The 2010 Puerto Rican BSN Season
June 7th, 2010
The Chinese Basketball Association is an area of particular focus on this website, because it’s fun. Every season, the CBA plays host to many former NBA players, and plays them for the vast majority of their 48-minute games, resulting in huge statistics and thereby being more fun over leagues such as Italy’s Serie A, where teams employ 11-man rotations, nobody plays more than 25mpg, and everyone averages about 9/4. They are better standards of league for this reason, but they’re just not as fun as the CBA. In the CBA, imports rule.
The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, Puerto Rico’s premier basketball league, is much the same. The games are 40 minutes, and the season is shorter, but the import talent is highly comparable (often identical), and the homegrown talent is vastly superior.
Puerto Rico has a strong basketball pedigree, and a history of turning out high-calibre international players. Those players are mostly guards, which is why I think a merger with Senegal, which exclusively produces quality big men, would change the international basketball game beyond all recognition. Nonetheless, there’s always ability coming out of there, and also some NBA-calibre talent. Puerto Rican players in the NBA right now include Carlos Arroyo, Jose Barea and Carmelo Anthony. And Carmelo’s backup, Renaldo Balkman, might soon be joining that list.
Apart from those select few, almost all of the good Puerto Rican players play in the Puerto Rican BSN. Even if they’ve been playing in other leagues, players generally go to play in the BSN once those other commitments have been fulfilled. NBA players do not go, of course, but the Puerto Rican players dotted around the clubs of the world usually return for some hot BSN action, bringing with them many of the ex-NBA imports that had previously been partaking in the CBA. This is because the BSN – by design – takes place during most other league’s offseasons. Starting in March and ending in June, the BSN provides a place for good quality journeyman to earn some summer money, to stay in shape and work on their CV’s while being paid for the privilege. It is a win-win situation; the players get paid, the BSN gets some quality players, and us hardened geeks get some stats to dribble over.
The ex-NBA players to have played in Puerto Rico in previous seasons are too plentiful to mention. Just bear in mind that, for many of the players below, this is not their first time at doing this. There follows a list of the statistics of all import players in the BSN this season, along with those of Puerto Rican players that you may want to have heard of. Teams listed by order of their final regular season standings; as you can see, import turnover is quite high.
1) Vaqueros de Bayamon (Bayamon Cowboys)
Terrence Shannon – 24 games, 31.1 mpg, 15.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.4 fpg, 0.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, 55% FG, 47% 3PT, 72% FT
Robert Traylor – 28 games, 29.5 mpg, 9.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 3.5 fpg, 1.1 spg, 1.1 bpg, 46% FG, 0% 3PT, 69% FT
DeMarco Johnson – 6 games, 27.2 mpg, 10.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 2.5 fpg, 0.8 spg, 0.7 bpg, 48% FG, 0% EPT, 74% FT
Frans Steyn – 2 games, 9.5 mpg, 1.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 1.5 fpg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 17% FG, 0% EPT, 0% FT (0-4)
Christian Dalmau – 29 games, 35.1 mpg, 21.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.7 fpg 1.6 spg 0.5 bpg, 45% FG, 39% 3PT, 73% FT
Javier Mojica – 30 games, 32.0 mpg, 12.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.2 fpg, 1.6 spg, 0.7 bpg, 43% FG, 40% 3PT, 68% FT
Carmelo Lee – 27 games, 32.9 mpg, 12.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.4 fpg, 1.1 spg, 0.3 bpg, 42% FG, 38% 3PT, 81% FT
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, who left after seven games without being paid. He then 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 had earlier been suspended 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 was named to the All-Star team last month, and 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.
(If he needs money, maybe he could sell that watch.)
Shannon is an athletic 6’7 forward whose career has mostly consisted of China, the USBL, the D-League, the (American) CBA, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and the like. He also got a training camp contract with the Pistons back in 2005. In his two D-League seasons, Shannon averaged 14.4 points and 5.1 rebounds, but was held back by his lack of a jump shot. He’s developed one over the years, and hasn’t lost much of the athleticism, as evidenced by this big time dunk over Shaun Pruitt:
(video removed by uploader)
Steyn is the first of many in this list to have done the China/Puerto Rico combo this season. Unfortunately, as evidenced by those numbers, he’s also been one of the least successful at doing so. Steyn was released after only two games by the team and replaced by Traylor.
DeMarco Johnson – not to be confused with DerMarr Johnson – is a former NBA player as well. It was a long time ago now, coming way back in the 1999-00 season, but he played 37 minutes in 5 games with the New York Knicks, grabbing 6 points and 7 rebounds. (We’ll ignore the 0.5 PER for now.) Johnson, formerly of NC-Charlotte, had a strong career up until 2006, when he featured heavily in Serie A and the ACB and had a variety of stops at EuroLeague calibre teams. However, now 34 years of age, he has begun to travel to places such as Argentina, Cyprus and Slovenia for his work, spending this season in Israel where he averaged 8.7 ppg and 3.8 rpg for Ironi Nahariya. This is his first time in Puerto Rico, and even if he doesn’t come with the NBA resume that some others on this list do, Johnson has two Italian league All-Star berths to his name. No mean feat.
Mojica, Lee and Dalmau are all members of the Puerto Rican national team. Mojica was fleetingly mentioned here as a part of an analysis of Belgian club BC Oostende’s demograph; he is a good three-point shooter and former Polish league All-Star out of the mighty Central Connecticut State. The 6’7 versatile defender Lee spent one year with Florida back in 1995-96 before three seasons with Long Beach State, and has spent much of his career in or around Puerto Rico, but has also played in places such as Israel and South Korea, and played a couple of games in Cyprus earlier this season. And Dalmau is the middle of the three sons of Raymond Dalmau, a Puerto Rican legend and holder of basically every BSN scoring record going. He has played in the EuroLeague with Prokom Sopot, and also briefly played in the D-League; however, for the most part, he stays in the BSN. And why not? As was the case with his dad, Dalmau owns it. Even at the age of 34, he’s scoring 20+ points per game.
