Anybody Wanna See Second Prize? Second Prize Is A Set Of Steak Knives…..
September 30th, 2010
Continuing the lengthy look at training camp invitees league wide, here’s part two. Part one can be found here. Indiana – View Pacers roster– View Pacers salary information Indiana already has 15 guaranteed contracts, so they didn’t bring in many for camp. The only two players they signed were D-League veteran centre Lance Allred, and their second second-round draft pick from this summer, Magnum Rolle. Additionally, the contracts of both A.J. Price ($175,000 of $762,195 guaranteed) and Josh McRoberts ($500,000 of $885,120) are not fully unguaranteed, although you can pretty much guarantee McBizzles is making the team since Pacers coach Jim O’Brien has already said he’s considering him at starting power forward.Weber State graduate Allred played briefly with the Cavaliers down the stretch of the 2007/08 season, his only NBA experience thus far. Cleveland called him up on account of the 16.2 points and 10.0 rebounds he had averaged during the season for the Idaho Stampede; in the ten minutes of NBA playing time he received, Allred put up a negative PER (admittedly a far from reprehensible act in only 10 minutes). Allred has spent most of the last four seasons with the Stampede, and has not had much luck on the occasions that he’s chosen to leave. Last year, for example, Allred signed with Italian team Napoli, only for this to happen. He stayed in Italy to play four games with Scavolini Pesaro, averaging 5.3 points and 4.0 rebounds, before returning to the Stampede again and averaging 13/9. Allred, perhaps most famous for being legally deaf (although not fully deaf), signed this summer for Ukrainian team Khimik, but left there to try to make this team instead. Now aged 29, this might be his last NBA chance. Rolle’s draft rights were acquired by the Pacers for those of Ryan […]
We're Adding A Little Something To This Month's Sales Contest. As You All Know, First Prize Is A Cadillac El Dorado.
September 28th, 2010
No matter how much you may think you know, NBA training camp always offers an opportunity to learn more. In that respect, it rivals summer league and draft night; all three present chances to learn more about players about whom you previously did not know about, and you get to try to understand what the NBA sees in them. If a player makes it as far as training camp, after all, then they must be doing something right, because all these players have signed valid NBA contracts. They’re no longer just here for show; they’re under contract, and even being paid a small stipend. In some cases, the player’s presence is for no reason other than convenience and/or practice purposes, and some are there purely as fodder. Yet even then, it’s intriguing. A contract is a contract. And as Jason Richards has proved in the past, even unguaranteed contracts can be lucrative. There follows both predictions and analysis, if you will, of the upcoming training camp battles in October 2010. This post is so named because I like to imagine that this NSFW speech by Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross actually takes place at every team’s media day. If it doesn’t, don’t tell me otherwise. Atlanta – View Hawks roster– View Hawks salary information The Hawks have already taken the purpose out of any training camp signings. They have already emphatically stated that the 14 man roster they already have is the 14 man roster that they will begin the season with; their three signings (Evan Brock, Ricardo Marsh and Richard Delk) serve only to prove that. Additionally, of those 14 contracts, only one (that of Etan Thomas) is unguaranteed. And the only way Thomas doesn’t make it is if he’s in some way unhealthy. Considering Thomas has played […]
Training camp signings thus far
September 23rd, 2010
There follows a compendium of all players who have signed, or agreed to sign, for 2010 training camp. I could not find such a compendium elsewhere and thus decided to make one. This list also includes earlier signings of players with unguaranteed or partially guaranteed deals. In some cases, such as with Cucumber, certain players will obviously make it, yet they are included for the sake of uniformity. There exists the possibility that any of these signings could yet change – nothing is certain until the date that the contract is signed. This was recently proven to be the case with Jon Scheyer, who was going to camp with Utah as recently as last week, even seen saying so himself here. But then Utah signed Earl Watson and Scheyer/his agent changed their minds. However, with so little time left until camp starts, most of the signings can be assumed to happening now. Some already have. Atlanta: Etan ThomasEvan BrockRicardo MarshRichard Delk Boston: Oliver LafayetteTony GaffneyDelonte WestVon WaferJamar SmithChris JohnsonStephane LasmeMario West Charlotte: Javaris CrittentonSherron CollinsDerrick BrownDarius Miles Chicago: John LucasBrian ScalabrineRoger PowellKyle WeaverChris Richard Cleveland: Samardo SamuelsDanny GreenJawad WilliamsDidier Ilunga-MbengaManny HarrisGreg StiemsmaTasmin MitchellLoren WoodsCedric Jackson Dallas: Steve NovakDee BrownBrian CardinalAdam Haluska Denver: Shane EdwardsGary ForbesCourtney SimsEric