Where Are They Now: 2009 NBA Summer League Teams Part 3
September 3rd, 2009
It’s been roughly two months since summer league started, and most of the players involved have been rehomed now. The following is a list of where everybody currently is, or where they might be going.
This list gets a bit long, so if you want to just skip to your favoured team, you can do so. I’ll allow that.
New York Knicks
– Wink Adams: Adams is signed with Oyak Renault Bursa in Turkey.
– Alex Acker: Almost as soon as he was back in it, Acker is out of the NBA again. He is signed with Armani Jeans Milano in Italy.
– Blake Ahearn: See Nets/Sixers entry.
– Morris Almond: Almond is unsigned. I haven’t heard anything about him agreeing to a training camp invite anywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was with the Knicks.
– Warren Carter: Unsigned.
– Joe Crawford: Crawford is, and always was, under contract through 2010. So he’s going to camp.
– Toney Douglas: Douglas shot badly in summer league, but passed for an impressive seven assists per game. If he’s going to try and reinvent himself as a playmaking guard in the up-tempo system, then that’s a pretty good start. However, the entire team shot less than 39% for the tournament, which is less complimentary of Douglas’s offence-running skills.
– Patrick Ewing Jr: Ewing missed summer league with injuries. He is unsigned, and sounds like a training camp candidate.
– Jordan Hill: Jordan Hill may well prove to be the second-best big man in this draft. This says more about the draft than Jordan Hill.
– Ron Howard: Unsigned.
– Yaroslav Korolev: For the Knicks to have thought they could have gotten anything out of Yaroslav Korolev was ambitious. Although not nearly as ambitious as the Clippers drafting him in the first place. I can’t find anything that either confirms or denies that Korolev will be with Dynamo Moscow again next year, but assume that he is until further notice.
– David Noel: Noel agreed to sign in France with Roanne back in June, and was still playing in the Philippines playoffs when summer league was going on. As a result, he never played for the Knicks.
– Mouhamed Sene: Sene was waived by the Knicks after summer league ended. He blocked eight shots in 35 minutes of SL play, but, as ever, showed little else. He remains unsigned. Answer me this: who was the last player drafted in the lottery with no background success in the professional game before he was drafted, that went on to be actually be at least decent in the NBA? It wasn’t Sene. It wasn’t Korolev. And it wasn’t the guy whose entry is two below this one, either. It’s been a while.
– Rashaad Singleton: Singleton is unsigned. The ABA looks inevitable.
– Nikoloz Tskitishvili: Skita played well in summer league, blocking shots and shooting the good three-pointer that he now lives by. With the recent proliferation of draft bust articles, it’s hard to find any good Skita news. But as far as I know, he’s unsigned.
Oklahoma City Thunder
– DeAngelo Alexander: Unsigned.
– Marcus Dove: Likewise.
– Tony Durant: Durant also doesn’t appear to be signed anywhere, but his Twitter makes it sound like he’s having great fun anyway hanging around his brother’s mates and meeting girls. Which is fair enough.
– Moses Ehambe: Ehambe is also unsigned and looks like a decent candidate to return to the D-League.
– James Harden: Will I stop saying “giggidy” after every mention of this man’s name? Hopefully.
– DeVon Hardin: Will I stop saying “giggidy” after every mention of this man’s name? Probably not. Hardin had a decent summer league, outplaying the guy he was backing up (B.J. Mullens), but he’s unsigned as of right now.
– Kyle Hines: Hines is to spend a second season with Prima Veroli in Italy’s LegaDue.
– Serge Ibaka: Ibaka signed with the Thunder, to a contract absolutely identical to that of Mullens. Such is the way of the rookie salary scale.
– Shaun Livingston: After waiving Earl Watson and trading Chucky Atkins, Livingston is now set to be OKC’s primary backup point guard. Considering this man was being salary-dumped seven months ago, and couldn’t play basketball two years ago, this is a hell of a result. Unless Kevin Ollie steals it from him.
– Keith McLeod: McLeod is unsigned. If he’s looking for another NBA training camp invite, he’s optimistic.
– B.J. Mullens: As if determined to make me stop saying “giggidy,” B.J. wants to be known as Byron from now on. I refuse to co-operate.
– Richard Roby: In two summer leagues with the Thunder, Roby played all of 12 minutes. Thanks for all the travelling, Rick. He remains unsigned.
