Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 25

Due to an excessive amount of recent studies, this list has fallen a touch behind schedule. Therefore, the aim for a bit is to do two a day. If you hate them, this will probably suck for you.

- Sergiy Gladyr

After being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks this summer, Gladyr left the Ukraine for the first time and moved to the ACB to play with Suzuki Manresa (formerly known as Ricoh Manresa). Manresa have an 11-13 record on the season, yet they're comfortably in the middle of the table, currently placing 10th out of 18 ACB teams. Gladyr is third on the team in scoring with a 9.9ppg average, alongside 2.1 rebounds, 3.6 fouls and no other significant statistics per game. For a shooter, though, he's not shooting too well, shooting only 32% from three point range. And given that he has attempted 135 three pointers compared to only 35 two points, that's not ideal. It is not an ideal first season in Spain for Gladyr; that said, for a 20 year old in the ACB, it's pretty good. Young players don't normally play much there.



- Dion Glover

Glover played briefly on the 2004-2005 Spurs team that won the NBA Championship, but found himself having to go to summer league that year in order to get more employment. After averaging 19/5/5 for the Rockets team, Glover got a contract from Houston and made the team, but was waived in December of that year without playing a game. He never played in the NBA again.

Glover split the 2006-07 season between Lebanon and the D-League, and later played for a couple of Dominican Republic teams. He last played in March 2008 with a Venezuelan team called Gaiteros de Zulia, for whom he totalled 8 points in his only appearance. As for what he's done since then, here's Dion telling you himself.



Also note the accuracy of his prediction there. Well, half of it.



- Andreas Glyniadakis

Ex-Pistons draft pick Glyniadakis is Olympiakos' 15th and cheapest man. Olympiakos bought him from Marousi in the summer, along with former Minnesota pick Loukas Mavrokefalidis, in order to fill their quota of Greeks, and the two now spend a lot of time on the bench together, waiting for Olympiakos to build up a lead so big that they can take out Giannis Bourousis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Nikola Vujcic and Linas Kleiza. Glyniadakis has played 103 minutes all season, totalling 33 points, 22 rebounds and 28 fouls. This means he must have made contact with an opposing player at least 28 times. I'm not sure I believe that.



- Anthony Goldwire

NBA journeyman Anthony Goldwire made an unexpected appearance in the Spanish fourth division last season at the age of 37, playing for the remnants of Girona, a former ACB team who imploded due to bankruptcy a couple of years ago. Goldwire averaged 10.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists at that incredibly low standard of basketball, and has since called it quits. He now assists Lifetime Fitness in establishing their basketball league program. Goldwire was also on hand to help manage the Bakersfield Jam's open tryout back in March, which seems odd in that he appears to hold no formal position with the team.

This seems like a good moment to post a picture of Anthony Goldwire modelling an ill-fitting coat.





- Joao Gomes

Gomes is an athletic Portuguese forward who was an NBA draft candidate back in 2007. He is playing with Breogan in Spain's LEB Gold, and is averaging 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Gomes was not drafted and is not very interesting, so let's move on to Jamon Gordon.



- Jamon Gordon

Gordon was one of the replacements Marousi brought in this summer as they tooled up for their debut Euroleague season. It was a good season at that; they were still in the competition up until yesterday, when unfortunately their already-eliminated Greek rivals Panathinaikos beat them by three points and eliminated them. Gordon had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the game.

On the season, Gordon leads the team in assists in both the Euroleague and Greek leagues, a feat not insignificant considering that Marousi play a two point guard lineup with Gordon and Billy Keys. Gordon averages 10.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in the Euroleague, alongside 8.9/3.1/4.1 in the Greek league. He has shot a combined 17/71 from three point range.

He is known as Jamon Lucas in Greece, even having that on the back of his jersey. I do not know why this is.



- Jamont Gordon

The confusingly similarly named Jamont Gordon is also in the Euroleague, playing for Cibona Zagreb. Like Marousi, Cibona just got knocked out of the Euroleague at the Top 16 stage; like Jamon, Jamont leads his team in assists. He averaged 13.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in Euroleague play, including ranking 1st overall in scoring in the Last 16 group stage (20ppg) and 5th in rebounds. Gordon also averages 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in the Adriatic League.

Jamon Gordon is the lefty out of Virginia Tech. Jamont Gordon is the lefty out of Mississippi State. They're both big strong athletic point guards with jumpshot concerns, whom both just got knocked out of the Euroleague. It's not in the least bit confusing.