BoatengMelvin Ely Detroit: Ike DioguVernon Hamilton Golden State: Jeff AdrienJeremy LinVernon GoodridgeCheyne GadsonAaron MilesJames Mays Houston: Jordan EglsederIshmael SmithAntonio AndersonMike HarrisAlexander JohnsonPatrick Sullivan Indiana: Lance AllredA.J. PriceJosh McRobertsMagnum Rolle L.A. Clippers: Jon ScheyerJake VoskuhlWillie WarrenMarqus BlakelyJarron CollinsStephen Dennis L.A. Lakers: Russell HicksAnthony RobersonTrey JohnsonDrew Naymick Memphis: Kenny ThomasTre KelleyDamien WilkinsAcie LawLuke Jackson Miami: Da’Sean ButlerShavlik RandolphKenny HasbrouckMickell GladnessAnthony Mason Jr Milwaukee: Billy RushTory JacksonChris KramerTiny GallonLuc Richard Mbah A Moute Minnesota: Maurice AgerDerMarr JohnsonJohn ThomasJason Hart New Jersey: Ben UzohBrian ZoubekJoe SmithStephen GrahamEddie GillAndre Brown New Orleans: D.J. StrawberryDarryl WatkinsPops Mensah-BonsuMustafa ShakurJoe AlexanderMichael Washington […]
Addendum to the Xavier Henry thing
September 18th, 2010
In the recent Creative Financing In The NBA post, I wrote at great length about the Xavier Henry situation. In the span of about 27,000 words, I tried to explain all the nuances of this largely unprecedented and highly unattractive situation, using as many real-life examples and corollaries as I could find. After that time, far more significant media personalities ran with the story. Starting with NBA.com’s David Aldridge – who ran a very similar piece that even used the same Glenn Robinson-based introduction, but who had the ability to get the quotes that a 20-something English student doesn’t have – and culminating in an explosive interview with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley on the Chris Vernon Show, the story became one of the most protracted subplots of the offseason, its explosive crescendo at the Vernon interview making for late-summer viewing joy. In between those bookends came this piece from the Commercial Appeal’s Ron Tillery, that details the required incentives in ways we previously could only guess at. The Griz have offered Henry 100 percent of that salary with the extra 20 percent tied to performance-based bonuses. The Grizzlies’ proposed incentive package includes: Participation in summer league. A two-week workout program with the team’s training staff. Satisfying one of the following: play in NBA rookie/sophomore game during All-Star weekend, or earn an all-rookie selection, or average 15 minutes in at least 70 games. Perhaps more pertinent still are these quotes from Henry’s agent, Arn Tellem, in which he describes the move from his point of view. The agent, Arn Tellem, says the Grizzlies are trying to make Henry meet performance bonuses, such as making the rookie challenge at All-Star weekend or being named to one of the all-rookie teams. He says only one player out of more than 450 since the […]
Where Are They Now, 2010 Summer League
September 17th, 2010
The transfer markets are pretty much closed. In many places, pre-season has already begun. EuroLeague qualifiers begin next week, as does the mighty British Basketball League regular season, and while signings continue to go down, most are done by now. By this time, if you’re still a free agent without a training camp invite, you’re struggling. Unless you’re going to the D-League, of course. There follows a list of the whereabouts of all the players featured on NBA summer league rosters this year. Summer league is a terrific catalyst for the worldwide basketball market; it’s not just NBA teams who find their next players here. GM’s, scouts and agents the world over find players here, and thus these moves often form the basis of the international import market. With that in mind, here’s who has gone where. In the instances of players quite obviously under NBA contracts, I’ve tried to write something really interesting instead. No attribution is given for these transactions for the simple reason that there’s too damn many of them. Atlanta – Boston – Charlotte – Chicago – Cleveland – Dallas – Denver – Detroit – Golden State – Houston – Indiana – L.A. Clippers – L.A. Lakers – Memphis – Miami – Milwaukee – Minnesota – New Jersey – New Orleans – New York – Oklahoma City – Orlando – Philadelphia – Phoenix – Portland – Sacramento – San Antonio – Toronto – Utah – Washington – D-League select Atlanta – View Hawks summer league roster preview (July) – View Hawks salary information. – View Hawks summer league statistics – Alade Aminu – Signed with French ProA team Chalon. Aminu signed with Chalon before summer league started, yet played for two SL teams anyway looking for an NBA offer. – James Augustine – Moved from Spanish […]
The best of what's left after what was the best of what's left has gone and is no longer left
August 21st, 2010