2) Capitanes de Arecibo (Arecibo Captains)
Bonzi Wells – 3 games, 30.0 mpg, 19.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 3.0 fpg, 2.0 spg, 0.3 bpg
Larry Ayuso – 29 games, 33.1 mpg, 18.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.2 bpg, 41% FG, 35% 3PT, 90% FT
Daniel Santiago – 12 games, 13.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.1 spg, 2.3 bpg, 55% FG, 57% 3PT (4-7), 69% FT
Guillermo Diaz – 3 games, 10.0 mpg, 5.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 2.7 fpg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 55% FG, 33% 3PT, 67% FT
Tim Pickett – 16 games, 23.1 mpg, 13.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.5 bpg, 43% FG, 37% 3PT, 82% FT
Darius Rice – 2 games, 21.7 mpg, 18.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.0 bpg, 57% FG, 42% 3PT, 80% FT
Courtney Sims – 5 games, 20.1 mpg, 9.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.4 apg, 0.0 spg, 1.4 bpg, 45% FG, 33% 3PT (2-6), 64% FT
Haakim Johnson – 14 games, 11.1 mpg, 7.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.1 apg, 2.0 fpg, 0.3 spg, 0.2 bpg, 51% FG, 18% 3PF, 70% FT
Angelo Reyes – 28 games, 24.3 mpg, 9.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.3 bpg, 41% FG, 27% 3PT, 78% FT
Walter Hodge – 3 games, 6.3 mpg, 1.7 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 fpg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 67% FG, 0% 3PT, 50% FT
Arecibo have been busy this year. In the offseason – which was around about Christmas time for them – they took part in the Liga Americas tournament. It was for this that they signed ex-NBA wingman Wells; after Arecibo were eliminated in the first group stage after only three games, Wells left the team and didn’t play again. The same is somewhat true of Hodge, who played in the Liga Americans and six PBL games only – for that duo, only their Liga Americas stats are shown.
For everyone else, it gets confusing. For reasons I am not fully aware of, Arecibo decided to play in two competitions this season. In addition to playing in the BSN, the Captains also played in the Premier Basketball League, a league started by disgruntled members of the comical American Basketball Association aimed to full the gaping void in the American minor league system opened up by the demise of the CBA (and doing a fairly good job of it at that). Arecibo did not complete a full 20-game PBL schedule as they were suspended for a game for “blatant disregard of PBL rules” (including, but not necessarily limited to, leaving hotel bills unpaid and a refusal to travel to a game even when chartered a plane especially); however, after some arse-kissing and threatened lawsuits, they returned to complete their PBL schedule and made the postseason with a 14-5 record, before being knocked out in the first round by the Rochester RazorSharks.
Johnson, a 6’7 forward out of an NAIA school called Pikeville who can’t shoot foul shots, only played with Arecibo in PBL games. His statistics therefore come only from those games. For everyone else, statistics are taken from the BSN regular season, except for those of Guillermo Diaz, whose playoff statistics are listed because he didn’t play in the regular season, as he was still in Italy playing for Angelico Biella. Hope that clarifies things.
Former USC guard Ayuso is a Puerto Rican national team staple and a bit of a hero over there. This is his 14th BSN season, which is no mean feat; he was playing in the BSN even before he started his college career, and hasn’t missed one since. He shoots and scores very well and does little else; however, so good has he been at that on the international stage over the years that he has drawn multiple NBA looks over the years, including a training camp contract from the Mavericks. Ayuso was in the D-League in 2008-09 between BSN stints, and averaged 13.2 ppg for the Iowa Energy.
Ex-Bucks and Suns centre Santiago is another Puerto Rican national team member, with 122 games of NBA experience between 2000 and 2005. He is a pretty poor rebounder for his size, and he could not stop fouling at the NBA level; however, he’s a decent scorer and defender around the basket. Like Ayuso, Santiago started playing in the BSN back in 1996, although due to contractual commitments to other teams he has missed a few in between now and then. He is coming off a disjointed season with the dysfunctional Turkish team Efes Pilsen; Santiago played pretty well when he played, averaging 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in only 10 minutes per game in the EuroLeague, but didn’t play much, and only played in the team’s EuroLeague games. He turns 34 later this month, however, so perhaps that’s wise.
The other Puerto Rican national teamer with an NBA history playing for Arecibo is Reyes, who came THIS CLOSE *holds two fingers very close together* to signing a contract with the Bucks in 2007. However, for whatever reason, he did not. And now the 28-year-old with a lengthy knee history shares his court time with elder statesman Jefferson Aubry.
Bonzi Wells is currently using Twitter to claim that he’s “damn near retired”. I guess he didn’t enjoy his time with the Captains.
Ex-Clippers draft pick Diaz, nicknamed “Superman” because of his athleticism, signed with Serie A stronghold Angelico Biella as an injury replacement for former lottery pick Fred Jones (who spent almost the whole year suffering from various injuries). He stayed with the team for several months, but played only three games for them and didn’t play them very well, averaging only 7.7 points in 27 minutes and missing a load of time due to a groin injury. Considering that Diaz was a 16.7 ppg scorer in the same league in 2008-09, it was a bit of a nothing year for him.
Sims has been in and out of the NBA for a while after tearing up the D-League in 2008-09 to the tune of 22/11. He hadn’t really been a serious NBA prospect before then, after being decent but not great in his four-year career at Michigan. This year, Sims has been around the houses, starting with the Hawks in training camp, then moving to Russia to sign with the fabled CSKA Moscow, but being released after only one game and replaced with Pops Mensah-Bonsu. He then returned to his former stomping ground when he joined the Iowa Energy of the D-League, but wasn’t as good there as he has been in the past, averaging only 12.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 fouls in 19 minutes of 14 games. Sims left the D-League in March to play for the Capitanes; while there, Courtney’s name was erroneously listed on latinbasket.com as something extremely NSFW, which was amusing. (Guess.) After being released, Sims finished up his season in Belgium, averaging 8.8 points and 6.1 rebounds for Charleroi.
Pickett is a former Hornets draft pick[ett] out of Florida State, whose official draft night board name slate thing can be all yours for only $7.20. He has absolutely torn it up in China these last couple of seasons, averaging over 39 points per game in 2008-09 and an equally healthy 29.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.0 apg and 2.6 spg this season for Shaanxi Dongshen. He was brought to Arecibo to replace Sims, but he himself was replaced by Darius Rice. Rice joined Arecibo after spending a season in Hungary with a team called Szolnoki Olajbanyasz, averaging 17.4 points per game, but left after they were knocked out of the playoffs. There will be no further analysis of the Hungarian playoffs.