– Doug Thomas: Thomas played all of one minute more than Roby. (Again, thanks for your patience.) He too is unsigned, and if you want to know if he’ll return to the mighty Sweden, then this is the website that will bring you that news. Eventually.
– Robert Vaden: Despite having “drafted in the NBA” on his resumé, the best Vaden could manage this summer was a spot in Italy’s LegaDue with Aget Imola.
– Kyle Weaver: Weaver turned it over quite a ridiculous amount in summer league, but played fairly well otherwise. By the way, is it just me, or does he look like Eddie Robinson?
– Russell Westbrook: Westbrook had a very good Orlando summer pro league. He continues to impress, sort of.
– D.J. White: Same goes for White, who might not welcome Ibaka’s presence, but who has played well at every level so far. The difference in strength between the 2009 and 2008 drafts is pretty spectacular, when you think about it.
Orlando Magic
– Maurice Ager: After three bad years, Ager is out of the NBA, and has signed with Cajasol Sevilla in Spain.
– Lance Allred: Allred has signed in Italy’s Serie A with NSB Original Marines Napoli, a team that was last year known as Solsonica Rieti and which weren’t in Napoli. That list will happen, I promise thee. We’ll add it to the site’s to-do list, which currently features 55 things. (True story.)
– Ryan Anderson: A good addition. A good summer for Orlando, all told.
– Brian Chase: Chase has signed with C.B. Valladolid in Spain’s ACB.
– Ronald Dupree: Dupree never played with the Magic after all. See Nuggets entry.
– Courtney Fells: Unsigned.
– Levance Fields: Fields is signed in Russia with Spartak St Petersburg.
– C.J. Giles: See Nuggets entry.
– Richard Hendrix: See Nuggets entry. By the way, Orlando and Denver played in different summer leagues, which explains all this duplication between the two rosters.
– Stevan Milosevic: Milsoevic turned it over seven times in 16 minutes of summer league action, which is not bad going. As far as I can tell, he is unsigned.
– Jeremy Pargo: See Pistons entry.
– Kasib Powell: Powell is playing with Tyrell Biggs and A.J. Abrams with Trikalla in Greece. He says he’s pretty much given up hope of making the NBA. But he’s good enough to be in it, whether the league knows this or not.
– Milovan Rakovic: I’m not certain if Rakovic will return to Spartak St Petersburg to partner Fields, but it looks like he will.
– Jeremy Richardson: Richardson has signed with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.
– Russell Robinson: Robinson is unsigned, and another year in the D-League makes sense, since he did actually develop there. And that’s what it’s for, after all.
– Darian Townes: See Jason Ellis, Nets/Sixers entry.
Phoenix Suns
– Kaspars Berzins: Berzins has signed with Fuenlabrada Madrid for next year.
– Josh Carter: Carter has signed with EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany.
– Earl Clark: Should he have gone ahead of former Louisville team mate Terrence Williams in the draft? Short answer: yep. Especially since the Nets spent all of last summer acquiring mediocre forwards. Don’t see why they needed another one this year.
– Geary Claxton: Claxton is unsigned and looking for all the world like a D-League veteran in the making.
– Lee Cummard: Cummard is signed with ALBA Berlin in Germany.
– Zabian Dowdell: Dowdell impressed in summer league, and is looking for an NBA offer. If he doesn’t get one, he has a standing offer from Italy, but it’s in LegaDue. And Dowdell is above that.
– Micah Downs: Downs is the other American signed with KK Zadar in Croatia, alongside Trent Plaisted.
– Goran Dragic: Dragic’s last two months of his rookie season weren’t bad. His first four were awful, but there’s always going to be an adjustment period. His summer league performance was pretty good, too, so maybe we can pretend his bad start didn’t happen. But now would not be the time for a sophomore slump.
– Taylor Griffin: Griffin has signed with the Suns; a two-year minimum contract with $250,000 guaranteed in the first year, and a completely unguaranteed second year that becomes $200,000 guaranteed if he makes the 2010/11 opening day roster. It looks like he really is going to play in the NBA after all.
– Jiri Hubalek: Hubalek is signed with Banco di Sardegna Sassari in Itaky’s LegaDue.
