Coach: "He will have to adapt to Maccabi and to the fact that our game plan will not be built around him in the way it was when he played for Murcia."
By ALLON SINAImarcus fizer 88(photo credit: AP [file])
Maccabi Tel Aviv's roster for the 2007/08 season continued to take shape on Thursday, with the signing of American forward Marcus Fizer to a two-year contract worth approximately $1 million per season.
The 29-year-old was selected fourth by the Chicago Bulls in the 2000 NBA draft after starring for Iowa State for three seasons, averaging 18.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Fizer was an All-American Second Team selection in his final college season, but his NBA career never developed in the way many expected it to.
After four seasons with the Bulls as an understudy in the power forward position to All-Star Elton Brand, Fizer was made available to the Charlotte Bobcats in their expansion draft.
The forward didn't make Charlotte's final roster, though, and signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Bucks. He was released by the Bucks after one season and, in November 2005, he signed with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League.
Fizer, who was named the NBDL MVP for the 2005-2006 season, signed a 10-day contract with the Seattle SuperSonics and the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets during his NBDL career, but only made a total of three NBA appearances for both teams.
In
289 NBA games Fizer averaged 9.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, playing an average 20.9 minutes on court. The American had the best season of his NBA career in 2001/02, averaging 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Fizer is no stranger to controversy. In 2004 he pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded handgun during a highway traffic stop two years earlier and was sentenced to a year's probation and fined $2,500.
Fizer is currently playing with Capitanes de Arecibo of the Puerto Rican professional basketball league and will join Maccabi ahead of its pre-season training camp.
Last season Fizer played in Europe for the first time in his career, helping Spanish side Murcia avoid relegation from the first division.
The forward averaged 18.9 points and 6.8 rebounds in Spain.
"We've checked and spoken with many players and coaches and he is in a different stage of his career now," Maccabi coach Oded Katash told Sport 5. "He will have to adapt to Maccabi and to the fact that our game plan will not be built around him in the way it was when he played for Murcia."
The signing of Fizer, who has an option to leave for the NBA after one season in Israel, just about completes Maccabi's roster for next season, with Terence Morris and David Bluthenthal already signing for the club. One more player who is almost definitely joining the yellow-and-blue ahead of next season is Partizan Belgrade's American guard Vonteego Cummings, who is expected to sign for the club as soon as the Serbian playoff is completed.
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