3) Piratas de Quebradillas (Quebradillas Pirates)
Damon Jones – 5 games, 28.6 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 fpg, 0.2 spg, 0.0 bpg, 415 FG, 37% 3PT, 83% FT
Peter John Ramos – 17 games, 31.4 mpg, 19.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 3.0 fpg, 0.4 spg, 0.5 bpg, 59% FG, 0% 3PT, 56% FT
C.J. Bruton – 17 games, 31.8 mpg, 13.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 7.4 apg, 1.8 fpg, 0.6 spg, 0.2 bpg, 45% FG, 45% 3PT, 83$ FT
Lee Nailon – 8 games, 33.0 mpg, 21.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 3.3 fpg, 0.5 spg, 1.0 bpg, 55% FG, 0% 3PT, 74% FT
Walker Russell – 7 games, 24.4 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.9 fpg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 33% FG, 30% 3PT, 75% FT
Shawn Redhage – 24 games, 35.7 mpg, 18.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.3 apg, 3.3 fpg, 1.2 spg, 0.5 bpg, 53% FG, 44% 3PT, 84% FT
Greg Stevenson – 20 games, 12.1 mpg, 3.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.3 fpg, 0.4 spg, 0.4 bpg, 44% FG, 50% 3PT (2-4), 50% FT
Ian Lockhart – 30 games, 13.2 mpg, 2.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.4 apg, 2.3 fpg, 0.4 spg, 0.1 bpg, 44% FG, 35% 3PT, 75% FT
Like Traylor, Jones started the season with Napoli. He played in nine games for the team, averaging 13.3 points per game. The self-proclaimed best shooter in the world took 42 two-pointers, 71 three-pointers and 0 foul shots in those nine games, also managing to record only six personal fouls in 325 minutes. Complete avoidance of physical contact? That’s our Damon. Jones left the team when it all got silly, and now finds himself here in Puerto Rico trying to earn some summer paychecks. It’s a far cry from that $4 million salary he used to get.
Former Wizards centre Ramos is the best big man Puerto Rico have, which is reflected in the numbers above. He didn’t do anything in the NBA; despite signing a four-year contract with three years guaranteed, after being drafted as high as #33 in 2004, Ramos played only six games and 20 minutes in the big league, which was not a great return. In the years since then, Ramos has spent every summer back home in the BSN, while also playing in Spain and China, and wherever he’s gone, he’s rebounded. A lot. As if to make that point, this season for the Zheijiang Lions, Ramos averaged 17.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in only 30.7 minutes per game, grabbing less than 10 rebounds only once in 38 tries (and that was a nine-rebound performance). He was a rumoured target of the Houston Rockets last summer, and, even though his offensive game hasn’t expanded a great deal, he’s still a 7’1 rebounding machine. NBA teams like that, and quite rightly so. So it would not be a surprise if Ramos gets more NBA looks this summer.
In November, I wrote this about C.J. Bruton:
With the exception of a brief trip to Venezuela in 2001 for some summer money, a brief CBA stint in late 2000, a training camp stint with the Blazers in 2002 (who bought his draft rights from the Grizzlies), and two years at Indian Hill Community College between 1995 and 1997, C.J. Bruton has spent his entire basketball life in Australia. He was there even before he was drafted, and he’s still there to this day. This season for the New Zealand Breakers – who play in the Australian NBL, despite the name – Bruton averages 16.3 points (eighth in the league) and 4.1 assists (fourth). He has also been a member of the Australian national team for pretty much the entire stretch, and you may have seen him in the Olympics as a result.
It is unusual, then, that Bruton has come to Puerto Rico this summer. Perhaps it has something to do with the presence of Redhage, a former Arizona State role player who has gone on to star in Australia. With the exception of two Puerto Rican stints, Redhage has spent his whole career in Australia’s NBL, with three All-Star games and one championship to his name. Indeed, Redhage has spent so long in Australia that he became eligible for citizenship through residency, which he acquired in 2008, going on to join Bruton (another guy who has Australian citizenship due to residency) on the national team. Redhage averaged a healthy 15.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last year, but has averaged as much as 21/8/5 in prior NBL seasons.
(By the way, Bruton’s 7.4 apg was a league high, and by quite a long way too. No one else came within 1.6 apg of that average.)
Ex-NBA forward Nailon averaged 21.5 points per game in the BSN last season for the Ponce Lions, good for second in the league, so it probably seemed like quite the coup when he joined Quebradillas to start this year (he did not play in between the two BSN seasons). However, Nailon left the team after only eight games, the team deciding they needed a guard (Jones) more than Nailon’s scoring. More on Nailon later.
Walker Russell – whose name was often listed as Russell Walker in Puerto Rican media, at least in the early going – led the D-League in assists in 2008-09, firmly planting himself on the NBA’s radar. However, this follow-up season has not gone too well. After two-and-a-half-years of D-League paychecks, Russell started out on his own this year, but managed only a brief stint in Bulgaria (13.7 points and 5.5 assists for Lukoil Akademik), and only three weeks with Quebradillas, before he and Nailon were dropped for Redhage and Jones. Russell turns 28 this offseason, so if he’s going to start getting paid, this is the time.
Greg Stevenson is the younger and smaller brother of Jarod Stevenson. Jared has turned out a long European career as a sharpshooter, while Greg has plied his trade as more of an all-around player, spending quite a lot of time in Asia. This year, Greg played for the LG Sakers in South Korea, and averaged 21.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
Ian Lockhart is a former NBA player, with a career PER of 76.3. He went undrafted out of Tennessee, and later signed a short term contract with the Suns, appeared in two minutes of one game, and scoring four points. But when did all this take place? All the way back in 1991; Ian Lockhart turns 43 years old later this month. He has played in the BSN in most seasons since 1997, and while it used to be a supplement to his European career (which took place mostly in France), it’s now the only place he plays at. But to still be playing at the age of 42, even if not very well, is a significant achievement. So here’s to you, Ian Lockhart. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Woah woah woahhhhh.
4) Leones de Ponce (Ponce Lions)
Lee Nailon – 18 games, 29.7 mpg, 16.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 3.1 fpg, 0.7 spg, 0.9 bpg, 50% FG, 31% 3PT, 80% FT
Leon Rodgers – 22 games, 26.5 mpg. 13.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.7 fpg, 0.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, 45% FG, 43% 3PT, 80% FT
Rodney White – 7 games, 31.7 mpg, 21.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.3 fpg, 0.9 spg, 1.0 bpg, 49% FG, 29% 3PT, 75% FT
Rick Apodaca – 6 games, 28.0 mpg, 9.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.7 fpg, 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 41% FG, 32% 3PT, 77% FT
Andre Brown – 1 game, 17 minutes, 2 points, 6 rebounds, 0 assists, 4 fouls, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1-4 FG
DeMarr Johnson – 7 games, 20.7 mpg, 11.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.0 apg, 2.6 fpg, 0.7 spg, 0.4 bpg, 33% FG, 31% 3PT, 100% FT
DeAngelo Collins – 7 games, 20.7 mpg, 9.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 3.0 fpg, 0.3 spg, 0.6 bpg, 48% FG, 0% 3PT, 54% FT
Ponce have had more import turnover than most teams. They’ve had quality players, but not much piece of mind. The Lions started the year with Collins and Johnson, one a former NBA #6 pick, and one a former highly touted prospect who couldn’t stay out of trouble for long enough to crack the big league. Both players had spent the majority of this year in China, but neither for very long. Johnson played in the first ten games for Jiangsu, and was remarkably inconsistent; after a 43-point debut and a 29-point 13-rebound second game, he totalled only 40 points over the next three games, recovered a bit, then had a five-point outing in his penultimate game before leaving the team.
