Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 31
February 10th, 2009
– Anthony Lever-Pedroza is playing for a team called Soles de Mexicali, in a country that you can probably guess. About two hours ago, I watched a FIBA basketball magazine show that bizarrely and unexpectedly featured clips from a Soles de Mexicali game. I didn’t spot Anthony James Norwood Lever Pedroza Durazo, though. Anthony James Norwood Lever Pedroza Durazo averages 20.3 points in three Liga Americas games; also on his team are former Timberwolves guard Dejaun Wheat (who barely plays) and former Suns centre Horacio Llamas (who averages 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds). That unlikely duo are both 35, seeing out their professional lives at Soles de Mexicali – where fringe NBA careers wind down. – Ron Lewis is in Israel, averaging 16.3 points per game for Ironi Nahariya. Impressively, Lewis has shot 94 free throws to 140 field goals, for a 1.51 PPS average. Less impressive is the 72% that Lewis is shooting from the line, and the 25% that he’s shooting from three-point range. But he’s scoring at a very high efficiency anyway. – Nick Lewis had a try-out in the Spanish LEB Gold to begin the year, but didn’t sign, and went back to the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League. Building on his decent season of last year, Lewis is averaging 16.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, averaging 1.45 points per shot. I stand by that metric, even if I stand alone. – Sergei Lishouk is still with Azovmash Mariupol in his native Ukraine. Lishouk/Lischuk averages 7.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 3.0 fouls per game in the EuroCup, alongside 10.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 fouls and 1.2 blocks per game in the Ukrainian league. Since his rights were traded away by the Grizzlies last year, Lishouk can’t even get to the […]
Florida vs South Carolina, Feb 3rd 2009
February 9th, 2009
Random thoughts from random game. – I like it when guards constantly push the ball, but Devan Downey took this to extremes. He played like a mentalist, with one of the weirder 33-point outings that I’ve ever seen. Downey went 6-15 from two-point range, 7-9 from three, and 0-2 from the free throw line, making a series of tough threes when the game was out of reach that served only to make it overlap into the Syracuse game that was on afterwards. (Thanks for that, Devan.) He is one of the quickest players with the ball that I’ve ever seen, and clearly was a talented shot-maker. But he looked to pass about as much as Donte Greene, which is less excusable when you’re the lead guard who dominates the ball. And at 5’9 with a penchant for ball-watching, Downey didn’t have much value on the defensive end, either. He was explosive fun, much like a good curry night is, but he has some big old flaws. – Alex Tyus is going to have a nice career ahead of him, somewhere. Decently sized, athletic and with some nice touch from both hands. I didn’t see him challenge a shot all night, which was worrying, but the offensive talent is there. – Dominique Archie was impressive, too. He tended to drift towards the middle on defence, and toward the perimeter on offence, which was a bit odd. But he’s a good athlete, a slasher, a decent finisher, rebounder and help defender. – Zam Fredrick’s professional future, as a 6’0 shoot-first-second-and-third scoring guard without a terrific shot making ability, looks speculative. – I soon learnt that Nick Calathes is not much like Pat Calathes. At all. He’s far better, for a start. However, I worry about Nick’s future. It’s a lot easier to […]
Loosely-Informed Thoughts on Ohio State and Purdue Right Now
February 5th, 2009
I have watched a game and a half of Ohio State’s season in this past week, and I feel as though that makes me an expert on everything about them. – The half a game comes from the second half of the Buckeye’s game versus Indiana on Saturday. When we (and by “we”, I mean “the entire nation of England”) joined the game, Indiana was losing by one, 59-58. God knows how, because they proceeded to show nothing at all. They had no big men, no defence, no inside game, no slashing, no spacing, and their guards just took it in turns to hoist up threes. This from the worst three-point shooting team in the conference, apparently. Still, guard Matt Roth’s performance will linger with me for a while; unlike everybody else, Roth could actually hit a three, and proved this by hitting nine of them, each from further away than the last. It was an impressive shooting performance, to say the least, and it kept Indiana in a game in which they were otherwise wildly overmatched. If ever I encounter Matt Roth again in my life, this will be the first thing that I think of. (I looked up Matt Roth on ESPN after this, to see if he was any good. He wasn’t, but I did find something fun; Roth is 40/96 on the season from three-point range, 11/13 from the free throw line….and 3/10 from two-point range. Nice. Daequan Cook is jealous.) There was literally nothing else to report from Indiana’s point of view, who are as undermanned as you’d heard they are. – Ohio State’s seven-man rotation featured a starting line-up of Jeremie Simmons at point guard, William Buford at two guard, Jon Diebler as the other two guard, Evan Turner as both forwards and Dallas […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 30
February 5th, 2009
