Summer league round-up: Dallas Mavericks

When I said I would have these lists done in time, I meant by January 10th, the start of the Vegas Summer League. I forgot that the Orlando Summer Pro League comes first. Whoops. Oh well. If we're late, we're late.

We're also going back in the alphabet, because Dallas have finally announced their roster. Still nothing from Cleveland yet, though.

View the Mavericks summer league roster.

- Alfred Aboya: Typically, we start with the one guy that I've never heard of before. 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. But I'm willing to bet you already that he's better than Lorenzo Mata-Real.

- 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. Beaubois averaged 10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the French league last season, which isn't particularly impressive from a 6'2 guard in a weak standard of competition. Yet I read somewhere that they're bringing him over immediately anyway. Albuquerque awaits.

- Andre Brown: Andre Brown, if you're reading this, I don't mean to offend here. But I'm not sure why you keep getting NBA contracts. It's great for you that you do, so be very proud of that, but the resumé isn't strong. You've shown some decent offensive talent in the minor leagues - that is, if we're willing to excuse your Shaq-like foul shooting - yet you've never done anything at the NBA level. Spot minutes in 75 games over three years might not be the biggest sample size, but you've never shown yourself to be an offensive player at the NBA level, and survive only in the big leagues as a rebounder, something at which you're good yet average. You're now 28, have not improved any as a shooter or a shotblocker, and don't look like a likely candidate to suddenly develop NBA talent from somewhere. But, you know, congratulations on yet another summer league. Dallas could use a power forward, so you've chosen well.

(Don't know why I wrote that like that.)

For the record, Brown split last season between the Austin Toros of the D-League (where he averaged 14,9 points and 9.5 rebounds), Banvit Kulubu in Turkey (where he averaged 12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds) and the Bobcats (where he totalled 4 points and 12 rebounds in 4 games).

- Nick Calathes: Calathes is a straight baller, who has already signed with Panathinaikos for next season. He did that even before he was drafted, facilitated in that quest by having a Greek passport. And when we get to the Clippers entry, I'll tell you why this news confuses me. Calathes' NBA prospects are hindered by his athletic disadvantages, but Europe will love him. And if he develops that outside stroke some, we'll probably see him back here one day.

- Shan Foster: Shan Foster (pronounced Shane) is an out and out shooter who can pretty much only shoot. That's it, really. There's nothing wrong with that, though, because you can never have too many shooters, and Foster's a good one. Donnie Nelson states that Foster has improved his range out to real three point range, which will help him, but what won't help him is his kind of mediocre season last year. Foster averaged 10.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 30mpg for Eldo Caserta in Italy's SerieA, shooting only 36% from three point range and scoring a total of 311 points on 270 shots. That's not very good, really.

- Mickael Gelabale: Gelabale spent two years with the Sonics, but just when he'd started to make some progress in his second year, he screwed up his knee. He was out of the game for about a year, and only returned in late March, when he played in 6 games down the stretch for the L.A. D-Fenders in the D-League, averaging 16.0 points and 4.3 rebounds. If his athleticism isn't affected by the knee injury, then he'll stay on the NBA radar for a while, but it would take a truly fine summer league showing to get him there this year.

- Luke Jackson: Try as he might, Luke Jackson has still never stuck around in the NBA for more than about eight minutes at a time. This is the one, Luke. This time. Jackson spent last season in the D-League with the Idaho Stampede, averaging 17.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game, shooting 44% from three point range and 85% from the line. So not only did he shoot better than Shan Foster, but he demonstrated a more efficient and all-around offensive game. Work hard on that D, Shan.

- Curtis Jerrells: As with Kevin Rogers before him, I saw a crap load of Jerrells last year, aaaaaand.....he's all right. His shot is his strength, but it's also not strong enough to get him into the NBA on its own. His floor game is solid if unspectacular, but his half court offense is mediocre, he's a shoot-first player, and he hasn't the consistent enough range to make you touch yourself. Put 5 to 10% on that three point percentage, C.J, and we'll revisit this.

