Dinamo Sassari Transfer Watch
By mid-July, Dinamo Sassari had already signed no less than seven new players and declared the summer recruitment process all but concluded. It started on June 15, when the club and head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco announced they would continue together into the 2020-21 season. From then on, Sassari started bringing in players who were almost like-for-like replacements for the ones departing.
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The latest addition to the Sassari roster was big man Ethan Happ, who started the season at fellow Italian BCL club Fortitudo Bologna, but played in only game in the Regular Season of the competition, due to injury
🔴 BUONGIORNO DINAMO LIVE
— Dinamo Sassari (@dinamo_sassari) June 12, 2020
👉 https://t.co/24woKSnwqW
Si aprono le danze di mercato con la firma ufficiale di @ProClip14, classe 1997 dalla Florida, l'anno scorso alla Pallacanestro Cantù
Tutta la rassegna stampa, le news e l'approndimento sul nuovo acquisto del Banco... 📰🎙🎥 pic.twitter.com/a1froYBFFr
Sassari reinforced the forward spots with the American duo of Jason Burnell and Justin Tillman, with Estonian youngster Kaspar Treier and by engineering a somewhat surprising move as they lured Eimantas Bendzius, the former Rytas captain, away from Vilnius.
Tillman parted ways with the club in early January 2021, after averaging 14.2 points and 5 rebounds in the first five games of the BCL season.
Burnell averaged 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in the 2019-20 Serie A, with Cantú.
Bendzius averaged 10.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in the 2019-20 Lithuanian LKL regular season while he contributed 12 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in the EuroCup.
Sassari brought in combo guard Vasa Pusica after the Serbian turned heads in Italy last season with Pesaro, averaging 13.4 points and 3.9 assists per game in the Serie A, and sharp-shooting Croatian guard Filip Kruslin, who spent the last four seasons at Cedevita.
📣
— Dinamo Sassari (@dinamo_sassari) June 23, 2020
UNA COMBO DI FERRO ALLA CORTE DI POZ 🔏
Benvenuto @Vasa24 💙
Comunicato stampa ➡️ https://t.co/4i2iwveV8Z pic.twitter.com/VzIlip6OX9
The Sardinian club concluded the summer recruitment by penning another veteran player, this time as their backup center, in 34-year-old Italian Luca Gandini who played for Varese last year.
Sassari's plans changed in early November however after Vasa Pusica tore his ACL and was ruled out of action for the remainder of the season.
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The club reacted swiftly by signing Toni Katic, the 28-year-old Croatian point guard that had worked with Pozzecco during the coach's stint at Cedevita.
Katic was a free agent after spending the 2019-20 season at Cibona, with which he averaged 6.5 points and 2.7 assists in the ABA Adriatic League.