Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 6

Yesterday, Golden State waived Mikki Moore to ensure that they could keep on Chris Hunter. In doing so, they've cost themselves money. Moore was set to cost the Warriors $825,497, the minimum salary for a two year veteran. Moore was actually being paid $1,306,455, the minimum salary for a ten or more year veteran (he has played 11 seasons), but as his minimum salary contract is only for one year and he has more than three years of experience, the team is only billed an amount equal to the minimum salary of a two year vet. The league pays the rest. It's a system that helps older players get work, so that teams aren't deterred from signing them just because they cost more. However, the rebate is only applicable if the team keeps the player on for the full season. So by waiving him, Golden State upped their own financial commitment from $825,497 to $1,306,455, on a player who can't now play for them.

They probably could have waived Devean George instead.

Also, as I mentioned four days ago, the Bucks waived Roko Ukic so that he could sign with Fenerbahce. I'm not claiming to have had insider information here, nor am I claiming that can I read Turkish. But someone who can read Turkish read something Turkish and happened to mention it. And I'm online a lot.

The Jazz signed Sundiata Gaines today. They needed an extra guard, and Sundiata was one of the best the D-League has to offer. For the Idaho Stampede this year, he was averaging 23.9 points, 6.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals, and no matter how much those numbers are inflated by the Stampede's pace - and no matter how unflattering his measurements are to his score-first style - them's is good numbers. Also note; 10 day contracts became available today, and today marks the 14th day after the Matt Harpring/Eric Maynor trade, meaning today was the day that the Jazz had to sign someone. The timing of that trade was not a coincidence. By waiting as long as possible, they saved as much money as possible. Because of that, it wouldn't be a surprise if Sundiata played out his ten days and then went back to the D-League. Good luck to him, though. If Wes Matthews can do a Wes Matthews, then so can Sundiata Gaines.

(Here's a video of Sundiata's reaction to being called up. Awww!)

By writing completely unrelated intros to these Where Are They Now posts, I'm making the website less likely to break down. It's a long story.



- Esteban Batista

Far from being the minimum salary steal that Celtics fans wanted him to be in the summer of 2007, Batista is out of the NBA and playing in Spain, after signing a three year contract with Fuenlebrada this summer. On the season, he is being highly productive, averaging 16.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, shooting 54% from the floor and 76% from the line. It's quite a good comeback year for Batista, who last year had a bit of a shocker. He started out with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, for whom he played in the 2007-08 season, but Maccabi had a regime change, and the new regime didn't want Batista. They let him go midseason and Batista signed with Triumph in Russia, but he then left there as well, claiming it was too cold. He saw out the season in Argentina, about whose temperature he didn't seem to complain. Now in a decent situation, where the minutes, money and humidity are all adequate, Batista is producing once again.



- Mike Batiste

Remember Mike Batiste's stint in the NBA with the Grizzlies? Nor do I, really. After going undrafted out of Arizona State in 1999, he spent a year injured, a year in Belgium and a year in Italy, signed with the Clippers for 2002 training camp, and was claimed off waivers by the Grizzlies in October. Batiste spent a year with the team, playing 1,248 minutes in 75 games, averaging 6.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.9 turnovers a game. It was the only season of his NBA career.

At the time, Batiste was a 6'8 225 combo forward who played mostly small forward, but who hadn't quite figured out the position. The turnover numbers were high, as Batiste was not a ball handler, and he shot only 22% on three pointers on the season. After leaving the NBA, Batiste signed with Panathinaikos in Greece; unbelievably, he's still there seven years later. In that time, he's re-designed his game again, going from an athletic combo forward to a hugely strong post player. Batiste has beefed the hell up, now known as "The Beast" not only for the rhyme but for his strength, and he's a post-up option that most of Greece fails to stop. This season, Batiste is averaging 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in only 19 minutes per game in the Euroleague, and 10.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19 minutes per game in the Greek league. (As for why he plays only half the game; Panathinaikos are 12 deep. Everyone only plays half the game.)

He is aided in his European career by his Bulgarian passport, which allows him to quality as a European player. Given that he has never played or lived in Bulgaria and seems to have no Bulgarian heritage, this passport seems a trifle illicit. I guess someone who can pull strings wanted him to stick around.

