Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 50

- D.J. Strawberry is with Fortitudo Bologna, the same team as GMAC Bologna, but not the same team as La Fortezza Bologna. Can't stress that enough. Strawberry averages 14.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in Eurocup play, alongside 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Italian league. Strawberry is a combined 16 of 76 from the three point line, confirming once again that his major weakness is still a weakness.

- Brad Stricker has been on and off the Dakota Wizards roster all year, averaging 11 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 fouls per game. His playing time wasn't exactly consistent; his last ten games with the Wizards saw him play 5, 4, 3, 5, 2, 2, 8, 30, and 8 minutes respectively. Stricker eventually asked the Wizards for an unconditional release, as he wanted to play for a team closer to his home due to some family issue. He was granted it, and now plays for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, where he averages 17.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 3.6 fouls, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.

- Erick Strickland now works for the Mavericks in a capacity that I'm too confused to understand. Here's Erick himself with an explanation. Did you know that Erick Strickland's real first name is Demerick? Me neither. Fun fact.

- Rod Strickland is the director of basketball operations for the University of Memphis, while also taking classes there to finish his degree. Ever since his hire in 2006, Memphis have gone on to be slightly brilliant. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. But, since Strickland's role entails things like organising travel plans, checking on student's academic scores, and scheduling visits for recruits, it probably is.

- Curtis Sumpter averages 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds for Chorale de Roanne Basket, the third best team in France and the subject of a slightly seminal 1978 song by The Police.

- Bruno Sundov this week left Cibona Zagreb (in Zagreb) to join Vive Menorca (in Menorca). He also started the season with ASK Riga in Latvia. Sundov has not yet played for Menorca (who also feature Frederic Weis, so that's going to be a hell of a frontcourt), and he totalled only 16 points, 5 rebounds and 8 fouls in his 30 total minutes for Cibona in the Adriatic league (36 minutes, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 fouls in the Euroleague). However, for Riga, Sundov's numbers shot up to 18.8 points and 8.8 rebounds in the Eurocup, along with 14.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in the Baltic league. Somehow, though, the 7'3 Sundov has managed to block only 8 shots all season, in a combined 33 games and 621 minutes.

- Allegedly, Bob Sura's girlfriend stabbed him with some keys when she found him at a restaurant with another woman. These allegations and many more can be found here. Read with caution.

- Mike Sweetney is missing. Not just missing in that I can't find out anything about him, and not "inform the police" kind of missing. Just sort of missing. After never losing the necessary weight, even when the guaranteed money ran out, Sweetney's contract expired with the Bulls and he became a free agent in the summer of 2007. He has not been heard from since, and has not played anywhere, not even in summer league. Sam Smith mentioned in a column at some point last season that not even the players association could find him any more. Not even Facebook can help us on this one. I hope he's all right. If you know anything about Mike's whereabouts and well-being, let me know.

- Szymon Szewczyk - another one of those turn-of-the-century "let's draft a Euro! You never know!" second rounders, this one by the Milwaukee Bucks - is still in Russia with Lokomotiv Rostok. He's doing rather well at a decent standard of basketball, averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in the EuroChallenge, as well as 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in the Russian Superleague. However, he's also now 26 years old, and was picked with the 35th pick, so it's still been one hell of a reach. (Still, it could have been worse. Players picked after Zoochick that year included Nedzad Sinanovic, Paccelis Morlende, Slavko Vranes, Ramon Van Der Hare and Xue Yuyang. You know about the lack of achievements by some of them already, and as we get further through this list, you can see just how little the others have done too. Should be fun!)

- Yuta Tabuse scratched around in the D-League for a few years, trying to find a route back to the NBA. He barely got off of the bench, though, and this season returned to his native Japan, where he speculated that a season of beastly numbers would get the job done. (His hefty paycheck this year won't hurt, either.) However, he hasn't exactly been as brilliant as he might have hoped for - for Link Tochigi Brex, Tabuse averages 34.1 minutes, 11.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game, shooting 23% from three point range. Still, the assists and steals totals lead the JBL, so he's still one of the better players amongst weak competition.

- Finally, Chris Taft's career progression has been minimal. Taft played only 17 games in his underwhelming rookie season of 2005/06 with the Warriors, before suffering prolonged chronic back injuries, and was waived that offseason with a year still guaranteed on his contract. He then didn't sign anywhere until early 2008, when he played 8 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds. True to form, Taft is currently unsigned, but he has recently been approached by Philippines National Team Director Rajko Toroman about whether he would be interested in ecoming a naturalized Filippino citizen, with any deal contingent on the health of his back. Clearly, it's still not quite right.

Of this list, only D.J. Strawberry played in the NBA last season. We're scraping the barrel for you here today.

Your Mission, Since I Chose To Accept It

Hello droogs.

A while ago, I wrote this:

[I]t's time for a new rule - no more Chris Crawford updates on this website. Not unless there's ever anything to actually report, like if he commits a murder or becomes King of Poland or something.

(from "Where Are They Now, 2009: part 11")

My reason for writing this flippant disregard was simple and self-explanatory - there really is no new Chris Crawford news to report. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Sweet FA. Not a sausage. Bugger all.

