Summer league round-up: Toronto Raptors

View the Raptors summer league roster.

- Paul Davis: Davis was waived by the Clippers to save some money, after being brought back for no obvious reason whatsoever. Strangely, he didn't sign anywhere after that, but he did appear on Millionaire Matchmaker, where it was determined that he showed an "immature" attitude towards sex. But he did win the heart of one spectacularly energetic pseudo blonde:



These. These are the things we must know.

- DeMar Derozan: The Raptors wings last season had all the athleticism of a grilled perch, so at least they addressed that. But I can't say I'm overwhelmed with the pick. No word on what Derozan's attitudes towards sex are, or what he deems to be an "upscale" bowling alley. Yet I'm sure the feisty blondes are digging that already.

- David Doblas: Doblas (listed as Doblas in the Raptors official summer league release, which was confusing) is a soon-to-be 28 year old Spaniard with the usual Spanish problems with hair. (This is one thing I noticed when I holidayed there earlier this year; everyone has black hair, and they all bald at 30. Without exceptions. And their women are overrated. Good luck, David.) Last year for Bruesa-Guipuzcoa BC - the ACB team that you've totally never heard of - Doblas averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds. Why is he here? I....I.......I don't know.

- Quincy Douby: Speaking of things I don't know, I don't know Quincy Douby's amount of guaranteed salary, so stop asking. (Although I'm fairly sure it's $0, that's only an educated guess.) There's basically no reason for him to make the team, or even for him to be in the NBA; Douby may well be a versatile scorer with the ball in his hands, but he's very undersized, does not rebound or create for others, is not efficient, and is not a good enough shooter to be much use as a catch-and-shoot specialist. Just go to Europe and start starring, Quincy. It'll be easy.

- Carl English: Despite the name, English is Canadian, which is why Raptors fans have had a long standing thing for him. But even though he finally got a chance to play on the Raptors team, he inevitably didn't, as he signed a lucrative contract with Tau Ceramica before summer league began. The opportunity to be a key contributor on a big team, and to embrace the unenviable task of replacing Igor Rakocevic, seemed more inviting to English than the prospect of trying to beat out Quincy Douby for a spot on the inactive list. And I can't say I blame him. (This is the reason why I think you should move to Europe, Quincy.)

- Ekene Ibekwe: Ibekwe (whose full name is Ekenechukwu Brian Ibekwe, which is pretty brilliant) is a former Maryland shotblocker who developed some offense from last season out of roughly nowhere. Last year in Turkey, Ibekwe averaged 18.6 points, 8.23 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 steals per game, shooting 61% from two point range, 38% from three point range, and 57% from the foul line. He was never more than an 11ppg scorer in college, so the breakout was quite unexpected. It's certainly made him more interesting.

- Nathan Jawai: Jawai didn't play for the Raptors in summer league, for the simple and obvious reason that they traded his ass to Dallas in the Shawn Marion deal. He might not make the team, though, because Dallas now has 16 under contract, with exceptions they still want to spend. Dallas still needs a centre, and there's no denying that Jawai is one, but Ryan Hollins is better. If Dallas is able to make something out of the Shawne Williams/Greg Buckner/whatever else package, then maybe Jawai has a chance. But if not, maybe Colangelo can get his boy back.

- Demetris Nichols: Nichols was a member of the Bulls for over a year and $750,000, and in that time he did precisely zip. After that, he went to the D-League, and averaged 21 points per game for the Idaho Stampede, before getting a call-up to the team that so raved about him for a bit, the Knicks. Nothing happened, and after a workout for the Indiana Pacers, this is where he's ended up. The Raptors probably don't have a roster spot for him, unless they do the right thing and put Devean George to sleep.

