As you have probably already heard about, Robert Traylor owes a lot of money to the IRS. And he has a repayment plan to adhere to to give it back. But this has proven difficult. Traylor was the Turkish league All-Star Game MVP in 2008/09, averaging 14.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.1 apg and 1.6 bpg per game for Kepez BLD Antalya. Yet this summer’s move to the better standard (and better paid) Serie A did not work out. This is because Traylor joined Napoli, and, as regular readers will know by now, Napoli had the worst season in the history of sports. The bankrupt team weren’t exactly the ideal match for the indebted Traylor.
Traylor left Napoli after seven games without being paid, and tried to get a playing gig in China. But this was vetoed by the league due to his tax problems. Those problems culminated in February; behind on his pre-determined repayment schedule due to his inability to find elite paying gigs, Traylor was sentenced to a 60-day jail term last season, which was suspended for this season so that he could go and play for Napoli. That sentence is suspended until June 1st; in the mean time, Traylor is playing in Puerto Rico. He has averaged 9.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for Vaqueros de Bayamon, and was named to the All-Star team last month. He is allowed to keep playing for Bayamon until their season ends, whenever that may be. But once it does end, Traylor must report to jail.
Tripkovic left Partizan Belgrade for the first time in his life this summer, joining DKV Joventut Badalona as he set his sights on the better pay offered up by the ACB. It turns out that he actually downgraded; Partizan finished fourth in the EuroLeague, while Badalona got only as far as the EuroCup top 16. Tripkovic has done well, though, averaging 10.8 points per game in the ACB on 50% three point shooting. He’s been the best shooter on a team full of shooting.
Trybanski was the only 30-year-old Polish centre in the D-League this season. Playing for the Reno Bighorns, Trybanski averaged 15.6 minutes, 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 66% from the field and 69% from the line. He totalled 10 points, 6 rebounds and 9 blocks in the second game of the season, and 17 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks in the penultimate one; for two games, at least, the potential Jerry West saw in him was realised.
Tsakalidis is only three months older than Trybanski, yet he appears to be done. He has not played since the 2007-08 season. The only thing he’s done that’s been newsworthy since then was buy a big house in Phoenix. So whether he actually came from Greece, Georgia or Russia, we at least know he lived in Phoenix for a bit this time last year. Good to know.
Skita has developed, kind of. But only as a role player. He started this year with Panionios in Greece, but quickly moved to Fuenlebrada in Spain, where he backs up Esteban Batista. Despite the seven-foot height and ballerina-like dexterity that got him drafted at #5 overall – or whatever it was that did – Skita has developed as a three-point shooting specialist. He is averaging 7.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game, shooting 44% from three-point range, and taking as many of them as he does two-pointers.
Tucker started the year with the great news that the Suns were declining his contract option for next season. They then cemented their love for him by salary-dumping him onto Minnesota for the unguaranteed salary of Jason Hart, who they immediately waived. And to further compound his difficult season, Tucker played in only four games for the Timberwolves before being waived after the playoff deadline date. He immediately (and not coincidentally) signed in Puerto Rico with Gailitos de Isabela, and averaged 18.8 points and 8 rebounds in his first four games. However, Tucker recorded only 15 points and 2 rebounds over the next two games combined, and he was released late last month. He will attend summer league this season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Tucker is Tripkovic’s backcourt team mate at DKV Joventut. The two are similar, so it’s a weird mix, but its not held either of them back too much. Tucker has averaged 16.1 points and 3.4 assists per game in ACB play, and averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 assists per game in the EuroCup. He shot only 35% in the EuroCup, though, and is shooting a better but underwhelming 41% in the ACB as well.
Tucker was also recently involved a tribunal hearing with his former team BC Kyiv, who owe him a boatload of money. The tribunal ruled mostly in favour of Tucker and his agents, and found Kyiv liable for most of the outstanding salary. This doesn’t mean that they’ll get it, but at least the debt is recognised now. The above PDF makes for an interesting read if you love to know about contracts, for it contains all the ins and outs of a standard European one.
Like Clay Tucker, P.J. Tucker has had problems with Ukrainian teams recently. Tucker’s problems are rather easy to define; his team folded. Tucker began the season with BC Donetsk, starting his second year with the team after being named a Ukrainian League All-Star (and Slam Dunk champion) in his first. But after 20 games with the team this year across all competitions, Donetsk were folded due to bankruptcy. They were leading the Superleague at the time.
After the bankruptcy, Tucker returned to Israeli, the league in which he won a title in 2007-08. He signed with Bnei Hasharon and has averaged 18.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 10 contests. Tucker has shot only 4-17 from three point range for Hasharon, and three of those makes came in the same game. But in his twenty games for Donetsk, Tucker shot 17/37 from down there. For a man whose outside jump shot is regarded as his undermining weakness, this is good progress.
Larry Turner averaged 3 points, 2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in his redshirt freshman season for Oklahoma back in 2003-04. This appears to have been the thing that kept him in the NBA’s sights. Turner transferred to Tennessee State part way through his sophomore season, and then proceeded to average 5.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in his senior season there. He wasn’t even an everyday starter. Yet somehow, after graduating, Turner got a training camp contract with the Lakers. And since that time, he’s also had tryouts with the Bobcats and Jazz. He’s an athlete, certainly.
In between these NBA sojourns, Turner has been playing in leagues of not nearly as good of a level of basketball. He started this season with Fundacion Adepal Alcazar in Spain’s LEB Silver, and averaged only 4.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 fouls per game. The LEB Silver is Spain’s third tier basketball division, and, aside from one game by JaJuan Smith, I can’t think of anyone else we have covered that has played there this year. Turner shot only 43% from the field and 14% from the foul line and was released in December. He then moved to Puerto Rico, but was released in preseason, and then went on to the PBL to play for the Halifax Rainmen. In nine games for the Rainmen, Turner averaged 9.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 4.3 fouls per game. These are not good calibre leagues that we’re talking about here, unfortunately, and Turner is not playing well in them. I’m not saying he’s useless or evil, but I am saying that he’s not NBA-calibre. And now aged 27, he’s never going to be either. Still, he’s putting in work.
Tyler’s well-documented Israeli excursion did not go well. In five months with Maccabi Haifa, he managed only 10 games, 76 minutes, 21 points, 19 rebounds, 18 fouls and 8 turnovers, before leaving somewhat acrimoniously in early March. It was said that his agency team would look for another good European gig for him, but if they have been looking for that, then they haven’t found it yet, because Tyler remains unsigned.
Jeremy Tyler fact: Jeremy Tyler’s agent – one of them, at least – is former NBA player Makhtar N’Diaye.
Tyndale made his NBA debut this offseason when he joined the Milwaukee Bucks for training camp, but he did not last long. He then spent the year with the Iowa Energy of the D-League, appearing in all 56 of the team’s outings. Including playoff games, and he averaged 12.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in 23 minutes per game for the Energy, shooting 52% from the field. Tyndale also shot 339 free throws compared to 441 field goals, which is quite amazing from a roughly 6’4 guard. Now to hit more than 72% of them.
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