The first one who came early in the morning was forward James Anderson. Later Honeycutt, Gill and Jenkins landed in Sheremetyevo, who flew from New York on the same flight. In the second half of the day flight from Belgrade brought to Moscow Stefan Markovic, and a few minutes later head coach Georgios Bartzokas with his assistants (Christos Pappas, Georgios Bozikas and Stefanas Triantafyllos) arrived. The arrival of strength and condition coach Georgios Vavetsis is expected on August 19 early in the morning.

Tomorrow morning our players will pass medical examination. The first training session in the gym is scheduled for Saturday, August 19. On August 22 BC Khimki players will go to preseason training camp to Slovenia (Kranjska Gora), which will be devoted to physical training. Alexey Shved, Andrey Zubkov and Marko Todorovic will not be able to help BC Khimki in the first camp. At the moment, they continue preparing for the European Championship as parts of their national teams (Shved and Zubkov — Russia, Todorovic – Montenegro).

Georgios Bartzokas, BC Khimki head coach:

“I'm very happy [to join Khimki]. For me and my career it's a great opportunity. I worked in Russia in the past and have great experience. So I'm looking forward to start the season. Khimki is completely different right now; except Shved, Monya, Vyaltsev and Honeycutt we don't have many players from the past. It's a new team with big ambitions. In a new EuroLeague format it will be a completely different situation. So I'm very positive about the team. I think we have good players and need just to become a team. Now we'll have preseason work and it's a normal process. We have about six weeks to prepare the team. We have new persons, new coaching staff, new foreign players, but as I've said, I'm very positive. We have a strong team with good characters. We have to work hard every day to know each other better. The players will have to adjust to my philosophy. I'm very happy with the players that we signed during the preseason [time]. I'm sure we gonna have a very strong team. Of course, we need a little bit luck and health. I'm sure we'll have a great season”.

Stefan Markovic, BC Khimki guard:

“I'm very excited to come back to the VTB League and also the EuroLeague. Both competitions are big and I have great VTB League experience from last year. I'm glad to come to Khimki and play for them. Last season Zenit and Khimki, two good teams, competed for one EuroLeague spot and everything came to the last game. But it's already in the past and I'm not anymore focusing on that. I'm focused on a new challenge. Every year you have something new and it's a new adventure. I'm very excited to come here and work with all the guys and the coaching staff. We'll try to prepare as much as we can. After coming of the rest players who are busy with their national teams we'll continue working together and playing games. Also, I like life in Russia very much, especially St Petersburg where my daughter was born. It's a unique place in my heart. I'm really happy that I'll continue living in Russia”.