Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 32

- Erazem Lorbek's weird route to the NBA continues with CSKA Moscow. Lorbek is averaging 10.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in only 17 minutes per game in the Russian league, alongside 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 21mpg in the Euroleague. Lorbek is shooting 46/65 combined from the free throw line, for an average of 71%, which shows that he's working on his flaws. He's also a combined 7-14 from three point range, which is a welcome bonus.

- John Lucas III began the season with the Thunder, and actually made the team out of training camp. However, he was waived after about a week so that the team could bring in Steven Hill, unhappy as they were with their other 9 big men. Lucas hasn't signed anywhere since, and didn't get into any games with the Thunder either, thus taking his points total for the year to 0. However, the Rockets are still paying him, and he hasn't been there for donkey's years. So life isn't too bad.

- Kevin Lyde could only be in one place right now, and that place is Estonia. For the seminal starlets known as BC Kalev/Cramo Tallinn, Lyde averaged 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 38% FT in the EuroChallenge, as well as averaging 12.9 pppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.4 bpg in the Baltic League. But the parties must be freakin' wild. (I'm not kidding, either. Tallinn is THE new place for stag weekends, and all manner of holiday debauchery. Naturally, I've never been.)

- George Lynch is currently working for Southern Methodist University in some capacity, as an advisor or something. However, right now, he could feasibly be starting for the Hornets.

- Speaking of former Hornets, they could perhaps use Arvydas Macijauskas back there right now. And they could probably have him, too. Macijauskas is technically a member of the Olympiakos roster, but he hasn't played all season, and he's not about to either. It's hard for me to fully understand what is going on, since I have to rely on crudely translated web pages, but as far as I can tell Macijauskas has been out for three months with a broken foot, sustained while training in Lithuania. However, Olympiakos is trying to have his contract terminated (and all the money he is signed for next season invalidated), claiming that Macijauskas's injury was caused while he was playing silly bugger with his friends. Macijauskas is now healthy to play, and has been practicing with Prokom in Poland while waiting for the Greek courts to rule on his outcome, one which hasn't been decided yet, as far as I know. Tau Ceramica and Lottomatica Roma are both interested in signing him once he becomes available.

- Jonas Maciulis is with Zalgiris Kaunas, as ever, staying with the team he's spent most of his life with in spite of their financial problems. Maciulis averages 13.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the Lithuanian league, as well as 13.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Baltic League and 14/5/2 in the Euroleague. This willingness to stay is being tested, however; Maciulis vowed to stay until the end of the season, despite not being paid for two months, but now powerhouse Spanish team Valencia has come in for his services. Zalgiris are demanding 500,000 Euros in a buyout, but Valencia are offering only half of it. If Zalgiris are as broke as it appears they are, then they'll have to take it anyway.

- Tito Maddox still hasn't played for five and a half years. The last time we had heard from him was in May 2008, in a story about the O.J. Mayo booster scandal; Maddox revealed that he had had surgery for a brain tumour, was living extremely modestly with his wife and childre, and gave no direct statement as to whether basketball would be on the cards for him ever again. Nearly one year on, and still no comeback is underway.

- Renaldo Major is another Fresno State player who has had a tough go of it of late, as seems to be the unintentional theme of this list. Major missed all of last season recovering from open heart surgery. However, he's now back to full fitness, and back in the D-League with his old team, the Dakota Wizards, for whom he averages 17.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Yay! Happy cadence!

- Jackie Manuel is also in the D-League, and he still can't score. In 36 mpg with the expansion Erie BayHawks, Manuel averages 8.5 points and 7.1 rebounds a game, along with 3.9 fouls, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks.

- Aleks Maric went undrafted out of Nebraska, played for 45 teams in summer league, didn't get a training camp spot, and so pissed off to Europe. Maric averages 5.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12 minutes a game while backing up Curtis Borchardt for CB Granada in Spain.

- For Damir Markota news, click this. For his stats, read this: 4.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg in two Eurocup games, 5.8 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 5 Spanish league games.

- Finally, if you missed the previous Rawle Marshall update, then check dis. Since that time, Marshall has been released by Cibona and signed with Lokomotiv Rostov in Russia, where he averages 21.5 points per game in the Russian league. Not a bad alternative, really.

Let Me Drago Pasalic You Up And Down

In keeping with my new policy of talking about every game that I watch that isn't an NBA game, here's what I observed from last night's Eurocup game between Iurbentia Bilbao and the home Lithuanian team with a Yorkshire inflection, Lietuvos Rytas. Go.

- Bilbao's lineup features only three Spanish nationals; point guard Javier Salgado, backup guard Paco Vazquez, and a really slow inside player with a massive head and greasy mullet called Salvador Guardia. The rest of the team was made up of foreign players, and it was pretty stacked; former, future and potentially future NBA talent on show included former Bucks forward and avid partygoer Damir Markota, former Jazz and Timberwolves swingman Quincy Lewis, former Heat tryerouter Luke Recker, former Chicago Bulls summer league participant Drago Pasalic, Mavericks second rounder Renaldas Seibutis, former Nuggets guard Predrag Savovic, the man the legend known as Frederic Weis (who did not play), Latvian international guard Janis Blums, and Croatian international big man Marko Banic.

