The BK Prostejov Eagles, winners of two in a row after Saturdays 75-67 road victory over Kolin, have decided to part ways with leading scorer and Mattoni NBL leading rebounder Shaun Pruitt (208-C-85, agency: N.E.T., college: Illinois).

His replacement is Belgian National Team center Sebastien Bellin (205-C-78, agency: Court Side, college: Oakland) who is on a try-out with the team. After falling out of the starting lineup on Wednesday (11 minutes), Pruitt was not with the team for Saturdays game in Kolin. Averaging 16.4 points (#3 in NBL) and a league-leading 9.9 rebounds per contest apparently was not enough for manager Peter Frederick. Pruitt, a rookie center out of Illinois was in his first pro-season after suffering through a school-worst 16-19 season for the Illini. A freshman member of the 2005 Illini NCAA Finalist squad (a team that featured Deron Williams, Luther Head, Dee Brown, Roger Powell, etc), Pruitts career peaked during his junior season when he named an All-Big-10 Third Team Selection, but his senior season did not see the same progress. After playing with New Orleans during the Vegas Summer League, Pruitt turned down other offers from European clubs to play in Prostejov. While statistically Pruitt was very impressive, a closer examination of his game showed some serious rookie-flaws that Prostejov, currently fourth in the NBL, felt they could no longer deal with. For example, Pruitt did not possess great court-vision, apparent in his 0.9 assist per game averages and numerous offensive fouls he accumulated per game. Also, while a dominant force inside, Pruitt has not been able to correct his horrendous free-throw shooting (46.2%) to capitalize on the fouls he draws. But aside from these performance flaws, as most players have, Pruitts lack of commitment to defense was probably the final nail in the coffin for his time at Prostejov. With the return of Ian Ian Hanavan (202-F-80, agency: Interperformances, college: Evansville) from injury and the emergence of Jason Miller (208-F/C-80, college: Oklahoma St.), Prostejov was re-enforced in the front-court and decided that now was the time to cut ties with a very talented, yet flawed young post man.

In Bellin, the Eagles find a replacement big man more committed to the defensive end of the court and reccomended for his play and determination by Ian Hanavan (former teammate).

Jonas Kazlauskas was officially presented today as the new head coach of Greek Basketball National Team, having as his assistant coach Giannis Sferopoulos , who is currently the head coach of Kolossos Rhodes and who has worked previously as an assistant coach of Jonas Kazlauskas at Olympiacos, as well.
At the press conference, where eurobasket.com was also present, the new coach stated that 'it is a big honor for me to be the head coach of Greek National Team, since it is a team that could reach at the first place of every competition that takes place. I will give all my energy and my knowledge to help the successes go on. At the past, I have seen many good things at the team, such as its point guards; everybody knows about them'.

Regarding the changes that he is thinking to bring at the team, Jonas Kazlauskas admitted that he cannot change everything in a short time. 'Certainly, we will change our way of playing; I have thought some different things and we will see them on practice in the near future'.
The new head coach of the National team had a phone communication with its ex-coach, Panagiotis Yannakis: 'he called me to express to me his support to this new attempt', he stated, and continued answering on a question about the possible calls to the two Greeks that play now at NBA and NCAA respectively: 'why not having Nick Kalathis (200-G-89) and Kosta Koufos (213-F/C-89, college: Ohio St.) in our roster? They are young talented players, but in any case it is not the right time to discuss about the roster. I will see them playing, through DVDs, since I would rather prefer staying here in Greece and experience of as many games as possible, Euroleague's and A1 championship, in order to get closer to the players'.
Concerning the friendly games that the Greek federation has already booked, before even finding the new head coach for the team, Jonas Kazlauskas reminded of his big experience of preparing national teams such as the ones of China and Lithuania: 'The Greek Fedeartion has already programmed nine friendlies before Eurobasket 2009, which I think are enough. Our players have all the abilities to be ready for what every competition needs.'
When asked about the fact that he is the second only foreigner as a head coach in the national team, Jonas Kazlauskas remembered China once more: 'I have done it for China, as well. But here, I am not just a coach; I admire the Greek National Team and generally the Greek Basketball.'
Finally, replying on a question about the thing that he firstly thinks that the Greek National Team would need, he emphasized on his attitude that the team should not only play the pick'n'roll: 'In China I told them that we needed a point guard, but here in Greece we have all that we need. Nothing important is missing, although there are players who could play at the Lithuanian or Spanish way of playing. That could help us when our pick'n'roll plays are not successful; in any case, I think it is too early to discuss about it.'
It should also be mentioned that Fanis Christodoulou (202-F-65) was also present at the press conference and when the president of FIBA Europe, Mr. Vasilakopoulos was asked about this fact, he answered that the veteran player has never abandoned the National Team and that he may help the team from a place in the near future.