Diamandidis has successful surgery

PAO's starting PG Dimitris Diamandidis had a successful surgery in the abs area (where he suffered from an injury earlier this year) today.

The player, who says he is feeling fine, is to remain in hospital for 24hours and will exit tomorrow.

His progress is to be evaluated in the coming days, while the doctor who performed the surgery estimated that full recovery will take anything from 4 to 6 weeks.

Diamandidis, who suffered an injury-full season for the first time in his career this year, is still unclear on whether he will be part of the Greek national team in the 2009 Poland Eurobasket this September.

However not playing with the national team in the summer looks like a real possibility for Diamandidis who has been a vital part of the team since the 2004 Athens Olympics, sacrificing his off-seasons in the process.

Most certainly he could use the rest (especially coming off an injury-prone season with injuries hitting him just before the Euroleague Final4 and the Greek playoffs) and return fresh for a new season with Panathinaikos in September.

Another PAO player, Tsartsaris has already expressed his intention not to play in Poland and it seems there could be more Greek players following his footsteps.

Panathinaikos invests in Shermadini

They say you can't teach size but it seems PAO's coaching stuff is really satisfied with the speed with which Giorgi Shermadini has been picking up what they have been teaching him.

As a result Panathinaicos is offering the 20 year-old, 2,16cm Georgian a new long-term contract with better pay.

Shermadini was signed by Panathinaikos midway through the season last year and saw limited playing time in some Greek league games against weaker opponents.

He is considered a long-term investment for the club and has been working hard to master the secrets of the pick-n-roll dominated offensive scheme of Panathinaikos.

PAO fans cannot help but remind themselves of center Stojan Vrankovic when they look at Shermadini. Vrankovic being the protagonist of the last play in the 1996 Paris F4 final against Barcelona with a controversial last-second block against Barca's Montero giving PAO its first European champion trophy (see photo).

Expect to see more of Shermadini this coming season (especially in the first half of the season) as Panathinaikos has already started looking into the future of the club with a number of young players joining the team during the last two off seasons.