- Brian Grant

As you probably already know, Brian Grant recently went public with his struggle against early onset Parkinson's. That struggle continues; sadly, that struggle will always continue, because a cure does not yet exist. This article by Ken Berger describes Grant's daily battle with the disease, what it's cost him, and of what it's going to cost him. I found it very upsetting and I believe you will too. God bless you, Brian Grant. He definitely owes you one.



- Taj Gray

Since leaving Oklahoma in 2006, Gray has spent four years in France. He started with Chalon, averaging 16.1ppg, 6.1rpg, and 1.3bpg, before moving to Paris-Levallois for the 2007/08 season and averaging 10.4/5.0/1.3. Last year playing for Roanne, those numbers shot up to 19.5/7.3/1.1, which was enough to get him a training camp contract with the L.A. Clippers. He didn't make the team, and thus went back to France to rejoin Chalon, for whom he is averaging 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game in the French league, alongside 14.4/5.9/2.0 in the EuroChallenge.



- Caleb Green

Caleb Green, one of Division 1's elusive 2000/1000 club, is still in Belgium. Last year he averaged 15/6 for Dexia Mons-Hainaut, and this season he's averaging 12.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for Oostende.

After going 9-29 from three point range in his four year college career - as opposed to his 812-1495 from two point range - Green is now turning himself into a three point shooter. He has 78 three point attempts in 21 games this year, compared with 101 two pointers and 88 free throws. He's good at them, too, making 34 of those 78 for a 43.6% success rate. Reinventing himself rather well, it appears.

His teammates there include Eddie Gill and Bracey Wright, and Oostende also feature two other Americans in Matt Lojeski and former Padres closer Trevor Huffman. The rest of Oostende's rotation features a Cameroonian (Stephane Pelle), a Slovenian (Dragisa Drobnjak), a Nigerian (Leigh Enobakhare, henceforth known as "Emo back hair") and a Bosnian Serb (Veselin Petrovic). Other players to have left Oostende during the season include Ivan Paunic (Serbian international; moved to Aris), Vladan Vukosavljevic (another Serbian; moved to Aliaga in Turkey), and Javier Mojica (American/Puerto Rican; now playing for Bayamon in Puerto Rico). Because of those 12 foreigners, Belgian players for Oostende have played only 176 minutes all season, split between three players; Quentin Serron (166), Jean Salumu (7) and Yacine Baeri (3). That's 176 out of a possible 4,200 minutes; therefore, only 4.19% of Oostende's PT has been shared amongst Belgian players. For comparison's sake, Americans have a 53.62% share.

God bless Belgian basketball.



- Devin Green

Green made his way to his fifth consecutive NBA training camp when he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer. He did not make the team, as he and every other signee lost out on a spot to Jason Hart, who played all of 5 minutes for the Wolves and who is now out of the league. Green then moved to Greece and joined Olimpia Larissa, leading them in scoring with a 14.3ppg average along with 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. However, he left the team in January, reportedly because of a pay dispute. (Note: when American players leave Greek teams midseason, it is usually because of a pay dispute.) Green has joined the annual Puerto Rican exodus, signing with Gallitos de Isabela. In his two games for the team so far, Green put up 38 points and 13 rebounds.



Finally....

- Gerald Green

Green squirmed out 4 years in the NBA, but never came close to realising the potential that a man with his combination of athleticism and jumpshooting has by default. He last played with the Mavericks; however, at the Nerdjerkfest Conference Thing last week (or whatever it was called; said with affection, by the way), Mark Cuban famously and amusingly stated that Green "just doesn't understand the game of basketball." Quite the burn there from a man who spent a year signing his paychecks, but after four years of experimenting, the whole NBA seems to have bought into it.

Green is now in Russia playing for Lokomotiv Kuban. He is averaging 15.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.

This one's for you, Spurs fans

For some reason, whenever we get a Eurocup game screened over here (something that happens way more than the screening of NBA games), it almost always involves Dynamo Moscow. It's a bit annoying, having to see the same old players out there time after time when there's so many others that I'd rather watch. But it isn't necessarily a bad thing, either, because Dynamo Moscow (as is the case with all Eurocup teams) has plenty of good quality talent on it, and I get to see them all over again.

