2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Houston Rockets
July 9th, 2009
– Hassan Adams: Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo struck gold in 2007 when he signed Jamario Moon right at the start of free agency, after a fine performance in a Raptors mini-camp. In 2008, he went for it again with Hassan Adams…and he struck out. He signed Adams to a guaranteed contract in July, then watched on as Adams (perhaps complacent due to the guaranteed money) showed up out of shape and with as few ball skills as ever. Adams was later salary-dumped onto the Clippers, who cut him. After that, Adams went to Serbia to play for Vojvodina Srbija Gas Novi Sad, a team that badly needs its name abridging if it’s to make any catchy jingles. He totalled 11 points in two games before leaving in what I believe was acrimonious circumstances. He won’t make the Rockets roster; they didn’t sign Trevor Ariza, turn down Von Wafer’s advances and spend all that money on Jermaine Taylor just to let Hassan take their roster spot. But it’s nice to see him again anyway. Hope he can get his mojo back. – Rod Benson: Rod Benson had a great year in 2007-08, starting out in the Nets training camp, then going to the D-League and leading it in rebounds. But 2008-09 was far worse: Benson went to France and signed with Nancy, but averaged only 2.3/2.3 in eight games before being released. He returned to the D-League, and averaged 7.3 points and 6.0 rebounds for the Dakota Wizards, before being traded to the Reno Bighorns where he averaged a far better 16.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. – Chase Budinger: Budinger is but one more on my list of “Players I would rather the Bulls had drafted instead of Taj Gibson at #26,” an increasingly long list that’s […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Golden State Warriors
July 8th, 2009
– Connor Atchley: In his junior season, Atchley was looking like a decent big man prospect. He averaged 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for Texas, while also shooting 41% from three-point range on over 100 attempts. However, his senior season was then a wash-out; 4.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, .397 FG%, .278 3PT FG%. What went wrong? I don’t know. Some people want to blame Dexter Pittman. But either way, Atchley took himself out of the second round. Now 24, Atchley can count himself fortunate to even get a summer league spot, because 24-year-old 6’10 228lb sub-40% scoring jump shooting power forwards are not generally NBA worthy. Considerable improvements are needed. But they were there once. – Stephen Curry: Curry has played six games in the last seven days for Team USA, totalling 50 points and 6 assists. Some people think he’ll be the next Ben Gordon. Some people think he’ll be the next J.J. Redick. Some think that he’ll be the rookie of the year; I think he’ll be nearer the first than the second, and definitely not the third. – Jermareo Davidson: Davidson has a non-guaranteed contract with the Warriors for next season, and is also officially listed as the second-heaviest player on their roster behind Ronny Turiaf. Pretty weird, that, considering Davidson’s slightly lanky frame. Last summer, the Bobcats exercised their team option on Davidson and guaranteed his contract, before then waiving him and experimenting with a variety of big men (Andre Brown, Dwayne Jones and Linton Johnson), finally settling on Juwan Howard. There’s the Larry Brown influence for you. Davidson spent 15 games in the D-League, averaging 16/11, before the Warriors called him up, where he averaged 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds for the big league team. I expect […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Detroit Pistons
July 7th, 2009
– Michael Bramos: Bramos is a Greek wing who recently finished his senior season at the University of Miami, Ohio. (It was news to me that there were two Miami’s. Seems unnecessary.) On offence, he’s largely an outside shooter since he does not much dribble in traffic, but he’s not a great shooter, shooting 40% from the field and 36% from the three-point line in his senior season. He’s pretty athletic and very strong for an off-guard (standing 6’5 and 221lbs, which is pretty heavy for a man that height), and he also has a hell of a wingspan that gets about the place on defense. These reasons and more are why Europe is his inevitable destiny; that and the door-opening Greek passport, obviously. – Will Bynum: Last year was a strange one for Will Bynum. Michael Curry played him and played him and played him and played him for three months, and he struggled. Then, in March, Bynum somehow broke out. He became able to get to the rim at will, and drained 21-footers like he’d never been able to do prior. Eventually, he became a key contributor for the Pistons, had a 32-point 7-assist game versus Charlotte, and averaged nearly 12 points per game for Detroit in the playoffs. And now Pistons fans are grateful that Bynum’s going to be on their roster and earning the minimum salary next year. – Austin Daye: Detroit bailed out Daye’s decision to declare too early by picking him 15th overall this year, a pick with which I am not overly fond. They clearly see more in this athletic jump shooting specialist than I do. (This is a position that, in the long run, I am willing to modify. I admit that I didn’t see a lot of Daye in […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Denver Nuggets