Another forgotten Grizzlies player in the early part of the decade was Antonis Fotsis. Fotsis was picked by the Grizzlies in the 2001 second round, played one year, and left. He is now Batiste's teammate at Pana. Billy Knight and Jerry West dug out some under-the-radar talent in those years, but it didn't really do them any favours.



- Edin Bavcic

Edin Bavcic was drafted by the Raptors in 2006 and traded to the Sixers. He signed a two year contract with Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia this summer, a Euroleague team. On the season he is averaging 5.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.1 fouls per game in the Euroleague, alongside 4.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 fouls per game in the Adriatic league.

That's all I've got. Oh, and he's 26 in May.



- Lonny Baxter

Baxter's having a better season than usual, averaging 18.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in 27 minutes per game in the Turkish league while playing for Besiktas. He also averages 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in the Eurocup, although that involved scoring 58 points in his first 3 games and 26 in the last 4. Besiktas are third in the Turkish league, partly because of Baxter, but largely because of 6'2 guard Mire Chatman. In 36 minutes per game (out of 40), Chatman is averaging 17.8 points, 6.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. And those are Turkish assists, which are a rarer species than American ones. The 60% foul shooting for a 6'2 guard is poor, but everything else is Kidd-like. (Albeit in Turkey.)



- Aron Baynes

Washington State graduate Baynes had a God awful summer league with the L.A. Lakers. In 57 minutes of 5 games, Baynes totalled 10 points, 14 rebounds, 22 fouls and 7 turnovers, while shooting 5-22 from the field and 0-2 from the field. Something went well, though, as he went on to join Lithuanian team Lietuvos Rytas. There's absolutely no money in Lithuanian basketball right now, and Lietuvos are no exception even after winning the Eurocup last season, but they're a Euroleague team this year so the exposure is self-evident.

However, the exposure is not helping; Baynes continues to struggle in his first professional season. In the Baltic league, he's averaging 11.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 17 mpg; in the Lithuanian league, he's averaging 10.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 15 mpg; in the Euroleague, he's averaging 5.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 13mpg. In that respect, he's doing quite well. But his foul problem from summer league has carried over; he's averaging 3.1 fouls in 15 Lithuania league minutes per game, 3.3 fouls in 17 Baltic league minutes per game, and a whopping 4.1 fouls in 13 Euroleague minutes per game. All three of those competitions have 40 minute games and only 5 fouls before a foulout, and it's not a coincidence that the league with by far the highest standard of play is the one in which he does by far the worst. Baynes has fouled out 7 times this year in a total of 28 games; his minutes played in those games were 19, 10, 20, 15, 12, 13 and 6. And he's not Bubba Wellsing it up out there; he starts many games at centre, and Lietuvos rely on him as a big part of their rotation. But because of all the fouls, he can't deliver.

That's a lot of fouls. That's too many fouls. He needs to foul less. This is my analysis.



- Jerome Beasley

The other Beasley drafted by the Heat, Jerome is spending his second season in Holland with the Eiffel Towers Den Bosch. (Yes, I know the Eiffel Tower is in France. Someone explained the logic of this team name to me once, but I forgot what it was. All I remember is that it wasn't very logical.) On the season, Beasley is averaging 12.9 and 8.8 rebounds in the Dutch league, and 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in the EuroChallenge. The EuroChallenge is like an entry level Eurocup, which itself is like an entry level Euroleague. Full explanation later.

Jerome Beasley fact: Jerome Beasley was drafted with the 33rd pick in the 2003 draft whilst coming out of NCAA Division 2. That's extremely rare. In fact, only one person in the world was ever taken 33rd overall in the 2003 NBA Draft. Fact.

Another Jerome Beasley fact: Jerome Beasley was suspended by FIBA for three months last January after testing positive for marijuana. It's a Beasley thing.


- Sani Becirovic

Becirovic is Bavcic's teammate at Ljubljana. Like Bavcic, Becirovic is also a former NBA draftee, being picked 46th overall by the Nuggets back in 2003. And like Bavcic, Becirovic won't play in the NBA. But unlike Bavcic, it's not because he can't. Despite a slightly worrisome injury history, Becirovic has been a good player for over a decade, and still is. He is averaging 12.9 points and 3.9 assists per game in the Adriatic league, and almost exactly the same (12.9/3.3) in the Euroleague. As it happens, though, there's a player from Ljubljana whose play is blowing both of those two out of the water. We'll come to him (or her) later.