– Takuya Kawamura: Kawamura went back to Japan and Tochigi Brex. He had his four minutes of NBA PT, what more does he want?
– Robin Lopez: I still believe.
– Carlos Powell: Powell has an offer from Carmatic, the LegaDue team also after Dowdell. He remains unsigned.
– Chris Rodgers: Rodgers was released early by the Suns and has not signed anywhere since.
– Alando Tucker: Am I the only person that gets Alando Tucker and Arron Afflalo mixed up? I hope not. I feel stupid enough already.
Portland Trail Blazers
– Deji Akindele: Akindele is signed with Xacobeo BluSens Obradoiro in Spain’s ACB.
– Jerryd Bayless: Welcome to the deepest part of the bench, Jerryd Bayless. Don’t worry, the whole league still rates you as some kind of future superstar, so you’ll be fine in the long run. By the way, Bayless turned it over more than six times a game in summer league.
– Dante Cunningham: Signed to a two-year fully guaranteed minimum salary deal. You heard it here first. Well, OK, you heard it here second, because you heard it here first. But I had a hand in that too. I’m a mover and shaker, don’t you know. Got my hand in everything.
– Uche Echefu: Unsigned.
– Matt Freije: Freije, a newly Christened Lebanese national, just signed in his homeland with Al Riyadi.
– Thomas Gardner: Unsigned, and it doesn’t look like the Hawks want him back.
– Pooh Jeter: Jeter is unsigned, as evidenced by his Twitter. His sister Carmelita won a bronze at the 2009 World Athletics Championships last month, and she also has the finest name in the world. Carmelita Jeter. Good stuff.
– Bobby Jones: Jones is signed with Banca Tercas Teramo in Italy.
– Joe Krabbenhoft: Krabbenhoft is unsigned. His Twitter suggests a lot of holidaying and some succinct world views.
– Patrick Mills: Mills is unsigned. He probably wouldn’t have been, but he broke his foot early in the summer. He may still sign.
– Dwayne Mitchell: Mitchell is signed with Hapoel Holon in Israel.
– David Moss: Moss is signed with La Fortezza Bologna in Italy.
– Drew Neitzel: Neitzel is signed with ES Chalon-Sur-Saone in France.
– David Padgett: Padgett is signed with U.B. La Palma in Spain’s LEB Gold (second division).
– Jeff Pendergraph: Pendergraph has not yet signed with the Blazers, but he will do soon.
Sacramento Kings
– Robert Battle: Battle’s surprise NBA sojourn is over with. Last year he was one of the best big men in the LEB Gold with Valladolid, helping them win promotion tot he ACB; he’s gone back there for this season to consolidate his success.
– Jon Brockman: Brockman has not yet signed with the Kings, which, considering how high they picked him and how much rebounding help they need, seems a little strange. He figures to sign later.
– John Bryant: Unsigned. An 80-year-old man of the same name recently went missing, which makes John Bryant news hard to find.
– Pat Calathes: Calathes is to spend a second season with Costa Cafe Marousi in Greece.
– Omri Casspi: Signed with the Kings; as soon as he sets foot on the floor in a regular season game, he’ll be the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Although don’t you go thinking that Yotam Halperin and Lior Eliyahu couldn’t do it.
– Tyreke Evans: It has already been announced that Evans will start at point guard for the Kings. Thank Christ for that.
– Donte Greene: Greene was less selfish in this year’s summer league than last year’s, which is like saying that Pol Pot felt slightly less genocidal than usual at Christmas. Greene also shot less than 30%, so maybe some more passing was in order.
– Spencer Hawes: In case you missed it, Hawes didn’t turn up to summer league, and didn’t tell the Kings that he was doing this. Bad times.
– Marcus Landry: Unsigned, but had a good summer league. Training camp contract? Maybe.
– Wesley Matthews: Same as Landry, although he didn’t do quite as well.
– Jerel McNeal: Also unsigned. Played fairly well in summer league, too, but didn’t have as much opportunity.
– Brian Roberts: Roberts is signed with Brose Baskets Bamberg in Germany.
– Victor Stowes: Stowes signed in Venezuela with Espartanos de Margarita, a team that just took a seven-year hiatus for reasons I don’t know.
– Jason Thompson: Thompson didn’t play in summer league, either. Did he need to?
