The Greeks sent the Syracuse tandem of Jim Boeheim and Carmelo Anthony packing along with the rest of team USA after a 101-95 victory Friday at the World Championships.

Coincidentally, Greece will be the new home for another former Syracuse star, although he hopes it’s only for a year or so.

On Monday night, Gerry McNamara signed a one-year contract to play professionally with Olympiacos BC, a Greek club team. McNamara will only compete with Olympiacos during the Euroleague portion of its schedule and sit out its Greek League contests.

‘They’ve been after us for about a month,’ said Bill Neff, McNamara’s agent. ‘In the end, it makes the most sense.’

Neff said McNamara will earn similar money to a second-round NBA draft pick, which he estimates is approximately $412,000. He said McNamara could even make more because his pay also will include living and travel expenditures provided by Olympiacos.

Olympiacos, nicknamed the ‘Reds,’ is widely considered to be the best team in Greece and one of the finer teams in Europe — it is often referred to as the Chicago Bulls of Europe because of its dominance and similar team colors. McNamara is the 13th and final addition to the roster for competition in 2006-07.

McNamara will join the team this week, but he will not play until the first week of November, when Euroleague play begins.

Neff said there was plenty of interest from teams overseas, but because of the money offered and the nature of the deal — one year guaranteed — he and McNamara chose Olympiacos.

‘I didn’t want to put the Big East tournament MVP in St. Petersburg, Russia for two years,’ Neff said.

Along with Dynamo St. Petersburg, Neff said BC Red Star of Belgrade and Rhein Energy of Cologne, Germany, were the other European club teams that expressed interest in McNamara’s services.

‘Being with Olympiacos allows Gerry to heal and play at the highest level,’ Neff said.

Neff said heal, but would not specify whether McNamara is still feeling the effects of the groin injury which has hampered him since the end of last season and limited him to 26 minutes in the Orange’s first-round loss to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament.

‘Every time we thought he was fine, he got hurt,’ Neff said.

McNamara went undrafted in the June 28 NBA Draft and the recurring injury definitely played a huge role. The Orlando Magic expressed interest in his services with the 41st pick overall, but the Magic passed on McNamara as a draft choice. The next day, the Magic invited McNamara to participate on Orlando during the six-team NBA summer league it hosted.

‘They were consistent in their pursuit,’ Neff said on June 29. ‘They really like him.’

McNamara’s play in the summer league was limited because of the injury and his position of the guard depth chart. Travis Diener, already under contract with the Magic, received the majority of the playing time. McNamara appeared in only three out of five games, averaging 10 minutes, two points and two assists.

‘He played when he shouldn’t have,’ Neff said.

However, Neff believes the newest opportunity overseas is the best possible for McNamara at this point.

‘This offered him more freedom,’ Neff said. ‘It allows him to be exposed, and at the same time it’s not risky.’

Olympiacos, based out of Piraeus, Greece, has won nine Greek Championships and seven Greek Cups. The Reds won five Greek Championships in a row from 1993-1997. Olympiacos made the Euroleague final in 1994 and 1995, winning for the first time in 1997.

In 1996-97 the club won the Triple Crown, by capturing the Greek Championship and Cup and the Euroleague title.

The coach of Olympiacos is Pinhas Gershon, the former head of Maccabi Tel Aviv, who coached Toronto Raptors guard/forward Anthony Parker, among others. Neff studied Gershon during the signing process and he likes McNamara’s chances.

‘I don’t know if he’ll play,’ Neff said. ‘But his (Gershon’s) history is to play guys, sometimes eight or nine deep.’

The 13-man roster consists of five Americans, including former Boston College and Ohio State guard Scoonie Penn.

SU recruits hit Rucker Park

Current Syracuse recruits Donte Green and Rick Jackson played alongside one another in a game for the first time on Saturday, standing in awe of the court they played on.

No, it wasn’t a packed house at the Carrier Dome. Instead, it was legendary Rucker Park in Harlem.

Green and Jackson participated in the first annual Elite 24 Hoops Classic, held at the outdoor park that has showcased some of the city’s finest high school and streetball talent since 1965 and raised such legends as Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Irving

‘It was crazy,’ Green said by telephone Tuesday. ‘You’ve got legendary Rucker Park and some of the best ballers in the country with you.’

Green and Jackson played on the Goat Squad, named after famous streetballer Earl Manigault, which was coached by current Chicago Bull Ben Gordon. Skip to my Lou Squad, derived from current NBA player Rafer Alston’s nickname, was coached by Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets.

The Goat Squad was defeated by Skip to my Lou Squad by a score of 141-139, in a typical All-Star game featuring high-flying dunks and plenty of scoring.

Jackson scored eight points off the bench and Green had 10.

Green was disappointed with his performance, but it didn’t mean he took nothing out of it.

‘You got to see the atmosphere,’ Green said. ‘I got to see things I could add to my game from other players.’

Green, a 6-foot-9 forward from Towson (Md.) Catholic, is ranked No. 13 overall in the class of 2007 by Rivals.com. Jackson, also 6-foot-8, from Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia, is ranked 98th overall.

Point guard Johnny Flynn, another SU recruit, was expected to play, but missed the game due to school commitments.

SU recruits hit the Dome

Four out of five of the class of 2007 recruiting class will be in attendance for the SU football game vs. Iowa on Saturday.

Green said that he along with Jackson, Antonio ‘Scoop’ Jardine and Johnny Flynn will make the trip to hang out and be entertained by the SU athletic department.

Published on September 4, 2006 at 12:00 pm