- Romel Beck

Beck is in the D-League, down there trying to prove to the NBA that he deserves at least 10 days in it. The one dimensional Beck is with the Dakota Wizards, averaging 16.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 turnovers and 1.8 assists. The rebounding numbers are unusually high for a man who normally gets about 2 a game, so we'll see if that continues.



- Mirza Begic

Mirza Begic went undrafted in 2007. That's kind of amazing, because he's 7'3, and pretty much all 6'11 Eastern European guys who get a few minutes on the benches of Adriatic league teams get picked in the second round somewhere. (It's true. Ask Edin Bavcic.) Maybe Begic should have been drafted, however, as he's now a decent Euroleague centre. Begic's averages are listed below in a different form to usual.

1) 20.9 minutes, 7.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 fouls, 1.1 blocks per game = Euroleague (the club competition that sees the best teams from across the whole of Europe competing)

2) 16.3 minutes, 5.3 poiints, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 fouls, 0.8 blocks per game = VTB United League (the club competition that sees the best teams from only Eastern Europe competing)

3) 17.3 minutes, 8.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 fouls, 1.4 blocks per game = Baltic League (the club competition that sees the best teams from only Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania competing)

4) 14.0 minutes, 5.4 points, 3.7 reboundsm 2.4 fouls, 1.4 blocks per game = Lithuanian League (the Lithuanian league).


A bit confusing, really. A post explaining stuff like that to non-Europeans was requested a while ago, and is nearly finished.



- Troy Bell

Troy Bell is spending his second season with Vanoli in Italy. Last year he helped them get promoted from LegaDue to SerieA, averaging 21 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists on the way. This year he's not found it as easy, with his numbers dropping to 14.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game. That's still pretty good, though. Bell plays the shooting guard position in Italy alongside point guard E.J. Rowland, another man with a debatable Bulgarian passport. It's easier to start a 6'2/6'1 backcourt in Italy than it is in the NBA.



- Rod Benson

As ever, Rod Benson is in the D-League, waiting for a call-up. I wonder how much money he's earned from his non-basketball endeavours over the last three years, because he sure as hell won't have made much by playing in the D-League three times. This season, Benson is averaging 14.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, whilst ranking in the 100th percentile in post defense according to Synergy Sports. It would help his NBA chances if his free throw percentage (.542%) wasn't so damn close to his field goal percentage (.528%), but the other numbers in only 32 minutes per game are hard to fault.

This week, he quit blogging for Yahoo Sports, having decided that he had said Too Much.



- Lee Benson

Benson was in China last year, and of all the people to put up outrageous statistics there, his might have been the best; 34.1 ppg, 18.8 rpg, 5.6 apg, 2.0 bpg. As 36 year old athletic shot chucking former prisoners go, Benson is pretty bloody good. He looked like he was going to re-sign in China this year too, but, as far as my crude Google translations can tell, Shanxi passed up on re-signing him due to his astronomical wage demands. Any man with those statistics can ask for a big payday, but Shanxi didn't appear to be happy with the way that he got them. You have to dominate the ball pretty freaking muchly to put up numbers like those, and to shoot 7 three pointers a game at only 30% isn't the best idea either. Still, it's great fun for us spectators.

I was very happy about that "Too Much" gag, by the way.


Finally...

- Travis Best

Best signed this season with Martos Napoli, a SerieA team that came into being this summer when former team Solsonica Rieti changed both their city and their sponsor. He joined fellow Americans Kevin Kruger, Damon Jones and Robert Traylor there, increasing the ex-NBA lilt that was designed to make the interesting. It kind of worked. Even Lance Allred was there for a while. But none of it seemed to help on the court, as Napoli trickled out to an 0-10 start. Despite the big name midseason acquisitions of Best and Jones, they kept on losing. And the players weren't getting paid either.

