Olympiacos bolsters backcourt with Perkins

Reigning Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion Olympiacos Piraeus reinforced its backcourt with the signing of point guard Doron Perkins for the remainder of the season. Perkins (1.89 meters, 29 years old) takes the roster spot of Evangelos Mantzaris, who was the Reds starting playmaker before going down last month with an ACL injury. Perkins arrives from Foshan Longlions of the Chinese Basketball Association. He began the season with Ukrainian club BC Donetsk, with whom he played in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds and the Eurocup. He showed his impressive all-around game was intact with averages of 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1 block in two Eurocup appearances. Olympiacos will be Perkins’s this Euroleague club after spending two seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv between 2009 and 2011 and finishing last season with Cantu. Over two seasons with Maccabi, Perkins was remarkably consistent, averaging 9.4 points, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals in 25 minutes per game before suffering a knee injury in the 2011 playoffs. He is considered one of the top on-the-ball defenders in the competition. Perkins has also played for Toyota Alvark in Japan, EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany, Bree in Belgium and Haifa in Israel during his professional career.