(How do you say Jon Diebler for three in Greek?!? Buckeyes All Day!)
Let's Get It (The destinations for the stars of the 2011 Ohio State Rookie Class are now set. Jantel Lavender has been holding it down with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks for months now. David Lighty faces the tough task of competing in the Italian Serie A & Euroleague, Dallas Lauderdale will setup the fort in the country of Poland, and now Jon Diebler is slated to play ball in Greece!)
#33 to Hoop in Athens - There seemed to be rumors a plenty about where former Buckeye great Jon Diebler would play for the 2011/2012 season. Initial stories contained speculation about Diebler possibly playing in Italy or Germany, rumors then came out regarding the reported interest from Greek club Olympiacos. Yet, fate would eventually provide for anther team from Athens, Greece to acquire the Big Ten Conference's all time three point field goal scorer.
Mid-Summer Timeline - Greek media outlet sport.gr first reported (link) major interest in #33 from a A1 club named Panionios B.C on July 27. Another site Sport24gr. then came out with press info (link) about a Panionios offer to the former Mr. Ohio Basketball on August 4. Panionios made the official announcement of adding Jon Diebler on the following day (August 5) with subsequent confirmation (link) from media outlets in the States.
Greek League - The Heba A1 aka Greek A1 League has traditionally been considered as one of the best domestic basketball leagues in Europe. We place the A1 (along with Russia & Serbia) in a group of European Leagues that predominately feature a more half court, defensive oriented type of game as opposed to the higher paced styles of Spain, Italy & France. The last twenty years of Greek Club basketball has resembled the old Big Ten football conference of the 70's with two clubs (Olympiacos & Panathinaikos) being responsible for 17 of the last 20 league championships.
Greek fans would certainly remember & recall watching a couple big Buckeye names who competed in their home country. Scoonie Penn played two stints with powerhouse Olympiacos (2006/2007 & 2010) and Lawrence Funderburke was a member of PAOK BC during the 1995/1996 season (Lawrence actually played with a young Peja Stojakovic for PAOK before rejoining Pea on the Sacramento Kings..a little known basketball fact) Othello Hunter made his European debut in Feb. 2010 with Greek Club Ilisiakos as well. Something tells us that Greek fans will know another Buckeye very well after this upcoming season.
It is currently difficult to say how strong Greek League competition will be in 2011/2012 (especially with mostly incomplete rosters). There has been much off-season documentation about the negative effect that Greece's economic crisis is having on Basketball cubs budget wise. One sure bet is that Panathinaikos & Olympiacos will probably remain strong...players are remembered by their games against those two Euroleague level squads so it will be especially fun to see Diebler compete against them.
Little is known about the other squads in Greece after the top two, but an interesting tidbit from Diebler opting for a mid-level type of team in Panionios is that this may be a situation where the 2011 Portland Trailblazers draft pick can feature or showcase more of his all-around game. According to reports, Jon Diebler signed a one year contract with Panionios (without an NBA lockout out-clause) We can't wait to see clips of Diebs lighting up the nets in Athens!
Columbus Dispatch - Diebler Signs With Greek Team
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