The most notable players on the Dynamo Moscow team are former Hawk swingman Travis Hansen, Spurs draft pick Robertas Javtokas, former Nets and Rockets forward Bostjan Nachbar, former Blazer and King forward Sergei Monia, big Lithuanian Darjus Lavrinovic, and Russian national team point guard Sergei Bykov. (Brian Chase, who recently signed with Dynamo, hasn't played yet.) Travis Hansen has taken an acceptable NBA career and turned it into a beast of a European career, playing as a first option player on some of Europe's better teams, showing a fine mid-range game, the ability to run the offense, and his ever-present athleticism. Nachbar is playing well against the far less athletic European opposition, and Monia still rocks the "I'll do anything but shoot" approach that so befits a baby faced tweener Russian. Lavrinovic is a good all around player, with legit NBA size, an inside/outside game, good rebounding instincts, no ability to jump off the floor and a rape conviction (something for everyone there), and Bykov is a good little guard whose sensible and smooth play is making the loss of Jannero Pargo entirely survivable. However, the one I'm going to focus on is Javtokas.



The English commentators that we have for these Eurocup games are really bad. Really bad. Darrin Horn's Hitler parting-calibre bad. I couldn't even begin to explain it. So I won't bother; here's a random clip from yesterday's game between Dynamo Moscow and Marousi of Greece.

Calm down, Roy. Jesus.

Often, these commentators talk of Robertas Javtokas's 40 inch vertical. You may have heard about it yourself; it his combination of great size and athleticism that made him interesting in the first place. However, it now seems misguided. Despite having a very nice dunk in this game off of a pick and roll situation, Javtokas's vertical appears to be little more than half of what it used to be. Whether this is due to just age (Javtokas turns 29 next month) or the fallout from nis hear fatal motorbike accident for a few years ago, I couldn't say. But this man doesn't play like a leaper. He's not Keon Clark, Tyrus Thomas or Chris Andersen. Instead, he's more of a Kendrick Perkins.

But regardless of whatever stereotype you wish to force him into, Javtokas can play. Playing exclusively in the paint on both ends, Javtokas is tall and strong, and still with a decent (if oversold) vertical leap. This combination often gives him the size and athleticism in European player, and would make him the equal of many NBA players. To go with that, Javtokas boasts good shot blocking instincts and timing, a good rebounding rate, and some acceptable offense. Javtokas does not create much offense for himself, has no offense away from the hoop, and is not a post-up player (although when he drops a baseline spin on you, it's usually sex), but he is a decent finisher. And that's all that he really needs to be. His prognosis as a backup NBA center is quite good; while he has his flaws (lateral quickness, needs a bib on offense, nothing away from the paint, etc), Javtokas can also impact the game in a positive way. This is something often underappreciated in a league that has players like Oleksiy Pecherov and Aaron Gray getting backup centre minutes.

It's tough to say whether Javtokas's window of opportunity with the Spurs has finally passed him by. For years now, the Spurs and Javtokas have had occasional flirtations that always seemed to end in Javtokas pricing himself out of the market. The Spurs would only stretch to a budget that pays him like the backup centre that he would be (such as what they gave Jackie Butler, Fabricio Oberto or Francisco Elson - about $2 to $3 million a year), whereas Javtokas wanted more of a 3 year, $15 million deal. Every time, negotiations broke down, Javtokas went back to Europe, and continued to produce at a high level, while the Spurs went in another direction. But every time, they kept his rights.

Maybe that will pay off. Dynamo Moscow recently lost one of their big signings (Pargo) and another important guard (Hollis Price) after missing out on some of their payments. Times are tight the world over right now, and particularly so in the world of European basketball, which isn't exactly a professional field renouned for its prompt, accurate salary patments. Last night's Dynamo game was also only played in front of a half filled stadium, despite its importance - with huge salaries committed to Nachbar, Hansen and others, and without huge amounts of money coming in, Dynamo might not be able to afford Javtokas next year.

Is there one more short left for him? He could certainly play in the NBA, and another Spurs draft pick - Luis Scola, who is one month younger than Javtokas - joined the league only last year, proving that it's never really too late. The Spurs traded Scola's rights, and perhaps could do the same to Javtokas, for whom there will surely be a market. However, the Spurs ought to consider bringing him over themselves - with Oberto only partially guaranteed and not very good, Kurt Thomas's continued decline, Ian Mahinmi's lack of progress, and Matt Bonner's inevitable fall from brilliance, San Antonio could use an extra centre.

With Javtokas, they may have one in-house.

