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San Diego forward John Sinis signs professional contract

John Sinis, Matthew Dellavedova

San Diego’s John Sinis (31), of Greece, tries to block a shot from Saint Mary’s Matthew Dellavedova (4), of Australia, during the second half of a West Coast Conference tournament NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, March 9, 2013, in Las Vegas. Saint Mary’s defeated San Diego 69-66 in overtime. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

AP

In two seasons at the University of San Diego, 6-9 forward John Sinis averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for a program that has the look of a team primed to make a move in the WCC this season. Sinis won’t be around to see if a team led by guard Christopher Anderson and Johnny Dee can make good on that promise however, as it was announced by the school on Wednesday that the native of Greece has signed a professional contract with Greek club AGO Rethimno.

“After long consideration I made the difficult decision to leave my studies and college basketball to pursue my life’s goal and start my professional career,” Sinis said in the release. “I would like to thank USD from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to fulfill one of my dreams to play basketball in the NCAA, develop as a player and to be part of such a prestigious university like USD.”

Obviously the timing isn’t great if you’re San Diego, and head coach Bill Grier pointed out as much in the release. With leading rebounder Chris Manresa having graduated it was likely that Sinis would have been asked to do more in his junior season, and the same goes for sophomore Jito Kok (3.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and senior Dennis Kramer (4.2, 2.7). However it should be noted that Sinis spent a large portion of his time offensively on the perimeter, with 70 of his 118 shot attempts last season coming from beyond the arc. In his two seasons at USD 57.5% of Sinis’ shot attempts were three-pointers.

Losing a player at this point in the school year, while not ideal, does give coach Grier and his staff some time to figure out how much their rotation will be impacted before practices begin. But with the likes of Anderson and Dee back on campus, San Diego will be fine in 2013-14.

“It was always a goal of John’s to play at the highest level professionally in his home country,” Grier said in the release. “Obviously the timing isn’t great but I don’t know if there ever is good timing when you lose a player. His departure doesn’t change the top 8-9 players in our rotation, nor our excitement for the upcoming season. We wish John well as he starts a new phase in his career.”

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