- Bryson McKenzie: McKenzie averaged 2.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in the D-League last year. Those numbers, they.....they suck. And yet they're about as much as the turns-26-next-week McKenzie has ever achieved in his three year professional career. But here's a 22 minute highlight mix anyway.

EDIT: Apparently this entry wasn't favourable enough. An e-mail I received:

To Whom It May Concern:

This is A Man Whose Name I Edited Out, the agent for Bryson McKenzie. Before you start posting stuff, please do more homework on players. Bryson did averaging 2.9 pts and 4.6 rebounds last year in the D-league, but he was only there for a month and a half and came towards the end of the season. Before that he was playing 1st Division internationally and in 2008 averaged 17 ppg, 13 rpg, and 3 bpg game. Then after that he left the NBA D-League and went on to play in the International Basketball League in the spring of 2009 where he averaged 17.5 ppg, 14.5 rpg, and 3.9 bpg. See Link:
http://www.vancouvervolcanoes.com/profile.php?playerid=61.

On May 8, 2009 he had a game where he had 26 points, 29 rebounds, and 9 blocks and . He led the league in rebounds and block shots and led his team in scoring. He was also with the Lakers in the 2007 NBA Summer League as well. If you can change your comments about my client, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

So, there you go. Now you know more about Bryson McKenzie than I could ever teach you. Thank you, Mr Agent Sir, for filling the gaps in this Bryson McKenzie synopsis. I've got several thousand other players to cover if you want to help me with those too.

(You don't? Oh.)

- Aaron Miles: Miles was on the Mavericks summer league season last year, too, where he did a decent job of not being Keith McLeod. (And yet McLeod was the one who got the training camp contract. Ho-hum.) Miles spent last season in Greece, where he averaged 11.3 points and 3.5 assists for Panionios, but he also did the usual Aaron Miles thing and shot only 10-51 from three point range. And that persistent flaw continues to be the reason why this 26 year old former Warriors guard can't get back into the league.

- Ahmad Nivins: I like Nivins. I've told you that before, but there it is again. And if the Mavericks find a way to keep both him and another favourite of mine, James Singleton, as the backup forwards, then I'll be a happy bunny. But that might involve Donnie Nelson and Devean George being separated from one another. And I'm not sure either of them wants that. Maybe we should force it to happen. Tonya Harding one of them if necessary. (Note: don't really do that. I don't want an "incitement to riot" charge on my work visa application.)

- Trent Strickland: Strickland is another D-League veteran coming off of a pretty solid year. Strickland averaged 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds in roughly 30 minutes per game for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Those are especially good rebounding numbers from a 6'5 swingman. Unfortunately, T-Strick has always lacked a consistent jumpshot, and still does, shooting only 31% from three point range last season in over 100 tries. If he had one of them, he'd probably have had a modicum of NBA experience by now. But he hasn't.


EDIT: Quite a long time after releasing their roster, the Mavericks then released it again, with seven extra players on it. And here they are.

- Henry Dugat: Dugat is presumably only here because of Jerrells, his Baylor team mate. Dugat teamed with Jerrells and the immortal Tweety Carter to form a three guard midget backcourt, and between them they took a lot of threes. Dugat took the least of the three, but was a very efficient shooter from out there through his first three years. Unfortunately, his shot also vacated him, and hie shot 30% from three point range in his senior season (down from 40% his sophomore year), and 41% overall (down from 47%). As a 6'0 shoot first guard (and a shoot second guard), Fugat would have to have an exceptional jumpshot, exceptional speed, or an exceptional ability to get to the rim to be faintly NBA calibre. But he doesn't have any of them.