(As for the Marousi end of things, Sonics and Pistons fans may have been interested in the play of Andreas Glyniadakis. Well, from what I saw, he still continually runs around calling for the ball, and often gets it considering his improvement as an offensive player. Glyniadakis has a reasonably deft touch from 6 feet and in, and rarely drifts outside of the paint, And he developed a nice stroke from the free throw line, going 8-10, even though his technique seems to involve looking at the floor and standing up so quickly that he risks getting the bends. However, he is also one of the softest players you've ever seen, particularly at 7'1 and about 270 pounds. Glyniadakis is so against contact - and I'm not exaggerating here - that he won't even take any contact when sitting screens, seemingly content with standing in the right place and rolling without causing any obstruction whatsoever, which is kind of what screens are for. On defense he is similarly soft, allowing Lavrinovic and Javtokas to repeatedly go up unchallenged, and not using his bulk to ever hit anyone. Lavrinovic had four and-ones in the game, and this is not a coincidence - Glyniadakis challenged few shots, and when he did he merely put his little paws on them. Additionally, Minnesota Timberwolves fans who want to know how Loukas Mavrokefalidis is doing are going to be similarly disappointed - Mavman was extremely bad in this game. In fact, the only two things he did well were freeze Javtokas on a backpick for a layup in the first quarter, and then hit a three with Marousi down 19 late. That's it. The rest of the time, he missed his shots (including a lefty hook shot that hit the side of the backboard), played weak defense, showed absolutely no agility, and was a non-factor on the boards. Mavrokefalidis is Marousi's leading scorer in both Eurocup and Greek league play, averaging 12.4 and 11.7 ppg respectively, but he was bloody awful in this one. And when the only thing that will ever get him into the NBA is his scoring, it's not good when it disappears so dramatically against quality opposition. Marousi's bright spots included veteran American journeymen Billy Keys - who demonstrated good passing skills, as well as the ability to get his own from both long and mid range - and Jarod Stevenson, who proved he could shoot. That was about it. Pat Calathes worked hard, but achieved little. And he's balding fast.)

(Close bracket.)

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 19

- Pat Garrity retired this summer, and according to the headline of this paid-for 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 Ialians econd 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 undersied 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, 8.7rebounds 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 for epic shitness, which is hard to achieve when you're a 7 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.

- James Gist didn't make the Spurs roster, as they decided to try several hundred other forwards instead of him so as to not lose his rights. Gist instead signed with Angellica Biella, where he averages 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.

- Dion Glover continues to do the rounds in the minor leagues, with his latest stop being a one game stint with Gaiteros de Zulia in Venezuela last March.

- Andreas Glyniadakis is back in Greece, in his second season for Marousi. In Eurocup play this year, A-Glyn has averaged 4.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.2 fouls. However, in the Greek league, he is leaps and bounds better, managing to average more rebounds (3.5) than fouls (3.2). Progress.

- Finally, "Never Say Die" Anthony Goldwire has not said "DIE!", and continues to play in Europe. Now 37 years old, Goldwire recently signed with Sant Josep Girona in Spain, where he is trying to be the last minute Hollywood-esque saviour of a floundering Girona team, ranked as they are fourth last in the LEB Bronze (which, misleadingly, is the actually the Spanish fourth division). Unfortunately, it's not really worked out - despite playing for a team that is only one game from being last in all of Spain, Goldwire has totalled only 14 points and 1 assist in two games, on 3-13 shooting. Perhaps it's time to rethink that nickname i just gave him.

Summer signings, round 4

- Andreas Glyniadakis, former Pistons draft pick and one-time Sonic, has extended his contract with Costa Coffee in Greece. I hope that the sponsoring of team names never catches hold in the NBA, even when it leads to beautiful times.

- Ersan Ilyasova, whose NBA rights are still owned by the Milwaukee Bucks, has seen his contract with Barcelona extended. It seems odd that, in this instance, the NBA franchise has been the feeder club for the European team. 10 years ago, that just doesn't happen.

- Gabe Muoneke, a man on the fringes of the NBA for about 6 years now before finally getting a sniff with the Charlotte Bobcats last October, has signed with Asvel in France. Last season, Muoneke played in Iran, and he's probably made the right decision to get out.

- English supestar Pops Mensah-Bonsu has signed with Joventut Badalona in Spain, and, if I've ever called them Joventut Barcelona in the past, then I apologise. Pops will play alongside Ricky Rubio, and if you've heard that name but don't know much about him.......he's brilliant. He really is.

