Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 27

- Marcus Haislip

An established and productive forward in the Euroleague these last couple of years - if kind of disliked by certain sections of the European audience who abhor athleticism when it comes at the expenses of pick and roll defense - Haislip left Unicaja Malaga this summer after two seasons to return to the NBA to play for the Spurs for the minimum salary. This represented about a 75% paycut for Haislip, yet he did it anyway, because American citizens like playing in America. It didn't work out for him, though; - in three months with the team, Haislip played all of 10 games and 44 minutes. Then in early January, Panathinaikos came in for him, looking for a short injury reinforcement. Haislip negotiated a buyout with San Antonio (which wasn't difficult; "you can forget what you owe me if you let me leave") and signed with Pana, for whom he is averaging 11.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in the Greek league.



- Mike Hall

Former Wizards forward Hall is with Armani Jeans Milano, a team based in Milano that are sponsored by Armani Jeans. He is averaging 8.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in SerieA, alongside 6.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in the Euroleague, shooting 29% from three point range between the two. He had a nice game winning dunk in a Euroleague game recently, but Youtube doesn't seem to carry it. Or if it does, it's in Italian.



- Yotam Halperin

Sonics/Thunder draft pick Halperin is a member of Olympiakos, averaging 7.4 points and 1.8 assists per game in the Greek league, alongside 7.0 points and 1.1 assists per game in the Euroleague. His minutes have been inconsistent, as have those of all Olympiakos players, but perhaps moreso than the others. Halperin didn't play in Greek league games to begin the season, as Greek league games allow for only 6 non-Greeks per team per game, and Olympiakos had 7. But Halperin soon played his way onto the team - or rather, Von Wafer played his way off it - and he's been in the Greek league game rotation ever since.

Olympiakos later released Wafer, dropping down to 6 non-Greeks again, but then they picked up Scoonie Penn, putting them back at 7 again. Since then, Heat draft pick Patrick Beverley has been the one to sit; he hasn't played a Greek league game since January 3rd. He's also only played 33 Euroleague minutes in 2010, despite him playing well in the few that he's had. Speaking of Patrick Beverley, here's Patrick Beverley making it rain.





- Adam Haluska

Former Hornets draft pick Adam Haluska barely played last year for Hapoel Jerusalem, averaging only 3.4ppg and playing 141 minutes all season. And this year, he hasn't played anywhere at all. In fact, he might have quit.



- Darvin Ham

Ham last played in the 2007/08 season in the D-League, and is now an assistant coach for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. His son is now a standout high school player.



- Brian Hamilton

Hamilton is noted - by me, at least - for having a very limited professional career. Despite having two training camp contracts with the Nets in the last two years, and winning them over greatly, Hamilton's professional basketball career has been very short and very limited. Nonetheless, he's found ready employment this year in the D-League with the Utah Flash, for whom he is averaging 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.



- Venson Hamilton

Rockets draft pick Venson Hamilton's 5 year stint with Real Madrid came to an end this summer with the start of the Ettore Messina era. He barely even played last year, so it wasn't an important loss to the team. Hamilton has not played elsewhere this year and is currently unsigned, although he's reported to be training with Rincon Axarquia, a team in Spain's LEB Gold that kind of serve as Unicaja Malaga's reserves.



- Vernon Hamilton

Former Clemson guard and Cavaliers camp signee Hamilton started the year in Switzerland, where he averaged 19.0 points and 2.9 assists for SAM Basket Massagno before being released in November due to injury. He later signed in Ukraine with MBC Mykolaiv and averaged a further 6.7 points per game before being released again. Between the two, he shot 60% from the foul line. That's progress.



- Zendon Hamilton

Perennial journeyman Zendon Hamilton is still going, although his best days are behind him now since he's turning 35 next month. He signed with Al Jalaa Aleppo in December, a team in the mighty basketball powerhouse of Syria, but no statistics are available. He got injured in January and may have been released.