Snowman update: my dog ate the nose, someone stole the hat, and the pipe fell out. However, the weather hasn’t been above freezing yet, and so he still survives as before, slightly icier but just as large. Good times. Before the list starts, here’s a quick TRIVIA QUESTION: which one of the following players has scored the second most regular season points in the NBA? Answer at the bottom. – Herve Lamizana recently left his team in the United Arab Emirates and joined Al Ittihad (and his wife Jean) in the Egyptian league. I can’t imagine where I’ll ever say that sentence again. I don’t have any stats for Lamizana, but if you like your college basketball enough to remember the names of obscure American players from about a decade ago, then here are Lamizana’s American team mates: John Thomas III (college: St Francis), Derrick Franklin (Columbus State) and Chauncey Leslie (Iowa). Those three are nothing to be sniffed at: between them, they’ve won the Turkish second division, a Jordanian league championship, and a Hungarian Cup runners-up medal. You can’t deny experience like that. – Maciej Lampe is still going, and getting somewhere. In his third season with Khimki, Lampe is averaging 14.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in the Russian league, both team highs, alongside 13.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in two EuroCup games. These numbers come on a stacked team that also features Jorge Garbajosa, Kelly McCarty and Carlos Delfino, amongst others. Lampe was a joke back in the day, but not any more. – Sean Lampley is signed with Al Arabi (and his wife Jean) in the Qatarian league. As if he could be anywhere else. – James Lang averages 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.6 minutes for the Utah Flash. That’s extremely good […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 29
February 5th, 2009
– Coby Karl began the season with the Idaho Stampede before going to Spain and DKV Joventut Badalona to replace Bracey Wright. He averaged 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists for Idaho, and has appeared in all of one game for Badalona, scoring two points in two minutes on 0-2 shooting. – Former Magic centre Mario Kasun – who I like to consider the forerunner to Marcin Gortat, albeit not as good, because nobody is as good as Marcin Gortat – is signed with Efes Pilsen in Turkey, but has missed most of the season through injury. Returning about three weeks ago, Kasun has so far totalled 25 points and 15 rebounds in two Turkish league games, and a 10-minute 8-point performance in his sole EuroLeague game versus Real Madrid. – Sasha Kaun is with CSKA Moscow, craftily located in Moscow. As is the case with young players in Moscow, Kaun kaun’t much get off the bench, averaging 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in nine Russian league games, and totalling 2 points and 6 rebounds in four EuroLeague games. Kaun was also drafted in the fifth round of the CBA Draft, but that’s not much of a boast, because the CBA Draft is the most pointless thing in the world. “Quick, let’s draft these players so that we’ll hold their rights if they decide to join the CBA!…..Oh no, wait, they got NBA contracts instead. Damn. If only they knew of all the needlessly misspelt fun that we have here at the Pittsburgh Xplosion.” – Tre Kelley is with Eldan Ashkelon in Israel, forming a lethal tiny backcourt with Steve Burtt Jr. Kelley averages 11.3 points and 2.9 assists, as part of a three-guard rotation with Burtt and some Israeli guy called Avi Ben Chimol. […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 28
February 4th, 2009
– You did it! You did it! You waited for your Alexander Johnson news! Be proud of yourself, and then proceed to hate me, as I tell you that there isn’t any. Johnson started the year in Germany with Brose Baskets Bonn, averaged 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.4 fouls in 11 German league games, before leaving last month and being replaced (sort of) by Dan Dickau. Johnson is now unsigned, but, in better news, Dickau has scored 37 points combined in the two games that he’s been there. – Jumaine Jones was reportedly suspended from European basketball for a year in September by FIBA, for the weird yet wonderful crime of signing contracts with two different teams at the same time; one with Alyssa Milano, and one with Ural Great Perm in Russia. However, he’s been playing for the greatly-named Great Perm anyway, averaging 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in Russian league play. How that is possible, I don’t know – Russia is in kind of both Europe and Asia, depending on which you want to count it as at any given moment. However, Great Perm have played in both the EuroCup and EuroChallenge this season, and, as the names would suggest, those are European competitions. Yet Jumaine has been playing in them, averaging 9.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in the EuroChallenge. Presumably some sort of settlement was worked out; any answers as to how specifically this is possible? – Eddie Jones was bought out by the Pacers in preseason after being traded from the Mavericks, and hasn’t been heard from since. – Dwayne Jones went to training camp with the Magic, didn’t make it, went to Turkey with Efes, played two games, scored one point, grabbed one rebound, came back to America, signed with the […]
Let Me Drago Pasalic You Up And Down
February 4th, 2009