Meanwhile, Collins led the CBA with a 15.4 rebounds per game average, and his 2.8 blocks per game ranked fourth. He was with Jilin only briefly, signing as an injury replacement, but poured in the big man stats in his time there as well. Collins never attended college, declaring for the draft out of Inglewood High School back in 2002, but going undrafted due to his rawness, lack of offensive talent, and chequered off-court life that featured a six-month stay in juvenile hall for felonious assault (amongst dozens of other incidents). He’s had some NBA looks over the years, most notably of which were from the Raptors, who signed him in 2002, but none amounted to any regular season time. Most of his professional career has been spent doing the Dan Langhi Tour (explained later), although there was a brief D-League stint in there as well. Both Collins and Johnson were released after seven games, the scapegoats for Ponce’s underwhelming start.
The man Collins was covering for in China was, fittingly, the man who replaced him at Ponce; Leon Rodgers. Rodgers has been touring the minor leagues for the best part of a decade, putting up heeeeeeyoooooge scoring numbers wherever he goes. He has never played in the highest standard leagues – ACB, Adriatic, Serie A, etc – which helps with that prolificness. Yet his 35 ppg average in China in 2008-09 was enough to get a workout (and later a training camp contract) from the Memphis Grizzlies. And the 29/9/4 that he averaged in China this year was equally as impressive.
While Rodgers replaced Johnson on the wing, NBA journeyman Brown was all set to replace Collins up front. Brown too had spent the majority of the year in China, averaging as-near-as-is 20 points and 12 rebounds a game. However, Ponce gave him only one game (in which he underperformed) before releasing him and replacing him with Nailon. As mentioned before, Nailon had averaged big statistics for Ponce in the previous season, and when Quebradillas let him go, they snapped him up. Nailon again poured in the big points, as was always Nailon’s strength, but once again he did it in the classic Lee Nailon way; no three-pointers, few free throws, just a lot of two-pointers and little defence. Nailon can shoot and post, but his usage rates have never been great; he needs his touches, and while he contributes big numbers, he often only contributes big numbers. Such is the Lee Nailon experience. Always has been. He has his uses, though.
Nailon got injured a fortnight ago and missed five games at the most inopportune time, but Ponce quickly countered by bringing in another former NBA player of some pedigree when they signed Rodney White. This is Rodney’s third consecutive summer in the BSN, more excitingly, it’s also the third consecutive season in which he’s pulled the China/Puerto Rico double ender. You have to love that. You also have to love it when a player averages 27.5 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, as Rodney did in the CBA this season. (Incidentally, upon Nailon’s return, Ponce deactivated Rodgers and have used White and Nailon as their two import players in the playoffs.)
Apodaca is a Puerto Rican national team mainstay, an athletic two guard formerly of Hofstra who was once a signee with the Orlando Magic. He spends his summers back home and his winters in Europe; this season, for Scafati in Italy’s LegaDue, Apodaca averaged 15.3 points and 4.2 rebounds. Unfortunately, Apodaca likes his weed; it was speculated that he would have been drafted out of Hofstra back in 2003 had he not been suspended for half his senior season for a positive test, and Apodaca was also kicked off of Italian team Carife Ferrara in January 2009 for another positive test. It is him who is pictured above. Grrrrrr, rugged.
Ponce’s season is over. In a close-fought first round playoff series against the next team on this list, Ponce were losing the series decider at home by 14 points with only a few seconds left when the crowd began to pelt the court with missiles. The game was called, and Ponce have been fined and banned from their home arena for their first five games. Guess this means it’s being played in the car park.
5) Cangrejeros de Santurce (Santurce Crabs)
Mike Sweetney – 24 games, 30.5 mpg, 18.0 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.6 fpg, 0.5 spg, 1.3 bpg, 57% FG, 20% 3PT, 70% FT
Ricky Sanchez – 30 games, 29.4 mpg, 10.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.3 apg, 3.0 fpg, 37% FG, 39% 3PT, 69% FT
Chris Daniels – 3 games, 21.0 mpg, 13.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 3.7 fpg, 0.3 spg, 1.0 bpg, 62% FG, 33% 3PT, 100% FT
Walter Hodge – 34 games, 25.6 mpg, 12.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.3 fpg, 1.1 spg, 0.5 bpg, 47% FG, 36% 3PT, 84% FT
Richard Chaney – 8 games, 23.1 mpg, 10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 0.9 apg, 2.4 fpg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 56% FG, 64% 3PT, 74% FT
Marqis Gainous – 7 games, 27.1 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 2.9 fpg, 0.0 spg, 1.3 bpg, 38% FG, 36% 3PT, 755 FT
Bizarrely, Santurce are only allowed one import, whereas the other teams are allowed two. This is because of a sanction imposed by the BSN, not because of any illicit behaviour, but because Santurce used to win every bloody year, so the league restricted them to one import to level the playing field. It seems a slightly communist ruling, because although Santurce won the league four consecutive times between 1998 and 2001, they have only won it twice since then, in 2003 and 2007. They finished 11th in the regular season standings only two years ago, and considering that the current incarnation of the BSN has only ten teams, it’s easy to see that the heyday of a few years ago is no longer here. Yet the one import rule applies anyway. Strange times.
Initially, that import was Marqis Gainous, a 6’10 lefty with three point range and a willingness to rebound who pleasantly reminds the soul of a blacker Troy Murphy. (Although balder. And smaller.) Gainous is a 33-year-old formerly of TCU – that stands for Texas Christian University, and not Terrible Cowboy University as I had first assumed (although to be fair most cowboys are terrible Christians too). Terrible Cowboy University is also Lee Nailon’s alma mater, and the two were teammates together in 1998-99. Gainous’s professional career has some of the usual stops (Puerto Rico, France, Turkey, CBA) and some unusual ones (Kosovo, Chile, Uruguay, Cyprus, whatever the Carolinas Basketball League is); the BSN represented his best gig for a while. Unfortunately, Gainous got injured after only a few games, and while he returned to play in late March/early April, the team deemed him to not be playing well enough.