- Ben Handlogten

Former Jazz big man retired in 2006 after a season with Barcelona. He now owns and runs BBA Properties, a construction firm based in Charlotte. I first tweeted that back on November 28th, and then it curiously appeared in the Deseret News two days later. Sneaky dawgs.



Finally.....

- Travis Hansen

Hansen left Dynamo Moscow in the summer when the team ran out of money and released all their foreigners. It didn't hurt him, though, as he quickly moved to Real Madrid. Hansen averages 7.3 points and 2.5 points per game in the ACB, alongside 4.7 points per game in the Euroleague, shooting a combined 40% from three point range.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 21

- 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 number 1 pick on both of the draft websites that I could be arsed to 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 7 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 tryout 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 curtain on any more NBA opportunities.

- Dan Grunfeld has had a weird yet productive month. Earlier this month he received Romanian citizenship, because his father Ernie was born there. This new found passportian wealth has allowed him to travel with much greater ease around the European leagues, and instantly he signed with C.B. Valladolid in the Spanish second division (the LEB Gold), shooting 1-4 in 6 minutes on his debut.

- Tom Gugliotta is out of the limelight, presumably dining out off of the successful internet start-up company search engine that shares his name. (This is a Google joke, by the way. Give it the laughter it deserves.)

- Marcus Haislip is getting better. Stumbling out of the NBA due to his unrelenting rawness a few years ago, Haislip is into his second season with Unicaja Malaga, a good Spanish team. Haislip averages a team high 15.8 points as an inside/outside scoring forward, along with 5.0 rebounds. Wait, did someone say MALAGA?!?! That's where I went on holiday! Sort of! That sounds like an excuse to see my holiday photos again!


Never gets old.


- Mike Hall plays for the middle of the road Italian team, Armani Jeans Milano, a team that are sponsored by a jeans company. See if you can guess which. Hall averages 10.9 points and 7.1 rebounds in the Italian league, while playing mostly at small forward (I think), but those numbers drop to only 7.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in the Euroleague. Hall has shot a combined 97 three pointers and only 40 free throws, so this would suggest that he's still working on those much needed perimeter skills.

- Yotam Halperin is signed with Olympiakos in Greece. On a very deep team, Halperin averages 7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the Greek league, alongside 8.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Euroleague. Halperin is a combined 44-63 from two point range (70%), 23-54 from three point range (43%), and 39-45 from the free throw line (87%). For the points per shot fans amongst us, that's 196 points on 117 shots, a startling 1.68 points per shot average. I like this guy already. Absofreakinglutely.

- Adam Haluska is signed with Hapoel Jerusalem, the Israeli league leaders but has played all of 1 game, scoring 5 points.

- Darvin Ham gave it one last shot last season, signing a training camp contract with the Mavericks. He failed to win a spot, so he upped sticks, went to the D-League, did OK, then retired and became an assistant coach for his final team, International Rescue, alongside former Timberwolves centre Dean Garrett. By the way, there were a lot of commas in that, the previous sentence. For that, and also for that previous sentence, and for this one, and for every time I've ever done this, I am, truly, sorry. You didn't come here to read a Virginia Woolf novel.

- Finally, an update on two players that we've already had, but whose circumstances have changed. Esteban Batista, recently waived by Maccabi TelA-viv, has gone back to South America, signing with Libertad Sunchales in Argentina after deciding that Russia was too cold for him. And journeyman point guard Dee Brown has signed in Maccabi to replace him, sort of, indirectly, maybe, not really. These transactions, and other fun and relevant ones, can be found on the worldwide transactions page.

Summer signings, round 18

- Adam Haluska signed with Hapoel Jerusalem. I'm putting this one first, because originally I had it last, and the jarringly obvious lack of a bad joke was not a good way to end the post. I have failed you.

- Miami waived Bobby Jones before his contract became guaranteed, thus leaving Jones free to roam the land and add another scalp to his "I can totally play for every NBA team before 2010" campaign. (A campaign which may only exist in my head.) I'd recommend him to Memphis, but unfortunately, he's already been there once. So....Oklahoma City, anyone?

