point guard Melvin Booker to replace the former NBA player.

With no other pointguards on the roster at the moment this leaves Petteri Koponen at the helm. The team will probably sign another pointguard, but unless it is another expensive player (which 36 year old Melvin Booker is not), we can assume Petteri's role will be expanded. Thanks for being an ass Boykins.

Akeem Scott speaks to DeceptivelyQuick

There is no non-Blazer related player that gets as much ink many pixels on DeceptivelyQuick as the venerable Akeem Scott. If you are not up on your DQ history and/or just want some entertainment, I recommend devouring the Akeem Scott archives.

H.T. recently gave us an excellent recap of the game that saw Akeem Scott's Honka Playboys facing off in a preseason contest against Petteri Koponen's new squad, Virtus Bologna. Honka plays in the Finnish league, which you may not have heard much about. Virtus Bologna, on the other hand, plays in a well known Italian league. They are the team that made news when they signed Earl Boykins to a league high $3.5 million a year. Honka won the game. Although only a preseason match up, it was certainly a step towards getting more recognition for Finnish basketball.

If your lazy American eyes are as lazy as my American eyes, you may have missed Boykin's line in the box score: 12 points, 4 rebs, and 4 assists. Respectable for a debut with a new team on a new continent.

Then take a peak at Akeem Scott's line: 17 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals. And the upset victory.

In addition to the victory being great for Finnish basketball and Honka, it was an impressive display by Akeem Scott. He has now gone up against an NBA player and walked away victorious, which is something. I figured it would be a good time to catch up with the man. My words in italics.

Nice job introducing Earl Boykins to pro ball in Europe. What was it like going up against a him?

Thanks, it was fun playing against Earl Boykins. To know he played with Allen Iverson and against other guards like Steve Nash, Chris Paul and so on. It was good to know I can go the distance with him in a basketball game, and maybe I am even better than him!! But with that said I respect him and his game. He has open doors for many small guards all over the world!! AND HE DESERVE THE RESPECT FOR THAT.

What are your personal and team goals for this season? Next season? Career? Life???

I will tell you my team goals first, because my team come before me.
To get better every game as a team and to make our bench stronger ever practice, our bench is young but these young guys are hungry for minutes and will get lots of playing time this season because of their hard work.
Our second team goal is to win the Finnish CUP. Our third team goals is to stay FINNISH NATIONAL CHAMPS!!
My goal is to become a really good point guard this year. As far as my career goes, I just want to become one of the best guards Europe has ever seen play. So I plan on moving to ITALY, SPAIN, GREECE or maybe even France to prove my point. As far as Life goes, I just want Good Money, a couple of houses and cars and two beautiful women who wants to live with me at the same time!!!

How often do you get back to the States? What do you miss most while you are in Europe?

I go back to the states every summer. when I am in Europe the things i miss most about the states are my family, snowcrabs and shrimps, and playing my PS3 with my boys back home and talking trash in Mario's barber shop about sports (new york giants for life).

What do you miss most about Europe when you're in the States?

when i am in the states, the thing I miss most about Europe is the people, you guys and girls are all cool. and yall feel like family to me. and plus it feels good when your a CHAMP in a country. Finland is my Country oooooowwwww!!! and yes i am proud of that.

We've called you a Renaissance Man because you seem to have a lot of interests.If you couldn't play pro ball, what profession would you be known for?

If i could not play pro basketball, i would be know as a Pro Football Player. I am better in football, then I am in Basketball now!!! but if could not play a sport, I would be a hip hop artist or Actor. I need the camera in my life!!

with that said i would like to say to my people out there. Thanks for making me feel at home. this year is going to be a fun year with all new youtube clips and blogs. So if you dont mind putting this next thing in, I want to be called the PEOPLE'S CHAMP. look, the people love me out here and I love them even more. They want a show and I bring the show right to them. If they had a choice to bring me back every year, the people would bring me back ever year and guess what? I would comeback every year to give the PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!!! ACTION.

[END.]

Akeem also has a blog worth checking out at AthletesGlobal.com. This year is going to be good.

Petteri Koponen packs his sunscreen, heads to Italy

Bittersweet news that Petteri Koponen has signed a four year deal with elite Italian club Virtus Bologna. Although we at DeceptivelyQuick are sad Koponen won't be with the team this season (especially if they sign Luke Jackson to that last spot instead, dear God man!), there is reason to be happy. Apparently the contract is reasonably buy-outable (new word, exciting!) if Portland wants to bring him over before the four seasons are up. The Finnagler will also face some tough competition to be sure, which is really something he needs at this point.

But there are some concerns. Something else Koponen needs is experience. Odd then that he chose to sign with the club that just made NBA pointguard Earl Boykins the highest paid player in that league. Koponen reportedly had multiple teams chasing him, so why choose one where you are basically guaranteed to not be the primary pointguard?

I have a hunch they will use him as a back-up point and also play him at the shooting guard spot. These roles don't strike me as optimal for his continued development as a pointguard. Here is to hoping that everything works out, and that The Finnalger ends up in Portland in time for a title run.

UPDATE: Check out the Breaking News status given to Koponen from True Hoop! Finnagler-Fever continues to spread!