- Herbert Hill: Hill spent the whole 2007-08 season on the Sixers roster after being drafted by them late in the 2007 draft, but he didn't play any games due to a knee surgery. He was allowed to walk unchallenged, and had a tryout in August for Le Mans in France. However, his knee still hadn't recovered, and he wasn't signed. It was six whole months before he reappeared, when he was acquired by the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League, averaging an unimpressive 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 11 games. He later moved to the Tulsa 66ers, where things went a bit better, with averages of 17.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.4 blocks in 5 games. Impressively, in those five games he managed to hit 43 field goals, but only two free throws.

- Quinton Hosley: Hosley started last season with Real Madrid, and averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in the Euroleague. But he left the team in February, and I seem to remember reading somewhere that he wasn't asked to leave in a particularly polite manner. If you know what I mean. He then finished up the season in Turkey, playing 14 games for Galatasaray and averaging 15.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. What he would bring to the Mavericks, though, I'm not sure. Presumably he thinks he can earn enough minutes on this 18 man roster to get himself a little showcase in front of the baying crowd of dozens, and land himself another well paid European gig somehow. Why he wouldn't find a smaller roster, though, I'm also not sure.

- Nathan Jawai: Jawai was acquired via trade from Toronto the day before summer league started. He played only 19 minutes with the Raptors in his rookie season, and spent quite a lot of time in the D-League. But he wasn't very good down there, averaging a comparatively mediocre 11.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in 14 games. He does have a guaranteed contract for next year, however, so his chances of making the roster for next year have to be pretty good, Even if it comes at the expense of the superior Ryan Hollins.

- K.C. Rivers: I only saw Rivers once, and I was more mesmerised by Trevor Booker at the time, but I remember Rivers as being a spot-up shooter and decent rebounder, who didn't really have NBA size or the speed to compensate for that. Googling him, that looks to be the case. The league always needs shooters, though, so if he becomes an inescapably good shooter, he'll stay on the map.

- Damjan Rudez: If Kirk Hinrich and Michael Phelps had a dirty illicit love child, it would look like Damjan Rudez. Rudez is a slightly skinny Croatian international forward who plays for Olimpia Ljubliana in Slovenia, and who averaged 5.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in the Euroleague last year. He went undrafted in the 2008 draft, perhaps due to concerns about the versatility of his game. As the following video suggests, he's largely a jumpshooter.



- Moussa Seck: When he was 19 years old, Moussa Seck was a streetside cosmetics vendor in his native Senegal who had never played basketball before. He was spotted on the street by a scout, who may have picked up on the subtle fact that Seck is 7'4 tall. He's now 22, which means he's far from a polished and experienced basketball product. But he's still 7'4, so people are still interested in him. Seck spent last year with Poderosa Supernova Montegranaro, the feeder team of Serie A team Premiata Montegranaro. They play in a division so far below the big league team that I can't tell you a single other fact about them. To play in a lower standard of basketball and still be Googleable is damn near impossible, unless you're Bryson McKenzie's agent. But, at the very least, it's the start of a CV.

Seck is also 220lbs, which is only slightly more than what I weigh. Except I'm 6'3 and he's 7'4. I don't know what this says about either of us.

Yuta Tabuse was supposed to be on this team. But he didn't partake in the free agent minicamp that preceded it due to injury. I guess they figured they had better point guard options.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 35

For what it's worth, a "team of admins" are now looking into the problems with this website's server, which has now mutated from one problem into two. It's not fun for any of you, but least of all for me. But at least we're trying. I'll just keep putting stuff up here anyway, both on this blog and site-wide. If and when you're lucky enough to be able to see it, it's all yours. Be patient, resilient and brave. We'll get through this together, even if some lesser folk die along the way.

Why this had to happen at the time of the trade deadline, I don't know. But it could be worse. This website didn't exist during the 2007 moratorium. Maybe I should put ads up and get a dedicated server. Yeah, that might be wise.

- Rich Melzer is currently unsigned, and played only three games last season for the German side Quackenbrueck, whose name also doubles as a duck's favourite breakfast. Having just turned 29, this doesn't seem like a particularly healthy direction for Melzer's career to be going towards. Then again, he used to play in Australia, so this might be better.