- Some things happen really quietly in the NBA. So quietly, in fact, tha they aren't actually announced at all. In the last six weeks or so, the Bulls have signed two players without telling anyone: restricted free agent Demetris Nichols accepted his unguaranteed qualifying offer, obviously aware that it's for more than he will get elsewhere, and number 1 overall pick Derrick Rose signed his rookie contract back in early July. For some reason, there was no press conference on this - one can only assume that they held off deliberately in order to do the damn thing so that they can announce his signing at a later date in conjunction with the signings of, say, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. That way, they can do one of those "Meet The Next Generation" type of press conferences, and maybe even get Jonathan Frakes as a guest speaker. However, as Ben Gordon has decided to be a right wazzock about his contract situation (more on this later), that plan hasn't really worked out. Nevertheless, Rose has signed, so all you conspiracy theorists....disperse.

- Similarly, the Warriors have signed undrafted forward Dion Dowell for training camp, doing so very early, with no announcement made. It's not unprecedented for this to happen - Utah did it with Roger Powell once, for example - but it is kind of rare. So when an announcement about Golden State signing Dion Dowell hits the streets in the first week of October, don't be surprised to hear an I told you so. (In the unlikely event that it doesn't happen, this post will self-destruct, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.)

- Milwaukee signed Francisco Elson. Why? Don't know, really. Is Elson better than incumbent backup centre Dan Gadzuric? Yes, yes he is. Pretty much everyone is. But is it by a lot? Not exactly. So is it worth signing a slight upgrade when you're already stuck with paying Gadzuric $20 million over the next three years? (By the way, you may have noticed that sometimes I befoul the signing of good players to decent value contracts, and sometimes I applaud it. This is because I'm temperamental, partial to prejudice, and often wrong.)

- In the same day, Gordan Giricek was reported to have signed with two different teams, in a situation even more bizarre than that of serial bigamist, Jumaine Jones. Triumph Lyubertsy of Russia - the team who just spent lots of money on glamour model Nenad Krstic as a replacement for Uros Slokar - were reported to have signed Giricek for one of those elusive 1+1 deals, but agent Marc Fleischer says that Giricek signed with Fenerbache of Turkey. And you'd think that he'd know, really. So we'll pencil him in for Turkey. (You know the best part about all of this? I'm Uros Slokar's Facebook friend. True story. The guy writes on his own wall a lot, but his English is as sound as Ealing North MP Stephen Pound. I like him.)

- Boston either just have signed or soon will sign their first round draft pick, J.R. Giddens. For all first round draft pick fans at home, this now leaves only two from this year's draft unsigned - George Hill of the San Antonio Spurs (who apparently will signed and will feature heavily), and Serge Ibaka of Oklahoma City (who, as intrepidly reported back in the boom boom selection days, has signed elsewhere already). You know who has been signed? Derrick Rose. Just thought I'd remind you.

- Jamar Smith has signed for Fastweb Casale Monferrato in Italy. Note: this is not Illinois's disreputable Jamar Smith, the one who recently got kicked off of the team for some naughtiness. Instead, this is Maryland's Jamar Smith, the one hurtling towards thirty, and the former San Antonio Spurs training camp fodder. In many ways, this is the more famous of the Jamar Smithii. (Plural.)

- Jannero Pargo signed with Dynamo Moscow, a team which isn't actually in Moscow, but which can be found in a small farmer's market outside Pontefract, Wales. (Readers note: I am talking out of my arse.) The signing of Pargo isn't exactly a heartbreaker, but it does weaken the already piss poor market even further. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. For every reasonably decent point guard signed, Kevin Ollie gets one step closer to a stay of execution, which can't be bad. Additionally, if any teams out there are upset at losing out of signing Pargo and are looking for a Pargo-like replacement, may I suggest Salim Stoudamire?

- Louis Amundson signed with the Phoenix Suns, naturally for the minimum. So clearly the Warriors looked elsewhere (namely, Dion Dowell). The Suns are now a Goran Dragic away from completing their roster, and we'll have more on that sneaky little bastard later.