July 6th, 2009
Since Cleveland and Dallas haven’t announced their rosters yet, and Charlotte aren’t having one, we’ll advance list this along to Denver, whose summer league effort this year is a strange one. Their roster is only small, but they’ve made a decent effort nonetheless.. – Derrick Byars: Byars survives as a testament to the reign of Billy King as Sixers general manager. The Sixers acquired the 30th pick in the 2007 draft as a part of the Allen Iverson to Denver trade, but they decided that they didn’t want the guaranteed contract that it necessitated. Therefore, on draft night, the Sixers traded the pick to the Blazers for the #41 pick and cash, using the 41st pick on Byars. They then waived Byars in training camp, and wound up with just the cash. Nice return on a first-round draft pick, that, particularly one which featured a second-round with Marc Gasol, Ramon Sessions, Glen Davis and Carl Landry in it. Byars’ only other NBA flirtation came when he signed with the Thunder in training camp last year, but he didn’t make the team. He then went to the D-League, and averaged 17.7ppg and 4.9rpg for the Bakersfield Jam, but there’s a guy elsewhere on his list who has taken any potential roster spot that Byars may have had. (Clue: it rhymes with “creams”.) – Dontaye Draper: Draper is a 5’11 guard out of the College of Charleston, who was also on the Nuggets 2007 summer league roster. He split last season between France and Belgium, averaging 20.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.5 assists in the EuroChallenge for Hyeres-Toulon Var Basket (the French half of that split). Draper has been trying to establish himself as more of a pass-first guard over the years, which is kind of necessary when you’re 5’11, […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Dallas Mavericks
July 6th, 2009
– Alfred Aboya: In accordance with Murphy’s prophecy, we start with the one guy that I’ve not much on. There’s nothing wrong with that, though, since it means we get to learn. Aboya is a 6’9 big man who just finished his senior season at UCLA, a team that seems to have lost its entire roster over the last three weeks. He averaged 9.9 points and 6.3 rebounds last season, and, when I finally get around to those UCLA games that I keep promising to watch, I’ll be able to fashion a more formulated if still largely ignorant opinion of him. – Rodrigue Beaubois: Beaubois was the Maverick’s first-round draft choice this past summer, when they traded the rights to B.J. Mullens for him. (I’m only upset that I missed out on a “Mark Cuban turned down a B.J.” joke, despite the predictability of it all.) He averaged 10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the French league last season, which isn’t particularly stand-out from a 6’2 guard in a weak standard of competition. Yet I read somewhere that they’re bringing him over immediately anyway, because there’s some potential in his burst. – Andre Brown: Andre Brown keeps getting NBA contracts without getting NBA run. He has shown some decent offensive talent in the minor leagues – that is, if you’re willing to excuse his Shaq-like foul shooting – yet while spot minutes in 75 NBA games over three years might not be the biggest sample size, he has not yet shown yourself to be an offensive player at the NBA level, and survived in the big leagues largely as a rebounder. Now 28 and neither a shooter nor a shot-blocker, Brown is back for yet another summer league – Dallas could use a power forward, so […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Chicago Bulls
July 4th, 2009
– James Augustine: Something weird happened to James Augustine last year, something which took me a while to figure out. He was drafted by the Magic in the 2006 Draft, and signed a two-year rookie minimum contract with the team. He stayed with the team for the whole two years, barely playing, and was then tendered a qualifying offer when the two years was up. The second year of his first contract was only 25% guaranteed until July 30th, and the rule with qualifying offers is that they have to be at least the same amount of guaranteed money, with the same guarantee dates, as the final season of the previous contract. So when Orlando tendered him a qualifying offer, Augustine accepted it immediately, and was thus under contract for the 2008/09 season for $972,581 (the amount of the QO = minimum salary + $175,000), of which $243,145 (25%) was guaranteed, with a guarantee date of July 30th 2008. Orlando waived him before that date, meaning that they essentially paid Augustine a quarter of a million dollars to have him under contract for two weeks in mid-July. Way to do that “creative financing” thing that you do. Augustine then went to Spain, where he averaged 7.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in the Spanish league for Gran Canaria. – Tyrell Biggs: I saw a lot of Biggs in Pittsburgh last year, and it’s tough to say what he was good at. He had a decent set shot, but little interior offence, no finesse, and a bad rebounding rate. He was a decent defensive player, fairly aggressive and physical, but he’s also 6’8 and not of NBA size, so his NBA chances don’t much exist beyond this level. However, I wrote all this in a piece last week, and someone responded by […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Boston Celtics
July 4th, 2009
