Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 54

April 15th, 2010

Shavlik Randolph was initially going to be in this post, but he got signed by the Heat, and players currently in the NBA don’t go on the list. So we’ll replace him with a Spaniard.

– Rafa Martinez

6’3 Spanish scoring guard Martinez is averaging 11.7 points per game for Valencia in the EuroCup, alongside 13.8 points per game in the ACB. He has already agreed to sign for Barcelona next season, presumably to back up Juan Carlos Navarro. It is not immediately obvious who he will replace, but it looks like that it will be Gianluca Basile, the Italian three-point specialist who’s on the wrong side of 34. Let me tell you that Navarro, Martinez, Ricky Rubio and Jaka Lakovic is one hell of a backcourt, even if Rubio is the tallest person in it.

And now back to the alphabet.

– Allan Ray

Villanova guard Allan Ray has not played this season. That’ll do, won’t it?

– Zeljko Rebraca

You had probably assumed that, when the Clippers quietly waived Zeljko Rebraca in April 2007, that that was it for him. Struggling with chronic back injuries, Rebraca hadn’t played the entire 2006/07 season, and had managed only 29 unspectacular games the season before. But if you did think that, like I did, then you’d’ve been wrong. Rebraca gave it one more go. He signed with Pamesa Valencia in Spain in the 2007 offseason, to give himself a chance to go out on his terms. And not long afterwards, in December 2007, he did. Six not-especially-effective-but-reasonable games later, Rebraca announced his retirement, this time at his discretion rather than it being forced upon him. It’s a better story this way.

Zeljko Rebraca fact: after leaving the US for Spain, Rebraca stopped making payments on his $2.7 million house in Manhattan Beach and it was foreclosed. The buyer then had to sue a couple who were occupying the house, and who were believed to be doing so illegally. (They weren’t.) The male occupier of the house was called Greg Everhard. That’s the best surname a man could possibly have.

– Luke Recker

Iowa graduate Luke Recker was playing ACB basketball up until and including last year, when he came off the bench for Bizkaia Bilbao. It was his third season with the team, and he averaged 8.4 points per game as a shooting specialist in the ACB, alongside 6.5 ppg in the EuroCup. However, he retired from the game this summer to get a real job, and now works as an associate sales representative at Medtronic Spine & Biologics in Minnesota.

Recker came off the bench for Bilbao last year usually in conjunction with former Gopher and Timberwolves forward Quincy Lewis. Lewis also retired this summer, as mentioned before. Strange coincidence.

– Justin Reed

Justin Reed’s last professional game was one year ago today. He did not sign or play anywhere this year. The internet does not appear to carry any information as to why.

– Don Reid

Reid managed the rare and special achievement of never playing outside of the NBA once he was drafted. He spent his first four years with the Pistons, was traded to Washington partway through his fifth season, then spent two years with Orlando, before one final season with the Pistons in 2002/03. Reid didn’t play again after that, although the Pistons almost re-signed him in February 2005 when their pursuit of Dale Davis came to nothing. The last we heard of Don Reid the player was a report in September 2008 that said he was working out again in the hopes of getting a training camp contract, but, inevitably, he didn’t. Reid now works for the Pistons as a community ambassador.

– Jared Reiner

In five of the last six years, Iowa centre Jared Reiner has appeared in an NBA training camp. In 2004 it was the Bulls; in 2005 it was both the Clippers and the Suns; in 2006 it was the Spurs; in 2008 it was the Sixers; in 2009, it was the Timberwolves. In that time, Reiner has only played in 46 NBA games, 27 of which came with the Bucks down the stretch of the 2006/07 season (whom, you’ll notice, he never went to camp with). But that’s no reason to stop trying, and, seemingly unable to get a tasty European deal, Reiner opted for the NBA exposure offered up by the D-League. In 17 games for the Fort Wayne Made Ants, Reiner averaged 29.7 minutes, 13.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game; however, he asked the team to release him at the beginning of March for “personal reasons” and did not play again.

– Felipe Reyes

Real Madrid captain Reyes was one of the few to survive the broad sweeping roster changes that the team has been through in the last year. Of course he did; he’s Felipe Reyes. Reyes’s numbers are down across the board, averaging only 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in the EuroLeague and 7.9/4.3 in the ACB. But that’s perhaps to be expected, because he’s 30 years old now.

– J.R. Reynolds

Former Virginia guard Reynolds first signed with this season with Martos Napoli, the team of failure that we’ve covered many times already. He (sensibly) left the team before the season started, and moved to Varese, a different Serie A team. But he has not played a huge amount there, averaging only 17.1 minutes, 5.3 points and 1.8 assists in 13 games.

By the way, the Napoli saga is finally over. Serie A authorities warned Napoli several weeks ago that they would wind the team up unless they paid their tax bill, but with literally no interests to protect any more, Napoli made no attempt to pay it, and the team has now been banned. So that’s it; after 25 games, all losses, fourteen of which were by 59 more points or more and one of which was by 140, NSB Martos Napoli are no more. Ladies and gentlemen, please charge your glasses. A toast. To Naples.

– Charles Rhodes

Despite me giving him way too much love in the summer of 2008, Rhodes has not had much of a professional career. He started his first professional season in Latvia, but left after only a handful of games and didn’t play again. This was back in January 2009, and, after going unsigned this year, that also marks the last time Rhodes played a professional game. You could almost say that his career has ‘fallen away.’ (Zing.)

– Darius Rice

For some reason, despite regularly getting workouts from NBA teams over five years after going undrafted, Darius Rice chooses weird leagues to play in. He spent last year in Uruguay, and has spent this year in Hungary with a team called Szolnoki Olajbanyasz. Rice ranks ninth in Hungary with a 18.1 points per game average, and ranks 11th in rebounds at 6.6 rpg, so maybe there’s method to the madness. He led Uruguay last year with a 25.3 ppg average, too. Maybe he prefers starring in non-premium leagues to being an also-ran in better ones. I can buy that, I guess.

– Maureece Rice

Rice started the year in Ukraine, playing for Azovmash. But he lasted only one game (scoring 18 points) before being moved on. He has not played anywhere since. Azovmash have turned over their imports quite a lot this year, and have been through about ten in all, including Ejike Ugboaja, Demetris Nichols and Erik Daniels. After all the changes, they’ve wound up with an American backcourt of Ramel Curry and Fred House. Curry-House. This is funny.

Finally….

– Tyrese Rice

After going undrafted out of Boston College, Rice went to summer league with the Washington Wizards, but failed to make the team. He then moved to Greece, which is where many American rookies start out while they try to work their way into the bigger leagues. (Seriously, how many American rookies played in the ACB this year? Ahmad Nivins did, but he was drafted, which helped no end. And Texas Tech shooter Alan Voskuil signed early with Fuenlabrada, but he has a Danish passport which grants him EU status. He also didn’t play a game for the team before moving to a LEB Silver team called Matchmind. So it’s a poor list.) On the year Rice has averaged 12.8 points and 2.2 assists per game for Panionios.