Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 29
February 5th, 2009
– Coby Karl began the season with the Idaho Stampede before going to Spain and DKV Joventut Badalona to replace Bracey Wright. He averaged 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists for Idaho, and has appeared in all of one game for Badalona, scoring two points in two minutes on 0-2 shooting.
– Former Magic centre Mario Kasun – who I like to consider the forerunner to Marcin Gortat, albeit not as good, because nobody is as good as Marcin Gortat – is signed with Efes Pilsen in Turkey, but has missed most of the season through injury. Returning about three weeks ago, Kasun has so far totalled 25 points and 15 rebounds in two Turkish league games, and a 10-minute 8-point performance in his sole EuroLeague game versus Real Madrid.
– Sasha Kaun is with CSKA Moscow, craftily located in Moscow. As is the case with young players in Moscow, Kaun kaun’t much get off the bench, averaging 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in nine Russian league games, and totalling 2 points and 6 rebounds in four EuroLeague games. Kaun was also drafted in the fifth round of the CBA Draft, but that’s not much of a boast, because the CBA Draft is the most pointless thing in the world. “Quick, let’s draft these players so that we’ll hold their rights if they decide to join the CBA!…..Oh no, wait, they got NBA contracts instead. Damn. If only they knew of all the needlessly misspelt fun that we have here at the Pittsburgh Xplosion.”
– Tre Kelley is with Eldan Ashkelon in Israel, forming a lethal tiny backcourt with Steve Burtt Jr. Kelley averages 11.3 points and 2.9 assists, as part of a three-guard rotation with Burtt and some Israeli guy called Avi Ben Chimol.
– Viktor Khryapa also plays for CSKA Moscow, who lead the Russian Superleague comfortably with a 14-0 record. Informal rule for you here: if they’re Russian, and their name starts with K, they probably play for CSKA Moscow. On a stacked team, Khryapa averages 9.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.9 spg and 0.8 bpg in the Russian league, numbers which drop to 6.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.3 spg and 0.9 bpg in the EuroLeague.
– Kerry Kittles’s Wikipedia page says that he is working for the Nets as a part-time scout. I can’t find anything that validates this, but it seems like an unlikely lie, so I’ll go with it. Speaking of Kerry Kittles, here’s a fun fact about giraffes: male giraffes swill the urine of female giraffes around their mouths to detect whether she’s ready for some giraffe loving or not. Oh, and apparently, between 40-95% of giraffes have had a homosexual experience. That’s a rather vague estimate, but in any case, it’s a rather high number.
– Petteri Koponen is strangely not playing a lot. For Fortezza Bologna, Koponen averages only 2.3 points, 0.9 assists and 1.3 steals in Italian league play, rising to 7.1 points, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals in EuroChallenge play.
– Guess where Yaroslav Korolev plays. Go on, guess. Remember the informal rule above. Did you guess CSKA Moscow? If so, you were duped; Korolev actually plays for CSKA’s cross-town rivals, Dynamo Moscow. Or rather, he doesn’t play. Korolev has totalled 4 points and 10 rebounds in seven Russian league games, and 5 points and 1 rebound in two EuroCup games, unimpressive numbers all around. He has also spent some time with the Dynamo under-23 team this season, in a bid to make him better. Korolev is still only 21, so there is time yet for him, but as time goes on, the fact that the Clippers drafted him at #12 when he was only 18 years of age continues to look worse and worse. It’s particularly bad when you consider that Danny Granger (who plays the same position as Korolev, yet who is now fifth in the NBA in scoring) was picked #17 in the same draft. Whoops.
– Kevin Kruger started the year with Lukoil Akademik in Bulgaria, but left the team in December, as did Kenny Adeleke. Kruger averaged 12.0 points and 7.5 assists in two Bulgarian league games, and 13.0 points and 2.0 assists in two EuroCup games. He was later replaced by Willie Deane.
– Don’t know what Toni Kukoc does now.
– Ibrahim Kutluay – who ranks pretty highly on Rick Sund’s all-time mistakes list – just turned 35, and is now playing in the Turkish second division with ITU Istanbul. I don’t really know why Ibrahim Kutluay ever joined the NBA in the first place, but I do know that he’s never joining it again. This is a bold statement, I know.
– Finally tonight, Christian Laettner now part-owns the operating rights to Major League Soccer team, D.C. United, but the website for his real estate company Blue Devil Ventures no longer works. This is a shame, because you could email Christian directly from it back in the day. Oh well.