It’s weird that Ben Wallace is the only one of these four with a contract. This snappily titled post is, in essence, an update to the earlier similarly titled one that detailed the best remaining free agents in the world of basketball. The list was designed to be comprehensive – which is why Greg Buckner was in it – yet it wasn’t perfect. Some players should have been listed on it before, and are listed now. Some others who should have been listed before, but weren’t, have now signed elsewhere and are once again not listed (as is the case with Ishmael Smith, who has signed a two year deal with the Rockets, and Artsiom Parakhouski, who signed with Latvian team VEF Riga.) And these players need removing from the list, as they have now signed contracts: Jason Williams re-signed with Orlando.Acie Law signed with Memphis.Eddie House signed with Miami.Travis Diener signed in Italy with Dinamo Sassari.Marcus Williams signed with BC Enisey Krasnoyarsk in Russia.Sherron Collins signed with Charlotte.Lester Hudson agreed to go to training camp with Washington.Jerome Randle signed with Aliaga Petkim in Turkey.Shannon Brown re-signed with the L.A. Lakers.Roger Mason signed with New York.Jaycee Carroll will stay with Gran Canaria in Spain.Blake Ahearn signed with Bancas Teramo in Italy.Louis Bullock signed with Cajasol Sevilla in Spain.Donell Taylor signed with Fastweb Casale Monferrato in Italy.Ryan Thompson agreed to go to training camp with Utah.Tracy McGrady signed with Detroit.Linton Johnson signed with Air Avellino in Italy.Keith Bogans signed with Chicago.Taylor Griffin was waived by the Suns and then immediately signed in Belgium with Belgacom Liege.Raymar Morgan signed in Israel with Maccabi Rishon.Lee Nailon also signed in Israel with Bnei Hasharon.Alando Tucker signed in Russia with Lokomotiv Kuban.Pops Mensah-Bonsu signed in Spain with Caja Laboral.Sean May signed with New Jersey.Rob Kurz […]
Creative Financing in the NBA, 2010
August 12th, 2010
Last year, I wrote a couple of posts under the heading of “Creative Financing in the NBA.” Inspired by seeing a series of quirky salary techniques that I had not previously seen in my three long and sexless years of compiling NBA salary information, I was inspired to steal Magic GM Otis Smith’s favoured phrase without permission, and use it to describe some of the financial anomalies that the offseason transactions had puked over our spreadsheets. The posts were reasonably successful, drawing in both the 25th and 26th regular viewers to the site; more than anything, however, they were a pleasure to write. Therefore, there follows another post for salary anomalies and trivia from the 2010 NBA offseason, a breakdown of all quirky payroll-related idiosyncrasies and manipulation that took place in front of our very eyes, even if we didn’t really notice it at the time. Note: this will not interest you, unless you are really big on pedantry. (Mind you, that could be said about this entire site.) – One of the first signings announced in this free agency period was that of Amir Johnson, who last year backed up Chris Bosh in Toronto. He played well, being possibly Toronto’s best defender and averaging 6/5 in 17.7 minutes per game with a PER of 16.7. The Raptors re-signed Johnson to a deal worth $30 million in base compensation (not $34 million as was widely reported), with incentives in the deal to potentially boost its value that are currently listed as “unlikely.” Amir’s contract before incentives will pay him $5,000,000 next year, rising by $500,000 annually to a total of $7 million in the fifth and final year. However, that $7 million salary in the final year is only $5 million guaranteed; if Toronto (or whoever owns him at that […]
The best of what’s left
July 30th, 2010
Shaq and LeBron in a twat-off The international basketball market is incredibly dry right now, and there’s a lot more produce than buyers. The whole nation of Greece is broke, and Spanish clubs are running into financial barriers they’re not normally known for. Even Italian teams, including four time defending champion Montepaschi Siena, are facing budget cuts. In the NBA, most of the big stuff has been done. Of the 280 or so rotation spots in the league, most have been filled, and rosters in general are starting to fill up. That said, there’s still a lot of players out there looking for work, ranging from the meh to the intriguing. This excessively long list attempts to chronicle them all. The following is written with an eye on NBA signings; however, these players are of course open to the world at large. Hardened readers will note that a lot of these blurbs are jacked from other places where I have written them before…..but, you know, whatever. Travis Diener, aged about 12 Point guards Earl Watson – Watson played with the Pacers on a one year contract last season, and averaged 7.8 points and 5.1 assists alongside a PER of only 10.9. His jump shot, which is inconsistent from season to season, decided to be particularly bad for the second season in a row; it probably didn’t help that Watson started 52 games, when he’s overmatched as a starter. Watson is a capable backup, however, and should find a home in the NBA next year. Anthony Johnson – Johnson fell out of the rotation last year, losing his spot as the Magic’s backup point guard to a man with no sideburns that we’ll mention in a minute. He actually put up his best season for four years, putting up a PER […]
A History Of Failed Physicals
July 26th, 2010