In keeping with my new policy of talking about every game that I watch that isn’t an NBA game, here’s what I observed from last night’s EuroCup game between Iurbentia Bilbao and the home Lithuanian team with a Yorkshire inflection, Lietuvos Rytas. Go. – Bilbao’s line-up features only three Spanish nationals; point guard Javier Salgado, backup guard Paco Vazquez, and a really slow inside player with a massive head and greasy mullet called Salvador Guardia. The rest of the team was made up of foreign players, and it was pretty stacked; former, future and potentially future NBA talent on show included former Bucks forward and avid partygoer Damir Markota, former Jazz and Timberwolves swingman Quincy Lewis, former Heat tryer-outer Luke Recker, former Chicago Bulls summer league participant Drago Pasalic, Mavericks second-rounder Renaldas Seibutis, former Nuggets guard Predrag Savovic, the man the legend known as Frederic Weis (who did not play), Latvian international guard Janis Blums, and Croatian international big man Marko Banic. – Lietuvos, meanwhile, had only two players that weren’t Lithuanian – former South Carolina point forward Chuck Eidson, and Serbian big man Milko Bjelica, whose name sounds more like a lovely pudding. The rest of the team was made out of old clunky Lithuanians. (Eidson was awesome, by the way, and easily the best player in the game, despite all the talent and internationals on the court. But we’ll come to this later.) – For Bucks fans who fancy a cheap laugh at the expense of Damir Markota, I’ve got good news – he was pretty awful. Markota came off the bench in the first half, and did nothing at all, but for some reason he started the second half in place of Pasalic. He then proceeded to get involved on every possession, and normally in a bad […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 27
February 3rd, 2009
– Chris Jefferies is a weird story. A first-round draft pick back in 2002, Jefferies got an opportunity to showcase himself back in his rookie season with an injury-depleted tanking Raptors team. He didn’t do much with it, though, and he was a throw-in in the trade the following season that saw Antonio Davis and Jerome Williams go to Chicago. It was there that Jefferies won my heart, demonstrating a decent set shot, interested defence, and a staggeringly bad handle in traffic. Jefferies was waived during the following offseason, out of the league after only two seasons. He then signed in the ABA with the Visalia Dawgs, a team that tried to reunite talent from the Fresno area. The team changed its head coach and renamed itself partway through its first season to the Central Dawgs, finished with a 3-20 record, and then folded. Jefferies has not played anywhere since, and this was nearly four years ago now. A Hoopsworld article from this time in 2007 talked about how Jefferies was rehabbing after multiple surgeries, but nothing came of that. C-Jeff turns 29 in less than a fortnight’s time, and his basketball career has been on hold for far too long now. Is he even trying to come back any more? If you know, let me know. Because I care about you, Chris Jefferies. We all care. – Dontell Jefferson is in the D-League, and somewhat starring, as one of only three Utah Flashers that you will have ever heard of. (The other being James Lang and Ronald Dupree.) Jefferson averages 18.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.5 turnovers a game on a decent Flash team. – Horace Jenkins is with Eldo Caserta in Italy, but his scoring numbers are less than usual, averaging only 10.1 points […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 26
February 2nd, 2009
I’m kind of overexcitable today, with a level of maturity that belies my 24 years of age. I feel pretty much like a small child today. And I feel like a small child today because I’ve just acted like one. Today, 2nd February 2009, marks the day that I built the first snowman of my life. And here it is: Experienced snowmen builders out there will have noticed a few faults in my technique. For example, it’s plain to see that I’ve fallen into the usual rookie trap of making a base that is way too big, overestimating what I will have the patience to achieve, and then having to hurriedly heap snow on top, crudely falling into kind of a cone shape, making my snowman’s body resemble a sumo wrestler melting. Additionally, I don’t have any coal, so the classic coal eyes have had to be replaced by a pair of police aviators. I also didn’t have a carrot, so a parsnip suffices as the nose, and insulating tape forms a rudimentary mouth shape for no particular reason. I also have no explanation as to why he is holding a retro early 90’s tennis racket, or a duck on a stick, but these additions seemed vital at the time. As did the Stetson. But I’m proud of it anyway, because it’s my first one. And everyone remembers their first time. Why haven’t I built one before? Well, because it’s never snowed like this before. And why am I telling you all this? Because I felt like it. Anyhoo. To some basketball stuff. – Serge Ibaka played in the LEB Gold last year, and has upgraded to the ACB this year. He’s not tearing things up at the moment, with sedate averages of 6.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 1.0 […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 25
February 1st, 2009
