Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 40
April 7th, 2010
– Erazem Lorbek
Domen’s brother is with Barcelona, whose basketball team are almost as much of a juggernaut as their football team. But let’s not talk about their football team. Lorbek is averaging 10.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in the ACB, alongside 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds for the inevitable EuroLeague champions. He could play in the NBA, but he won’t.
– Derrick Low
Former Washington State guard Derrick Low moved to Lithuania this year to play for a salary less than that of your average telephone engineer. He did this because the team he is playing for – Siauliai – were a EuroCup team, so it was a good opportunity to get some exposure. Low has had to play full-time point guard for much of the year, as opposed to all the off-ball time he has had in his career thus far, and he’s doing a decent job of masquerading as such. Low averaged 18.5 points and 3.8 assists in Siauliai’s EuroCup campaign, averages a further 14.7 points and 4.4 assists in the Baltic league, and averages 12.8 points and 5.3 assists in the Lithuanian league. The Lithuanian assists tie for third in the league.
He’s also had all that hair cut off. Probably best.
– John Lucas III
John Lucas’s son John Lucas went to China this year. He started out with a fight, but then quickly started owning. His team, Shanghai, are currently 1-1 against Smush Parker’s Guangdong in the CBA Semi Finals. Lucas had 56 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists in the series so far.
– Tyronn Lue
Tyronn Lue did not play this season, after splitting last year between the Bucks and the Magic. He then retired somewhat unexpectedly aged only 32 to become an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics.
Lue still has a cap hold on the Magic’s payroll. For this cap hold, and for all other applicable ones, view the updated and enhanced salary pages. Player totals are now included, as are team totals for ALL years (which are tabulated in a table on the salary index). And free agent cap holds for both this season and next are included, thus making it easier to calculate cap space and offseason plans. (Draft pick cap holds to follow shortly.)
This website is destined to remain permanently unfinished, but join me in my quest as I keep trying to get there. Keep it loyal.
– Kevin Lyde
Lyde, who is synonymous with the Utah Jazz whether Jazz fans like it or not, is in Germany. Playing for Bremerhaven, Lyde averages 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 2.7 fouls per game, shooting 57% from the field and 59% from the foul line. The Jazz didn’t sign him this year, but they did inevitably allow him a spot on their summer league roster. That marked their third anniversary together. It’s a beautiful thing.
If you were wondering, Lyde is one of nine Americans on the Bremerhaven roster. That’s just how those guys roll.
– George Lynch
Lynch last played in the 2004-05 season, averaging 3.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Hornets. They waived him as one of the last cuts in 2005 training camp, even though they owed him $3.2 million from an unnecessary one-year extension that they gave him in 2003. Lynch became administrative assistant and graduate manager at Southern Methodist University in December 2006, and was still there as an assistant coach as of May 2009.
– Leo Lyons
Lyons is signed in Israel with Hapoel Jerusalem. It would have been my very great pleasure to watch him this year, but put simply, Lyons has not been playing. Hapoel have no real centres; their starting big men are Kevinn Pinkney and Brandon Hunter, and the two both play heavy minutes. Their backup big man is Israeli native Uri Kokia, who rebounds a bit but that’s about it, and starting small forward Dijon Thompson leads them in blocks per game with 0.7 per game. Hapoel don’t do shot-blocking, nor centre size, and it’s been this way for a few years. So it is a mystery why they signed Lyons, just for him to be the fourth power forward, rather than to pursue a centre of equal calibre to balance their roster. Lyons has produced in the minutes he has gotten, averaging 7.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 15 minutes per game in the Israeli league, but his minutes have been unbelievably inconsistent all year. Coach Guy Goodes – an Israeli citizen with the least Israeli name ever – just doesn’t seem to like him. And so it is perhaps not a coincidence that Goodes is now on the hot seat, one reason for which is his refusal to use his bench properly. Poor Leo.
– Arvydas Macijauskas
You may have known about Lynch’s former teammate and former Hornets guard Arvydas Macijauskas’s lengthy contract dispute with Olympiacos. The dispute was simple, yet complicated, and hinged on one key issue; whether Macijauskas and Olympiacos had a valid contract or not. Olympiacos said no (they wanted out from the contract without paying him), Macijauskas said yes (he wanted to get paid what he signed for), and it all got ugly. This dispute was finally resolved in a settlement a few months ago, but it hasn’t done much for Macijauskas’s career. He missed all of last year with injury (which is what started the whole shaboodle in the first place) and is still rehabbing today. But at least he is free to roam again.
– Jonas Maciulis
Lithuanian national team guard and 2007 draft candidate Maciulis left Zalgiris by mutual consent last season when they ran out of money. He thus moved to Italy to play for Armani Jeans Milano, for whom he’s been a bit inconsistent. Maciulis averages 8.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in Serie A, alongside 10 points and 3.8 rebounds in their long-since-ended EuroLeague campaign. He has scored in double figures in only three of their last 15 games, yet in the last game scored 26 points. We should probably discount that one, though, as it came in a 110-point rout of Napoli. Good old Napoli.
– Tito Maddox
Last year, I wrote this about Tito Maddox.
Tito Maddox still hasn’t played for five and a half years. The last time we had heard from him was in May 2008, in a story about the O.J. Mayo booster scandal; Maddox revealed that he had had surgery for a brain tumour, was living extremely modestly with his wife and children, and gave no direct statement as to whether basketball would be on the cards for him ever again. Nearly one year on, and still no comeback is underway.
The only change between then and now is the amount of time lapsed. Maddox has not been heard from since that Mayo story, he still has not signed elsewhere since leaving Cleveland in 2003, and the internet still does not carry any news of his current whereabouts.
– Mark Madsen
Madsen was traded by the Timberwolves to the Clippers this summer as a part of the Craig Smith/Quentin Richardson deal thing. He then accepted a buyout from L.A, saving them $875,000 in the process, and reconsidered his options. Unsure of whether to continue playing, start a coaching career or go into the media, Madsen eventually chose the middle one, and became an assistant coach for the Utah Flash. I’m going to assume that this gig will not pay him $875,000 this season.
Madsen also made the headlines when it emerged that he had been the victim of domain name fraud. Tough times.
Finally….
– Renaldo Major
Like Maddox above, another former Fresno State basketball player was laid low to serious illness recently. Former Warriors swingman Renaldo Major had open heart surgery in October 2007 to replace a heart valve that was described as “loose.” The problem was found during a physical Major was taking for Serie A team Cantu, and the recovery from the surgery cost him the whole 2007-08 season. He has since spent two years in the D-League with the Dakota Wizards, and while his numbers have dropped off this year (down to 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game), his defence is still there. Major will probably never play in the NBA again, and should start looking for good continental money since he turns 28 next month. But he’s doing all right.