The following post will features as many Head puns as I can think of, with varying degrees of subtlety. Earlier this month, free agent Indiana Pacers guard Luther Head came to terms with the New Orleans Hornets on a two year contract. A mere couple of days after this news was reported came the news that Head’s job offer was gone; he had failed his physical examination with the team, and that the signing had been called off. Head is now available for everyone. Controversy surrounded the decision. Head’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, slammed the Hornets’s decision. Bartelstein claimed there was ulterior motives behind the veto, and that the Hornets had claimed Head had failed the physical just to get out of the signing, when in actuality they’d just had a re-think. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports took that angle further, calling the decision a “slimy trick”, and loudly calling out Hornets executive Hugh Weber. That said, there’s always controversy when a player fails a physical. In all the time I have been following the NBA, the team trading away the player – or, in Head’s case, the free agent’s agent – have cited some kind of failure of the due diligence on the part of the recipient team as being the only reason for the vetoing of the transaction. On a case-by-case basis, that may be entirely correct; for all I know, the Hornets DID do what Barts and Woj suggest, and veto the deal on flimsy grounds because they’d simply changed their minds. Or maybe the Hornets were genuine about their claims on Head’s health. I don’t know. It’s not my place to know. And I don’t really want to know. But what it did stir within me was a desire to investigate failed physicals over the years, and […]
2010 KBL Draft Results
July 24th, 2010
The South Korean basketball league (KBL) is an interesting one. Much like the Chinese Basketball Association, it is interesting for three main reasons; 1) It’s full of import players that you’ve heard of, 2) The domestic players’ talent level is pretty bad, 3) The import players’ talent level is pretty good. This leads to huge statistics from players that you’ve heard of. And that can never be bad. The KBL employs a draft process for its import players that is better described here. Also at that link is the list of 165 players who registered for the KBL’s draft pool; it is from that list that the drafted players were chosen. That listed was whittled down from 224 to 165, and it is reproduced below for no real reason. 1 1 Alfred Aboya 85.01.02 UCLA 2 6 Jeff Adrien 86.02.10 Connecticut 3 7 Uka Agbai 81.05.07 Boston College 4 8 Dokun Akingbade 84.06.05 George Washington 5 15 Ramel Allen 79.06.05 Bridgeport 6 19 Serge Angounou 83.09.01 Arizona 7 24 Julius Ashby 82.09.16 Univ. of Colorado 8 30 Kyle Austin 88.10.18 UC Riverside 9 35 Alpha Bangura 80.02.04 St Johns Univ. 10 39 Ousmane Barro 84.12.07 Marquette 11 41 Nashid Beard 83.02.16 Lamar 12 43 Romel Beck 82.05.29 UNLV 13 46 Rashad Bell 82.09.23 Boston 14 48 Rodrigue Benson 84.10.10 Cal State-Berkeley 15 54 Odartey Blankson 82.03.12 UNLV 16 62 Drelke Bouldin 80.07.08 Fresno State NCAA 17 63 Ruben Boumtje 78.05.20 Georgetown 18 68 Torraye Braggs 76.03.15 Xavier 19 69 Micah Brand 80.10.18 Massachusetts 20 70 Craig Bradshaw 83.07.28 Winthrop 21 86 Robert Brown 80.02.17 Buffalo 22 88 Keith Brumbaugh 85.09.29 Hillsbrough JC 23 89 John Bryant 87.06.13 Santa Clara 24 111 Dennis Carr 81.01.27 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. 25 117 Marquin Chandler 82.03.11 San Jose St.Univ. 26 123 Ivory Clark 85.06.01 […]
Ex-NBA player Charles Shackleford arrested for selling prescription medication
July 23rd, 2010
Per a million places, but arbitrarily taken from ENCToday.com, former NBA big man Charles Shackleford has been arrested in an undercover drug operation that saw him trying to sell 150 pills to the rozzers. Charles Shackleford is in trouble with the law for the second time in six months. Shackleford, a former Kinston High School, NCSU and NBA basketball player, was arrested by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday after he allegedly sold 150 prescription pills to an undercover officer. The incident took place in the vicinity of Fairgrounds Road and N.C. 11/55 in Kinston. The 6-foot, 11-inch Shackleford was transported, processed and taken before a Lenoir County magistrate, who ordered the 44-year-old to be held in the Lenoir County Jail under a $30,000 secured bond. Shackleford’s first court appearance is scheduled for Monday morning. The article goes on to describe an arrest of Shackleford’s from earlier thus year, in a bizarre care involving identity theft and ex-NBA player Jayson Williams. Before that, Shackle was arrested in 2006 for drug and weapon possession, pleading guilty to the weapons charge in exchange for the drugs charges being dropped. His retirement from basketball has not gone well. Nonetheless, Shackleford is perhaps most known for a quote that is a mainstay in the ShamSports.com quote archive: “Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious.”
Lorenzen Wright has gone missing
July 23rd, 2010
Per this story from George Brown of WREG.com, former NBA big man Lorenzen Wright has gone missing. The family of Lorenzen Wright says he’s been missing since Sunday. Wright’s sister, Savia Archie, says her family is very concerned. Archie said, Wright was last seen on sunday when he was expected to fly out of Memphis, but no one has heard from him since. The family has filed a missing persons with the Collierville police department.