- Marcus Douthit has signed with Antalya Buyuksehir Belediye. The last time I wrote something about Marcus Douthit, I asked the world if any of you knew what happened to Douthit's unique charges of embezzlement. Reader and one-time blog commenter Chris, whoever that is (God bless you sir) provided a quasi-update, but not an absolute resolution to this important question. And so, I'll ask again: does anyone know of what became of Marcus Douthit's embezzlement charges?

- Paul Davis returned to the L.A. Clippers to battle Steve Novak for the important role of gimpy looking 15th man whose very presence keeps the fans interested. Unhelpfully and unoriginally, I'm going to make the same observation that everyone else has made: boy, do they have a lot of Davii! (Plural.) Journeyman forward Dangerous Josh Davis can claim the one the Clippers as one of the few teams that he hasn't played for yet, not even in summer league (I think), and he's also currently unsigned. This union makes too much sense not to happen.

- Maintenant, et finalément, I can't speak French. Shawn Kemp did actually sign for Bread Mountain in Italy, as mentioned once before. It really happened. It really did. Expect this to be tracked closely.

Where Are They Now? Part 16

Adam Haluska, since being waived by Houston, is playing for the Iowa Energy in the D-League, and playing bloody well.

Darvin Ham still won't give up the hope of getting back to the NBA, and his current World Tour Of Everywhere sees him playing for the Austin Toros of the D-League.

Zendon Hamilton, who has never ever EVER gotten a fair shot in the NBA despite often outperforming those who stand directly in his way, is playing for Enisey Krasnoyarsk in Mother Russia.

Venson Hamilton is playing in his third season for Real Madrid, one of Europe's best teams.

Ben Handlogten was cut by Barcelona due to injury back in early 2006, before he even played a game with the team. Having not played in the two years since, I'd wager that he has retired due to injury.

Travis Hansen is playing for Dynamo Moscow in Europe, as he has been for a while. He also recently obtaiend a Russian passport. I watched Hansen play this week, and it's safe to say that he's a lot better than he used to be.

Penny Hardaway is unofficially done, although he still practices with the University of Memphis team.

Lorinza Harrington is playing for Lokomotiv Rostov in Russia.

Adam Harrington is playing for the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League.

Lucious Harris is 37 and long since out of the game, but I can't find what it is that he does now.

Donnell Harvey is playing for the Banvit in Turkey, alongside an extremely random ex-NBA player: Joe Crispin. Also there is ex-Sonic Kenny Adeleke, but who cares about him.

30 teams in 88 or so days: New Orleans

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Morris Peterson (4 years, $22.4 million)
Melvin Ely (two year minimum)
David Wesley (acquired from Cleveland, to be waived)
Ryan Bowen (one year minimum)
Trey Johnson (two year minimum)



Players acquired via draft:

First round: Julian Wright (13th overall)
Second round: Adam Haluska (43rd overall)



Players retained:

Jannero Pargo (re-signed, two years, $3,806,400)



Players departed:

Brandon Bass (signed with Dallas)
Devin Brown (signed with Cleveland)
Marc Jackson (signed in Greece)
Linton Johnson (signed in Spain)
Desmond Mason (signed with Milwaukee)
Cedric Simmons (traded to Cleveland)



Bobbins:

It's hard to see quite what New Orleans planned to do going into this offseason. If their intention was to surround Chris Paul with shooters, as it probably was and definitely should have been, then it's a job well done. In retaining Jannero Pargo while bringing in Morris Peterson and Adam Haluska to replace Devin Brown and Desmond Mason, the Hornets outside shooting takes another step forward. And when combined with the returning Rasual Butler and Bobby Jackson, as well as the return from injury of Peja Stojakovic, the Hornets outside shooting will be a strength this upcoming season. The backcourt depth in general is pretty strong.

The frontcourt depth, however, is another matter.

