Budivelnyk tabs Rolandas Alijevas

Ukraine champion Budivelnik announced the addition of guard Rolandas Alijevas for the next season, in the attempt to get through the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds. Alijevas (1.92 meters, 26 years old) arrives from Rudupis Prienu of Lithuania where last season he helped the team finish third in the Lithuanian League. He started the season with Nevezis and in the Baltic League he averaged 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 20 games. Alijevas started his pro career in 2001 making his debut with Zalgiris. In 2003 however he left to play in France with Asvel Basket and that started a travelling career which has led him to several countries. He has played in Switzerland with Boncourt, Slovenia with KRKA, Greece with Larissa or Russia with Samara. He will now visit Ukraine to try to help Budivelnik make it into the Euroleague, in which Alijevas already played in 2003-04 with Asvel and 2008-09 with Zalgiris. He also took part in the 2003 International Junior Tournament to lead the Zalgiris junior team to victory in the tournament first edition as he averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists to become the MVP.