Tony Binetti, a 2002 Enumclaw High graduate and a 2006 all-American in his senior year at Seattle Pacific University, recently inked a professional basketball pact with Dinamo Banca Sassari, on the Italian island of Sardinia.

“It was good to be able to stay in Italy,” Binetti said. “The contract creates a comfortable situation for me because the sponsor of the team is a bank in Sassari, so you can feel pretty secure that you will be getting paid exactly what you signed to play for. I have talked to other players around the league and the club has a sound reputation.”

Sassari has a population of more than 360,000 people and is believed to have the strongest economy in terms of commerce on the island. The scenic island of Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily), with a land mass of 9,000 square miles.

Another reason Binetti can’t wait for the season to get under way in early August, when the Legadue (Second League) cagers begin training for the new campaign, is because he will be reunited with his old Capo di Orlando (Sicily) mentor, Meo Sacchetti.

Sacchetti, who was a 6-foot, 6-inch power forward in his playing days, helped Italy’s basketball squad win the silver medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

“He was a baller himself, so naturally he is a player’s coach, who understands what it is like to have run the hardwood in the Italian League,” Binetti said. “He is an offensive-minded leader who gives the guys on his roster quite a bit of freedom.”

Binetti will be spending his fifth season in Italy, playing for his sixth pro Italian team.

To comment on this story view it online at www.courierherald.com. Reach John Leggett at jleggett@courierherald.com or 360-802-8207.