– Little Jeff Horner – who is kind of like John Stockton, only with better rebounding – averages 8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals for Antibes. Antibes play in the French second division (Pro B), which undermines that Stockton comparison a bit. But still. Stockton didn’t play much in his rookie year, either. Give Horner time. He’s only 25. By the way, that bulge in my cheek is my tongue. – Robert Horry is unofficially, but effectively, retired. – Daniel Horton was released by Pau Orthez in December, after totalling 45 points on 49 shots, with 16 assists, in four games. – Quinton Hosley is playing for Real Madrid, where he averages 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16 mpg in the Spanish league, and 9.1 ppg and 3.3 rpg in the same amount of time in the EuroLeague. Other Real Madrid guards include former Michigan starlet and booster recipient Louis Bullock (one of the team’s leading scorers), former NBA journeyman Pepe Sanchez (who is still bad at scoring; on the season he has 48 assists to 20 points, on 6-28 shooting), Marko Tomas (who isn’t playing any more than he was the last time he was at Real), Raul Lopez (we’ll come to him later), and my own personal favourite, Sergio Llull. Nothing says “YES!” more than a 21 year old 5’10 point guard with terrific athletic ability and three-point range. I like this guy. – Allan Houston is now a part of the Knicks front office, something which hopefully means no more comeback attempts. I know you don’t like how it ended, Allan, but to be honest I can’t see it ending any better even if you did make a mini-comeback. You did fine, really. Plenty of money, an NBA Finals […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 24
January 31st, 2009
– Richard Hendrix is in the D-League, after being waived by the Warriors earlier this season, despite signing a guaranteed contract in the summer. I don’t really understand why, considering that they waived him while preferring to keep Rob Kurz and DeMarcus Nelson, whom they then waived three weeks later to avoid guaranteeing his contract, but whatever. Hendrix is still there if the Warriors want him, and apparently they don’t. Hendrix averages 13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.9 blocks in 32 minutes a game for the Dakota Wizz. – Axel Hervelle is still with Real Madrid in Spain, and will be for at least two more years after this one. I got in trouble last time we talked about him, when I said that he hadn’t really gotten very far, so I’ll instead cop out this time and just give you his numbers: 6.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.7 bpg in the Spanish league, and 5.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.4 bpg in the EuroLeague. He’s a defensive role player. – Tyrone Hill is now an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. – Kyle Hill is playing for Lucentum Alicante Costablanca in Spanish second division, alongside Taylor Coppenrath. Hill averages 12.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg and 1.6 apg, and is also about to turn 30; I don’t think the NBA beckons any more. – Herbert Hill is unsigned, after a tryout with Le Mans in August showed only that he hasn’t recovered from his knee surgery yet. – Steven Hill is back with Tulsa in the D-League after being waived by the Thunder. Hill averages 7.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in total, but here’s the thing; as intriguing as Hill is as a prospect (and he is […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 23
January 29th, 2009
– Othella Harrington‘s option was not picked up by the Bobcats this year, which was about as surprising as finding vegetables in a bowl of vegetable soup. He remains unsigned, and maybe always will. – Junior Harrington, meanwhile is not unsigned, and is playing for Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia. Junior has only played four games with the team, three of which were in the Adriatic League, but in that time he has totalled 53 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. More important, he has shot a combined 9-13 on three-pointers, which is fantastic news if you’re the kind of person that likes to use 13-game sample sizes as the sole indicator of whether a man has fixed his once-broken jump shot or not. – Adam Harrington is signed with Limoges in France, averaging 16.3 points and 2.6 rebounds. There’s nothing quite like the French second division for really bringing a man’s true talent out. – Padraig Harrington recently became the first man to par the par-three Extreme 19th Legend Golf & Safari Resort in Limpopo, South Africa. – Don’t know what Lucious Harris does now. – Mike Harris is in China, and, as is customary with the Chinese league, his statistics are amusingly warped. For the DongGuan New Century, Harris averages 41.5 minutes a game, 32.2 points, 15.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocks a game, Wilt Chamberlain-like numbers. The talent pool in the Chinese league is lacking, as they continue to adapt their league and their game to the new, correct rules, and to a more athletic style of play. All teams are allowed two import players, and almost all of these teams use them on former NBA players (for example, Harris’s teammate is centre Jamal Sampson), and all these former NBA […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 22
January 28th, 2009