However, a man named Steve took offense to my off-handed dismissal of what he believes to be "the last basketball Jesus". (Note: this is not a quote, despite the quotation marks.) Steve vowed to track down Chris Crawford, and to find out what he is doing now.

Steve hasn't yet succeeded in this quest, despite sending at least two emails (two! Count 'em!), but he's suckered me in to help. And now I'm going to sucker you in too. Let us find Chris Crawford.




Since his final season in professional basketball - the 2003/04 NBA season with the Atlanta Hawks, in which Crawford played the best games of his career - Crawford has disappeared off of the map. He wasn't even really on it much before then, either, as he had only appeared in 12 games combined in the previous two seasons due to injury. Indeed, injuries are what most people think of when reminded about Chris Crawford; the man played only 256 games in 7 years due to a constant list of injuries, surely much to the chagrin of Hawks fans, who felt cheated out of a roster spot by Crawford's long term contract that he wasn't able to deliver on.

Yet to think only of Chris Crawford's injuries does the man a disservice. Chris Crawford could play. Drafted 51st in 1997, and not given much of a chance to even make the roster, Crawford nevertheless made the team, and proved to be of much value in the following 1998/99, performing markedly well while filling in for the injured LaPhonso Ellis down the stretch of the Hawks' playoff push. These performances earned Chris a 6 year, near $16 million contract, and guaranteed him lifelong financial security, unless he developed an addiction to making it rain or trusted Scottie Pippen's business advisors. As has already been mentioned, a persistent left knee injury swamped the remainder of Crawford's career, but one thing that he never lost was his ability to flat out score. In a low scoring era of NBA basketball, Crawford averaged roughly 20 points per 48 minutes, an impressive enough number even before you consider who it was that did it: the wildly underappreciated Atlanta Hawks small forward, Chris Crawford. Yeah, that guy.

Crawford's basketball career was simple, yet effective - four seasons at Marquette followed by seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks (eight if you count the 2004-05 season, in which Crawford was under contract but didn't play a single minute). His best season was his last - in 2003/04, Crawford set career highs in games played (56) and points per game (10.2) while teaming with Bob Sura to lead the Hawks to a stellar 28 wins.

However, since that crescendo, Crawford has disappeared, never to be heard from again. Never signing in Europe, or even (as far as I can tell) trying out for another team after the expiration of his Hawks contract, Crawford went AWL (which is like AWOL, except far more justifiable). Crawford doesn't seem to have attempted any coaching or announcing gigs or anything of that nature, the career choices that about 95% of former players seem to attempt upon retirement. Nor does he seem to like being arrested for drug trafficking, as some former players seem to like doing.

The question, then, must be asked - where in the world is Chris Crawford?

We don't have much to go on. Wikipedia tells us that he plays golf in the summer with his brother Tim in a town called Kalamazoo in Michigan, but that's about it. Eurobasket.com says that Crawford "[w]ould like to own a sports bar after his playing career has ended" - however, that sentence was clearly written before his career was over, thus making that statement at least 5 years old. Correspondence with Crawford's former agent didn't work either, as he says that he hasn't spoken to Chris in years and has no contact information for him. (Side note: Brad, will you look a bit harder if we say pleeeeeeeeease? I'll write nice things about all your clients.) A plea to the University of Marquette went unheeded, although admittedly it's only been about 36 hours since it was sent. Numerous internet searches offer up nothing, except for that golf snippet. Not even Facebook could help us out. Put simply, when undertaken with only minimal effort, Chris Crawford information is hard to find.

Even the picture that opened this piece was hard to find - a Google search for "Chris Crawford" brings up the Wikipedia page of a video game desginer called Chris Crawford, but not that of the seminal basketball star. And a Google image search for "Chris Crawford Hawks" results in a picture of a man's naked and flaccid penis. (Just trust me on this, it does. I almost instead went with a picture of Crawford's vague lookalike, Nice Guy Eddie from Reservoir Dogs, just so I didn't have to look at floppy cocks any more.)

So this plea goes out to you. If you know what Chris Crawford is doing now, or if you know where we can get in contact with him, or if you know someone who might, let us know. If you're a member of the Chris Crawford family, and are willing to help us our admittedly rather annoying quest, let us know. If you're a Kalamazoo resident, an employee of Milham Park Golf Course, or the person who put that snippet of information on Wikipedia, let us know. If you're an interested Hawks fan willing to help the search, let us know. If you're anyone at all, let us know. Like when Justin Lee Collins reunited the A-Team, we can make this happen, even without the lure of a TV show on our side. But only if we work together.

Together, we can find Chris Crawford.



Why are we doing this? I don't know, really. I am genuinely interested in the life, times, health and career moves of former Atlanta Hawk forward Chris Crawford, as I'm sure some of you are, too. Random Guy Steve also wants to thank him for the fantasy league championship that Crawford won him single-handedly in the 2004 season, when Crawford put up career numbers on an unsubtlely-tanking Hawks team. But, primarily, here's the main reason...

...why not?