2010 Summer League Rosters: Detroit Pistons
July 18th, 2010
Patrick Christopher Christopher is a streak shooter out of Cal who doesn’t do a whole lot else. If he’s hot, he can score 30; if he’s not, he can go 3-15. Regardless of whether he’s making them, he takes them, which could be interpreted as a good or a bad thing. He’s athletic and strong, but he doesn’t do much with them other than take jump shots. Had he done so, he might have gotten drafted. Austin Daye In spite of the disappointment of the Pistons season, Daye didn’t play over 1,000 minutes. This is partly because he didn’t do very well, particularly defensively. Daye can block shots, but he’s too thin to do much else on defence, and his effort there wasn’t particularly good either. He was better offensively, but made quite a lot of rookie mistakes and didn’t show a dribble-drive game, taking only jump shots and dunks that other people set up for him. This will be fine in the long run, but only if he ups his tree point percentage from 30%. And puts on weight. A lot of weight. Jordan Eglseder Eglseder is a freshly graduated senior from Northern Iowa who made his legacy by owning Cole Aldrich in NI’s upset win over Kansas in the NCAA tournament. He was a good player before then, averaging 11.9 points and 7.2 rebounds on the season in only 21 minutes, but that was the game that made his legacy. Eglseder really has nothing in his favour other than that game, his 7 foot 280lbs frame, and his turnaround jump shot. But as Aldrich will testify, it’s a hard shot to stop. Marquez Haynes 6’3 scoring guard Haynes averaged 22.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game for Texas-Arlington last year, but had an assist/turnover ratio of […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Cleveland Cavaliers
July 17th, 2010
Jerome Dyson There was a time when averaging 20/5/5 at UConn meant a guarantee to be drafted. Not so for Dyson. For all the scoring numbers, Dyson is far from a complete scorer; for all the assist numbers, Dyson is far from a point guard. And at 6’3, he’ll struggle to be a shooting guard as well. Much of his production comes from the fast break, where he is unbelievably good. He can snake his way to the basket with blistering speed, and finish with athleticism despite his small size. In the half court, however, he can’t get to the basket as readily. This is due in no small part to his jump shot, which doesn’t really exist. And while Dyson has the athletic tools for perimeter defence, he lapses. If he goes to the D-League – and he should, because he’s going to be on the cusp of a call-up – then he could put up similar numbers to that. But without a jump shot, his ridiculously tremendous upside potential is limited. Christian Eyenga When he was drafted at #30 in 2009, Eyenga was playing in the Spanish third division for DKV Joventut’s feeder team, CB Prat Juventud. This season, aged 20, Eyenga made it up to the big club. In 29 AC games for the team, Eyenga averaged 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 12.6 minutes per game, shooting 50% from the floor and 35% from three. Now that LeBron James has left, it’s probably quite comforting to know that a first rounder was used on such an impact player. (Sarcasm aside, Eyenga is starting to get somewhere. For a 20 year old in the ACB, where 20 year olds don’t usually play, that’s not bad.) Marquis Gilstrap Gilstrap was covered in the Bobcats summer league […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: New York Knicks
July 15th, 2010
Eric Boateng Boateng is an English centre who played one year at Duke, before transferring to Arizona State, where he just completed his senior season. He barely played at all in his first four seasons, but finally got a chance to play last year, and responded with averages of 8.8ppg and 7.2rpg on 66% shooting. However, even though he turns 25 in November, Boateng is still an incredibly raw player. He turned it over 2.1 times per game in only 27 minutes, despite not taking any dribbles at any point, and shot only 50% from the foul line. He’s also not much of a shot-blocker; essentially, he’s a 6’10 slightly above average rebounder. Boateng will play for the Great Britain national team this summer, but mainly others won’t. Joel Freeland and Ben Gordon just dropped out this week due to injury, and earlier, Robert Archibald had also pulled out. Nick George and Andy Betts have also pulled out, leaving the team with almost no quality left on it, and its chances of qualifying for Eurobasket 2011 in tatters. This is why Luol Deng is so unbelievably freaking important to us. He is now our everything. Anyway, I’ve tangented. Jaycee Carroll Carroll was covered in the Celtics summer league roster round-up of last week. He starred for Boston, averaging 14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, showing the all-around offensive game for which he is known. Warren Carter Carter signed with the Knicks for training camp last season, but lost out on a roster spot. The Knicks kept Marcus Landry at small forward, and left the 15th post open – unbeknownst to us all, they were saving it for Jonathan Bender. Carter therefore went to Greece to play for Ilysiakos, averaging 12.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.1 fouls per […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Washington Wizards
July 14th, 2010
