Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 8

Drew Gooden was neither waived nor traded this week. Therefore, for all that fuss about his 'novel' contract, nothing actually happened with it. Now, he's just a plain old expiring.

You had probably already noticed this, however, as Marc Stein wrote about it earlier. Marc Stein and me are forever writing the same things. Same as with that luxury tax breakdown thing. And because of that, no one reads it when I do it, because he writes for the 60th most popular website in the world and I write for the 406,478th. It's not my fault, and it's certainly not his either, but sweet sheet is it annoying. *shakes fist*

Anyway.


- Curtis Borchardt

Borchardt left Spain for the lower standard French league this summer, but he did so because the team he joined - ASVEL Villerbaune - are a Euroleague team this season. Unfortunately, the inevitable happened; after only one Euroleague game and four French league games, Borchardt got injured. He broke his hand and will miss the remainder of the regular season.

In the one Euroleague game, Borchardt totalled 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. That's good. But he also gets injured every year without fail. And that's not good.



- Ruben Boumtje Boumtje

Boumtje Boumtje Boumtje Boumtje is also a Euroleague centre this year, playing his second consecutive season with EWE Baskets Oldenburg. In the German league he's averaging 6.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 fouls and 1.4 blocks in 21 minutes per game, but he's struggling a lot more in the higher standard Euroleague, averaging only 4.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.0 fouls in 17 minutes per game.

Since EWE Oldenburg are a Bundesliga team, let's play Count The Germans. Oldenburg employ a 9 man rotation, and, as is often the case, there's only one German in it; backup swingman Daniel Hain. The rest is made of Boom Boom, four Americans, two Serbians and a Croatian. This is pretty much the case for the whole league. I am increasingly convinced that the Germans should tighten up their import regulations somewhat.



- Giannis Bourousis

Bourousis averages 10.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.6 blocks and 0.8 steals per game in 20 minutes per game in the Greek league, alongside 9.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.6 blocks and 0.7 steals in 16 minutes per game in the Euroleague.

Some old farts are defiant in their belief that the 440 odd players in the NBA are the best players in the world, and that very very very few players from leagues outside of the NBA cannot compete. This myth is being slowly broken down over time, but some people cling to it, defiant as they are that D-League numbers are irrelevant and that European players haven't the talent to succeed in the NBA. To those people, I ask the following; Bourousis is 7'0 tall, strong, athletic, quick, versatile, mobile and skilled. He can defend the interior and the perimeter, run the court, shoot, post up, rebound and finish with authority. And he just turned 26. Which part of that couldn't translate to the NBA?

It is true that all of the world's very best play in the NBA. But there's many a player outside of it who could perform well in it. Bourousis is one of these, and it probably won't be too long until he's doing exactly that.

I have no idea how you spell his name in English, by the way. This is as close as I can get. It might he Ioannis. Who knows.



- Ryan Bowen

Bowen was signed by the Thunder this offseason in a move I've already talked about way too often. He made the roster ahead of Mike Harris, but was waived after a month to accommodate Mike Wilks. He has not signed elsewhere since, and nothing about his Twitter account suggests that he's in a rush to do so again. But this is Ryan Bowen we're talking about. In term of NBA staying power, this man is a pioneer.



- Bruce Bowen

As you probably already know. Bowen was traded from the Spurs to the Bucks, then waived, and retired this summer. He now works for ESPN as an analyst.



- Justin Bowen

After going undrafted out of Illinois-Chicago in 2006, Bowen spent two years in the D-League with the Austin Toros, where he was pretty decent. Last year he embarked on a world tour in pursuit of better money, starting in Australia (where he averaged 16.4ppg and 7.4rpg for the Gold Coast Blaze) and moving to Korea in February. There he played for two teams; Mobis Phoebus (10.6ppg, 5.4rpg) and Seoul Knights (14.0ppg, 4.5rpg), before returning to the Toros for the final two games of their season (6.0ppg, 5.0rpg). He's stayed with the Toros this season, but his numbers across the board are down from two years ago. Bowen averages 9.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game with only 135 points on 126 shots.