- Qyntel Woods has signed with Fortitudo Bologna. I want to make a joke about dogs, but I like dogs, so I won't. By the way, I sponsored a dog recently, and let me tell you - it's a damn scam. I take my time choosing which dog I want to sponsor, pay for a full year, but then they send me a letter saying "we're sorry, but that dog is no longer available to sponsor". And then they kept the money anyway. Bastards. So learn from my mistakes - if you're feeling philanthropic, sponsor a panda or a child or a leper or something. There's no value in the dog thing.

- Rodney White - possibly the worst player in modern history to have a triple double in an NBA game, depending on your view of Chris Duhon - has signed for Maccabi Tel Aviv, which is in Tel Aviv, Israel.

- Troy Bell has signed for Soresina in Italy's lower divisions. The drafting of Bell was quite possibly the worst roster move that Jerry West has ever made in the NBA, depending on how shit hot your NBA history knowledge is. (Mine's awful.) Players drafted after Troy Bell in 2003 include David West, Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard, Kendrick Perkins, Boris Diaw, Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, Maurice Williams, Luke Walton, Zaza Pachulia, James Jones, Kyle Korver, Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw........et cetera. Whoops.

- Former Denver Nuggets guard Vincent Yarborough has hit the big time, signing for Bonn in Germany. The mere mention of Vincent Yarborough has reminded me of how bad that 2002/03 Denver Nuggets team was, and so, for the hell of it, here is a run down of the whereabouts of everyone they gave an airing to that season.

1: Juwan Howard - unsigned, spent last season with the Dallas Mavericks.
2: James Posey - agreed today to sign with the New Orleans Hornets for 4 years.
3: Maybyner Hilario - the only one still with Denver, although he hasn't played much for a variety of reasons, including cancer.
4: Chris Whitney - long since out of the game. And the headlines.
5: Shammond Williams - now a Georgian citizen, somehow. Playing for Pamesa Valencia in Spain.
6: Rodney White - see above.
7: Donnell Harvey - recently joined the Charlotte Bobcats summer league team, but left early due to a family emergency. Unsigned. (By the way, speaking of the Bobcats summer league, Jackie Butler was supposed to be on it, but he never turned up. If we haven't done so already, can we officially scrub Jackie Butler from our minds? Thanks.)
8: Marcus Camby - yes, well, let's not talk about that.
9: Devin Brown - unsigned, last season played for the Cavaliers.
10: Jeff Trepagnier - unsigned, spent last season with Pau Orthez in France.
11: Kenny Satterfield - Scoop Jackson assures us he's fine.
12: Mark Blount - currently the Miami Heat's starting centre, which probably enthuses them no end.
13: Chris Andersen - unsigned, but that won't last. Played all of 34 minutes last year with the Hornets.
14: Lorinza Harrington - playing for the Philadelphia 76ers summer league team.
15: Nikoloz Tskitishvili - unsigned. Quick! Before someone snaps him up!
16: Ryan Bowen - unsigned, played last for the Hornets, Says he's "hopeful" of being re-signed, something which I agree with.
17: John Crotty - very very done, but I don't know what he does now.
18: Adam Harrington - unsigned, played last year in the D-League.
19: Predrag Savovic - has one year left of a five year contract that he signed with Bilboa in Spain back in 2004. Still sucks, but he has Luke Recker, Drago Pasalic, Mile Ilic, Quincy Lewis and Fran Vazquez for company.
20: Vincent Yarborough - see above.
21: Mark Bryant - didn't play again after leaving this very same Nuggets team. Now an Oklahoma City assistant coach.

Jesus. What a shite team that was.

Where Are They Now? Part 14

Thomas Gardner is playing alongside Hiram Fuller for Mayaguez.

Marc Gasol is playing for Akasayu Girona in Spain.

Otis George is playing for Fastweb Casale Monferrato in Italy's lower leagues.

Eddie Gill has gone back to where he came from before his recent 10 day contratc with the Sonics - the Colorado 14ers/Balls of the D-League.

Kendall Gill is retired, and is now a studio analyst for Comcast's Bulls broadcasts.

Dion Glover was recently playing in Venezuela, but appears to have left.

Andreas Glyniadakis has left the D-League and returned to Greece to play for Marousi.

Anthony Goldwire is keepin' on truckin' at age 36, playing for Egaleo in Greece.

Joao Gomes, undrafted last year, is playing for Leche Rio Breogan Lugo in Spain's LEB-Gold devision. (Which isn't the top division.)

Jamon Gordon is playing for Antalya in Turkey.

Brian Grant is very retired.

Gerald Green remains unsigned after being waived by the Rockets, who inferred that they might look to re-sign him this summer. So he'll be back.