At 0-10, things managed to get worse. The club officially ran out of money, and players started to leave, Kruger amongst them. Another loss followed before Christmas, at which point all the first team players went home to their families. They never came back. In their first game after Christmas, on Sunday evening, Napoli could only fielded their youth team players, inexperienced and undertalented 17 year olds going against one of the better teams in one of the world's best leagues. They played Angellico Biella in that game, and lost 124-54. That's not a typo; they lost by 70 points in a SerieA game. A 40 minute SerieA game. Nothing has been resolved in the mean time; no new sponsors have come in, no new money has been found, and no players have come back. If they're able to do business next SUnday, they're up against Lottomattica Roma, and things should go much the same way as the 70 point annihilation. Even if they somehow do the impossible, stave off a winding-up order and play out the season, they're screwed.

(If you wish to become Napoli's new sponsor, why not use their sponsors email account? Please give two pounds a month, or whatever you can afford.)

For what it's worth, which is nothing, Best totalled 11 points and 3 assists in 61 minutes.

Summer league round-up: Los Angeles Lakers

View the Lakers summer league roster.

I've not heard of several of these people. Should enjoy this.

- Alan Anderson: Anderson has been on the fringes of the NBA for quite a while. He spent parts of two seasons with the Bobcats, playing in 53 games, and spent last summer on the Grizzlies VSL team. After failing to make the team, he signed in Russia with Triumph (the team perhaps better known last summer for the big contract they gave Nenad Krstic.....briefly), but left during midseason and joined Cibona Zagreb. There, he averaged 16.2ppg, 6.8rpg and 2.8apg in the Croatian league, alongside 18.4ppg, 5.6rpg and 2.1apg in the Adriatic league. However, he left Cibona last month, because they weren't able to afford is contract demands for next season, and Anderson has already signed for next season with Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

I'm not sure why he's even bothering with summer league, to be honest; his Maccabi contract does have an NBA-escape clause, meaning that he can get out of it if an NBA team comes a-calling later this summer, but that might not be preferable. His Maccabi contract also calls for him to be paid $800,000 next year - which, remember, is a net sum - and sees him in a guest guitarist role for one of the biggest bands in showbiz today. I'm not sure why he'd jeopardise that for the chance to sit on the bench behind Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic and Shannon Brown. But, good luck to him I guess.

- Aron Baynes: Baynes is a centre with dual Australian and New Zealian citizenship [Zealandish? Zealish? Zealandolian? On a postcard, if you would] who recently graduated from Washingon State university. In his senior season, Baynes averaged 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, on handsome percentage of 58% and 77%. He also has legit NBA size (being listed as 6'11 and 270lbs), plays physically, and is a post player through and through. However, he too has already signed elsewhere, catching on with the slightly bankrupt defending Eurocup champions, Lietuvos Rytas. The Lakers appear to have adopted a weird approach to summer league this year.

- Dominique Coleman: Coleman is a former Colorado Buffaloes guard who was last with the Colorado 14ers of the D-League. The Nuggets clearly weren't too interested, though. Coleman's D-League numbers from last year are pretty freaking impressive; in 50 games, the 6'3 guard averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.9 steals, shooting 50% from the field and 41% from three point range. This is particularly impressive when you consider that he'd played for three teams in Finland the previous season. Another year like the last one, Dominique, and you'll be famous.

- Chinemelu Elonu: When I watched Texas A&M last year, I saw Junior Elonu and thought "if anyone on this team is going to play in the NBA, it'll be him". He had decent defensive instincts, a mechanical and unattractive but fledgling offensive game, and the strength to make up for his comparative lack of size. Given an ever-present need to quench the NBA's thirst for defensive minded centres, I figured he might be on the radar down the road as someone who might be able to do a decent impression of the 2008 Adonal Foyle at some point. But that doesn't mean that I thought he had NBA talent.

- Tony Gaffney: Gaffney's numbers last year are pretty brilliant: 11.5ppg, 10.2rpg, 1.7apg, 2.0spg and 3.8bpg, on 54% shooting. However, they came at the basketball powerhouse that is Massachusetts, which helps provide some context as to how he did that. He also only measures at 6'8 and 205, which is NBA small forward size on an interior specialist. Considering his lack of offensive ability outside of opportunity scoring and hustle, he'll be best served with a tidy European career. By the way, everything I've just written also applies to Kenneth Faried.