Bowen is in and out of the Toros starting lineup, depending on that week's opinion of former Duke forward David McClure, who is averaging 4/4 in 18 minutes. Speaking of McClure, he's grown his hair out, and here's the result.






- Brandon Bowman

Bowman has moved from Germany to Turkey, where he's playing for Tofas Bursa. On the season he is averaging 14.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks, shooting 48% from the field, 33% from three point range and 58% from the foul line. The points, rebounds and blocks are all team highs.

In between those two gigs, Bowman appeared on the Sixers' training camp roster. In the last two years, the Sixers have brought in 11 players for training camp, and kept none of them. They've improved 11 CV's without spending a single penny of salary cap. Is that magnanimous? I can't tell.



- Cedric Bozeman

Cedric Bozeman is signed in China with Beijing Ducks. Of all the animals to use as a basketball team's nickname, I think "Ducks" has to pretty far down the list. I get what they've done with the ol' food thing there, but a duck is a slow waddling animal with no discernible ball skills. It's not the iconography you want in a basketball team. You may as well have called them the Lab Rats, the Chaffinches or the Beijing Hagfish.

Not many imports in the CBA are guards, although this year there's more than usual. Bozeman is playing point guard and averaging 22.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.6 steals per game, all team highs except for the rebounds (which rank second). His offense has gotten better year, and specifically so has the three point jumpshot. This has sort of continued; Bozeman is shooting 35.3% on three pointers on the season, which sounds much more impressive than saying he's 6-17 in 8 games.



- Michael Bradley

Michael Bradley retired after the 2007-08 season, which he played in Spain. He initially wanted to develop a broadcasting career, but instead he and his wife Ellen has started a business called Moksha Yoga, which does yogaey stuff. He is also now both an NBA and FIBA certified agent, starting a company called Bradley Sports Management. Bring a fledgling operation, they don't have a whole host of clients yet, but two that they do have whom you may have heard of include Louisville graduate Andre McGee (who started his first professional season in Germany but who left last month), and Providence graduate Jonathan Kale (who is still in Germany; both he and McGee signed with Phoenix Hagen, a Bundesliga team).



- Shawn Bradley

As was recently covered in the 1993 Draft WATN roundup, Bradley is long since retired and now works in a school. Here is the same gif from that article, as it can never have too many airings;





Finally.....

- Torraye Braggs

Ex-Rockets forward Braggs has been on a hell of a world tour these last few years. He last played in the NBA down the stretch of the 2004-05 season, when the Rockets brought him back, and yet even though he signed 6 NBA contracts with 5 different teams in his time, Braggs wound up only ever playing 22 games and 178 minutes in the NBA.

Since 2005, Braggs has played in South Korea, the D-League, Russia, China, Israel, Latvia, Iran, Jordan, Mexico and Venezuela. He is currently in Uruguay, plsying for a team called Malvin. His silhouette is very much that of a white man.




As always, if you want to keep tracks of the transaction of these players without having to wait until every January, use the transaction indexes for all three of the NBA, the D-League and the world at large. Every relevant transaction is in there. Even the Uruguayan ones.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 6

- Joseph Blair is averaging 8.2 points and 8.0 rebounds for Spartak St Petersburg, while also shooting 43% from the free throw line. So maybe Blair's scouting report on himself (see his profie) wasn't too off-message. Joseph also wrote a New Year's message, for us, his fans. You can read it here. (Note: even though Joseph himself says that he's not in St Petersburg, he is. Someone should tell him.)

- Will Blalock averages a piddly 5.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists for Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck. The Artland Dragons of Quakenbrueck play in Germany. Their leading scorer is called Adam Hess. Make your own jokes here.

- Corie Blount is....indisposed.

- The last time we checked in on Tony Bobbitt, the man who killed his mother had just been convicted. That's not something I've ever said before. (Note: The link given in the previous post no longer works, so try this one.) Unfortunately, there's no new Tony Bobbitt news to report, since he has not signed anywhere this season. So I guess we'll have to leave it at that.

- Dejan Bodiroga, formerly the best player in Europe, retired a while ago and is now the General Manager of his final team. Lottomattica Roma.