– Ryan Toolson: Toolson is signed with Pinar Karsiyaka SK Izmir in Turkey.
San Antonio
– Antonio Anderson: Anderson is unsigned. D-League, presumably.
– Romel Beck: Beck is unsigned, and only yesterday was kicked off of the Mexican national team for reportedly being “too selfish”. He was leading them in scoring at the time, so he must have been REALLY selfish.
– DeJuan Blair: Signed a four-year contract, the first two years fully guaranteed, the final two years fully unguaranteed with guarantee dates to come.
– Eric Dawson: Dawson is signed with the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan.
– Nando De Colo: Coco De Colo is signed with Valencia in the ACB.
– Alonzo Gee: Unsigned. That reminds me, I’ve still got to watch Alabama versus Auburn from like six months ago.
– James Gist: Unsigned.
– Malik Hairston: Going to camp with the Spurs. Contract is $50,000 guaranteed.
– George Hill: Will back up Tony Parker once again, and will do it bloody well.
– Carldell ‘Squeaky’ Johnson: Unsigned, presumed D-League returnee.
– Stephane Lasme: Lasme is signed with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel.
– Ian Mahinmi: Now is the time to show something. I appreciate that injuries killed his year last year, but Mahinmi still hasn’t done a damn thing yet, and the Spurs don’t have money to waste.
– Jack McClinton: McClinton shot terribly in summer league, but might go to camp anyway. But if he does, it’s unlikely he makes the team.
– Donell Taylor: Unsigned.
– Marcus Vinicius: Vinicius is signed with Sigma Coatings Montegranaro in Italy’s SerieA.
Toronto Raptors
– Paul Davis: The sexually immature Davis is unsigned, and hasn’t got the full MLE contract that he predicted.
– DeMar Derozan: He’ll be somewhere in the Raptors rotation at some point, but Bryan Colangelo needs to remember that you can have indeed too much depth. So don’t bring in any more twos now, Bryan.
– David Doblas: Doblas is committed to a third year at Lagun Aro, the ACB team that used to be a LEB Gold team named Bruesa-Guipuzcoa. Confusing, really.
– Quincy Douby: Douby is still with the Raptors, despite everyone around him being culled. He’s currently the 15th man on a 15-man roster, but that’s also all he needs.
– Carl English: English is signed with Caja Laboral Vitoria in the ACB.
– Ekene Ibekwe: Ekenechukwu is signed with Kepez Bld Antalya in Turkey.
– Nathan Jawai: See Dallas entry.
– Demetris Nichols: Having been both a member of the Bulls and Knicks last year, and having been a member of Raptors summer league, and having had a workout with the Pacers earlier this summer, it’s fair to say that Nichols is on the cusp of the NBA. As a result, he’ll probably go back to the D-League. He may even get a camp invite.
– Patrick O’Bryant: O’Bryant’s now-guaranteed contract seems to ensure that he’ll be a Raptor next year, if only an inactive list Raptor.
– Smush Parker: Parker is unsigned.
– Brent Petway: Petway is signed with Ilysiakos Athens in Greece.
– Shawn Taggart: Taggart is unsigned. Should have stayed in school, really.
– Roko Ukic: Ukic is now a Buck, just one of their many largely pointless acquisitions this summer. You can probably tell that I’m less than enthralled by their summer.
Utah Jazz
– James Augustine: See Chicago entry.
– Jimmy Baron: Baron shot the ball well for Jazz, although in fairness all he did was shoot the ball. He did enough to win a spot with Mersin in Turkey, which is why he didn’t need to play any more summer league (see below).
– Cedric Bozeman: The Boze Man is unsigned and looks like a logical candidate to return to the D-League, what with all the progress he made there last year.
– Derrick Brown: Brown has signed with Charlotte to a two-year minimum salary contract. First year is fully guaranteed, second year is $100,000 with multiple guarantee dates.
– Josh Duncan: Duncan’s summer league exploits (57 points on 29 shots) landed him a spot with Liege Basket in Belgium.
– Andre Ingram: Ingram is unsigned. A third straight season with the Flash (AAA-AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!) looks to be in order.
– Kosta Koufos: Koufos played useful minutes on a contending team. The Jazz have great big man depth, and he’s partly why.
– Kevin Kruger: Kruger is signed with Original Marines Napoli in Italy.