- Patrick O'Bryant: The Raptors just agreed to bring back Rasho Nesterovic, and that's a bloody good thing. Had they not, Patrick O'Bryant would have been next year's backup centre. And that's not helping anybody. Three years in now, and O'Bryant still hasn't gotten anywhere. He still fouls at an alarming rate, is increasingly sure of his own jumpshot (which, admittedly, is getting better), is no stronger than before and is still mistake ridden. He could use a dose of Smush Parker's swag, more than anything.

- Smush Parker: Question: Does Smush Parker still largely chug ball? Answer: yep. Parker split last year between the D-League and China, and it's the same old story. Plenty of athleticism and a decent scorer, but no defense, no lead guard abilities, criminal recklessness and too much swagger. Here's a fun fact, though; Smush Parker and Tony Parker both really have the first name "William." Good trivia. Write it down.

- Brent Petway: Brent Petway dunks, raps, plays defense and Tweets. Be sure to holla at ya boi.

- Shawn Taggart: Taggart was brought in late as Jawai's replacement. He decided to forego his senior season this year due to the vague possibility of him getting drafted. He may have had a case, since Robert Dozier got drafted (albeit with the last pick), and it's not like there's much between them. But it didn't happen, and so now Taggart is on the outside, looking in, where he'll probably always be. If things go badly, he'll always have his long running detective series to fall back on.

- Roko Ukic: In the interest of speeding these things up a bit, yet also due to the powerful validity of the statement, I would like to sum up the life and times of Roko Ukic with the following quickfire repartee: Roko Ukic sucks. That is all.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 40

- Let's start this off with a bang; I have absolutely nothing to report on Wesley Person. Nothing whatsoever.

- Continuing that sizzling opener, Brent Petway is in the D-League, averaging 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots a game for the Idaho Stampede. Strangely, those numbers were somehow enough to make him a D-League All Star, and you can see the boxscore for the D-League All Star game here. (That minutes distribution is first class. I'd love to know what Richard Hendrix did to merit those extra 5 seconds.) Petway also lost his D-League Slam Dunk Champion title to James White, so it's not been a good fortnight for him.

- The last I heard about Eric Piatkowski came in the summertime, when an article talked about he was staying in shape and waiting for the phone to ring. I'm guessing it hasn't rung.

- Tim Pickett has had a busy year, starting in the Italian Serie A with Rieti, but leaving before the season began. He then moved to Bulgaria with Lukoil Akademik, and averaged 17.9 points and 3.9 rebounds in Eurocup play for them. Unfortunately, he was a victim of their sweeping cull of international players midway through the season, one which also brought about the demise of Kehnide Adeleke and Kevin Kroogs. Pickett has since signed in China, with Shanxi Zhongyu, as the replacement for Bonzi Wells. By now, you should know what it means when somebody signs in China, and by God you won't be disappointed here either - Pickett currently averages 39.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 3.2 assists per game. OK, so the assists numbers are a tad low, but he's averaging 40ppg for Shade Sheist's sake. Who the hell should he be passing to?

- Kevinn Pinkney is with NGC Cantu in Serie A, averaging 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. Foolishly, though, he continues to insist upon his own three point shot, and is shooting only 29.8% on the year from three point range, while shooting 47 three's to 125 two's. This is a trend with Pinkney, who as far as I can tell has only shot above 30% from three point range once in his entire basketball career, that being last year when he shot 33% for Angellico Biella. (That 50% success in his NBA stint doesn't count. Two shots doth not a sample sizeth make.)

- Danilo "J.R." Pinnock is playing for a team in the Italian second division, whose name as far as I can tell is "Pallacanestro Seven 2007 Roseto 1946". Catchy. Here's Google Translate with the rest of the J.R. Pinnock news:

Last external quintet is the American Danilo Pinnock Jr. Player of talent and high technology, is not exactly a guarantee in terms of choices and application. His performance was influenced heavily discontinuous season biancoazzurri. 16.7 points and 4.5 rebounds for the media to him.

All good information.


- You've probably heard the story about Kevin "Ca$h Money" Pittsnogle that has recently done the rounds. But if you haven't, here it is. Also, if you haven't seen what he wore to his wedding, here's that too.