- Terrel Harris: Harris averaged 13.9 points and 4.8 rebounds for Oklahoma State last year, taking lots of three pointers and looking for his shot at all times. But that also describes the entire Cowboys roster last year. (PS; Marshall Moses, use your right hand some time.) Harris was a solid offensive player, not really creating a whole lot but finishing the looks he got quite well. Unfortunately, that's not really good enough at the NBA level.

- Justin Hawkins: Hawkins played for the Kings summer league team last year, but I came away from that with absolutely no idea what he was good at. He played in all 5 games, started 2 and played 100 minutes, but averaged only 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds a game, shooting 32% from the field. He didn't leave an impression, really. He went to France for last season, where again his numbers don't really suggest anything NBA worthy: 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, on 42% shooting and 61% FT. I also hate The Darkness because their music is annoying and there's nothing cool about glam rock. So if there's a reason to view Justin Hawkins as an NBA prospect, and I've missed it, then do please let me know.

- Ben McCauley: From what I saw of McCauley last season, he either couldn't or wouldn't rotate on defense, and was slower than a paraplegic donkey in a minefield. He also wasn't strong, physical, or blessed with overwhelming NBA size. But he could shoot, and I saw him once gave a hard foul in the final two seconds of a blowout loss that sparked an enjoyable multi-player punch-up. So my impressions of him are mixed, with some great high points.

- David Monds: In keeping with the Lakers policy of bringing in players for summer league who have already signed elsewhere for next season, we now have David Monds, who has already signed somewhere for next year. Or at least, I thought he had; I forgot to write down where, and now I can't find it. Lest we forget, this website is amateurish.

Monds is another former Oklahoma State player, who was kind of an afterthought role player in college, but who has done a bit better since. He last played in Puerto Rico, where he averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds for Humacao, and before that he spent the season with the Dakota Wizards and Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the D-League, averaging roughly 12/9 between the two. He'll be 26 by the start of the next season, and a solid but unspectacular 6'9, but as I write this he just scored 17 points in 14 minutes in his summer league debut. So you might like him anyway.

- Adam Morrison: Christ. It shouldn't have been THIS bad.

- Taylor Rochestie: Roschestie (with an I, not an L, to rhyme with the singular of "testes") was Baynes's team mate at Washington State for the last three years, after transferring from Tulane. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last year, rocking a decent 2:1 assist to turnover ratio in the process. However, he also shot under 40%, and is only 6'1. If you can't shoot 40% in college at that height, you're not doing it in the NBA either. Rochestie is a fine shooter, but not an NBA calibre player.

- Luke Schenscher: Woop, it's the long overdue return of The Schensch. How could you ever leave me, you beautiful beautiful man. Luke was back in his native Australia last year, where he averaged 16.9 points per game, a league leading 10.8 rebounds per game, as well as 1.4 blocks, good for 3rd in the league. He shot 55% from the field and 75% from the foul line, which is great news if you've ever seen Luke Schenscher bank in free throws in your team's crucial first round playoff game. And I have. As for how the old school hook shot is looking these days, I couldn't say, but I imagine it to still be sheer unadulterated hardcore sex. Lakers fans, if he unfurls that bad boy in summer league play, get ready to nurse some semis.

- Mustafa Shakur: Shakur didn't have a great year last year, starting out with Tau Ceramica as the backup to Pablo Prigioni but not playing a lot, before moving to Panellinios in Greece, where he only played in the Eurocup games. In those Panellinios Eurocup games, he averaged 6.3 points and 1.2 assists on 54% shooting, which is about as much as any man can do in 11 minutes a game. But the European game isn't really suited to him, which might explain his continued desire to come home.

- Reggie Williams: Williams was with the Mavericks summer league roster last year, where he demonstrated good size and athleticism along with a penchant to get pretty damn wild at times. Williams is the best player in VMI history, leading the whole NCAA in scoring in both his junior and senior seasons. He did that without ever having a good jumpshot, which is more of a testament to the standard of competition that he faced than it is to his slashing game. Williams played in France last season, where he averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. However, he also shot 21% from three point range on over 100 attempts. So he still hasn't corrected that flaw.