Trevor Booker My early proclamations that Booker might be the next Paul Millsap were a bit premature, and overlooked the fact that Booker is about half the rebounder that Millsap is. Jumped the gun a bit there, I did. However, I remain confident in Booker’s abilities to contribute at the NBA level, despite his lack of size for the position. Boozer is athletic enough and has improved his face-up game, both the drive and the shot. He’ll have to be a small power forward, but he’s strong and athletic enough to do that. Eric Hayes Like his namesake Chuck, Eric Hayes is a master of the running layup. He will get free without the ball, cut to the basket and make the shot, in what commentators love to cite as a display of high IQ basketball. (They’re not wrong. It is.) Hayes is also a very good three point shooter, a decent defender, and was the solid all-around compliment to Grevis Vasquez’s wild ways. Those made him a great college player. But his significant physical disadvantages – a 6’4 shooting guard with mediocre foot speed and no leaping ability – will prevent any NBA allusions. Other than this one, of course. Lester Hudson Hudson made the Celtics roster out of training camp, but did not make it beyond the contract guarantee date with the team. However, he got his money anyway when the Grizzlies claimed him off waivers, and Hudson saw out the rest of the season there. The Grizzlies waived Hudson as well at the start of this month, and he’s now without a team. Hudson proved he could score in transition, but the rest of his game remains in question, particularly his skills in the half court. Abdulai Jalloh Jalloh is a Gambian/Ivory Coastian scoring guard, formerly of […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Houston Rockets
July 14th, 2010
Blake Ahearn Ahearn is the shooter from Missouri State who has played a few games for the Miami Heat. He’s a rather unique little sausage; an extremely brilliant shooter from the foul line and from three point range, and who can masquerade as a point guard reasonably well, but who is unathletic and doesn’t contribute much elsewhere. The most notable part of all that is the efficiency; Ahearn always shoots over 40% from three and over 90% from the line, and I do mean always. Last year was no different. Finally leaving the D-League to go and get some proper money, Ahearn signed with ACB team Estudiantes Madrid, for whom he averaged 14.2 ppg in 24 mpg with absolutely no other statistical contributions other than fouls. He shot only 30% from two point range, but he hit his customary 41% from three, and also shot 98% from the line (57-58). When his contract expired, Ahearn returned to the D-League, where he averaged 44.5 mpg, 26.2 ppg, 6.0 apg and 4.7 rpg for the Erie BayHawks, shooting 45% from the field, 43% from three and 96% from the line. In these posts, when I say about someone that “he’s a good shooter, but not good enough of one to make the NBA” – and I’ve had to say it a lot – Blake Ahearn is my yardstick for that. He’s about as good of a shooter as there can be, and even he can’t get in. Strange times. Chase Budinger Budinger doesn’t really need to be here. He proved himself last year as a rotation calibre player and accomplished scorer, who was sorely overlooked in the draft. He could stand to defend better and get to the line more, but he makes shots and doesn’t make mistakes. And he’s got three […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Minnesota Timberwolves
July 14th, 2010
Mo Charlo Charlo is a small forward formerly from Nevada who turns 27 next week. He is an athlete and defensive specialist, who has spent much of his professional career in the D-League. Last year, playing for the Reno Bighorns on account of his local ties, Charlo averaged 9.7ppg, 5.2rpg and 2.7apg. There were also a couple of near triple doubles in there, with statlines of 12/15/9 and 19/12/8, before a slow finish to the season dragged down his numbers. But for all his athleticism, Charlo struggles to score outside of the dunk. Sometimes he can slash to the basket, but there’s no jump shot there. Wayne Ellington Wayne Ellington is Minnesota’s only shooting guard, and yet they still won’t play him. Ellington was forced (as were we) to watch Sasha Pavlovic and Damien Wilkins play a combined 2,462 minutes last season, while both playing really really badly (particularly Pavlovic, who was arguably the worst player in the league last year that actually played). And when he did get to play, he didn’t do especially well either improving as the season went on but finishing at only 6.6 points per game on 42% shooting. Nevertheless, Ellington shot 40% from three point range, which gives him a use on next year’s Timberwolves squad. (If he’s still there.) Jonny Flynn This time last year, I claimed that Jonny Flynn was not much better than Ty Lawson. After one season, here’s how they stack up: Flynn: 28.9 mpg, 13.5 ppg, 4.4 apg, 2.4 rpg, 1.0 spg, 2.9 topg, 41% shooting, 38% 3PT, .511% TS, 13.0 PER Lawson: 20.2 mpg, 8.3 ppg, 3.1 apg, 1.9 rpg, 0.7 spg, 1.3 topg, 51% shooting, 41% 3PT, .600% TS, 16.5 PER So I had a point. There are other factors, of course. Lawson was playing for a […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Atlanta Hawks
July 13th, 2010