For the three games Gainous missed, the team brought in Chris Daniels as his replacement. Daniels is a centre out of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which is not the same as plain old Texas A&M. He went undrafted in 2008, but not before getting looks from multiple NBA teams, including the Magic, Kings and Rockets (with whom he spent summer league that season). Daniels has spent both seasons of his professional career in South Korea, averaging 22/9 in year one and 21/9 in year two. He appeared to play well in his three games for Santurce, so it’s a bit of a mystery why the team returned immediately to Gainous once he had returned to full health. Whatever their reasons for it were, though, Gainous did not stay for much longer before being replaced with a former NBA talent.
Michael Sweetney’s career since leaving the NBA – or lack of it – has been a subject long of focus on this website, covered in places such as here, here, here and here. The picture above is pretty solid evidence of that fact that his post-NBA career has been…..sporadic. That said, Sweetney’s ability has never been called into question. There’s tons of it, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that Sweetney has been one of the BSN’s best players this season. He even hit a three. But as ever, Mike needs to lose 60 lbs. In fact, he needs to lose 60lbs just to get back to his draft night size. And even at that size, critics were saying he needed to lose weight. There’s still a long way to go here, and no obvious progress being made. Although at least things have stopped getting worse.
Sanchez is a Puerto Rican international, drafted initially by the Blazers on the Nuggets behalf, and whose rights were later traded to the Sixers. He has spent his career in Latin America, and plays in the BSN every season, although it hasn’t always been without incident. Sanchez is a big athletic forward with a good jump shot, who was drafted on the pretense that he might go on to develop his game outside of his athleticism and jump shot combination. Unfortunately, he hasn’t; Sanchez is shooting a very healthy 43% from three-point range, but only 33% from two-point range. Nevertheless, the Sixers could use a player of his type, so the slim chance remains. And even though he was drafted back in 2005, Sanchez is still only 22.
Hodge briefly appeared earlier in the list, and may be known to American audiences as a former backup guard for the Florida Gators. He’s quick, athletic and persistent on defence, with a jump shot and occasionally successful wild flails at the rim, although he’s also a small two guard. More important than his style of play, though, is this haircut that he once rocked out. I’m not sure where I stand on the shaving-mantras-into-the-hair thing.
Richard Chaney not only has a fantastic name, but also a fantastic rebounding rate for a 6’5 guard. He’s an American/Puerto Rican national that played three years at Utah (the University, not the Jazz), before transferring to Troy for his senior season. Chaney’s Puerto Rican heritage allows him to bypass the BSN’s import regulations, which is particularly welcome for Santurce, given their sanctions. They are similarly blessed with ex-Western Illinois swingman Christopher Gonzalez and one time touted Syracuse prospect Mark Konecny. My God, I love the BSN.
6) Atleticos de San German (St. Germain Athletic)
Leroy Hickerson – 23 games, 35.7 mpg, 20.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.7 fpg, 1.1 spg, 0.7 bpg, 46% FG, 18% 3PT, 74% FT
Mario Austin – 18 games, 34.4 mpg, 15.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.0 fpg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 44% FG, 27% 3PT, 66% FT
Rod Benson – 2 games, 19.6 mpg, 3.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.5 fpg, 1.0spg, 1.0 bpg, 3-15 FG, 1-1 FT
Ernest Brown – 2 games, 30.0 mpg, 17.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 0.0 apg, 4.0 fpg, 0.0 spg, 1.0 bpg, 45% FG, 0% 3PT, 80% FT
Blake Walker – 11 games, 36.6 mpg, 16.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.1 fpg, 0.7 spg, 0.3 bpg, 48 FG%, 32% 3PT, 57% FT
Monty Wilson – 3 games, 31.3 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.3 apg, 2.3 fpg, 1.0 spg, 0.3 bpg, 34$ FG, 18% 3PT, 70% FT
Donald Copeland – 21 games, 32.0 mpg, 14.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.3 fpg, 1.3 spg, 0.7 bpg, 40% FG, 305 3PT, 88% FT
Marcus Melvin – 4 games, 26.8 mpg, 12.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 3.0 fpg, 0.3 spg, 0.5 bpg, 41% FG, 42% 3PT, 56% FT
San German only had two players play more than 26 games of a 32-game season. Nine played less than ten, and the team used 20 players in total, including six imports. The team started with Wilson and Walker as their imports – former Seton Hall guard Copeland, former Northwestern State centre Alphone Dyer, former Texas A&M swingman Luis Rosa-Clemente and two guys called Carlos Strong and Bryant Lassiter have also appeared.
Wilson is a 37-year-old Tennessee State graduate with a career CV that is too long to type. He has spent his time since 2005 touring middle and South America, playing in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and rather a large amount of time in Columbia. He’s scored big in all of them, but San German gave him only three games to win them over. And when he didn’t (see his field goal percentage), they released him in favour of Leroy Hickerson.
Hickerson is nine years younger and is well on his way to having the same career as Wilson, averaging 22.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the Mexican LNBP before the BSN season started. Perhaps the most noticeable thing about Hickerson is that he never stops playing; he played 52 games in the LNBP with Pionheros between September and March, then moved immediately to San German when the LNBP finished to play 23 of 32 games there. Now that San German’s season is finished, Hickerson has again moved, this time to the Philippines to play for Air21 Express in the Fiesta Conference. He’s certainly putting work in.
Walker is a 6’5 former Portland State swingman without much of an outside jump shot, but who keeps taking them anyway. The BSN represents the best gig of his career so far, but after only eight games, he left to go play in Mexico. After 27 games in 11 weeks with Fuerza Guinda Nogales in the LNBP, Walker came back to San German to play in their playoff series against Quebradillas. His averages of 17 points and 9 rebounds didn’t stop them being swept, however.
Hickerson left on May 19th, and the first couple of games were filled by Rod Benson, about whom you already know. Benson had been playing in the Dominican Republic for some summer money and figured to be one of the best players in the BSN; however, for whatever reason, he wasn’t. As the numbers above show, he did little, and was replaced by the returning Walker.
Austin was replaced after the team’s first playoff game, a game in which P.J. Ramos (above) had torched him for 30 points and 20 rebounds. Believing they needed the kind of size to combat Ramos that Austin just didn’t have, the team brought in ex-NBA big man Ernest Brown. Brown had been in China this year averaging 20.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game for Shanghai, where he had matched up with Ramos several times, and he held him to only 28 and 20 combined over the next two games. But San German lost both anyway.
