Neno Dimitrijevic debuted for Aris with 20 points and immediately became top scorer

Our best basketball player, Nenad Dimitrijevic, played his first match in an Aris shirt and needed no time to settle in. Against Vikos Falcons he put up 20 points and was the most efficient player in a team that won 97:80, in a line-up from which coach Spanoulis was missing several players. This week Aris face a strong tournament in Nicosia, and the dress rehearsal before the season starts will be from 20 to 22 September at a tournament in Thessaloniki. Only a week earlier Neno recorded a historic triple-double in Macedonia's away win against Austria. Here at home, people have spent years saying we do not have a player for the big European clubs. He is no longer listening to that - he is playing the answer.

Jokic tops the vote for the 25 best players in ABA League history, Bo McCalebb is twelfth

For the 25th anniversary of its founding, the ABA League published a list of the 25 best players in its history, presented at a gala evening in Ljubljana. Nikola Jokic won convincingly with 94.3 percent of the vote, behind him the late Dejan Milojevic with 92.3 percent, third Bogdan Bogdanovic with 80.4 percent, then Nikola Pekovic and Dario Saric. In twelfth place is Macedonia's former international, Lester Bo McCalebb. The voting method says a lot: the votes of the coaches of the year counted for 70 percent, former MVPs 20 percent, and media and fans five percent each. So the selection was made by the profession, not by popularity. Macedonia has one man on that list - and he is an American who wore our shirt.

Jonas Valanciunas left the court injured: Zalgiris won 112:78 but lost their centre

In Zalgiris's third pre-season game against Sabah of Baku, centre Jonas Valanciunas collided with team-mate Marius Grigonis in the first quarter and left the court holding his lower right leg. He spent the rest of the first half on the bench with ice, and did not return after the break at all. The Lithuanians won 112:78 with as many as 19 threes, Edgaras Ulanovas scored 18 points, but that is not the number being discussed in Kaunas. In the first two pre-season games Valanciunas averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds. Zalgiris now move on to London, where Paris Basketball await. Pre-season is the period when every team looks good until one man goes down on the floor.

Olympiacos beat Fenerbahce by a second, Red Star waiting in the final

At the pre-season tournament on Crete, Olympiacos beat Fenerbahce 82:77 in a semi-final decided in the last second. The Turkish side led almost the whole way and were 58:57 up in the fourth quarter, but the Greeks were more accurate down the stretch. And that without Sasha Vezenkov, Jean Montero and Nikola Milutinov. The best was Evan Fournier with 19 points, Donta Hall added 16 points and 8 rebounds, Tyler Dorsey 15. For Fenerbahce, Wade Baldwin stood out with 16 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. In the final Olympiacos face Red Star, who had earlier eliminated Milan. A pre-season tournament, and the line-ups look like April. The EuroLeague is starting before it starts.

Madzari no longer exists: Macedonia's runners-up are now called KK Skopje

Basketball club Madzari has officially changed its name and will from now on compete as KK Skopje. The club says the change is not merely cosmetic and that the goal is a recognisable sporting story tied to the capital and to the Gazi Baba municipality - a place that has produced athletes for years. The message they sent reads: "From Madzari to Skopje. From tradition to the future. From the stands to the court". A special call was also made to the supporters' group "Pirates" to fill the stands again. The question that remains is whether the new name comes with a new budget, or only a new logo. Runners-up in Macedonia is a good place to start from - but also a place you fall from quickly if there is no squad behind the branding.