- Pops Mensah-Bonsu is a legend. There are two reasons why I think this. The first is because he's English. The second is because he's a legend. Pops started the year with DKV Joventut Badalona in Spain, playing five Spanish league games and totalling 14/9 in his one Euroleague game, before injuring himself (I think it was his shoulder) in late October. DKV released him (I think it was by mutual consent - it's all written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look for it), and Pops spent the next three months on the sidelines. However, in late January he returned, and was acquired by the Austin Toros of the D-League as just one more in their long line of decent big men this season. In the 6 games that Pops has played for Austin, he has absolutely beasted in the way that only legends can, averaging a fully stuffed statline of 25.3 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, 4.7 fpg, 2.8 spg and 1.3 bpg, and shooting 61% from the field. This man can, will and should be in the NBA. By the way, with him, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Joel Freeland and potentially Kelenna Azubuike (whose initial application for a British passport was turned down, even though he was born in London, due to the immigration status of his parents at the time), British basketball finally has something that it has never previously had; genuine hope. That's a starting five that could beat the Kings right now, and it's all ours (sort of). In a period of world basketball that sees old mainstays like China and Lithuania getting up there in age with no great influx of youth coming through, Britain has a chance to make an impact on the world basketball scene for the first time since.....well, ever. We've been so far behind for so long that you might not even notice it happening, but in the not too distant future, this could be a team that plays in the important competitions for a change. And believe me, this would be an achievement. Even losing at a high level would be solace of sorts. Maybe one day, we'll develop a league worth televising.

- Ron Mercer is also a legend, albeit in a different way and to a far lesser degree. Since his retirement back in late 2006, Mercer's sole foray into the headlines was back in 2007, when he was cited for misdemeanour assault after punching a bouncer in the face at a strip club. It is not known what else he does with his time.

- Scott Merritt is playing for InterCollege Etha Engomis in Cyprus. He averages 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 fouls. Haven't a gag for this.

- Aaron Miles is signed with Panionios in Greece. I had a Panionios game to watch the other day, but my bastard Sky+ (it's like Tivo) recorded over it. Oh well. Miles is averaging 11.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the Greek league, with 13% three point shooting, alongside 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 25% 3FG in the Euroleague.

- Oliver Miller's last basketball gig was as the player/coach of the Arkansas RiverCatz (the Z makes it appeal to children!) in the ABA back in 2006/07. I don't know how it went, nor what he does now. But he does (or did) have a clothing label called "Da O Zone". However, a gig Google of that reveals only this:


Scary stuff.

- Reggie Miller is now one of my least favourite announcers around. No offence.

- Paul Miller now comes off the bench in Poland. For Anwil Wloclawek, Miller averages 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. One of my favourite memories from this past summer league was a clip of Quentin Richardson walking up to Miller with a camera on him, and repeatedly (and playfully) punching him, while Miller stood still and looked a bit bemused by it all. If you saw this too, you'd understand.

- Ricky Minard is in his second season with Premiata Montegranaro in Italy, where he seems to constantly go by the name Minardi for some reason. (I guess it's deliberate and not just constant typos. By the way, best Formula 1 team of all time other than Forti.) Minard averages 17.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists, making him one of the leading scorers in Serie A. And that's a pretty impressive boast.

- Albert "Miracles" Miralles is into his fourth season with Pamesa Valencia, and might be a lifer. Miralles averages 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 fouls in the Eurocup, and 5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 fouls on the season in the Spanish league. To read a recent crudely translated interview of his, click this. Notice how it doesn't mention the NBA anywhere.

- Dwayne Mitchell is in the D-League with the D-Fenders, who got allocated him after he was cut from the Lakers training camp. This is the benefit of signing lots of long shots to your training camp roster. The downside is when you get a Jason Richards or Mike Wilks-like situation, where the player gets injured in camp and you have to pay them for the full season. That kind of sucks a bit. Mitchell averages 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists, but is shooting worse than ever from outside, with only a 19% three point success rate. That also kind of sucks a bit.