Beginning now, there will be a series of posts detailing the summer league rosters of every NBA team this year. This is because summer league is great fun, and because the lavish descriptions of fringe NBA players gets me going. But you probably knew that already. We begin this excitement with the Boston Celtics, since the alphabetically superior Atlanta Hawks don’t have a summer league team this year. – Nick Fazekas: Fazekas should be in the NBA, really. But he’s not. Even though he was paid $711,517 by the Mavericks last season, Fazekas wasn’t on their roster, as they waived him as a concurrent part of the Jason Kidd trade eighteen months ago. This decision would have been forgettable had the Mavericks not had the quad Devean George, Antoine Wright, Jerry Stackhouse and Shawne Williams on their roster last season, but anyway. Fazekas went to camp with the Nuggets last season, as did pretty much every player in the history of the game, and then spent the year with Oostende in Belgium and ASVEL Villeurbanne in France. I’d like to think that the team that has employed Brian Scalabrine for four years could find a spot for a similar but younger player like Fazekas, but it doesn’t seem likely. – J.R. Giddens: Giddens played all of eight minutes with the Celtics last year. There’s no real need for this 24-year-old non-contributor to be on the roster of a veteran team with championship aspirations, but his D-League numbers from last year (36 games, 17.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 bpg, 58% shooting) suggest that there might be something for someone to pursue there. There’d better be, since the Celtics used a first-rounder on him. Giddens still doesn’t have a consistent jump shot, however, which still doesn’t help him. – Lester […]
Sham’s unnecessarily long 2009 draft diary, part 3
June 26th, 2009
Part One Part Two 03.30: Discussion is taking place about why DeJuan Blair continues to fall, and about how not having any ACLs is no doubt the cause behind his falling draft stock. I’ve got news for you, analyst’s panel – intercourse his knees. He didn’t have any ACLs last year, and he rebounded better than all but one other player in the draft. This isn’t an ability he’s going to lose any time soon. He might not have a very long career projection on those pins, but it’s not like DeMarre Carroll and Taj Gibson are going to have ten-year careers, is it? Just draft Blair and end the charade. 03.30: Also, before you go on about how he’s merely a rebounding specialist, may I remind you that we just witnessed a shot-blocking specialist get picked second overall. Teams need specialists. Teams don’t need Taj Gibson. (I’m still a bit mad about this, as you might be able to tell.) 03.31: Adam Silver comes to the stage to a far bigger cheer than anyone before him. It’s a beautiful thing. Incidentally, why does the number #31 pick get five minutes to decide and not the two minutes that second-round picks should get? 03.32: At #31, Portland picks a power forward, and it’s not DeJuan Blair. Despite needing a physical power forward after a season of LaMarcus Aldridge, Channing Frye and Travis Outlaw, and despite their rebounding being almost solely reliant on the genius of Joel Przybilla (so says I), they pass on Blair for another finesse power forward in Jeff Pendergraph, who gives them nothing that they don’t already have. In fairness, Portland were the best rebounding team in the league last year, so it’s not like they need a prolific rebounder. But they could still use a physical […]
Sham’s unnecessarily long 2009 draft diary, part 2
June 26th, 2009
Part One Part Three All times are BST, by the way. 01.27: To the surprise of literally nobody, Toronto takes DeMar DeRozan with the ninth pick. As unimpressed as I am by a shooting guard with little offensive skill, no range outside of 16 feet, inconsistent defence and unimpressive production, it’s still the right pick here, because he has a chance to be something, and the Raptors definitely need something. Their shooting guard depth chart was also to being Quincy Douby and Quincy Douby only, which is even worse than Minnesota’s was. DeRozan has completely butchered the knot on his tie, though, which is never a good first impression to make. 01.28: Jay Bilas tells us that DeRozan penetrates easily enough, but can’t shoot. There’s pills you can take for that. 01.29: An advert comes on that says “Kia – Official Automotive Partner Of The NBA”. Yes, NBA players are often to be seen in Kias, rolling on dubs, checking out them tight whips, and hooking up their Sorentos with fat chrome. They’re the new Maybachs. They really are. 01.30: (They’re not.) 01.31: Mark Jackson – whose first initial and surname are quite chilling considering the night’s events – says that Milwaukee’s biggest need in this draft is a point guard. They need a backup, sure, because near-All-Star Luke Ridnour is not up to par and everyone else is a free agent. But there aren’t a great many young point guards in the NBA better than Ramon Sessions, who just put up 12.4/3.4/5.7 in only 28 minutes per game, while also making strides with his defence. There’s not a point guard left in this draft better than him, and so no, Mark Jackson, I do not agree that Milwaukee need a point guard. 01.32: Apparently it doesn’t matter what I […]
Sham’s unnecessarily long 2009 draft diary, part 1
June 26th, 2009
