Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 11
January 14th, 2010
Calling it early; Miami will trade Dorell Wright along with New Orleans’ 2010 second-rounder to the Grizzlies in exchange for changing the protection on the Grizzlies 2012 second-rounder – already owed to the Heat from last year’s Shaun Livingston deal – from top 55 to top 50. (That is to say, in exchange for as little as possible.)
That’s a prediction, not a story, but it makes sense; Miami gets under the tax with this deal, and Memphis gains a free decent player and a 40-something pick to replace their own, which is owed to the Lakers as a part of the Pau Gasol deal. It’s the kind of deal a lot of teams have done lately, not least of all Memphis, who spent much of last year taking on either people’s unwanted cap hits in exchange for future picks and cash. It’s a solid way to do business, and, post-Iverson buyout, they can afford to do it again. Add this to my list of predicted trades, which previously featured one other; Hilton Armstrong to the Clippers, who’s now gone to the Kings instead. Don’t know why I was so hung up on it being the Clippers. Thought too much about TPE’s and forgot about cap space.
Speaking of which, the salaries are updated.
Also, what I said earlier about Mikki Moore was wrong. Golden State does not pay him more now that they’ve waived him; for some reason, the rebate thing applies once a player has been paid more than the two-year minimum, regardless of whether he’s on the roster not. Thus, Golden State will still only pay $825,495 to Moore after all. The confusion/misinformation stemmed from the case of Austin Croshere, who last season signed a one-year minimum salary contract with Indiana (later claimed off waivers by Milwaukee) but who didn’t make it beyond the guarantee date; Croshere got paid $543,026 by the Bucks for his two months of work, which was 73 days’ worth of the ten or more year veteran’s salary for that season ($1,262,275), but apparently that wouldn’t have applied if his contract was guaranteed. This makes it even weirder than the Bucks waived him, since it cost them $543,026 for 73 days work and would have only cost $254,555 for another 97 more. But anyway.
(Everything’s Justin Frazier’s fault, somehow.)
– Derrick Byars
Byars is American, so he’s obviously in the German league. He’s with ALBA Berlin, yet he’s averaging only 6.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in the German league, along with 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in the EuroCup, shooting only 26% from three point range in the Bundesliga and 33% in the EuroCup. Nevertheless, Bulls fans still haven’t stopped talking about him.
– Sergei Bykov
Dynamo Moscow lost all their good import players over the last year because they ran out of money. This means that Bykov – who last year was buried as the third point guard behind Hollis Price, Brian Chase and Jannero Pargo, and behind Travis Hansen at shooting guard – now gets to star. His numbers are up across the board, averaging 18.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in the EuroCup, in conjunction with 22.9/2.9/4.4 in the Russian Superleague. He leads the Superleague in points per game, and is third in assists per game as well. Yet Dynamo have only a 3-5 record anyway because they have no imports to support him with.
– Rashid Byrd
Rashid Byrd appears to be unsigned. I say “appears to be,” because someone purporting to be his cousin said on this site’s Facebook page that Rashid had been reacquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the D-League team with which he finished up last season. However, no source of D-League news seems to agree with her. So either it’s a premonition, something that’s going to happen soon, a misunderstanding, or a lie. The last one seems unlikely. The middle one seems most likely.
In lieu of Rashid Byrd news, here’s a video of him and Ron Artest discussing life, women and condoms.
(video removed by uploader, sadly)
– Zarko Cabarkapa
Zarko Cabarkapa was out of the game for three years, from early 2006 to early 2009, due to the chronic injuries that hampered his NBA career. He reappeared last January with his former team, Buducnost in Montenegro, for whom he played four games. He totalled 25 minutes, 11 points, 5 rebounds and 7 fouls, before not playing again after February after having yet another surgery. Cabarkapa is now 28 years old, still unsigned and still recuperating, but he hasn’t given up yet.