Many of the following people are called Hamilton. If you don’t want to know the result, look away now. – Brian Hamilton signed with the New Jersey Nets for training camp after playing for their summer league team, which guaranteed him a free trip around Europe. Hamilton didn’t make the team, though, and is currently unsigned. By the way, speaking of the Nets summer league team, look how stacked that bad boy was. They could have put together a depth chart of this kind of calibre: PG – Jamar Butler, Will Conroy, Yuta Tabuse SG – Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jaycee Carroll, Donell Taylor, Maurice Ager SF – Julius Hodge, Marcus Slaughter, Brian Hamilton PF – Ryan Anderson, Anthony Tolliver C – Brook Lopez, Sean Williams That team is friggin’ stacked, even if it is (as are all summer league teams) a bit short. This wasn’t quite how it worked out, as Jamar Butler didn’t turn up, Sean Williams started at power forward, and a combination of Conroy and Carroll did most of the point guard work. But, still. In relative terms, that team is heaving. God I love summer league. – Venson Hamilton is into his fourth season with Real Madrid. However, his playing time has all but disappeared. In the Spanish league, Hamilton averages 1.1 points and 1.8 rebounds in 6.7 minutes a game, slightly raising his scoring average to 1.6 ppg in EuroLeague play. On the year, he has 18 points and 21 fouls. The money must be good, because the opportunity isn’t. – Vernon Hamilton was acquired yesterday by the Colorado 14ers of the D-League, where he can back up Eddie Gill at point guard, or replace him should Gill get a call-up. Fun Vernon Hamilton fact: the highest that Vernon Hamilton has ever shot […]
Apologies To The Denver Nuggets
January 28th, 2009
I hated the Marcus Camby trade. I hated it. I think everyone did, even Clippers fans. But I really hated it. I think about trades a lot. I should really have better things to do, but I don’t. So I spend a lot of time thinking about trades that have happened, moves that have been made, who would fit on which team, players that certain teams needed, who’ll sign where and for what, etc. But at not point did I think, “a current DPOY candidate and former winner, on an extremely fair value contract, is going to be moved for nothing more than a trade exception.” You just don’t consider these as possibilities, do you? But it happened. And it annoyed me. It annoyed me for one simple reason – the move was financially motivated, and I hate all purely financially-motivated moves. I wrote about as much here, and, in the interests of saving time, I’ll quote myself: When teams make bad personal [sic] moves to save money, purely as collateral damage from their own previous stupid move, then the fans become the victims to the folly that is the NBA and its old boy’s network. I hate any move that involves a team giving away an asset just to save money, with them deeming the financial saving as “necessary” due to their own cap mismanagement. That’s exactly what happened here – the Nuggets, perennial tax payers, were forced to start saving money by their ownership, and the best way for them to do this was to dump Camby’s salary for no return. The moved saved them $20 million this season, plus about the same next season, yet it saw an NBA team literally gifting away one of their best players at a position persistently devoid of much quality. Anyone’s […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 21
January 28th, 2009
– I was first alerted to the presence of Blake Griffin about 18 months ago, when an Oklahoman resident told me he was brilliant. Apparently this has become a widely-held opinion, as Griffin is the unanimous #1 pick on both of the draft websites that I look at. (I really ought to start following the draft more, you know. But it’s hard. I can’t watch the games. And that, to me, is an important part of knowing about someone. Oh well.) Griffin averages huge numbers of 22.2 points and 13.8 rebounds for Oklahoma, despite being only 19 years old, and his PER is a staggering 38.1. And that’s….a lot. – Rashard Griffith is in Romania. Where else? In his second season with Asesoft Ploiesti, a team that currently lead the Romanian league with a 14-2 record, Griffith averages 10.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists, but those numbers dropped to only 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in EuroChallenge play. So, just to confirm, Rashard Griffith’s NBA window is shut, and has been for about seven years. Other players on the Ploiesti team that you may have heard of include Carl Krauser (former Pittsburgh standout who I seem to recall had a try-out with the Pacers once, although I can’t be sure of this) and Tyson Wheeler (who tried out for every team at some point, and who signed very briefly with the Nuggets back in the last millennium). – Anthony Grundy is playing for Panellinios in Greece, where he is actually doing some passing. Grundy averages 10.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists in EuroCup play, along with 16.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in the Greek league, playing the point guard to Brad Newley’s shooting guard. Grundy is about to turn 30, however, which lowers the […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 20
January 24th, 2009
– Joao Gomes averages 8.3 points and 4.4 rebounds for Leche Rio Breogan Lugo in the Spanish second division. You’re probably wondering who Joao Gomes is. So am I, honestly. In other, more important Gomes news, the Cincinnati Reds signed Jonny Gomes to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. Good luck Jonny. Savage everything you see. – Jamon Gordon was suspended by his German team, the Koeln 99ers, for going to America without permission. I think. (A user’s blog comment also said something about Gordon trashing his flat, which seems like a weird thing to be suspended for, so I’ll assume he did this afterwards.) His replacement is a man called Michael Jordan, and no I’m not making that up. Gordon averaged 13.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 steals in his nine games with the team. – Jamont Gordon (not to be confused with Jamon Gordon, despite how blatantly easy that is to do) is signed with Fortitudo Bologna, the team also known as Upim Bologna and GMAC Real Estate Bologna, and formerly known as Skipper Bologna and Climamio Bologna, yet NOT to be confused with La Fortezza Bologna, which is another Italian first division team. All European names are stupid, I tell you. Gordon averages 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 2.0 assists in EuroCup play, while playing alongside Gregor Fucka, whose name is still fun to type, even if it has been usurped by Lior Lipshits. – Brian Grant (not to be confused with Briant Grant, who is someone that I just made up) retired over two years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. – Devin Green is signed in Ukraine of all places, with Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk. He averages 20.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists, […]
