Laguna Tenerife signal ambitions with Drell signing

The top basketball club in the Canaries have shown they are not content with sitting pretty near the top of the Spanish Premiership but hope for more success before the end of the year.

Laguna Tenerife continue to confound the basketball world with impressive performances which saw the club reach the semifinals of the Copa del Rey last month and, with a record of 17 wins and 5 defeats, move to within one win of current ACB league leaders Real Madrid, despite a relatively modest budget compared to the giants of the world’s second strongest basketball league after the NBA.

The side also defeated Italy’s Reggiana mid-week to secure its place in the quarter finals of the Basketball Champions League (BCL) as group winners. The prospect of the ACB playoffs, which are virtually guaranteed for the La Laguna outfit with a third of the regular season to go, and further BCL success has prompted head coach Txus Vidorreta to strengthen his squad for the run-in and the player chosen is Estonia’s Henri Drell, who has just been signed for the rest of the season.

Tallin-born Drell, who stands 2.06 tall and is a full international with Estonia, has played previously in Italy and arrives from United States, where he enjoyed a brief presence in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls last season.

Vidorreta is convinced that his versatility makes him an ideal choice to increase the team rotation and give key players in more than one position a rest in the coming weeks as the season reaches its business end.

Photo: gleague.nba.com