Last year’s draft night was arguably the best day of my life. The 2007 draft night before that is its only competitor. I mean that, too. Sort of. It never makes for especially brilliant television, but to know that dozens of executives all over the country are making more news in a 12-hour period than in the previous 12 months combined is kind of pulsating. In the course of a day and a night, rosters, directions and allegiances will change. We spend weeks and months in advance predicting what’s going to happen on this one night, only to find that, sure as hell, we’re all more wrong than a Myra Hindley Christmas album. It’s great fun. I’m a bit apprehensive of this draft, though. This draft will be unlike any other for me, for this is the first draft I’ll have watched in which I know anything about the players involved. Before this season, I had not watched the NCAA before outside of a handful of games, for the simple reason that it wasn’t on the telly. However, this year, for whatever reason, it was. And so in keeping with my usual approach (take note ladies), I went at it hardcore, gave it my all, didn’t want to miss a single inch of skin/minute of action, and strove to be better at it than everyone else in the world (particularly that inferior man you’re currently with). Because of that, I’m going to miss out on what I’ve always considered to be the highlight of draft night; the ability to judge people for life based off of a few short clips, what kind of suit they’re wearing, their post-selection interview, a short speech by Jay Bilas and the timeless “Must Improve” captions that so effortlessly make the work of drafting websites […]
Vin Baker signs in Venezuela
June 19th, 2009
ElUniversal.com: Marinos De Anzoategui signo ex estrella de la NBA Vincenzo Panadero. Marinos reiniciará sus entrenamientos mañana en la noche. La franquicia aguarda por el ala-pivot Héctor Romero, quien está en fase de rehabilitación por un desgarro en el muslo derecho. Será sometido a una ecografía y dependiendo del resultado se sabrá si podrá unirse o no al cinco naval, que conserva en la reserva al ex NBA Vin Baker. “Llegó fuera de forma y por ello no lo probamos”. Always-amusing crude online translation: Marine restarted their training tomorrow night. The franchise is looking for the wing-pivot Hector Romero, who is undergoing rehabilitation for a tear in his right thigh. Shall undergo an ultrasound and to the outcome will be known whether or not you can join the five ships, which kept in reserve to former NBA Vin Baker. “He arrived out of shape and why they did not try.” Does this mean that Hector Romero is out of shape, or that Vin Baker is? I don’t know, because I don’t speak Spanish. (Except for the words “horse”, “donkey”, “milk”, “hello beautiful lady”, “butter”, “oil” and “exit”. So far, I’ve found that this gets me everything I’ve ever needed in Spain.) But there’s evidence that it’s the latter. Vin Baker had a trial in China earlier this season, but was released after a few days because he was out of shape. This counts against him.
Where Are They Now: The Special Derrick Murray Edition
June 16th, 2009
The look back at the compelling protagonists of the 1996 NBA Draft will be coming up soon, as soon as I can find 13 available hours in which to write it. Until them, I bring you a quasi-update from the 1994 edition. In that post, I wrote this paragraph: Last month, [Lamond] Murray signed back in the IBL for the third time, signing with the seminal Los Angeles Lightning, where he is currently averaging 25/6. You weren’t expecting that, I’m guessing. But here’s the best part – the Lightning’s line-up is freaking stacked. In an otherwise poor league, the Lightning have managed to boast a line-up full of ex-NBA players, featuring Murray, current Clippers assistant and minor league veteran Fred Vinson, journeyman big man Jamal Sampson, the artist formerly known as Bryon Russell, ex-Suns guard Toby Bailey and former Rockets guard Juaquin Hawkins, who is with his first team since suffering a stroke last year. Did you see all that coming? No, me neither. In fact, apart from Murray, I didn’t know about all those players being there when I started writing this. Good times, maybe. Well, I have an update on that. Sampson left the team after only four games, but the team replaced him pretty quickly, signing ex-Kings training campee (a new word), Adam Parada. Bailey has also now turned up, as he was still playing in the German playoffs at the time of the last update. (He’s currently averaging a triple-double through his first two games, too.) The team also boasts California State senator Tony Strickland on the team, who hadn’t played competitive basketball since averaging a double-double at Whittler College in NCAA’s Division III almost two decades ago. That’s a PR move and a half, that. But the big news is that the Lightning have since added […]
“That Guy We Drafted,” 1995
June 7th, 2009