More Liquorice Allsorts
January 24th, 2009
1: The following YouTube video has done the rounds recently, showing an impressive double alley’oop in a highly one-sided high school game. That clip reminded me of this one, featuring the Los Angeles Clippers’ “overloaded with potential” era, specifically Darius Miles and Lamar Odom. (Also, is it Sean Rooks throwing that frontcourt pass? I think so.) “The Lob, The Jam” Since Kevin Calabro left us, Ralph Lawler has assumed the title of Best Announcer Of Any NBA Team. If ever you forget that, watch this clip. Great call, Ralph. Great call. 2: While looking for that clip, I also found this one. Portland Trail Blazers Miracle Minute I loved that so-called “Jail Blazers” team. Loved it. There was just so much talent on it, so much depth, and so much athleticism (which, not matter how much you appreciate skill, is something that makes the game more fun, as evidenced by this clip). That particular Blazers team also had Steve Kerr and Chris Dudley, two all-time favourites of mine. It was great times all around. But it’s a bit odd, when you think about it. All but one Blazer in this clip is now out of the league. Derek Anderson is unsigned. Bonzi Wells is in China. Ruben Patterson is unsigned. Scottie Pippen is kicking 50’s door down. (Not 50 Cent, but the age.) Kerr is the Suns’ General Manager now, and Chris Dudley is Kevin Love’s mentor. (Well, he was, briefly.) Rasheed Wallace is still with us, but not the same Rasheed Wallace as we see today, and the rest of the roster not seen in this clip (Damon Stoudamire, Dale Davis, Shawn Kemp, Erick Barkley, Mitchell Butler, Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, Rick Brunson) are all out of the league. The only ones that aren’t are Sheed and Zach Randolph, […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 19
January 24th, 2009
– Pat Garrity retired this summer, and according to reports behind a paywalled article, he has since gone back to school. But I’m not paying for it to find out. This is my limit. – Mickael Gelabale is unsigned, and – presumably – still rehabbing his severe knee injury from last March. – Otis George is averaging 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in the Italian second vision with Umana Reyer Venezia, although he hasn’t played for a month due to injury. George has also turned himself in a 41% three-point shooter, which isn’t ever bad from a supposedly undersized centre. Although I don’t think this guarantees an Anthony Tolliver-like career projection. – C.J. Giles is playing for the L.A. D-Fenders in the D-League, where he averages 12.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game. Rashid Byrd, the other centre who I told you was playing there earlier in this list, was recently waived, which is hard to achieve when you’re a seven-footer in the D-League. So congratulations to him. – Eddie Gill is possibly the best point guard in the D-League, averaging 15.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.2 assists for the Colorado 14ers. He’s shooting only 39%, though. – Kendall Gill is still working for Comcast Sportsnet and doing studio stuff for Bulls games, but I don’t know if he still boxes. – Tony Gipson (also known as Nicholas Gipson, confusingly) averages 7.3 points per game for the Raiffeisen Furstenfeld Panthers in the Austrian league. The Austrian league. He doesn’t even start in the Austrian league. Might have jumped the gun a bit when I decided to add him to his website, you know. – Gordan Giricek is signed with Fenerbache in Turkey, but suffered a season-ending injury after only two games. […]
This is a plea for Allen Iverson to do the right thing
January 23rd, 2009
The 2003 NBA All-Star Game was an embarrassment. If you watched it, you cucked Michael Jordan. You are guilty by association. By watching it, I too cucked Michael Jordan. And I didn’t enjoy it one bit. The whole event was a prolonged Michael Jordan love-in. As it was to be Jordan’s last ever All-Star game, in his final season before his third and only retirement, we were treated to the sight of his balls being polished mercilessly by everyone in the game, around the game, and Mariah Carey. Everything Michael did throughout history – excluding the previous 18 months of course – was to be glorified and indulged one more time to such a lavish and excessive degree that, if any of us had forgotten how scarily good and frighteningly popular he was, we would never do so again. They had documentaries, they had interviews, they had montages, they had songs, they had a dress represented two of his uniforms on….they had everything. And, you know, fine. He’s the legend and it’s his final year, for real this time. Unfortunately, there was a slight problem. Jordan wasn’t voted in as a starter by the fans. And it’s hard to be the most important player on the floor when five other people get there first. Never mind, though. Into the confusion stepped Allen Iverson. Voted in as one of the starting guards ahead of Jordan, Iverson magnanimously volunteered to give up his starting spot for Jordan, so that he may start the game and take the first 40 shots or so. Tracy McGrady, one of the starting forwards, made an identical gesture a few days later, once again showing sympathy-inducing deference to an older man’s inferior play. However, the other starting guard, Vince Carter, did not make the same offer, even […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 18
