Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 45
April 9th, 2010
The Bulls just waived Jerome James and signed Rob Kurz (or, as Vinny Del Negro will no doubt call him, Rob Kirk.) Goodbye, Jerome.
Chicago traded Larry Hughes to the Knicks last trade deadline in exchange for James, Tim Thomas and Anthony Roberson. Roberson is long gone, and Thomas and James played a combined 0 minutes for the Bulls this season while being paid $11.2 million. So, would they rather have had Larry Hughes instead?
(Probably not.)
– Chris Mihm
Mihm was a member of both the Lakers and Grizzlies last year, but played only 105 minutes. He played only 279 minutes the year before that, and missed the whole 2006-07 season, all because of his chronic ankle problems. What started out as a sprain turned into four years of torture, a breakdown of which can be found here. And check the date that that was written; despite the feel-good nature of the final stanza, it was nearer to the beginning of the ordeal than the end.
Mihm has not played anywhere this year.
– Aaron Miles
Miles is signed with Aris in Greece, winding up there after failing to make the Hawks’ regular season roster out of training camp. He is averaging 8.4 points and 3.5 assists per game in the EuroCup, alongside 6.8/3.0 in the Greek league. He still can’t shoot from outside, but Aris have enough of that from elsewhere. Just being in the Aris backcourt for the whole year has been quite an achievement in itself, for Aris have turned over quite a bit of their backcourt this year (Matt Walsh in, Juan Dixon out, Ivan Paunic in, Quinton Day out), and have been linked to about 400 other players (Rob Kurz and Vuk Radivojevic being the only two I can remember at the moment, although they’re also currently in talks with Jeremiah Massey). So it’s not been a bad year for Aaron.
– Darius Miles
Darius has a year like Mihm. He has done nothing. He too was a Grizzly to end last season, the compelling protagonist in that slightly unpleasant scandal that ended with Portland paying luxury tax and signing Andre Miller. He played fairly well for Memphis as a back-up power forward, too. But the team made little effort to bring him back, supposedly due to his bad attitude, and Darius has been remained unsigned all year. (It didn’t help that he got arrested just as the season ended.) He continued to pick up $9 million in salary this year via Portland/the insurance company, so he hasn’t NEEDED to play, but it’s quite the anticlimactic ending from a man whose “comeback” was such big news last season.
– Oliver Miller
Oliver Miller is another one on the comeback trail. His career seemed to have ended in the 2004/05 season, which he split between a couple of ABA teams. He reappeared in late 2006 as player/coach of the short lived Arkansas RiverCatz (it’s cooler if you spell team names wrong), and then nothing came after that. But this season, he reappeared in a different minor league, the PBL. Miller signed in the preseason with the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, a team coached by Micheal Ray Richardson (it’s cooler if you spell your own name wrong), but he was released without playing a game. Miller then went to Puerto Rico to try to get work, but couldn’t, and came home again. He was picked up again by the Cavalry in mid-March when former Utah State forward Shawn Daniels went to play in the Philippines, and Miller has appeared in four games with the team. He has averaged 2.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 3.0 fouls in 13.8 minutes per game. That’s a very bizarre stat line.
Oliver Miller turned 40 on Tuesday.
– Paul Miller
Former Knicks signing Paul Miller is in Russia, playing for Triumph, the team that had Nenad Krstic last year. He is averaging 17.4 minutes, 8.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 fouls per game in Russian league play. How does a 6’10 guy rebound like a guard? I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. But to compensate, Miller is shooting a scorching 52% from three-point range. He appears to be pretty adamant about how he wants to play; he’s trying to be more like Reggie Miller than Oliver Miller. Oh, and speaking of…..
– Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller is still an announcer for TNT. You probably knew this one already.
– Ricky Minard
Since being drafted out of Morehead State by the Kings in 2004, failing to make their summer league roster that year, and a couple of months in the NBDL immediately afterwards, Minard has been in Italy. He played first for Biella, then spent two years with Reggio Emilia, and two more with Montegranaro, before moving to Lottomatica Roma this summer. However, it did not go too well. Roma underperformed both domestically and in the EuroLeague, and so in spite of his EuroLeague averages of 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, Roma released Minard. He subsequently signed in Russia, ending his Italian streak, and scored 14 points in 13 minutes in his only game so far for Khimki.
– Albert Miralles
The 39th overall pick in the 2004 draft ahead of players such as Chris Duhon or Trevor Ariza, Miralles had spent the last four years with Valencia. But Valencia replaced him with Sergei Lishouk this summer (49th pick in the same draft), so Miralles had to move on, eventually moving to fellow ACB team Lagun Aro Gipuzkoa BC. He is having a better season there, averaging 8.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game and shooting 55% from the floor. However, he still can’t stop fouling, averaging 3.2 fouls per game.
– Dwayne Mitchell
Former Lakers camp signee Dwayne Mitchell was playing with Israeli team Hapoel Holon until about 96 hours ago. He had averaged 16.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the team, on 152 field goals and 110 foul shots. However, he had also averaged 3.7 turnovers per game, hit only eight three-pointers all year as a 6’4 guard, and had picked up a knee injury in their previous game. Not a bad season, all told, but with the same flaws as ever. He gets buckets, at a price.
– Jerome Moiso
Moiso was briefly mentioned in the earlier entry for Damir Markota. He has spent the year with Bilbao, getting released at one point but later re-signed, and has averaged 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in the EuroCup.
Jerome Moiso is still Jerome Moiso. Same guy. Capable of most things, yet you’re never quite sure of when he’ll do anything.
– David Monds
Lakers camp signee Monds has spent the year in Greece with Kolossos. He has averaged 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Incisive follow-up comment, followed by pithy remark, all drawing to a mildly analytical and hopefully rapturous crescendo.
Finally…..
– Sergei Monia
Former Blazers forward Sergei Monia is back home in Russia, and has been with Dynamo Moscow for four years. Even when Dynamo ran out of money over the summer, Monia stayed with the team, and is a key player in their new Russian-only regime. He is averaging 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game in the Superleague, alongside 12.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game in Dynamo’s short and not especially sweet EuroCup campaign.
