Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 48
March 6th, 2009
The following post will make you hate the word Smith.
– Charles Smith is with everyone’s favourite delicatessen, Efes Pilsen, where he averages 14.7 points in the Turkish league and 12.0 points in the EuroLeague.
– Donta Smith is in Australia, which sort of has a Chinese league thing going on with its American imports, albeit thankfully not as exaggerated. For comparison’s sake, Donta started the year in China, so I can give you his Chinese league numbers (22.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.8 spg) and you can compare them with his Australian league numbers (14.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.2 spg). Smith’s team, the Melbourne South Dragons, are currently playing in the NBL Grand Final Series Thing, and Smith led the team to a victory in Game One with a 19-point, 11-rebound, 5-assist performance. On this night, the team gave away 6,000 posters of Donta to the crowd.
– For what seems like years now, I’ve been talking about how Jabari Smith became a nationalised citizen of Qatar. But actually, he didn’t; he applied for citizenship, but, for whatever reason, he didn’t get it. I’m not sure why he wanted or needed it, unless he was wanting to enhance his career in the Qatarian leagues, but still. Jabari isn’t signed at the moment, having last played in Iran.
– JaJuan Smith played with the Mavericks in summer league, fired up jumpers mercilessly, hit a few, got a training camp invite, got cut, waited around, went to Slovenia, got cut within days of arriving, and is now in France. In five games for the struggling Pau Orthez, Smith averages 8.8 points and 2.8 rebounds, having shot 12 two-pointers, 4 free throws, and 31 three-pointers.
– Jamar Smith (not the transferred Illinois one, but the one formerly from Maryland) is in the Italian second division, averaging 14.0 points and 7.9 rebounds for Fastweb Junior Casale Monferrato, whom INSTANTLY you will recognise as also being the home of David Thorpe’s mate, Zabian Dowdell. Or at least you would if you’d been paying extreme, obsessive-compulsive attention.
– As seems to be the case with everyone that the Wizards ever sign for training camp, former Virginia Tech and Bowie State forward Jon Smith is in Argentina, averaging 11.7 points and 6.0 rebounds for Lanus Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires. Now, I’ve not heard of Jon Smith before, and only found out about him when it emerged that I needed one more Smith to pad this post out. But here is his basketball career thus far:
a: Spent three years on the fringes of the rotation for Virginia Tech.
b: Transferred to Bowie State for his senior season, and averaged 13.9 ppg and 7.3 rpg.
c: Played a combined five games in his first professional season (2003-04) between the CBA and the USBL.
d: Signed by the Wizards for training camp in October 2004, then inevitably waived.
e: Played in the USBL again in 2004-05, as well as the IBL.
f: Spent the 2005-06 season in China.
g: Averaged 14.0 ppg and 4.3 rpg in Portugal the following season.
h: Spent last year in China and Puerto Rico.
i: Has played for two teams in Argentina this season.
From this, I conclude that Jon Smith has never played a particularly high standard of basketball. Wizards excluded, Virginia Tech might have been the highest-calibre basketball that he played on that list, and yet he barely played there. (Note: no jokes about the current Wizards please.) So what, then, did Washington see in him? Not sure, but I begrudge him nothing.
– Leon Smith has spent the last few years doing a tour of Central and South America, a tour that has encompassed Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and now Chile again. L-Smoove is playing for Deportes Castro, and while I don’t have Chilean league numbers, I can tell you that Deportes Castro recently took part in the Liga Americas (a club competition for the Americas teams). In the three games he played, Smith scored 32 points, then 10 points, then 1 point. This might have something to do with the fact that they played a back-to-back-to-back.
– Steve Smith was a commentator for the Atlanta Hawks, but now works for NBA TV. I have been meaning to do a “rate the commentators” list for some time now, but haven’t got around to it, and nor am I particularly ready to draw ire.
– Steven Smith is with VAP Kolossos in Greece, averaging 18.4 and 5.2 rebounds, while shooting a Steve Smith-like 47% from three-point range.
– Despite persistent rumours to the contrary, Morrissey continues to deny rumours of a The Smiths reunion.
– Theron Smith is in China with TianJin Rongcheng. He averages 24.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Only 24/10/5, that’s a bit tame, isn’t it?
– Still, if you think that’s disappointing, pay attention to Tommy Smith’s season. The ex-Bulls and Bucks forward spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons in Germany, never averaging more than 7.3 points per game. (I know he’s a defensive-minded player, Tommy, but it’s Germany.) He spent last season in Syria, averaging unknown numbers, and then signed earlier this season in China. Did he averages 30 points per game? 25? 20? 15? Nope. Smith averaged only 1 point per game in all of two games (totalling 45 minutes) before being waived and replaced by Chris Alexander (who has somewhat restored order with a 16.8 point, 12.0 rebound per game average). I will have to assume injury, because otherwise, that does not compute. Since then, Smith has remained unsigned, and last month was arrested for kidnapping and assault after punching his girlfriend in the face. Quite a few months, all told.
– The whitest man in showbiz, Tyler Smith (not the Tennessee player, but the former Penn State forward) is in Japan, averaging 7.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Hitachi Sunrockers. (Great name.) Smith writes a blog of sorts for Eurobasket.com about his experiences in Japan, but for the life of me I can’t find a single entry currently.
– Finally, here’s the season so far for all of the Smith’s in the NBA.
Craig Smith is averaging 9.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.45 PPS despite his incompatibility with the rest of the Timberwolves big men.
Earl Smith averages 13.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Denver Nuggets’ sixth man.
Jason Smith hasn’t played all year after knee surgery.
Josh Smith’s numbers are down across the board, as he averages 15.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 55% FT.
And Otis Smith is striving to figure out how he can “creatively finance” retaining both Hedo Turkoglu and Marcin Gortat without paying the tax.
I’m kind of sick at looking at the word Smith now.