Alade Aminu Aminu was covered in the Bobcats summer league round-up thing of last week. In 4 games for Charlotte, Aminu averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. Additionally, Aminu has signed a contract to play for Chalon in France next season. So whatever chances he had of making the Hawks roster now look shot. James Augustine Augustine was previously covered on the Jazz summer league roster recap. Playing for Utah in the Orlando summer pro league, Augustine averaged 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 fouls and 2 turnovers per game. Not great, although he did hit two 3 pointers. Jordan Crawford After his trade from New Jersey, Jordan Crawford now gets to (or has to) battle Jamal Crawford for backup guard minutes. The two are really quite similar; 6’4, athletic and with tons of flair, extremely capable of creating their own shot with the dribble and able to hit extremely tough ones, occasionally forgetful of where thae cutoff point between a good and a bad shot is. The difference is that Jordan hasn’t had to spend a few years pretending to be a point guard. And that Jamal is better. Jermareo Davidson Like Augustine, Davidson was previously covered on the Jazz summer league roster recap. Davidson averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the Jazz, all coming in less than 11 minutes per game. Pretty good. Trey Gilder Gilder, too, has been previously covered. He was playing with the Magic at the Orlando summer pro league, and was thus covered here. He played in only two games for them, however, totalling 2 points and 3 assists. Sergiy Gladyr Gladyr was the Hawks second-round pick in 2009, a Ukrainian shooting specialist. After being drafted, Gladyr went to Spain, where he became one of the youngest rotation players in the ACB […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Milwaukee Bucks
July 13th, 2010
Antoine Agudio Of all the undersized jump shooters in the D-League, Agudio might be the best. The cheerful looking one is the all-time scoring leader in the history of Hofstra, beating out former Bulls guard Norman Richardson when he averaged 22.7ppg in his senior season. Agudio is a 6’3 pure shooter, who last year for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds averaged 15.1ppg, 2.5rpg and 2.8apg with 44% three point shooting. He’s strong, able to also create off the dribble, and tries hard defensively to overcome his height disadvantage. Yet the height disadvantage is pretty large. Jaycee Carroll has much the same profile and is a very awesome player, but it’s also significant that Jaycee Carroll is not in the NBA. It would benefit Agudio to leave the D-League and go do something similar to what Jaycee is doing in Europe. He is capable. John Bryant Santa Clara centre Bryant was also a D-Leaguer last year, spending the year with the Erie BayHawks. He was remarkably inconsistent on his way to averaging 13.2 points and 9.5 rebounds in only 29 minutes per game. Bryant is a huge fella, which enables him to gobble up rebounds and be a defensive presence by default in the lane; the downside to that is that he is really quite slow. This doesn’t stop him from being a tremendous defensive rebounder, though, and I can’t imagine he’d do any worse in the NBA than Aaron Gray does. Paul Delaney Delaney was also on the Bucks summer league roster last year, and spent his time between in Israel, where he did more of the same of what he did at UAB. Delaney averaged 15.2ppg, 3.3rpg, 3.1apg and 1.6spg, while shooting 50% from the field. Such efficiency is not unusual from the 6’3 guard, and he’s also a good defensive […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: San Antonio Spurs
July 13th, 2010
DeJuan Blair I really don’t think DeJuan Blair needs to be here. Summer league is designed for players who need to prove something; those barely on a roster, those looking to make it onto one, draft picks trying to prove their worth, and also-rans looking to use the opportunity for good European gigs. But the only thing DeJuan Blair has to prove is the long term health of his knees. And unnecessary playing time is not the answer for that. Michael Cuffee Cuffee turned 27 yesterday (happy birthday!), and joins the Spurs for his second summer league stint. He was also with the team in 2008, easily the two highlights of his career. The rest of Cuffee’s CV reads Middle Tennessee State, WBA, Denmark, Finland, USBL, D-League, Lega Due (Italy) Turkey, and then the Lega Due again; last year for UCC Casalpusterlengo, Cuffee averaged 11.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. Those are rather average numbers from the below average Italian second division, and it’s hard to see what the Spurs see in Cuffee other than his tremendous athleticism (which isn’t worth a lot unless you turn it into production). Bryan Davis I have written before about the Spurs’s constant attempts to keep young players that they are interested in around their roster, if not strictly on it. By doing things such as owning their own D-League affiliate (thereby ensuring generous assignments) giving Curtis Jerrells $75,000 to attend training camp even when he has absolutely no chance of making the team (and subsequently having him assigned to the Toros for that reason), signing Marcus E. Williams at every possible opportunity, and using part of their MLE on signing Alonzo Gee and Garrett Temple when there’s a matter of days left in the season, the Spurs bypass the maximum roster size while keeping […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Denver Nuggets
July 13th, 2010