- In keeping with tradition, Curtis Borchardt has had many injuries in recent years, limiting his court time drastically. He's also been injured again this season, and missed 4 weeks of action. But upon returning in mid-November, he's played very well for Granada, the team he's been with since leaving the NBA over three years. So well has he played, in fact, that he was named the MVP for the month of December. Or at least, I think he was. My ability to read Spanish isn't up to much. Borchardt averages 13.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game on the season.

- Ruben Boumtje Boumtje didn't pan out as an NBA player. Nevertheless, now 30 years old, Boom Boom averages 7.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.3 fouls for EWE Baskets Oldenburg, a team battling for the German title.

- Justin Bowen left the D-League and went to Australia. For the Gold Coast Blaze, Bowen is averaging 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds. No jokes here.

- Brandon Bowman is but one more player now playing in Germany, leading his team with averages of 15.1 points and 5.3 rebounds while playing alongside Vincent Yarborough. However, as far as I can tell, his team has no players with the surnames of famous Nazi war criminals, so I'm not seeing why I should care. (Note to all German readers out there - please don't be offended. And if you are, feel free to rip the shit out of my country's former leaders, and to point out our nation's atrocities in conflicts such as the Boer War. We were right old bastards, we were.)

- Lastly, Earl Boykins has caused himself a bit of a scandal. After becoming the highest paid player in Italy this summer, Boykins requested that his team, Virtus Bologna, let him go home over Christmas for a four day break, but Bologna refused. Boykins then exacted his revenge by "striking" for a game (whereby he Gilbert Arenas'd it up by refusing to take a shot in 21 minutes, despite being the team's leading scorer), and then went home anyway. The team announed that they would cut Boykins, but his agent Mark Termini grovelled Boykins's way back into favour, and he has remained with the club, even though they probably all hate him now. The lesson, as always - this threat of a mass European migration really doesn't appear to be too serious right now.

Summer signings, round 17

.....And by "signings", I mean "one big six player trade and some bland filler, cared about by no one but I". Note: grammar may not be as blazingly shit hot as author's nationaliy would suggest.

- James Augustine has signed with Gran Canaria in Spain, where he'll play alongside Joel Freeland. It is unlikely, however, that Augustine will play as well as Freeland, because Freeland is a freakin' legend. Also, I am still awaiting answers on how Augustine was waived by the Magic when he wasn't under contract. Did someone misreport his qualifying offer being retracted, or did he sign a contract reaaaaaaally quietly just to be waived within a few weeks? Someone tell me, because I care too much.

- Ronald Murray signed with the Atlanta Hawks. Do the Hawks really need another backup guard that can't shoot, when they have Acie Law, Speedy Claxton and Maurice Evans already? I doubt it. Nooooo, what they need is a good shooter. Like, say, Salim Stoudamire. (Readers note: I know that Maurice Evans has, somehow, developed himself into a good outside shooter, despite only using one hand to do so. But for some reason, my instinctive reaction is always to assume that Evans still can't shoot, even though he clearly can. I am holding something that isn't Evans's fault, or that is even true, against Maurice Evans, purely to make a petty point that doesn't even make sense. But whatever. Shut up. I'm having fun.)

- Andre Barrett signed with Barcelona, where he will combine with Juan Carlos Navarro to form what is officially the smallest backcourt in the history of professional basketball. (Note: may not be official.)

- Josh Powell signed with the L.A. Lakers after being waived by the Clippers at the end of last month. Now here's what I'm wondering: did Josh Powell have a house in L.A., and did he sell it once the Clippers waived him? Because, if so, whoops. On a more important basketball level: good move, Lakers.

- Andre Iguodala re-signed with the Philadelphia Sixers for lots of money, a comparable if not identical sum to that of Luol Deng before him. Most websites would lead with this announcement. This website leads with James Augustine. If you don't like that, go view another website. (Readers note: do not go view another website.)

- Brandon Bowman has signed with Telekom in Germany. If anybody wants an unpaid research job, do me a favour, and go research how many players have left the NBA (training camps count), signed in the German league, and been able to make it back to the big dance. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any, and I can't be bothered to look it up due to the inherent pointlessness of doing so. So feel free to do it for me.