– Kevin Lyde: Lyde is signed with Eisbaeren Bremerhaven in Germany, thus sparing Jazz fans the inevitability of him coming to training camp again.
– Wesley Matthews: See Kings entry.
– Eric Maynor: Question for Jazz fans: does Maynor play ahead of Ronnie Price next year, or behind him? And if it’s behind, why?
– Goran Suton: Suton has not yet signed, be it with the Jazz or with anyone. If he signs with the Jazz, he’ll be very lucky to make the team, so he’s best served using his Bosnian passport to land a nice European gig somewhere. I’ve heard that Italy is nice.
– Dar Tucker: Unsigned. Dar Tucker fact: Dar Tucker’s name “Dar” is short for “Darquavis”, which is one of the most unique names you’ll ever hear.
– Larry Turner: The people’s champion is signed in Spain with Fundacion Adepal Alcazar. But they’re not in the ACB. Nor are they inthe LEB Gold. They’re in the LEB Silver, the third tier of Spanish basketball.
– Gary Wilkinson: Wilkinson was taken in the KBL draft and will play for Dongbu Promy next year.
Washington Wizards
– Alade Aminu: Unsigned.
– Dwayne Anderson: Unsigned.
– Ryan Ayers: Unsigned. Good start to the list, this.
– Jimmy Baron: Baron didn’t play for the Wizards; see above.
– Andray Blatche: Blatche put the three-pointer to bed in this summer league. Maybe he’s figuring it out. He’s also changed his number to #7 for no obvious reason.
– Javaris Crittenton: With Gilbert Arenas returning, Randy Foye and Mike Miller arriving, DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young returning, and Mike James hanging around whether the Wizards like it or not, where is Crittenton going to play next year? Considering they just gave up a first-round draft pick to get him (admittedly only returning a heavily-protected one), they’re surely going to have to find somewhere.
– John Edwards: Edwards has signed abroad for only the second time in his professional career, going to join Kolossos Rhodes in the Greek league. He’s now 28, and essentially the same player as he was when he was 22, so maybe he’s conceded the NBA dream is over and is now looking for pay checks.
– Josh Heytvelt: Heytvelt played in every Wizards summer league game, even starting one, but he didn’t do a lot. He has since signed in Turkey with Oyak Renault Bursa, alongside Wink Adams and a guy called Ufuk Kacar. Good names all.
– James Lang: Unsigned.
– Javale McGee: JaVale McGee doesn’t like me very much.
– Dominic McGuire: D-Mac remains on the Wizards roster. His contract is fully unguaranteed and has no guarantee date, so it costs the Wizards nothing to keep him around until training camp. But to stay beyond that, he’ll have to show something. The 5.5 points and 3.5 turnovers per game on 20% shooting that he totalled in summer league isn’t getting it done.
– Tywain McKee: McKee signed in what’s left of the Australian league today with the Wollogong Hawks. It probably didn’t help that he shot 9% in summer league.
– Tyrese Rice: Rice is signed with Greece with Panionios, where he’ll pair up in the backcourt with B.J. Elder. Considering that the two are pretty similar, it doesn’t sound like a great idea.
– Jason Rich: Rich turned a blistering 21% shooting performance in summer league into a nice little contract with Maccabi Haifa in Israel. Maccabi Haifa have probably made more news this summer for their signing of Jeremy Tyler, but it’s still a good placement for Rich.
– Alex Ruoff: Ruoff didn’t play with the Wizards in summer league. He didn’t need to, because he signed with Belgacom Liege quite a while ago.
– Diamon Simpson: The highly likeable Simpson never actually made the Wizards summer league team; he, along with Anderson, Ayers and Lang were the cuts made from a mini-camp the Wizards held before summer league play started. Simpson remains unsigned.
– Kyle Spain: Spain is not signed in Spain, annoyingly, but is instead signed with the Passe-Partout Leuven Bears in Belgium. Hell of a name, that.
– Brandon Wallace: Wallace is unsigned, but he’s not going back to Poland.
– Nick Young: If Washington starts Foye at shooting guard, like they should do and like they’ve threatened to, then how do Stevenson and Young divvy up the back-up minutes? Will Young beat out Stevenson? He should do, considering Stevenson has the offensive ability of Mother Teresa on a particularly charitable day. But I’m not yet convinced that he will.