Antonio Anderson Anderson was previously covered in the Bobcats summer league roster round-up of last week. As it happens, however, Anderson played only 89 seconds for the Lolcats, recording nothing but a trillion. Per 48 minutes, that’s still a trillion. Romel Beck Beck is a 6’8 Mexican shooting guard out of UNLV with a whole load of scoring talent. However, in his life he has only ever had one NBA contract; a training camp contract with the Rockets last year that ultimatey amounted to nothing. And the reason for that lack of NBA airtime is how ridiculously selfish of a player he has been throughout his career. Beck’s scoring talents are legitimate; for example, last year in the D-League, Beck averaged 17.9 points per game for the Dakota Wizards, shooting .543% from the field and .445% from three point range. He’s improving his decision making, and can still create his own shot with relative ease. But his reputation still precedes him, and it might be too late. Brian Butch Butch, a jump shooting big man, is signed for this season to an unguaranteed minimum salary contract. Because these posts are not quite the previews that they were designed to be – sorry – Butch has already gotten hurt in this summer league tournament, dislocating his kneecap. The rule with unguaranteed contracts is that, if a player is injured while playing under contract, the contract is guaranteed until they are able to play again. (This is why Mike Wilks spent the 2008/09 season on the Magic roster, despite being unable to play.) So even though Butch is no doubt in a lot of pain, and suffering a serious career setback, it could well be a bit of a financial windfall for him, unless some hitherto unknown technicality is in place that […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Chicago Bulls
July 12th, 2010
Rather than repeating myself unnecessarily, I shall instead just link to to my breakdown of the Chicago Bulls’ 2010 Summer League Roster, written at ChicagoNow.com, where I front the premier Bulls blog, Bulls Confidental. Breakdown of the Chicago Bulls’ 2010 Summer League Roster The typo of Morris Almond’s name is a particular highlight.
2010 Summer League Rosters: Portland Trail Blazers
July 12th, 2010
These things tend to tangent. Stick with it. Luke Babbitt I’m still not sure of why Portland has been trying to acquire small forwards so proactively. The Luol Deng rumour won’t die, even if you want it to, and the team just signed Wesley Matthews to a full MLE contract. They also traded for Babbitt’s draft rights and signed him straight away, despite already having Nicolas Batum on the roster. Batum is really good and already has a capable backup in Dante Cunningham in place; now with Babbittt as well, I don’t see the need for this constant desire to get another one. Jimmy Baron Baron holds every Rhode Island shooting record going. He is an absolute 100% pure, unsullied, virginal shooter, who unfortunately doesn’t do a lot else. Baron’s first and only professional season thus far saw him play for Mersin in Turkey, where he averaged 16.5 points in 28.6 minutes with 43.4% three point shooting….and nothing else. Such is the Jimmy Baron experience. Not a bad thing, but not an NBA thing. Dante Cunningham Considering he’s always been a power forward in a small forward’s body, Cunningham made a pretty decent effort of pretending otherwise. Given plenty of opportunities due to injury, Cunningham shot his customary mid range two’s well, rebounding well enough for a man of his size, and proved he could play defence on both small forwards and power forwards. He also turned it over only 25 times all year, leading all rookies in turnover percentage at 6.0%. This is helped significantly by the fact that he doesn’t dribble, but nevertheless, it’s a hugely impressive number. (Tyler Hansbrough was next lowest at 7.1% in his part-season of work; Marcus Thornton was third at 7.3%. The worst? Jrue Holiday, 21.9%. Then James Johnson. Then Hasheem Thabeet.) In […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Phoenix Suns
July 12th, 2010
Earl Clark Clark’s rookie year was not great, due in no small part to a lack of opportunities. He averaged only 2.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game, shooting 37% with an 8.5 PER, and not always playing the quality defence for which he (should) be known. The departure of Amar’e Stoudemire should in theory have gotten him more playing time; however, the acquisitions of Hakim Warrick, Josh Childress and Hedo Turkoglu, plus the retention of Grant Hill and Jared Dudley, and the possible re-signing of Louis Amundson, seem to have snuffed that out again. Where Clark’s minutes will come from next year is once again unclear. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really do not like the Turkoglu acquisition. Dwayne Collins As a third stringer slightly undersized centre in an up-tempo system, Collins should do quite well. Regardless of his lack of size, Collins goes and gets rebounds; regardless of the tempo you play it, you need rebounds. Collins’s offence at this point is pretty much only the finishing of easy ones, but Steve Nash is his point guard now. Easy ones will be there. Zabian Dowdell The Suns were going to bring in Dowdell for training camp last year, were it not for an injury that Dowdell suffered before it started. The injury kept him on the shelf until mid-December, when he returned to play with the D-League’s Tulsa 66ers and averaged 12.9 points/3.7 assists. Dowdell then moved to EuroLeague calibre team Unicaja Malaga, but struggled mightily over there. In 21 ACB games, Dowdell averaged only 6.4 points and 1.7 assists per game, shooting only 36% from the field and 24% from three point range. Dowdell is best defensively and usually a better shooter than that, yet it’s worrying numbers in Dowdell’s highest standard of play […]