- Damir Markota - him of the experience - has signed with Cibona Zagreb. Must have good clubs there. (Basketball clubs, obviously.)


- And finally, something interesting. It's time for a threesome.

Cleveland acquires Maurice Williams
Cleveland trades Damon Jones and Joe Smith

Milwaukee acquires Luke Ridnour, Damon Jones and Adrian Griffin
Milwaukee trades Maurice Williams and Desmond Mason.

Oklahoma City acquires Joe Smith and Desmond Mason.
Oklahoma City trades Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin.


Oklahoma City gets two decent players and $10 million in expirings for what essentially constitutes nothing at all. Cleveland gets the best player in the deal for two rather redundant expiring contracts. Meanwhile, Milwaukee trades the best player, arguably the third best player, and receives a whole sack of shit in return.

Hmmm.

I know why they did it. I think we all do - the pairing of Maurice Williams and Michael Redd wasn't working out, never foreseeably could, and needed splitting up. I get that much. But, if you've just traded the contract of Bobby Simmons for an in-his-prime Richard Jefferson, does this not signify that:

a) You'd quite like to win now?
b) You're probably not going for the ol' 2010 plan?

So when why you dump one of your better players (and a decent backup in Mason) for another backup and some filler, just to save some money? It's not like Ridnour is even expiring, and if the Bucks perceive that he has some vital usage for them on the court, they're wrong on that.

By all means trade Williams. Break up the worst defensive backcourt in basketball. Open the way for Ramon Sessions. Save a few quid. But at least get a decent player in return. May I suggest a power forward that isn't Charlie Villanueva as a decent starting point.

Was this really the best deal out there? They couldn't get back a player better than Luke freakin' Ridnour for a 17/6 scoring guard? One whom they just tied in to a market value long term contract?

I hope that it was. I also hope that it wasn't.


(Also, the Ron Artest trade that was talked about earlier finally went down. But you probably knew that already.)

Where Are They Now? Part 5

Tony Bobbitt is playing for Bremerhaven in Germany. Also, on the subject of Tony Bobbitt, this is simply staggering.

European star Dejan Bodiroga, 1995 draft pick of the Sacramento Kings, has retired. This doesn't necessarily mean that the Kings aren't still demanding a first round draft pick for his rights, but it does ensure that they won't get it.

Curtis Borchardt is playing his third season for Granada in Spain.

Ruben Boumtje Boumtje Boumtje Boumtje Boumtje is playing for Oldenburg in Germany.

Brandon Bowman is playing for Ignis, of the Italian Lega 2. For those numerically unaware, that's not a good league to play in.

Cedric Bozeman is playing for the Energa Czarni Slupsk of the Polish league. This is a worse league to play in, although playing for a team called Slupsk must numb the pain a bit. Bozeman is also shooting 21% on three pointers this year, so it's nice to see him willing to improve his game.

Michael Bradley is playing alongside the aforementioned and incredulous Curtis Borchardt for Granada. That must be a pretty sight to witness.

Shawn Bradley retired a while ago, as you no doubt know. But did you also know that his five children all have names that begin with "Ch"? Fun fact. No idea why this is. Maybe he and the missus have a Lorenzen Wright thing going.

Torraye Braggs is playing in the fabled basketball powerhouse of Jordan (for all Americans out there, it's a country), for an amazingly named team called "Orthodox", in an even more amazingly named league called the "Excellent League". I enjoyed looking this up. The results were good. Time was well spent.

J.R. Bremer ISN'T playing with Tony Bobbitt for Bremerhaven in Germany, which is a dumbfoundingly stupid move on Bremer's part. It was meant to be, surely? The marketing writes itself, and surely you'd have no trouble selling yourself to the team when your name was destined to fit so snugly alongside it. (The same thing once happened to Arsene Wenger.) Instead, Bremer is playing for Spartak Vladivostock in Russia, alongside Joseph Blair. Which, you know, is a decent excuse for playing for Bremerhaven. The lure of playing alongside Joseph Blair is impossible to resist.

Jamison Brewer is seemingly out of basketball, having not played this season. Then again, was he ever really in basketball? What did he do except run into shot every time Reggie Miller hit a big three? Email if you know the answer.