– 1st pick: Smilin’ Joe Smith (Golden State) – Joe Smith still has lots to give. He has more good play left in him, lots of love in his heart, and endless toothy smiles that can change the dynamic of an entire room. I like Joe Smith, even if he did allegedly once bottle a gay stripper in a nightclub. You should too. (That is to say, “You should like Joe Smith”. Not “You should bottle a gay stripper in a nightclub”. By the way, Smith was acquitted on all charges.) – 2nd pick: Antonio McDyess (L.A. Clippers) – McDyess had a decent resurgent season with the Pistons this season, his solid and consistent play often showing up the remainder of their frontcourt, which featured the underwhelming youth of Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell, the remnants of Rasheed Wallace, and however you’d like to tactfully describe Kwame Brown. He also managed to annoy a lot of Celtics fans, which was a bonus. McDyess still has a year or two left, if he wants it. – 3rd pick: Jerry Stackhouse (Philadelphia) – Stackhouse is done, and has been for about three years, even if Dallas didn’t realise it. Nevertheless, you’ll hear about him again, because Stack has that rarest of prized tags next to his name – he has a partially guaranteed contract for next year. And you’d better believe that executives around the league are lining up, ready to do things they’re not proud of just to get a hold of that bad boy. Therefore, sooner or later, Stackhouse is being traded and waived. You heard it here second. (By the way, on the subject of unguaranteed contracts, do you think Memphis regret buying out Antoine Walker partway through last season? Antoine had what would have been a fully unguaranteed […]
“That Guy We Drafted”, 1994
June 4th, 2009
If you’re hardcore, you’ll probably remember the name of that random second-round draft pick your team made back in 1999. And if you’re really hardcore, you might even care about him enough to spend 30 seconds reading up on where he is and what he does now. Well, I’m here to oblige you with that. Starting as of, like, now, we will trace back drafts and draftees, from as far back as I can be bothered to go (which early estimates predict will be about 1994), to the most recent 2008 draft. Potentially, we might stumble across something interesting. —– – 1st pick: Glenn Robinson (Milwaukee) – Robinson signed two contracts in his life; the 10-year, $80 million one he signed after being drafted (one that catalysed the inception of the rookie scale the following season), and a prorated minimum salary contract with the Spurs the season after the first contract ended. With the Spurs, he coat-tailed his way to a championship ring. And then he disappeared. Last month, Mike Hutton of the Post-Tribune (a newspaper that apparently couldn’t decide what to call itself) wrote a piece that tried to track down the absent Robinson and find out what he does now. The answer appears to be…..not a lot. The comments on this follow-up post seem to confirm that. – 2nd pick: Jason Kidd (Dallas) – Still going, and now back with the team that drafted him. Kidd is going to be a free agent this summer, and even though he’s declined a lot in the last two years, he’s still got something to give to a competitor. – 3rd pick: Grant Hill (Detroit) – Also still going, and also a free agent this summer. Hill has said in the past that, if he was traded away from Phoenix, he’d […]
Puerto Rico – the new China?
May 25th, 2009
Those of you who like fringe NBA players may have enjoyed the series of updates recently about the Chinese Basketball Association. Any league that saw Olumide Oyedeji average nearly 20/20 can peak the interest of any of us. Players like playing in China; the exposure isn’t huge and the money isn’t great, but the CBA has the lure of the teams playing lots of games, with less emphasis on practice, copying the NBA model of basketball not imitated much around the globe. Furthermore, the standard of play was bad, which led to amusingly lopsided statistics that they could put on their CV; for example, Tim Pickett will now always be able to boast that he was a 39.4 ppg scorer at one point in his career. (It appears to be already paying dividends, since he just got a workout with the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s nice to know they’re checking out China. So would I.) The Chinese league season has ended, as have most leagues, but the Puerto Rican one is just starting. It’s not a coincidence that the BSN (Puerto Rican) league begins in mid-April, which allows them to experience an influx of fringe NBA talent much like the Chinese league did. The standard of domestic players in the BSN is better, so the numbers aren’t as wonky, but it still makes for a great proving ground for players who need a small career boost, or some extra money from a summer job. And, for us keen observers, it’s a great chance to watch bit-part players play big. Here are the numbers of people you may have heard of. – – Marcus Williams (Quebradillas): Williams (the Nets one) is possibly the best player in Puerto Rico. His scoring is inefficient, due largely to taking as many threes as he does […]
A correction
May 24th, 2009
Back on the 25th February, the “Where Are They Now?” series of post things that make up about 95% of this site’s interesting content included an entry on former Louisville and Miami Heat centre, David Padgett. The entry is quoted as follows: David Padgett went to training camp with the Miami Heat, signed a contract immediately after it (essentially this meant just signing for training camp really early), didn’t make the team, and was waived. He has not signed elsewhere since, presumably living it up on his $35,000 guarantee. Sorry, but that was wrong. Padgett didn’t sign anywhere immediately after being waived by the Heat, but he did sign in Spain in December, with a LEB Gold team called Ciudad de La Laguna Canarias. (Translates roughly as “Canary Lagoons City.”) Padgett averaged 6.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in 23 games on 47% shooting, which isn’t particularly good in the LEB Gold. But he did give this interview, which I have crudely translated for you here. Apologies.