7) Mets de Guaynabo (Guaynabo Mets)
Marcus Fizer – 11 games, 27.5 mpg, 13.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.7 fpgm 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 45% FG, 21% 3PT, 60% FT
Antoine Walker – 9 games, 29.1 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.9 spg, 0.9 spg, 0.9 bpg, 40% FG, 23% 3PT, 53% FT
Andre Emmett – 7 games, 33.9 mpg, 20.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.9 fpg, 1.6 spg, 1.1 bpg, 51% FG, 32% 3PT, 72% FT
Sean Williams – 3 games, 26.3 mpg, 9.3 ppg, 14.3 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.0 spg, 4.3 bpg, 43% FG, 50% 3PT, 75% FT
Torraye Braggs – 3 games, 26.7 mpg, 15.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 4.3 fpg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 bpg, 41% FG, 0% EPT, 79% FT
Luis Colon – 10 games, 7.6 mpg, 2.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.2 apg, 1.7 fpg, 0.1 spg, 0.0 bpg, 39% FG, 0% 3PT, 100% FT
Kurt Looby – 8 games, 27.4 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 2.6 fpg, 1.0 spg, 0.9 bpg, 40% FG, 0% 3PT, 28% FT
Matt Freije – 13 games, 35.2 mpg, 15.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.0 fpg, 0.6 bpg, 0.5 spg, 39% FG, 35% 3PT, 83% FT
Glen McGowan – 6 games, 30.7 mpg, 18.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.7 apg, 3.0 fpgm 1.3 spg, 1.5 bpg, 45% FG, 33% 3PT, 62% FT
Guaynano’s first imports, Fizer and Walker, signed early. They did so to some fanfare, not so much for Fizer (who was playing his third consecutive BSN season), but definitely for Antoine, who was the most storied player to ever play in the country. The expectations, and his pay packet, were high. But it didn’t go well. It didn’t go particularly well for Fizer, either, especially when you consider that this man averaged 30/12 in the BSN only two short summers ago.
Antoine survived only nine games before being cut, and was immediately replaced by Glen McGowan. McGowan is a former Pepperdine forward and D-League veteran who scored big for the Mets, inside and out, before a leg injury ruled him out after only six games. Fizer played in eight of the team’s first games with the team before he too was injured, and for one game the team was down to only one import (McGowan). They soon filled the hole, though, with another former NBA talent, Sean Williams.
Williams was in the NBA to begin this season, but only because his salary was guaranteed. He played in only 20 games and 227 minutes with the Nets before being waived when they needed a roster spot for someone they didn’t even want (Sean’s namesake, Shawne Williams). Considering Sean came into the NBA needing to improve many facets of his game – particularly anything resembling consistent offensive contribution – it was perhaps disconcerting that he got produced less year on year, rather than more, After being cut, he did what many athletic ex-NBA big men do when they don’t have an NBA contract, and went to China – playing for Fujian, Williams averaged 16.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 4.2 blocks in 32 minutes per game, shooting 55% from the field and 64% from the line. And after leaving China, he did what many athletic ex-NBA big men do when they leave China; he came to Puerto Rico. (From the Nets to the Mets in only one year.) However, he lasted only three games; despite grabbing 20 rebounds in his last game for the team, they saw fit to replace him with Andre Emmett.
Emmett isn’t a big man, but he too has done the China/Puerto Rico combo, and has done it to great effect. He led the notoriously high-scoring league with a 32.0 points per game average, and set a new CBA single game scoring record with a 71-point effort on March 7th that included 28-34 shooting from two-point range. Emmett also averaged 7.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game; if there’s a stat that can be put up, he’ll explore it. He did much the same in Puerto Rico with his 20/8; however, Emmett played only seven games before being changed out for Kurt Looby. Unlike Emmett, Looby really can’t score, as evidenced by his 6.8 ppg in 30 minutes for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the offence-friendly D-League this year. And this apparently was a problem for Guaynabo, who released Looby after the last eight games of the regular season in which he scored a point every six minutes. He was replaced by journeyman ex-Rockets big man Torraye Braggs, a superior scorer.
McGowan was released for the returning Fizer, who was then released himself for Vanderbilt’s Matt Freije. Freije, now a Lebanese national team member, makes a career out of gigs like this now, and he and Braggs (whose career has been like this for a long time) were Guaynabo’s imports for the playoffs. It didn’t stop them from being swept, however. Seventh out of ten in the regular season and a comparatively easy first-round sweep was not what they had in mind when they signed Antoine Walker.
Also on the Guaynabo roster is Luis Colon, an offensively limited but hard-working big man who started for Kansas State all this season. Colon is a marginal talent, as reflected by his numbers, but it’s cool for the Puerto Rican native to be playing in his home nation’s premier league. Colon’s Kansas State team mate Denis Clemente was the first overall pick in the 2010 BSN Home Players draft, but, because he has NBA draft aspirations, he did not play in the 2010 BSN season.
8) Gallitos de Isabela (Isabela Cocks)
Sam Clancy – 2 games, 37.5 mpg, 12.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 0.5 apg, 3.5 fpg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 52% FG, 0% 3PT, 33% FT
Shaun Pruitt – 24 games, 34.3 mpg, 18.8 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 0.7 apg, 2.3 fpg, 0.5 spg, 1.3 bpg, 51% FG, 40% 3PT, 39% FT
Jared Reiner – 8 games, 36.0 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 1.4 apg, 3.3 fpg, 0.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, 435 FG, 25% 3PT, 100% FT
Alando Tucker – 6 games, 31.0 mpg, 15.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 2.0 fpg, 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 40% FG, 5% 3PT (1-19), 77% FT
Devin Green – 7 games, 30.3 mpg, 12.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.4 fpg, 1.1 spg, 0.6 bpg, 40% FG, 29% 3PT, 63% FT
Filiberto Rivera – 32 games, 34.5 mpg, 16.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 5.4 apg, 2.3 fpg, 1.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 43% FG, 30% 3PT, 84% FT
A.D. Vassallo – 3 games, 29.0 mpg, 18.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 2.7 fpg, 1.0 spg, 0.7 bpg, 36% FG, 30% 3PT, 88% FT
Lee Benson – 7 games, 32.7 mpg, 10.3 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 1.9 apg, 3.0 fpg, 0.3 spg, 0.9 bpg, 43% FG, 50% 3PT, 75% FT
Reggie Okosa – 8 games, 25.3 mpg, 12.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.1 apg, 4.0 fpg, 0.4 spg, 0.8 bpg, 52% FG, 44% 3PT, 61% FT
Isabela Cocks is a terrible name for a girl, and not a great name for a basketball team either. The team did not have a great year, finishing third-last in the regular season standings; however, due to the slightly insane structure of the current incarnation of the BSN, third-last was good enough for a playoff spot. (Note to the organisers; if you have a ten-team league, don’t have eight playoff places. I realise it’s a money spinner, but it cheapens the achievement, and really cheapens the regular seasons. Maybe top out at four in the future.)