- Finally, Jerome Moiso was Pops Mensah-Bonsu's replacement at Joventut. How coincidental! Moiso averages 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in the Spanish league, while shooting 71% from the field.

Summer signings, round 20

News! Soon. Possibly.

Before that, here's a thing about stuff.

(Do you think my heart's gone out of these lists?)


- P.J. Tucker is to sign with BC Donetsk in the Ukraine. And, speaking of P.J. Tucker, here's what Bonzi Wells is up to: nothing. It's strange. Bonzi may have carved himself out a reputation in this league as a bit of a moanarse, but he can play, and he's only 31. He averaged 9.1 points and 4.5 rebounds last year as a key reserve on two good teams. He didn't act up, either, and hasn't for a while. And yet someone won't sign him? Weird. Either he's stupidly pricing himself out of the market, or there even more stupidly isn't one.

- Aaron Miles is very close to signing with Panionios in Greece.

- The Boston Celtics signed both Darius Miles and Bill Walker. Can't say that I'm particularly overwhelmed by either signing, although everyone who tells me about Bill Walker tells me that Bill Walker was an absolute steal for the Celtics. (Note: roughly 80% of the people who talk to me about Bill Walker are Celtics fans.) As for Miles, signing him represents nought but a low risk, low return move. He was a 14 point scorer for a short time, but...come on now. By all accounts - particularly by the account of the guy who considered him to be medically retired - that knee has got bad news written all over it. How much can he contribute, exactly? I expect nothing and wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised about that. (By the way, did you notice how I just left that previous Aaron Miles entry out there to hang, without so much as a single stupid comment or pun on his name? It was deliberate. I'm trying to grow up.)

- Conflicting reports surround the highly interesting whereabouts of former Bull, Dalibor Bagaric. Dalibor - who is great, by the way - is reportedly close to re-signing with Fortitudo Bologna, where he can form the slowest centre duet in history with the recently signed Earl Barron. However, the Croatian press report that Bagaric is close to signing with the Atlanta Hawks. Should that happen, I will be a happy bunny indeed. If Bagaric signs with the Hawks, expect this site to take a very pro-Hawks direction. And, if they waive him, we'll start a bloody riot.

(NB: Bagaric's profile on this website mentions how Dali had 3 flagrant fouls in only 5 summer league games back in 2002, but then provides inaccurate proof of such a claim. (Also, it was 6 games.) So here it the proof in question - unos, two, trois. That never gets old. Additionally, Dali's profile asks for Preston Shumpert updates, and now I'll answer my own query: Shumpert signed today for Efes Pilsen in Turkey. This site is a goldmine, I tell you.)

- Devin Brown re-signed with the Hornets, the team with whom he resurrected his career back in 2007. Despite my earlier criticisms of the composition of the Hornets bench, I will never besmirch any team that gives Devin Brown work, so this is a purely stupdenous move by them, even if it doesn't solve the problem that I (mis)identified in that earlier post. That problem could still be somewhat resolved by Salim Stoudamire, you know. And Salim still needs a job for next year. (Aww man. If the Hornets sign Stoudamire to go with Brown, that'd be great. And I'll feel partly responsible. Never say die, Salim. We'll get you some work yet.)

- Goran Dragic signed with the Suns on a four year contract, ending the lifelong bloody saga often referred to as "The Saga Of Whether Goran Dragic Is Going To Sign With The Phoenix Suns Or Not Saga". That saga had many ups and downs and twists and turns and traps and pitfalls and shit, and it caught more than one educated basketball writer out during its run. It also caught me out. But, as ever, I don't invent the news. I just regurgitate it without giving any links due to systematic laziness. I accept equal measures of both credit and scorn for this.

- Captain Larry Turner has signed with Reales de La Vega in the Dominican Republic, and he has also supposedly picked up Dominican citizenship. Barring something like murder, with L-Turn as either the protagonist or the victim, I can't foresee a single scenario in which I ever report Captain Larry Turner news ever again. Enjoy what you've got.