New Orleans seems content to roll with only four recognised big men, two of whom are Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely. Ely's pretty bad despite one season of decency (and a contract season at that. How coincidental), whereas Armstrong is coming off of an incredibly raw rookie year. This seems to me as though it should be more of a pressing concern to Hornets management, given that the two players they're backing up (Tyson Chandler and David West) haven't exactly been the poster boys for healthy living at any point in their NBA careers.

Should injuries affect their frontcourt (and it will, because they're the Hornets), New Orleans is left with the salivating prospect of having to play one of their six small forwards in a small ball lineup. This might not be too bad if Julian Wright proves himself able to defend most power forwards in this league, but if he can't, Stojakovic may wind up having to do it. Which would be.....um....carnage.

Why you would bring in Morris Peterson for such an amount of money when you already had Rasual Butler, all the while letting Devin Brown walk for £1.2 million and letting Linton Johnson fall out of the NBA, seems a bit dumbfouding. Peterson is better than all of those players, but it seems silly to spend your mid level exception on a medium upgrade from Peterson to Butler of what is basically the same player. Especially when you could clearly use a big man that doesn't suck, just drafted a small forward, and also have the hugely overpaid former All Star Peja Stojakovic for the role.

And why they then effectively sell their 5th big man who they drafted not 18 months before (Cedric Simmons), trading him for an unguaranteed contract and nothing else, was flat out weird. There must be something seriously wrong with Cedric. Or Jeff Bower.

Nonetheless, despite my compulsory criticism, the Hornets did not lose a lot in these upgrades. Players such as Marc Jackson, Johnson and Brown made for some nice depth, but they weren't rotation players in an ideal world anyway. And the Hornets rotation as it stands is quite good. It's improved upon where it was, and this team would have been a playoff team last year with some better health.

But there's still flaws here. The injuries are going to happen again, even if it's to a lesser degree. You can't assemble and injury prone roster and then complain that injuries affect your season. You should know that in advance. The Hornets had it particularly rough last year with only Jannero Pargo playing more than 75 games, and he was supposed to be a third stringer. But numerous injuries is a situation that is almost certainly going to happen again. That's what happens when you spend big money on Bobby Jackson, Stojakovic and David West.

Also, there's quite a bit of irony to be found in wanting to assemble a roster of shooters and then signing Ryan Bowen. But never mind.



Next year:

So much - perhaps too much - of the season relies on the starting frontcourt trio of Stojakovic, West and Chandler. While Chris Paul is the star player around whom the team is rightly built around, he needs plenty of help to do so. Assembling a team of shooters around Paul helps, and the starting frontcourt pairing of Chandler and West is young and somewhat dynamic. But those two are also the only plus rebounders on the team, and only Chandler and Armstrong provide much interior defense. To rely on such fragile players and minimal depth is open to question, and so that's what I'm doing.

Having spent huge amounts of money on this trio last year, the Hornets didn't get too great of a return. Chandler enjoyed a wonderful bounceback season, but West and Stojakovic played only 65 games combined, leaving the Hornets short of offense for much of the season. That won't cut it if the Hornets are to crack .500 and make the playoffs, something which they have the talent to do.

Chandler, especially, needs to have an epic (or at least comparable) season. His career to date has gone:

1st year - Poor
2nd year - Decent
3rd year - Poor (injury permitting)
4th year - Really good
5th year - Utter shite
6th year - Really good

Last year he emerged as a an elite rebounder, and rediscovered some of his lost offensive skill. His offensive skill always peaked at mediocre, based largely around the unattractive but effective flail towards the rim, and an extremely mediocre jump/free throw shot. After taking the 2005 offseason off, though, Chandler lost these skills, and his subsequent confidence in his abilities. They look to be on the way back, which bodes well for the Hornets, but he needs to end this cycle for the Hornets to succeed this year.

And they can do that. They're not in the West's elite, and they're not all that young any more (West is now 27, and their wing players are all veterans). Nonetheless, it's a playoff calibre team, which isn't finished, but one which has an identity and is fairly well rounded.

They just need to stay somewhat healthy.