Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 51
April 13th, 2010
– Wesley Person
Person’s last NBA gig came with the Nuggets in 2005. He later became an assistant women’s coach at Enterprise-Ozark Community College, before being moved to the role of men’s head coach back in July.
– Marijonas Petravicius
Lithuanian big man Marijonas Petravicius left his homeland this summer after winning the EuroCup last year with Lietuvos Rytas. He moved to Italy to play for A.J. Milano, and is averaging 11.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.2 fouls in 19 minutes per game in Serie A play, alongside 9.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 fouls in 18 minutes per game in Milano’s short EuroLeague campaign. Elbows and post play forever.
– Brent Petway
D-League veteran Brent Petway went to Greece this year, and hated it. In six games with Ilysiakos, he averaged 29 mpg, 10.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 1.7 bpg and about half a pay check per month, and left the team in December after getting injured. He reappeared in late February when he signed in France with Vichy (or, to give them their full name, JA Vichy Val d’Allier Auvergne Basket), whereupon he has averaged 24 mpg, 9.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 1.7 bpg in 6 French league games. The blocks per game would be tied for third in the league had he played enough games to qualify.
– Eric Piatkowski
Pike spent his last two years playing for the Suns on a minimum salary contract, but that ran out in summer 2008, and another one was not forthcoming. He is now retired and a stay-at-home dad.
Pike was recently interviewed during the second quarter of a dull Knicks vs Clippers game, as he was in town taking his children to Disneyland and decided to watch the Clippers lose for old time’s sake. (They ruined the day by winning.) The reporter whose name I forgot asked Pike a variety of lead-in questions such as “what do you think about Rasual Butler’s jump shot?”. Pike tried to play along, but had to be candid about the fact that he hasn’t watched NBA basketball since he fell out of the league. So it’s been a clean break from basketball for him.
– Tim Pickett
Last time we heard from Tim Pickett, he had been trying to win CBA games single-handedly for the worst team in the league. After that post was written, Pickett returned to play the team’s last three games, averaging 39.7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals per game in the process. But Shaanxi lost all three games anyway, and that was the end of that.
In accordance with prophecy, Pickett has now gone to Puerto Rico for some summer money. They’re the rules; mid-20’s CBA imports must go to Puerto Rico in the summer, and Pickett has obliged by joining Capitanes de Arecibo, the Puerto Rican team who for some reason play in the BSN and the American minor league the PBL. (The PBL kicked Arecibo out of their league a couple of weeks ago for failure to attend a game, but they were later reinstated.) Pickett made his debut for the team yesterday, and put up 27 points and 10 rebounds. The guy’s a stat fiend.
– Florent Pietrus
Mickael’s brother is spending his second season with Valencia as the defensive role player on a team of scorers. He averages 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18 minutes per game in the EuroCup, alongside 3.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 17 minutes per game in the ACB. The Bobcats were said to be interested in him last summer, which makes sense, because Larry Brown would love this guy. He’s like George Lynch was. And Larry Brown loved George Lynch.
Imagine if Mickael Pietrus didn’t have a jump shot. That’s Florent Pietrus.
– Kevinn Pinkney
Former Celtic Pinkney has been a starting big man for Hapoel Jerusalem all season. You can call either him or Brandon Hunter the starting centre, but it matters not, for neither really is. Hapoel just don’t “do” conventional centres for some reason. Pinkney has been averaging 9.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in the Israeli league, alongside 9.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in the EuroCup; however, he was released by the team this week for reasons I am not aware of.
– Danilo Pinnock
Former Lakers draft pick J.R. Pinnock – who prefers to be known as Danilo now – is also in Israel, where he has been one of the league’s scoring leaders. Pinnock has averaged 19.0 points in 35.2 minutes per game for Netanya, alongside 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. The points per game rank him third in the league, behind only fellow imports Gary Forbes (21.0 ppg for last-placed Ramat Gan) and former Washington midget Justin Dentmon (19.7 ppg for joint-second-to-last-placed Hapoel Afula); in fact, apart from Forbes, who is Panamanian-American, the top ten scoring leaders in Israel are all Yanks. Pinnock has scored his while shooting only 26% from three-point range on nearly five attempts per game. Perhaps he should put that shot away.
– Kevin Pittsnogle
As was widely reported, Kevin Pittsnogle quit basketball after the 2007/08 season, and began working in a school. As was less widely reported, Pittsnogle returned this year to give it one more try, rejoining the D-League and playing in 27 games with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. As didn’t need to be reported, Pittsnogle averaged 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in his comeback. And as was not reported much at all, Pittsnogle asked to be released by the Thunderbirds in February for “personal reasons.”
– Trent Plaisted
Pistons draft pick Trent Plaisted’s first professional season was basically a washout, playing in only two games and 31 minutes for Angellico Biella before suffering a season-ending back injury. Now back in action – zing! – Plaisted is signed with KK Zadar in Croatia. His minutes (and his play) started small this year, but has ramped up throughout the year to the point that Plaisted is now one of Zadar’s most important players. On the season, he is averaging 8.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 20 minutes per game in the EuroCup, 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19 minutes per game in the Croatian league, and 6.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 13 minutes per game in the Adriatic League.
Finally…..
– Zoran Planinic
After leaving the Nets, Planinic spent two seasons with Tau Ceramica in Spain, but has since been with CSKA Moscow. He gets to play point guard there, and Zoran Planinic with the ball in his hands is of much more use than Zoran Planinic without it. On the season, Planinic has averaged 21 minutes, 7.9 points, 2.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague, 24.1/8.8/3.5/2.6 in the Russian Superleague, and 23.6/11.8/3.1/3.8 in the VTB United League. He recently had his own segment on Eurosport news, which means he’s now officially made it.