- Trent Plaisted, second round draft pick owned by the Pistons, is signed with Angellico Biella in Italy. He has not played since October, though, due to back troubles. Plaisted totalled 10 points, 4 rebounds and 8 fouls in the two games that he managed to play in.

- Zoran Planinic never fitted in the NBA, but is now a fine backup point guard for CSKA Moscow, averaging 8.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in Russian league play, alongside 8.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the Euroleague.

- Question: is Pavel Podkolzin good yet? Answer: nope. Pavel is playing for Sibirtelekom-Lokomotiv Novosybirsk, a team in the Russian second division, and if you can make sense of this jizz then you can see what he averages. He's number 23, and as far as I can tell, he averages 7.2 points and 4 rebounds. In the Russian second division. Hmmm. Lots of people do that, and none of them get drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. That turn-of-the-century European influx got a bit overzealous, didn't it?

- Finally, Scot Pollard is sitting around looking at the phone with Eric Piatkowski.

Also, if you missed it, these last ten days or so were a minefield for arrests of past and present NBA players. Firstly, Nets big man Sean Williams was arrested for trespassing, after violating a restraining order and returning to the Boston College campus, the school that he was previously kicked out of. Suns guard Jason Richardson was then arrested for doing 90mph in a 35mph zone, while also having his three year old son in the back of the car not in a proper child safety seat. Then Celtics guard Gabe Pruitt was arrested for DUI after driving around Hollywood at 3am while tanked up after a loss to the Clippers. Former Bulls and Bucks forward Tommy Smith was then arrested for kidnapping and assault after punching his girlfriend and breaking her nose after leaving a party. (Not sure where the kidnapping came into it.) And then most impressively of all, NBA journeyman Damone Brown was arrested on Thursday as a part of an FBI operation to bring down an entire drug trafficking ring. Brown was charged with money laundering, after supposedly leasing out the safety deposit box tha a local drug kingpin was using to stash his proceeds in. Unsurprisingly, Brown was then kicked off of his D-League team, the Reno Bighorns. (Giggidy.)

Good times.

Where Are They Now? Part 29

Gary Payton says he's done. I hope he's right.

Anthony Peeler played briefly in Spain after his NBA career ended, but that was three years ago now.

Ben Pepper is in his native Australia, playing for the Townsville Crocodiles. I am not sure that he's ever left Australia in the 9 years since he was drafted.

Wesley Person is D-U-N done.

Brent Petway is playing for the Idaho Stampede of the D-League, where he averages 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks a game.

Tim Pickett averages a whopping 21.2 points and 5.1 rebounds for a not partciularly good Italian team called Aget Imola.

Kevinn Pinkney is playing for Angelica Biella in Italy. If you've been paying really close attention and have a fantastic memory, you will remember that others plays for that team include Keith Langford, Brandon Hunter and B.J. Elder. So, something for everybody there. Pinkney averages roughly 13 points and 7 rebounds a game, while he also remains unable to spell his own name.

J.R. Pinnock averages just less than 15 points and 4 fouls a game (not a typo) for Kolossus in Greece, alongside Curtis Stinson, also known as "50 Cent".

Kevin Pittsnogle is playing for the Albuquerque Thudnerbirds of the D-League, for whom he averages 15.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. But, more importantly, this is what Kevin Pittsnogle wore to his own wedding. This is the kind of information that you need to know. It also bears mentioning that someone out there is now know as Mrs Pittsnogle.

Zoran Planinic is in his second year playing for Tau Vitoria in Spain. He averages 10.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists a game.

Pavel Podkolzin, who you could flatteringly describe as "a mis-step", is back in Russia playing alongside Lee Nailon for Lokomotiv Novosybirsk. I have no dull stats here, so just assume he's still crap.

Olden Polynice seems to have finally accepted that retirement is the best move for his 44 year old arse.