January 21st, 2009
– Richie Frahm has not been signed since his performance with the Dallas Mavericks summer league team. I watched all of those Mavericks VSL games, and Frahm – a shooter – often chose not to shoot, which seemed wrong on a team clearly auditioning shooters. Other things that I learnt from these games: Reyshawn Terry’s a decent shooter, Shan Foster’s a very good one (the last update excluded), Keith McLeod remains deficient at all manner of shot-making, and Renaldas Seibutis is still having an identity crisis. And Rick Kamla’s side parting is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. – British legend Joel Freeland (a legend if only for the fact that he’s English) is in his third year with Gran Canaria, Spain. And he’s finally getting somewhere. Freeland averages 10.3 points and 4.2 rebounds in the Spanish league, numbers that rise to 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in EuroCup play. If Greg Oden continues to disappoint, then…well, Joel Freeland is already better than him. FACT. (Note: not a fact.) – Matt Freije started the season in Lebanon of all places (is it Lebanon, or The Lebanon?), before moving to China. For Fujian SBS XunXin, Freije averages 19.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, shooting 37% from three-point range. His high-scoring teammate is the seminal Chris Porter, who is into his fourth season with the team, with a short Philippines break in between. Porter averages 23.7 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest, shooting 41% from three-point range. But I think he’s had it cut. – Hiram Fuller was recently part of the Pau Orthez turnover, and left the team earlier this month. In his six games with the team, Fuller averaged 6.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 fouls. […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 17
January 21st, 2009
– Gerald Fitch was unsigned until very recently, as he joined the Turkish team Kepez BLD Antalya only last week. Antalya are currently second to last in the Turkish league, and Fitch arrives as the replacement for leading scorer and former Magic training camp invitee, Torell Martin, who retired to run a country pub in the southernmost corner of Wales. (OK, no he didn’t. But he did leave.) Fitch has not yet played a game for his new team, and I’ll be sure not to tell you when he does. – D’Or Fischer is with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel, not exactly a rare and special boast for any big man to be making, given the extremely high turnover of big men that Maccabi have had this year. Also currently with Maccabi is one of my favourite players of all time, Marcus Fizer, who has just recently returned from a year-long absence due to a knee injury. (I do not really know why I like Marcus Fizer so much, so please do not ask.) Fischer averages 9.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.0 blocks in Israeli league play, along with 12.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocks in EuroLeague play. Fizer has totalled 13 points and 5 rebounds in the three games of his comeback. – Gary Forbes was acquired by the Tulsa 66ers from the Sioux Falls Skyforce just a matter of hours ago. Tulsa traded Chris Ellis to get him, he of the recent update. For Sioux Falls, Forbes was the sixth man, and he averaged 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in his time there. – Alton Ford has also just left his D-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and has signed with a team in Zhejiang, China. Which Zhejiang […]
Phoenix Suns: Good enough to be good, but not good enough to be good enough
January 20th, 2009
I hated the appointment of Steve Kerr as the Phoenix Suns General Manager. Hated it. I loved Steve Kerr as a player even if I did miss his best years, but I didn’t like his writing much, and he ruined my entire NBA Live 2006 experience with his insistence that Kirk Hinrich was in some way like Steve Nash. (They’re both white and keep their dribble alive when circling the baseline. Identical!) Why would a man whose take on the NBA was limited to the games he was commentating on suddenly be qualified to run an NBA franchise, short as he seemed on experience, the CBA know-how, and the depth of knowledge base that was surely required for such a position? How much can you learn about the prognosis of thousands of potential NBA basketball players worldwide when sitting alongside Marv Albert? I hated the entire idea. Similarly, I hated the Shaquille O’Neal trade when it happened. The Phoenix Suns’ style of play under Mike D’Antoni wasn’t really getting anywhere, but was the answer really to trade for a player who commits your team to a life of halfcourt play, yet who isn’t effective enough any more to build an offence around? And why would a team that had recently gifted away Rajon Rondo and Rudy Fernandez for immediate financial savings now be so willing to take on the huge contract of a declining player, committing them for the foreseeable future to the luxury tax that they had been so desperately trying to avoid? It was all the eggs in one basket, and the basket wasn’t worth it. However, as I am wont to do, I have since backtracked on both opinions. Acquiring Shaq has not affected the Suns’ ability to acquire talent, as I feared it might. No longer […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 16