The team had two high-quality local players in Puerto Rican international Filiberto Rivera (a one-time signing of the Cleveland Cavaliers) and Venezuelan international Rafael Perez (not to be confused with the once-awesome Cleveland Indians left hander, nor to the corrupt police officer somehow linked to the shooting of Tupac.) Rivera was probably the team’s best player, ranking fourth in the BSN in assists while also pouring in 16.3 ppg; Perez formed the other half of the high-scoring backcourt with his 16.8 ppg average. The team also had some big domestic help from former Virginia Tech swingman A.D. Vassallo, a man with NBA aspirations and a great talent level who averaged 18.3 points for the team. However, Vassallo played only the team’s three playoff games, with his prior commitments in the French league preventing him from playing in the regular season.
Isabela Cocks started the season with a double team of Pruitt and Green. (Filthy girl.) Green was playing well early, but injured his knee after four games, and missed a couple of games. He returned, but his performance tailed off, and he was released three games later, replaced by Alando Tucker. Tucker was fresh out of the NBA after being waived by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and after a pretty terrible debut (16 points on 21 shots), he started to play well for the team. However, his performance also began to tail off, totalling only 15 points and 2 rebounds in his final two games with the team, and he was released at the All-Star break after only six games. (He was indirectly replaced by his former Wisconsin team mate Greg Stiemsma. The two are pictured above with some lucky girl who needs new jeans.)
(By the way, speaking of; in the BSN, the All-Star game consists of Natives versus Imports. The natives won, 109-95. Larry Ayuso top scored, and Carmelo Lee was named the MVP. A box score can be found here. Note how the league discerned between the Puerto Rican passport holders that were “natives”, and those that were “imports” (Mojica, Rivera, etc.) It seems a touch arbitrary.)
Tucker was replaced by CBA staple, Lee Benson, an elder statesmen with comparatively little higher-level basketball experience due to the fact that he spent almost all of his 20’s in prison. Nevertheless, he was a valid NBA draft candidate in 2002 at the age of 28, after only one season of junior college; this speaks to his talent level. He’s been demonstrating that talent in China lately, averaging 34.1 ppg, 18.8 rpg, 5.6 apg and 2.0 bpg in the CBA in the 2008/09 season, and playing there again this year. However, even though prison was supposed to teach him discipline, it didn’t seem to; Benson and Pruitt were both released in early May for disciplinary reasons, even though they were two of the team’s only five good players at the time, and the two best rebounders in the entire league. For more on that, read here.
Isabella doesn’t take it lying down, though, and another CBA veteran (LaSalle forward Reggie Okosa) and another NBA training camper (Jared Reiner) were quickly brought into her fold. (Giggidies all round.) The duo played the last seven games of the regular season, putting up the solid but unspectacular numbers outlined above – the only thing of note was that Reiner, who had not hit a single three-pointer in either his college or professional career (a span of ten years and several hundred games) suddenly started to reform himself into a three-point shooter. He attempted sixteen of them in eight games, making four, and somehow managed to attempt only three free throws to 107 total field goals. Maybe the now-28-year-old Reiner has begun to subscribe to the Paul Shirley school of thought, whereby he’ll only continue the slog of professional basketball if he can do what’s fun for him, i.e. jump shots. I’m not sure that it’s helping him in the short term.
However, around came the playoffs. The eighth-seeded Cocks were matched up against the mighty Bayamon, and it didn’t go well. Isabela was run ragged in their opening game, losing by a whopping 40 points and somehow giving up 114 points in a 40 minute game. Instant changes were made; Reiner and Okosa were released, NBA veteran Sam Clancy was brought in, and, bizarrely, Pruitt returned for the team’s last two games. But it made no difference. The depthless Cocks were firmly screwed by the mighty Cowboys (who presumably then ate pudding), and the sweep was wrapped up with relative ease.
9) Caciques de Humacao (Humacao Caciques. A cacique is a type of tribal chief.)
James Mays – 25 games, 33.4 mpg, 17.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2.5 fpg, 1.4 spg, 1.2 spg, 39% FG, 30% 3PT, 64% FT
Jermareo Davidson – 2 games, 10.0 mpg, 7.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 2.0 fpg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 7-13 FG, 1-2 FT
John Millsap – 18 games, 31.8 mpg, 16.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.5 fpg, 0.7 spg, 0.6 bpg, 46% FG, 34% 3PT, 77% FT
Ali Berdiel – 26 games, 33.3 mpg, 17.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.7 fpg, 2.0 spg, 0.9 bpg, 41% FG, 39% 3PT, 76% FT
Corsley Edwards – 2 games, 26.5 mpg, 16.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.0 apg, 3.5 fpg, 0.0 spg, 1.5 bpg, 46% FG, 14% 3PT, 70% FT
Antonio Anderson – 5 games, 36.2 mpg, 16.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.8 fpg, 1.6 spg, 0.6 bpg, 36% FG, 23% 3PT, 59% FT
Major Wingate – 2 games, 52 minutes, 16 points, 11 rebounds, 8 fouls, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 5-14 FG, 6-8 FT
Humacao were the first of the only two BSN teams to not make the playoffs. If the BSN had a draft lottery like the NBA’s, it’d be quite a dull event. They started the year with Mays and Wingate as imports, but, as you can see, Wingate didn’t last long. The former Tennessee player arrived after a decent part-season in the D-League with the Springfield Armor, and put up 10/10 in 37 minutes on debut, but then he almost fouled out in only 15 minutes in game two and was released. Meanwhile, Mays put up his usual good numbers across the board, but his scoring efficiency was poor all season. This is mainly because Mays, who has never been a good three-point shooter, took five of them a game, attempting one in at least every game he played. And since he played 25 out of the team’s 29 games and stayed the whole season, this amounted to 115 three-pointers in total in only two months. That’s a lot for a man who shot only 51 in total in four years at Clemson.