Wayne Simien retires
May 23rd, 2009
Former Kansas star and Miami Heat first-round draft pick Wayne Simien retires from professional basketball, as explained in this email (courtesy of Eurobasket): ‘The family and I are un-jet-lagged, unpacked and officially settled. It is great being back’, said Simien, who lives with his wife and two children in Lawrence. ‘We had a fabulous time in Spain and it was a great cultural experience. I had a good season on the court and we made some really great friends.’ ‘As far as my basketball future is concerned, I am officially retiring from playing professionally. I still love the game of basketball, can play at a high level and make a great living, however I have more of a passion to pursue other things. That passion being for Christian ministry and youth athletics. “I will be ministering through the ‘Called To Greatness’ organization (iamctg.org) that I started last year, as well as working with Morningstar Church ministering to the youth and college students.” Simien had been playing in Spain this past season, for a team called Caceres in the LEB Gold (second division). It wasn’t the greatest standard of basketball in the world, and Caceres only finished 11th with a 15-19 record, but Simien produced, averaging 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds on 62% shooting in the 15 games that he played. More importantly, the stay in Spain represented a return to basketball and to full health for Simien, who hadn’t played the previous season, and who only played eight games in 2006-07 due to contracting salmonella. This, sadly, is what many people will mainly remember him for. God knows how you catch it twice, but Simien did, and it’s a legacy he probably doesn’t want. Simien’s college career was brilliant, but his NBA career was less so. Drafted by the Heat […]
The Absurdity Of The Bulls/Celtics Series
May 1st, 2009
I feel obligated to write something about the Bulls/Celtics playoff series. It has been untold drama, brilliant excitement, and well worth the fortnight of 7am finishes. It’s been better than Megan Fox’s shadow, worse than De Niro’s moustache in Cop Land, and awesome to a fault. And I feel inclined to write something that describes it all. But the truth is, I don’t want to. I don’t think I can. The series has been so unilaterally brilliant, so unrivalled in its drama and so and flawlessly flawed in its execution, that I’m not capable of writing the words to accurately describe it. I don’t think anyone is. It’s as though someone decided the Coach Carter series of films should rival Police Academy, wrote six of the most implausibly cheesy scripts ever written, and nailed them all on the first take in front of an audience of millions. The drama, for lack of a better word, is perfect. Disregard game three for a minute. (The Bulls forgot to turn up to that one, so it’s best we pretend that it didn’t happen.) Over the other five games, the other 275 minutes, and the 1,000 or so possessions, the difference between the two team’s aggregate score is one freaking point. There have been seven overtimes in four games, and one game that was decided in the final second of regulation. Never before has there even been more than two overtime games in a series. And yet we’re at four already, with one still to play. It is almost unfathomable how close these two teams are. It will never happen again. It doesn’t matter now about the peculiar series of events that made it this way; what we have now, quite possibly, are the two most evenly-matched teams in the sport’s history. All […]
The Post-NBA Life of Tyrone Nesby
April 27th, 2009
I love to read when I’m on the toilet. Love it. Can barely go without it, in fact. Unfortunately, I don’t own many books. So I tend to read the same ones over and over again. True to form, I am currently mid-way through a repeat reading of “When Nothing Else Matters” by Michael Leahy, a exposé-type book about Michael Jordan’s comeback with the Wizards. It’s quite good fun, particularly if the Wizards-era Jordan was the only Jordan era that you were around to see, as was the case for me. I’m particularly enjoying reading about all the other characters in the story, like Doug Collins, Tim Grover, Jerry Stackhouse, Rip Hamilton, Tyronn Lue, Chris Whitney, Kwame Brown (who, it’s fair to say, struggles for good news throughout), Juan Dixon, Bobby Simmons, Courtney Alexander and others. But I am especially mindful of one name that I’d forgotten about, that of Tyrone Nesby, the former defensive specialist and hater of passing that had a few years of coming off NBA benches after picking up a surprisingly generous contract from the Clippers of all teams. Because of this, I decided to look up what T-Nes was doing these days. The last I had heard, he’d become a rapper, but that was about two years ago, now, so I looked again. After the Wizards’ 2001/02 season, Nesby’s $9 million contract had run out, and the Wizards looked elsewhere. No other NBA team seemed to want him, and Nesby hit the European trail, signing with Larisa in Greece and averaging 17.8 points per game. He then went to 2003 summer league with the New York Knicks, but didn’t get a full contract, and went back to Europe the following year visiting both Italy (13.4 ppg for Varese) and Serbia (21.1 ppg for Relfex Beograd). […]
Kirk Hinrich’s Singing Voice
April 14th, 2009