- Lietuvos, meanwhile, had only two players that weren't Lithuanian - former South Carolina point forward Chuck Eidson, and Serbian big man Milko Bjelica, whose name sounds more like a lovely pudding. The rest of the team was made out of old clunky Lithuanians. (Eidson was awesome, by the way, and easily the best player in the game, despite all the talent and internationals on the court. But we'll come to this later.)

- For Bucks fans who fancy a cheap laugh at the expense of Damir Markota, I've got good news - he was pretty awful. Markota came off the bench in the first half, and did nothing at all, but for some reason he started the second half in place of Pasalic. He then proceeded to get involved on every possession, and normally in a bad way. On his team's first trip down the court, Markota took a contested NBA range three pointer with about 7 seconds gone in the half. It missed. On the next possession, Markota was stripped by Donatas Zavackas while standing at the top of the arc, leading to a Zavackas one-on-none breakaway layup. And it was a one-on-none breakaway layup because Markota decided not to bother chasing him. Over the next few possessions, Markota grabbed a good offensive rebound before missing the 4 inch putback, took another 27 foot three (which also missed), shouted at the refs, threw a terrible pass into the corner which Javier Salgado somehow caught and turned into a circus three, and was then subbed out for Pasalic. He later returned, and played most of the second half, grabbing several rebounds, but remained very out of the game on offense. He also spent the entire game with a huge wedge of cotton in his left ear, that was in keeping with the Bilbao team's desire to wear stupid apparel; Luke Recker wore black knee high socks and a full beard, which made him look a bit like a lumberjack battling with his repressed homosexuality, and Quincy Lewis wore a bizarre sky blue full length lycra elbow support thing that could conceivably have come from a fetish website. It was all a bit odd.

- Speaking of Recker and Lewis, they kind of sucked a bit. Recker was never in the game in the first half, turning down good shots and taking bad ones, while supposedly in there as a speciality shooter. He improved in the second half, working his way around screens (mainly from Guardia) for open looks, and playing decent help defense. And Lewis was extremely quiet, barely taking any shots or touching the ball on offense. Bilbao got very little offense from the wing positions in general, as no one other than Spanish national point guard Javier Salgado was able to get into the lane. The other primary ball handlers that Bilbao used - Janis Blums and Paco Vazquez - were completely taken out of the game by an unrelenting Rytas defense that denied almost all penetration and took away the passing lanes. Seibutis was the only other guy to get to the rim, and he did this precisely twice. Bilbao's offense was predominantly featured around Banic, who demonstrated good moves and good touch around the rim, using head fakes and spin moves to get himself open shots. However, at 6'9 and 230, with no athleticism to speak of, and no apparent interest in defense or rebounding, Banic looked like what he was (a decent player in high level European competition, going up against similarly clunky continentals with receding hairlines) and not what I'm really looking for (possible NBA players). And for those Bulls fans wondering....yes, Drago Pasalic's jumpshot is still absolutely mint. He showed a nice hook shot, too, and he's also grown his hair out. But he still sets the softest screens in showbiz.

- Lietuvos were basically all about Chuck Eidson. Technically playing the small forward, Eidson took most of the lead guard duties, and made about 12 great passes to only 1 crap one. He was easily the best passer on the court, and he was probably the best shooter too, albeit with a bizarre and anomolous 2-7 night from the free throw line. Eidson's weaknesses were quickly self evident - he has almost no right handed dribble, carrying the ball on one of his two attempts to go right and getting blocked on the other, and he wasn't fast or athletic for a 6'7 player. But he was very skilled, with ball handling that belies his height, a jumpshot that looked smooth both off the dribble and off a curl, plus them's there quality passing skills. He reminded me of Lamar Odom, if Lamar Odom couldn't rebound or play defense, and if he wasn't athletic. And if he was 4 inches shorter. And if he could shoot. And if he wasn't actualyl Lamar Odom. (Basically, the likeness started and ended with them being left handed. Maybe Kasib Powell would be a better comparison. Or Luke Jackson. Or maybe no comparison at all would be a good comparison.)