- Tottenham Hotspur re-signed Michael Finley, in a move which makes more sense for the team than the player. Finley is probably going to find that minutes are harder to come by with the acquisition of Roger Mason. But that's up to him.

- Journeyman guard Luis Flores keeps on journeying, signing for Hapoel Holon in Israel. P.J. Tucker played there last year, but the opener to this post - in which Tucker's movements are tracked with spooky inaccuracy - lets us know that the two won't be about to form a beautiful Jordan/Pippen type partnership, nor even a Guillermo Diaz/Josh Powell type of on-court basketball partnership. They won't be forming any kind of partnership at all, in fact, because Tucker's long gone. Shame. That said, I'm still holding out hope that the two form a duo, as a renegade pair of crime fighting fugitives, tough and uncompromising, taking the law into their own hands, stopping at nothing to bring scumbags to justice, while travelling the globe on the lam, avoiding the long arm of the law. This would be good. (It's a new sitcom that I'm writing. The fact that I haven't thought it through whatsoever arguably makes it better.)

- Former Kings training campette Ricky Shields signed with Krka in the Adriatic League, which is a team that I had never previously heard of. Amusingly, this press release chooses to call Shields by his full name, in a trend which I sorely hope catches on, particularly when middle names such as Essington are on show. A particular favourite of mine is Qatar hero, Jabari Montsho Smith. Readers note: I'm about to bleed this joke dry.

- Earl Smith III (see! Works every time!) re-signed with the Denver Nuggets, as well you know......

....and I can't think of a joke to end on. Normally in this situation, I resort to a bit of Conway, in a concept directly and correctly stolen from Family Guy. I don't think it's going over well, though, so we'll put that to bed for now, and end this post here, Twittyless.


(By the way, in answer to my original question.....it hasn't died. Not at all. It's just that the narrative devices are drying up because I'm not a very good writer.)

Where Are They Now? Part 26

Aaron Miles plays for Cajasol Sevilla in Spain, where he averages 9.3 points and 3.6 assists a game.

Oliver Miller played in the ABA briefly last year, for a team called the Arkansas RiverCatz (the Z makes it appeal to kids!), but hasn't played anywhere this year. And at age 38, he probably won't do it again, either.

Reggie Miller is these days a piss poor announcer, who contemplated whether to sign with the Boston Celtics this summer, before seemingly deciding not to disgrace his legacy by doing so. And why would he, when he could disgrace himself from the sidelines instead.

Paul Miller is playing for Polonia in Poland, averaging 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds, all the while playing alongside a guy so fantastic that when we get to the letter R, he'll get his own dissertation.

Ricky Minard averages 14.1 points and 3.1 rebounds, alongside another who-the-hell, Kiwame Garris.

Albert Miralles remains in Spain, doing his Edwin Starr impressions for Pamesa Valencia. Miralles averages 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds.

Jerome Moiso just won the ULEB cup with Barcelona, putting up a record 4 blocked shots in the final. (4 blocks is the record? Weird.)

Sergei Monia plays for Dynamo Moscow in London (just checking), alongside the long list of players mentioned in the Yaroslav Korolev entry. Monia (or Monya) averages 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Patch Morlende barely plays for Gravelines-Dunkerque in France, and simply has not panned out.

Terence Morris has wound up with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel, whch is not bad going for a player of his calibre. Even better, Morris averages 10.6 points and 7.8 rebounds, which wasn't nearly as shit as I was expecting. So well done him.

Toree Morris is playing in the Portuguese league, which isn't a common occurence. Morris averages 6.4 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Gabe Muoneke spent most of the year with Tau Ceramica in Spain, but after learning that they wouldn't extend his contract, he left last month. Muoneke averaged only 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds. Also on the Tau roster are ex-NBA'ers Igor Rakocevic and Pete Mickeal, both of whom look far better there than here. (And by "here", I mean "the NBA". Not "England".)