It has recently been reported across the internet and even in the Greek media that the Greek basketball club, Olympiakos, had made offers to the Bulls restricted free agents, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.

In a email Q&A with the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson, Manos Manouselis, a Olympiakos assistant, said that the club never made any offers to Gordon or Deng. The rumors were the result of Olympiakos reaching out to multiple NBA free agents to see if they would consider a career overseas and what kind of money it would take to get them to play overseas. From there, Olympiakos narrowed their search down to players they felt were realistic targets.

Manouselis says that the team was targeting a off the ball small forward, so Josh Childress was a logical fit. They also were considering James Posey and Ricky Davis. Manouselis says that Childress is the final piece to the team. However, it is very difficult to see Olympiakos passing on Ben Gordon if they have a realistic chance at obtaining him because he would easily become the team’s best player and the talent gap between him and their current shooting guard, Arvydas Macijauskas, is so large. (Macijauskas averaged 2.3 PPG on 34.1 FG% during his short stint in the NBA). Gordon’s game is suited perfectly for the Euro game and would be a good fit next to Olympiakos 6′7″ starting point guard, Theodoros Papaloukas.

[Link to Q&A on Full Court Press Blog]