January 19th, 2009
– Semih Erden – recipient of the funniest NBA forum thread title that I’ve ever seen, “Semih Erden is finally in the NBA” – never left Turkey. In his fourth year with Fenerbache, Erden is averaging 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in Turkish league play, along with 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in EuroLeague play. And yes, I’m fully aware that that thread title isn’t actually very funny, if at all. It’s funnier when you’re overtired and have just eaten some very strong continental cheese. – Ebi Ere is signed in Australia. And perhaps he’ll never leave – he’s a legend there. Playing for the third place Melbourne Tigers, Ere (pronounced ‘Ear’, at least by Rick Kamla) averages 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists, which is one of the highest points per game averages that this list has seen so far. Ere’s teammates include former NBA centre Chris Anstey, and a man by the name of Stephen Hoare, whose mother must have had it tough. (Note: while looking up Ere’s averages, I was looking up the Australian league (the NBL) on Wikipedia, to see how it was that Ere had played only four games. Turns out that he had actually played 23. While I was there, though, I chose to look up the New Zealand Breakers, another NBL team, and try to figure out why there was a New Zealandolian team in the Australian league. It was then that I noticed that the Breakers’s former coach was called Frank Arsego. Best name ever.) – Evan Bruce Eschmeyer – whose nickname ought really be “Almighty”, given that name of his – gave up basketball many moons ago, in late 2004, due to chronic injury. Since then, he has founded an online recruiting service, gone back to Northwestern and […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 15
January 18th, 2009
– Bryant Dunston is in South Korea, averaging 17.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks for a team called Mobis Phoebus. Dunston doesn’t have any great chance of making the NBA, but after watching the entire Lakers summer league – in which an extremely backcourt-heavy roster started Dunston at centre, with Sharrod Ford at power forward – I grew to like him. I seemed to like his unathletic yet reasonably smooth game featuring plenty of lefty baby hooks and defensive positioning. It reminded me of Michael Sweetney. And I like Michael Sweetney. (In fairness to Dunston, at age 22 with reasonable skill, he still has a faint chance of sniffing the NBA at some point, even if it’s only a camp invite. But I don’t think signing in Korea is getting it done. And he should probably put those three-pointers to bed.) – Ronald “Doop” Dupree didn’t make the Cavaliers out of training camp, and went back to the D-League with the Tulsa 66ers. As is often the case when he’s in the D-League, Doop has beasted, averaging 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but he still can’t shoot consistently, shooting only 31% from three-point range and 69% from the free throw line. He’ll also be 28 on January 26th, so a happy birthday to him. – Ndudi Ebi is signed in Italy, and still hasn’t panned out. Ndudi is the third-leading scorer on an Italian team called Carife Ferrara, behind Harold Jamison (THE Harold Jamison! Throw-in to the Miles for McInnis swap Harold Jamison!) and Andre Collins (yes, THE Andre Collins! From Loyola! The very same!). Ebi is really the fourth leading scorer, if you also include Rick Apodaca (THE Rick Apodaca! Former Magic training camp invitee Rick Apodaca! Et cetera!), but Apodaca only played in […]
Your Mission, Since I Chose To Accept It
January 16th, 2009
Hello droogs. A while ago, I wrote this: [I]t’s time for a new rule – no more Chris Crawford updates on this website. Not unless there’s ever anything to actually report, like if he commits a murder or becomes King of Poland or something. (from “Where Are They Now, 2009: part 11”) My reason for writing this flippant disregard was simple and self-explanatory – there really is no new Chris Crawford news to report. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Not a sausage. Bugger all. However, a man named Steve took offence to my off-handed dismissal of what he believes to be “the last basketball Jesus”. (Note: this is not an exact quote, despite the quotation marks.) Steve vowed to track down Chris Crawford, and to find out what he is doing now. Steve hasn’t yet succeeded in this quest, despite sending at least two emails (two! Count ’em!), but he’s suckered me in to help. And now I’m going to sucker you in too. Let us find Chris Crawford. Since his final season in professional basketball – the 2003/04 NBA season with the Atlanta Hawks, in which Crawford played the best games of his career – Crawford has disappeared off of the map. He wasn’t even really on it much before then, either, as he had only appeared in 12 games combined in the previous two seasons due to injury. Indeed, injuries are what most people think of when reminded about Chris Crawford; the man played only 256 games in seven years due to a constant list of injuries, surely much to the chagrin of Hawks fans, who felt cheated out of a roster spot by Crawford’s long-term contract that he wasn’t able to deliver on. Yet to think only of Chris Crawford’s injuries does the man a disservice. Chris Crawford […]