– Justin Cage
Cage is with Dexia Mons-Hainaut, a Belgian team not keen to admit that they’re actually Belgian. The team has a ten-man rotation, and yet employs only one Belgian; youth player Alexandre Libert. (Former Idaho State forward Jim Potter is into his fifteenth season in Belgium, so I guess he counts too.) Dexia recently lost their American head coach – Chris Finch – to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, and replaced him with an Israeli head coach and a Dutch assistant. It’s a very international affair, just as long as that nation is not Belgium.
On the year, Cage is averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in the Belgian league, alongside 7.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in the EuroChallenge. He also totalled 10 points in his only EuroCup game of the year, but I watched that game, and it wasn’t his best. (Although his accidentally-banked-in three was kind of cool.) Indeed, the whole Dexia Mons-Hainaut team sucked in that game; after beating Valencia in the first leg by 15 points, all Dexia had to do was either win again, or lose by no more than 14 points. This should have been easy, even on the road, and Dexia actually led by double digits at one point. But then they threw it all away in the second half, lost by 18, and were knocked out of the competition.
– Nick Calathes
Calathes is playing for Panathinaikos, where his Greek passport helps the team bypass rules in non-Greek players. He played quite a lot to begin the year backing up Vassilis Spanoulis, but has seen less time since Sarunas Jasikevicius returned from injury. On the season, Calathes (or Kalathis to the Greeks) averages 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in the Greek league, along with 4.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in the EuroLeague. Those numbers might not look too good, but as the third string point guard on one of the world’s best and deepest teams, they’re pretty solid.
– Pat Calathes
Nick’s brother Pat is also in Greece and playing for Maroussi, another EuroLeague team. He is averaging 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in the Greek league, along with 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague.
– Earl Calloway
Calloway was announced as a signee of Khimki to start the summer, but apparently that was a lie. Instead, after doing fairly well for the New Orleans Hornets in summer league, he went to Spain and joined Cajasol Sevilla. Calloway is putting up his usual all-around numbers, averaging 10.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 28 minutes per game, shooting 41% from the field and 40% from three point range.
Also on that team is Maurice Ager, who we’ve already covered in part one. I thought you might like to know that he has raised his shooting percentage since part one was written, from 22% to 26%.
– Elden Campbell
I can’t find Elden Campbell. And believe me, I’ve looked. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the man named the “Big Easy” is taking it Big Easy in his 40s, but it’d also be useful to find something. So if you know something, phone in.
– Marcus Campbell
D-League veteran Campbell has gone back there, rejoining his last team, the Anaheim Arsenal, who are now known as the Springfield Armor. (Arse to Arm.) The Armor aren’t good this year, sporting only a 3-14 record, and part of the reason for that is their lack of size. It’s not Campbell’s fault, as he averages 9.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in only 20 minutes of 10 games. But the other main centre option, former Tennessee big man Major Wingate, manages to turn it over three times a game in only 28 minutes. Not easy to do when you’re not a big man scorer.
– Nik Caner-Medley
Caner-Medley was with Calloway’s team Cajasol Sevilla last season, but it didn’t end well. Reportedly, Caner-Medley drunkenly punched a team mate in the face at the club’s end of season party, and was kicked out, ne’er to return. He’s gone back to Spain anyway, joining up with Estudiantes Madrid and averaging 11.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Also on that team is British prospect Dan Clark. Clark won his fame as a prospect in NBA circles back in 2005, but he’s not exploded since, toiling on loan in the Spanish minor leagues while Estudiantes held onto his rights. However, this season marks the first time he’s gotten regular ACB time, and he’s doing rather well with it. In 10 games this year Clark is averaging 4.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game, shooting 50% from the field and 50% from three point range. As a 21-year-old in the ACB, that’s not bad.
Finally…..
– Jason Capel
Capel was briefly a member of the Bobcats back in 2005, thanks in no small part to the fact that his dad Jeff was an assistant there at the time. Capel was only there for training camp, though, and did not make the regular season roster. Indeed, his career only lasted two more years total before Capel had to retired with chronic back problems aged only 26. He then rejoined the Bobcats as a radio announcer, later switching to becoming an announcer for ACC games, and then followed family tradition by becoming a coach. He is currently an assistant coach at Appalachian State.