od invented the internet so that we could feel more closely acquainted to professional athletes. It’s the reason they have online chats, it’s the reason they have their own websites, it’s the reason we try and become their Facebook friends, and it’s the reason that their team contractually obligates them to humiliate themselves for the sake of a few YouTube videos. For this, we must give our eternal thanks, because God never fails to satisfy us. And nor does Joakim Noah. During a Bulls game last week, a halftime segment aired that showed Noah, Derrick Rose, Tyrus Thomas and Luol Deng participating in a ‘Name That Tune’ style challenge. The four players paired up, and one player had to sing whatever tune was playing in his headphones, with the other player charged with guessing which song it was that they were butchering. The girl’s job was to guess which team won. The whole debacle was caught on camera. A closer inspection reveals that this isn’t the first Bulls players karaoke segment of the season. Three other officially licensed videos exist, showing the same players (as well as Kirk Hinrich, Aaron Gray, and the now-departed Drew Gooden and Thabo Sefolosha) taking part in a singalong to various TV theme tunes. The tunes range from seminal to forgettable, yet they are, to a man, bludgeoned. If anyone emerges from this with any pride, it might be Drew Gooden. Gooden – whom we already know to be always up for a tinkle – demonstrates, if nothing else, a semblance of a sense of rhythm, humility and personality, although he does appear to struggle with the difference between a saxophone and a piccolo. Hinrich continues his galvanising makeover from the shy and retiring elfin-like creature of his rookie year to the matured and forthcoming […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 59
March 25th, 2009
This will be the last instalment for this season of this series of posts, one which has gone on forever and seen more than a couple of jokes be repeated. It has come to its rightful end, ending as it does with the human conversation killer, Eurelijus Zukauskas. I’ll still take requests, but these lengthy diatribes are being put to bed. With that in mind, let’s get on with it. – David Young averages 12.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for the Aishin Sea Horses in the Japanese JBL. You should know who David Young is, but, if you don’t, Young is a shooting guard who was a second-round draft choice and subsequent training camp signing of the Seattle Supersonics back in 2004. This came after a season that saw him put up 20/5 for North Carolina Central, a Division II team that isn’t really comparable to the real North Carolina. Before that, Young spent three years coming off the bench for Xavier, averaging no more than 8.1 ppg in any season. Along with his Sonics stint, Young has also played on summer league teams for New Jersey, Milwaukee and Sacramento, Last year, he played to a decent standard with Pau Orthez, averaging 13.1 points per game in the ULEB Cup, but the move to Japan represents a downgrade from that. You have now learnt about David Young. My work here is done. – Another Sonic training camp signing from that year was also called Young, and also played for an imitation UNC. Former Bucks draft pick and North Carolina-Charlotte standout Galen Young made their training camp roster that year, and put up 4.5 points and 4.0 fouls in four preseason games before being waived. He had also made the Sonics’ 2003 training camp roster, as well […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 58
March 24th, 2009
– Donell Williams is a training camp signing of the Clippers in 2007 who hasn’t done anything of note before or since. A 28-year-old 6’3 guard, Williams spent his first two collegiate years at West Los Angeles Community College, before transferring to Fayetteville State for his final two years, averaging 15.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in his senior year, 2004-05. D-Will then went back to school for the 2005-06 season to complete his degree, even though he wasn’t eligible to play for the basketball team. The following season, his basketball career finally started, with Williams now aged 26. Williams played in the 2006 JBL Pro-Am League, a largely unheard-of American minor league that takes place between April and May, in which he averaged 27 ppg, 16 rpg and 5 apg. He then did nothing for the next 16 months, between May 2006 and October 2007. And then he was somehow signed by the Clippers. After unsurprisingly not making the team, Williams went to the D-League, totalled 38 points and 21 rebounds in 18 games with the Bakersfield Jam, and was waived in January 2008. He hasn’t played anywhere since. Of all the random training camp signings we’ve had over the years – Brad Stricker, Rashid Byrd, Ajani Williams, etc – I think this one is the most random. – Corliss Williamson retired in the 2007 offseason and became an assistant coach at Arkansas Baptist College. Whether he’s still there or not, I can’t tell. Here’s a story he’s in from a reunion of the 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks. – Kevin Willis is now 46, and presumably not going to make another comeback. Then again, we fell for that once before. According to this story from October, Willis was running a custom jeans company called Willis & Walker. However, the company’s […]
Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 57