Wingate’s initial replacement was John Millsap, Paul’s older and slightly smaller brother. John doesn’t have the NBA talent of his brother, but has begun to craft himself a good Central American career nonetheless. He went to college at Texas San-Antonio and floundered for a few years in the American minor leagues, spending time in the CBA (the American one) and USBL before playing a full season at the back end of the Utah Flash’s rotation in 2007-08, then moving to the ABA to star in the 2008-09 season. That marked the beginning of his breakout; this season, playing in the Mexican LNBP for Campeche, Millsap averaged a league leading 25.4 points per game, alongside 7.7 rebounds, getting to the line a ton and rarely passing on his way to huge scoring numbers. The Mexican LNBP is not of the same standard as the CBA or the BSN, which is why there’s no 15,000 word biopic here about it, but it’s not bad nonetheless. And by starring there this year, Millsap should have bought some job security in the region for a while.
(I’m guessing this is about a different John Millsap.)
Millsap lasted the majority of the season before being released due to injury. In his place, Humacao scored a quality signing when they landed Antonio Anderson, the former Memphis guard whose first professional season involved multiple NBA looks (and even a few regular season minutes with the Thunder.) Anderson formed an unlikely pairing with Ali Berdiel, Humacao’s best domestic player and a guard who resembles Anderson quite a lot. Like Anderson, Valparaiso product Berdiel is a tall guard with a point guard’s instincts and defensive versatility; unlike Anderson, however, Berdiel can shoot. He’s had a look in the NBA with the Knicks before now, and has had a few cracks in the D-League, but he’s also got his backup plan should the basketball thing not work out. Berdiel is an aspiring music artist, and has released a variety of his works at this website. Here’s a video of one of them. NOTE: Video contains an eclectic mix of Spanish rapping and English cuss words.
(video removed by uploader)
Ali, I advise you to do away with the vocalisers, but wish you the best of luck.
Mays missed a game on May 15th, and ex-NBA big man Jermareo Davidson was brought in to replace him. And when Mays returned in time for the next game, Davidson took the place of Anderson, who did not play for the team again. However, Davidson underperformed, and another ex-NBA player from this past CBA season, Corsley Edwards, filled his role. Edwards averaged 29.3 points, 8.3 points and 2.7 assists in 39 minutes per game in China, shooting 55% from the field, 69% from three-point range (somehow) and 78% from the line, leaving only when he broke a finger. Included in there was a 50-point outing and a 47-point outing, and in 15 games he never scored less than 20. He might have done something similar in Puerto Rico had he had more than two games to work with.
Nevertheless, despite the NBA pedigree in their imports, Humacao just didn’t have enough domestic help. It was Berdiel, and very little else.
Finally…
10) Indios de Mayaguez (Mayaquez Indians)
James Maye – 25 games, 34.8 mpg, 19.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.4 fpg, 0.6 spg, 0.6 bpg, 53% FG, 50% 3PT, 86% FT
Maurice Baker – 10 games, 27.1 mpg, 8.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.6 apg, 2.7 fpg, 2.0 spg, 0.4 bpg, 39% FG, 31% 3PT, 70% FT
Bimbo Carmona – 22 games, 31.5 mpg, 20.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.0 fpg, 1.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 55% FG, 29% 3PT, 70% FT
Michael Gale – 3 games, 36.7 mpg, 17.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.3 fpg, 1.0 spg, 0.7 bpg, 35% FG, 27% 3PT, 62% FT
Ike Ofoegbu – 4 games, 21.8 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 4.0 fpg, 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 59% FG, 0% 3PT (0-7), 55% FT
Dan Langhi – 13 games, 33.4 mpg, 13.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.0 fpg, 0.6 spg, 0.4 bpg, 43% FG, 35% 3PT, 82% FT
Mayaguez started the season with Gale and Ofoegbu as imports. Gale is a 27-year-old off-guard who spent four years as a role player at Centenary, an athletic defender who struggles to shoot. Ofoegbu is a 6’9 forward, formerly of Southern Methodist (he’s the son of a minister), who can shoot but who was missing his shot with Mayaguez. Gale lasted only the first three games, and Ofoegbu only four, before the Indians decided they need more shooting. For this reason, they replaced Gale with Maye, a NC-Greensboro graduate who has had NBA looks with the Spurs, amongst others. As his statistics above show, Maye could not have shot the ball much better; he hit that three-point percentage while attempting almost six a game, and was a BSN All-Star for the second consecutive season.
In Maye’s first game with the team, Mayaguez attempted 41 three pointers. (That’s more than one a minute in a 40 minute game, maths fans.) They only hit 13; Maye accounted for six of those makes. By pairing Gale in the backcourt with with Alejandro Carmona – Puerto Rican national team mainstay and one time Piston, who scores heavily, but who scores inside the arc – the Indians hadn’t given themselves enough outside shooting. Back-up guard Paul Graham (formerly of Florida Atlantic) shot only 25% on three-pointers for the season, and forwards Keenan Jourdan (6’8, Boston College, 31%) and Alex Galindo (6’6, Florida International, 32%) weren’t much better. And while Ofoegbu was supposed to help with this, he didn’t.
With that in mind, Mayaguez changed Ofoegbu for Dan Langhi, the ex-NBA forward who now takes his tall jump-shooty ways all around central America and Asia, hustling for a buck. (Note: Langhi was signed before the season, but was still playing in Mexico for the LNBP runners-up, Halcones Rojos, when the BSN season began.) Langhi contributed with his usual good shooting, and added some good rebounding help, but Mayaguez were still firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.
Another side-effect of the Carmona/Maye/random-other-person backcourt was that it lacked for quality of point guard play. Mayaguez tried to address this by bringing in former NBA player and D-League stalwart Maurice Baker. It wasn’t easy – FIBA initially vetoed the move, citing a conflict of interests due to Baker’s supposed commitments to another team. But the transaction finally went through, and Baker joined the team for their final ten games. Mayaguez still lost seven of them. They had little point guard play, only one good shooter, few big men worth a damn, and just not enough overall talent. Maye and Carmona was great, but the wonkily-built team just didn’t have enough support.
Of course, that’s all just my interpretation.
Final regular season standings:
1st – Bayamon – 23-6
2nd – Capitanes – 22-7
3rd – Quebradillas – 17-12
4th – Ponce – 16-13
5th – Santurce – 15-14
6th – San German – 13-16
7th – Guaynabo – 11-18
8th – Isabela – 11-18
9th – Humacao – 10-19
10th – Mayaguez – 7-22
Playoffs:
First round:
Bayamon (1) beat Isabela (8) 3-0
Arecibo (2) beat Guaynamo (7) 3-0
Quebradillas (3) beat San German (6) 3-0
Santurce (5) beat Ponce (4) 3-2
Second round:
Quebradillas lead Arecibo 2-0 (game 1, game 2)
Santurce lead Bayamon 1-0 (game 1)
Thus ends a concise breakdown of the 2010 Puerto Rican BSN season.
