Petteri Koponen Watch: The first day of the rest of my life edition

You may not be familiar with the Finnish sportswriting sensation known as H.T., or "Hippo, our Friendly Finnish Sportswriter" as he is called over at BlazersEdge. (I know H.T. and he is anything but friendly. He once nearly drove Deceptively Quick out of business when he demanded to be compensated in fresh Saimaa Ringed Seal meat.) The man (myth, legend) is clearly bent on total Blazer blog domination, as is evident by his Q&A with Koponen that is currently up over at BlazersEdge. He checked in here to provide us with the latest developments of Koponen and his Italian team. Nautiskella:

Oh yes, a new season is approaching!

Petteri Koponen didn't have too much time to rest after ending the Eurobasket additional qualifying round with a victory over Italy. The day after the game, Koponen was picked up by Virtus Bologna's coaching staff and he has been practicing with his team full time ever since.

Despite the FIBA EuroChallenge championship, the 2008/09 campaign was a big disappointment for Virtus Bologna. The team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and the majority of the offseason consisted of finger-pointing and yapping. Earl Boykins left Bologna and core players Keith Langford, Reyshawn Terry and Roberto Chiacig decided it was their time to go as well. The only returning players from last year's team are Koponen, reserve guard Brett Blizzard and versatile forward Dusan Vukcevic. Powerful pivot Sharrod Ford and former Italian national team guard Alex Righetti are also practicing with the team, but they haven't been able to negotiate their contracts for the approaching season just yet.

How about the newcomers? American point guard Andre Collins, who legabasket.it voted as the 2nd best point guard in Serie A after Siena's Terrell McIntyre, will probably take the starting job over Koponen. 6-7" scorer LeRoy Hurd has been playing professionally in Italy for the last five years after graduating from University of Texas-San Antonio. The third U.S.-born player signed by Virtus is swingman David "Ronn Moss" Moss, a wiry, tough defensive player.

Virtus also signed two European players. Veteran backup center Diego Fajardo returns to Italy after playing professionally in Spain for two seasons and San Antonio Spurs 2005 draft pick, 23-year old Georgian forward Viktor Sanikidze will come off the bench. Sanikidze played last year with Estonian team Tartu Rock.

Koponen has been very happy with the team's new coach Lino Lardo, who used to play the point guard position a couple of decades ago. Even though Virtus has signed Andre Collins as the starting PG, Lardo has been talking openly about the minutes he'll be giving Koponen throughout the season. After a full year playing off his natural position, Koponen has himself stated that playing shooting guard is no problem for him anymore.

While the Italian Serie A regular season won't tip off before mid-October, Koponen might have already clinched himself a starting job. Andre Collins went down (pause) with an injury last week and according to numerous reports, it might take months for Collins to get himself back in shape. It is still unknown whether Virtus Bologna will get an American replacement for Collins or if Koponen will be given the starting PG position.

Virtus has already played two preseason games this past weekend. On Saturday, Virtus beat Bancatercas Teramo 90-82 with Koponen scoring 10 points and slightly injuring his ankle. In Sunday's game, Montepaschi Siena destroyed Virtus 89-66 with Koponen sidelined.

I'll send you more information throughout the offseason and continue my weekly Petteri Koponen watches when the season tips off. Meanwhile, check out my Petteri Q&A at Blazersedge!


-H.T.