March 23rd, 2009
The following people are all called Williams. – Ajani Williams hasn’t played anywhere since scoring one point in two preseason games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2005. Probably not even Hawks fans remember this. That’s how insignificant Williams’s impact on the NBA landscape was. (No offence intended there, but….well, he’s so unheard of that Googling his name returns this website as the fourth result. And that should never happen.) His career before this is obscure, too – starting as a walk-on with Georgia Tech, Williams transferred to Eastern Michigan, where he didn’t play much, and certainly didn’t star. Tours in Bulgaria, the Philippines (where he became a bit of a hit) and the USBL followed, amongst others, and then Williams was signed by the Magic for 2004 training camp after (presumably) impressing in summer league that season with the Mavericks. He didn’t make the team, though, and returned to Bulgaria for a second stint, before the Hawks came a-calling the next season. Seemingly, being able to score one point in an official NBA game (if not a regular season game) was a satisfactory conclusion to Ajani’s professional basketball dreams, and it seems he hasn’t played anywhere since then, despite still being only 32 years of age. Williams is now the president of the Jamaican Basketball Association, choosing to help develop his homeland’s game in preference to taking a player development job at the NBA’s head office in New York. Also, according to this, AJ is the author of a guide called “How to become a PRO Basketball Player – The Complete Guide and Manual”, which I can’t seem to find anywhere. Then again, since it was apparently made in ring binders, that shouldn’t seem surprising. (I did find this, but I’m assuming it’s not the same person.) I spent […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 56
March 16th, 2009
– Robert Whaley barely played in the D-League last year, averaging 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for the L.A. D-Fenders, and he has not signed anywhere this season. He also barely played in 2006/07, spending his time between the ABA, the Dominican Republic and Iran. Nevertheless, Whaley still received a full year of NBA salary back in the 2005/06 season, in spite of his relative failings in the professional game. He’s about to turn 27, he’s not yet played to a D-League standard, he’s got a lengthy criminal history, he lied to the police to his name to the Jazz about the cut in his hand, and he’s not even the most famous person with that name. But he made it briefly, and he got paid. – Davin White is signed in Serbia with Swisslion Takovo Lions Vrsac. White averages 4.8 points, 3.3 fouls and 2.0 assists in the Balkan league, but no word on whether his finger nails are still really, really pink. – Jahidi White has not played since an unsuccessful training camp bid with the Cavaliers in 2006. Since then, his only news-making appearance was in a non-speaking role on a sci-fi channel show called Showdown at Area 51. He played an alien. – Rodney White started the year with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, fell out of favour after one game and got waived. Not one to be kept down, R-White signed in China with the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, and he leads the country in scoring. Considering how easy it is to score in China if you’re American and/or able to jump off the floor, this is no mean feat. White averages 1.1 blocks, 2.4 steals, 5.1 assists, 8.3 rebounds and 36.4 points per game. (See what I did there?) In his last game, […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 55
March 14th, 2009
– Charlie Ward retired in 2004, and briefly became an assistant coach with the Rockets. However, he left that gig, and has instead found a place and a job that caters to his three biggest passions in life; basketball, American football, and Christianity. Ward is now the head football coach at Westbury Christian School in Houston, Texas, as well as an assistant coach on the basketball team. He also recently quarterbacked again, albeit only for a fun day. Question: if you were to ask Charlie Ward whether he regrets turning down an NFL career for his decent if underwhelming NBA career, what would he say? Genuinely intrigued by that. – Darius Washington signed with the Bulls for preseason, and played very well in one of the preseason games. He didn’t make the cut, though, and nor was he ever going to. Washington then signed with Ural Great Perm in Russia, where he is averaging 13.0 points and 3.6 assists per game in the EuroChallenge, along with 14.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in the Russian league. Did you know that Darius Washington is now a Macedonian citizen? Fun fact. – Pistons draft pick Deron Washington is averaging 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks per game for Hapoel Holon in Israel. He recently helped the team to win the Israeli Cup, but is only shooting 23% on the year from three-point range. So he still can’t shoot. But he’s also still an athlete who covers ground on both ends. – Darryl Watkins did not make the cut from the Spurs training camp, and then went to Tianjin in China. Everyone loves Chinese numbers, and a post on this subject may well be soon appearing, so until then wrap your lips around this […]
