Besiktas lands Ricky Minard

On the eve of the deadline to register new players to play in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague season, Besiktas JK Istanbul announced the addition of small forward Ricky Minard until the end of the campaign. Minard (1.96 meters, 30 years old) arrives from SAIE3 Virtus Bologna of Italy, where this season he averaged 10.4 points, 1.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 16 Italian League games. Minard has plenty of European experience as he played in Italy for several seasons and teams including Lottomatica Roma, Lauretana Biella or Premiata Montegranaro since 2005. He also had a Russian stint in 2010 and 2011 with BC Khimki and Unics Kazan and then he also played with BC Azovmash Mariupol of Ukraine before moving back to Italy. This will be his second experience in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague after he made his debut with Roma in 2009-10.