Marcellus Sommerville signs with top pro team in Hungary

[Da Coach]

Cellus has already left for Hungary, where he has signed to play the 3 position for the top pro team in Hungary. He will be playing for Atomeromu SE Paks. They play in a 1200 seat arena in the city of Paks, about 50 miles south of Budapest, and right about in the center of the country of Hungary.
Here is the official announcement on the Hungarian League website (see Sept. 19 announcement, paragraph 2)--

http://www.eurobasket.com/HUN/HUN.asp

Cellus will be a teammate with Mark Walters, a 6'2" PG/SG from New Mexico who also signed to play with the ASE Paks team--

http://golobos.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/091606aaa.html

Hungarian professional league has an A division (with 14 teams) and a B division (with 22 more teams). The teams final finish from last year are listed on the right margin of the Hungarian League page.
Atomeromu SE Paks was the league champions the last 2 seasons. --

http://www.eurobasket.com/hun/hun.asp

Here is the team's web page (not recently updated)--

http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=HUN&Team=1192

Congratulations to Cellus.

The only concern is the civil unrest recently that has started in Hungary. The rioting seems to be just in Budapest, and Paks is located about 50 miles south of the capital city. I hope this settles down quickly, and does not disrupt the basketball season over there.--

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0920/p07s02-woeu.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4198647.html

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1536834,00.html

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/13029.html

Interactive map of Hungary showing Paks (zoom out to see proximity to Budapest).--

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=HU&addtohistory=&city=paks

[Fetz86]

Anyone know how much he will be making over there?

[BUBraves06]

Good for Cellus. I just saw him Sunday. Hope he kicks ass over there and then signs with an NBA team.

[BU Bill]

Great for Cellus.
Thanks for tracking down the story and posting it coach!

It good to see he will play for a good team, in the top league, that is serious about winning.

Keep us posted how he's doing.

[Biff]

Anyone know how much he will be making over there?

I don't know, but it can be a lot of money, usually much more than he would have made as a free agent or 2nd round pick in the NBA.

According to a website DraftExpress.com--
American players who sign with the better teams in Europe often can earn 500,000 to 1 million bucks a year and more. Furthermore, "the club system and tax structure in Europe also provides much more to the players, so that a contract over in Europe could be worth over double what the same contract would be from the NBA with much more job security and playing time guaranteed to them" than the players could ever get from the NBA.

"In addition, European teams provide most American players with top-noptch apartments, cars, meals, plane tickets, phones with unlimited calls (even back to the US), and much more. The teams even pay the players agents' fees."

Here is an interesting article about why many European players drafted in the past few years have chosen to stay in Europe and play. They can make more money than the NBA rookie salary scale would allow them to make-

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1064

Or this one-see the bottom-

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1391

[Big Bob]

Sounds like a good deal for Cellus. He probably had several deals to consider, and this is the best deal for him and his family. He's still young and can make some big bucks for a lot of years.

[Eddie]

Interesting fact-
The team that Cellus will play for is sponsored by Atomeromu, an energy company that supplies 40% on Hungary's electricity from a large nuclear energy plant in Paks.

[BU1999]

Great for Cellus.
Thanks for tracking down the story and posting it coach!

It good to see he will play for a good team, in the top league, that is serious about winning.

Keep us posted how he's doing.

My thanks too for helping us keep up with our favorite guys.
I wish the local papers had more on the BU guys!

[tornado]

Coach- that link on Cellus in Hungary also has a video link to some video on Cellus.
You have to have a password apparently to see the video, so I was unable to view it, but I wonder if it was a clip from the NCAA.

[BobbyG]

Congratulations to Cellus!
Here hoping you stay healthy and have a long and successful career ala Anthony Parker and Mitchell Anderdson.
We Bradley fans thank you for all you did for BU.

[Fastbreak]

I read where ISU guard Trey Guidry has signed on in Finland to play for Korikobrat Lapua.

Peoria Richwoods' Marcus Jackson is also in Finland playing for Kataja Karkkila.

And Indiana State's David Moss signed on with a Polish team