- A non-name dropping name drop coming up - I once had a conversation with an NBA general manager about the future of the Lithuanian national team. We agreed that there wasn't one. With that in mind, I paid particular attention to the Lithuanian players that Rytas has on show (as well as Bilbao's Litho, Seibutis). Most of them were over or dangerously close to 30 years of age, and the only three who weren't that played (Arturas Jomantas, Steponas Babrauskas, Justas Sinica) were three of the four players used off of the bench, along with Milko Bjelica. Bjelica, a 24 year old centre, showed little. Sinica, a skinny 6'8 23 year old forward, was largely docile, and took only three shots, all three pointers with a very slow release, making one. Babrauskas didn't look to be the 6'5 that the packaging suggested, but he displayed a decent jumpshot, albeit while playing exclusively off the ball. The one who showed promise, though, was Jomantas; a 6'7 swingman, Jomantas looked pretty fluid with the ball, and made two open three pointers (albeit while missing two others really badly). His ball pressure was good, and his help defense on inbounds plays or when trapping Paco Vazquez on the pick and roll was consistently effective. His work rate was good (as it was for all players, even Markota; they truly cared), and he fought for rebounds that weren't rightly his. Jomantas was, however, a bit slow. Seibutis, meanwhile, played almost exclusively off the ball as the two guard, which seems far more sensible of a position for him than the point guard he is occasionally confused into being. What few shots he took were good looks that he made smoothly, and he looked quicker than I remember. A massive red flag, however, was his defense - often charged with the matchup on Chuck Eidson, Sighbooties barely obscured Eidson's path to the rim, and could never seem to make Chuck drive right, as he so badly needed to do.

That is all I've got. There was another Eurocup game on, featuring Khimky versus Dynamo Moscow. But while I did watch it, I was busy priming a rifle, with which to then shoot myself in the head. That's how bad the commentary was. I'd explain further, but I daren't.

Rytas won, by the way, by a score of 73 to 71. You can find the box score here.

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 23

Felipe Lopez is seemingly back in the Dominican Republic, although I'm not sure if he's playing any more. Other than second base for the Nationals, obviously. (Ho ho ho. That was so funny.)

Erazem Lorbek is playing for Lomattica Roma in Italy, where his teammates include Allan Ray, Roko Ukic, Gregor Fucka (again, just wanted to type it), and former emo Mavs guard Jon Stefansson. Erazem erases 'em all, averaging nearly 14 points and 6 rebounds. That pun was so crap that Charley Rosen should have written it.

John Lucas III was signed by Benetton Treviso (also of Italy) back in January, but I don't know if he's still there. I don't think he is. He averaged 7 points and 1 assist in his time there.

Kevin Lyde is back with the Dakota Wizards of the D-League, where he averages 12.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 blocks a game.

George Lynch is missing, presumed alive.

Arvydas Macijauskas went back to Europe, to people more suited to his personality and abilities (i.e. other Europeans). Playing for Olympiakos in Greece, Macijauskas averages 13.8 points and 3.2 assists, on a powerhouse of NBA has-beens (Qyntel Woods, Lynn Greer, Jake Tsakalidis) and NBA never-will-bes (Giorgos Printezis, Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Reinaldas Seibutis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis). This entry took more spell-checking than the rest combined. I wish Marc Jackson was still there. I can spell that name, even if he can't.

Jonas Maciulis was not drafted, and so he never left Zalgiris Kaunas in his native Lithuania, for whome he averages 10.6 points and 2.5 rebounds.

Tito Maddox has not played since he was waived by the Cavaliers, a fact made bizarre by the fact that he was waived on October 12th, 2003, at the tender age of 22. And unlike many players on this list, Maddox actually has NBA experience. So it's hard to explain where he's disappeared to, unless he is:

a) quietly dead
b) crippled
c) incarcerated
d) really, really disinterested in basketball.

If you know the answer, please comment below, because I want to to know too. (Hint: Myspace is a surprisingly successful way to find out information like this.)


Renaldo Major (can you believe there's more than one NBA player called Renaldo? What are the chances of that?), signed with Tissetanta Cantu of Italy to start the season, but left before the first game. Not sure whether it was injury or apathy induced.

Jackie Manuel played for the Iowa Energy of the D-League before their season finished, alongside many other players who also played for the Iowa Energy. But he was waived due to injury. Manuel averaged 10.8 points and 3.5 rebounds.

Damir Markota hunkers down with Jonas Maciulis above, for Zalgrinis. Markota averages 13 points and 6.8 rebounds a game.

Rawle Marshall is playing for Hemofarm in Serbia. No idea of his stats.

The Damir Markota experience

In 2006, San Antonio drafted the radiant Damir Markota 59th overall. It was a pick that, to the uninformed such as myself, just oozed of being another one of those late second rounders foreigners that the Spurs draft with no intention of signing them for a while, following in the footsteps of Sergei Karaulov, "Jive Talking" Robertas Javtokas, Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Viktor Sanikidze (sorta) before them. It's a hit-and-miss process, with a disproportinate amount of hits when compared to the rest of the league. And besides, is it possible to miss with the 59th pick in the draft?

(Well, yes, but we'll come to that.)

Larry Harris, General Manager of the similarly adept Milwaukee Bucks - and by "similarly adept", I mean "completely incomparable" - decided to find out, trading his teams 2007 second rounder to San Antonio for Markota's rights, and then brought in Damir straight away on a three year contract.

Markota, in turn, decided to blow massive chunks of ass for the entire season, and show that far from being a poor man's Toni Kukoc, he was more like a tramp's version of Robert Archibald.

Showing little to no ability at any facet of the game of basketball, Markota spent a helluva lot of time sitting on the bench. Even when his team became riddled with a spate of injuries, severe enough to make them pull the plug on the season and subtlely (or not) attempt to lose out, Damir still did not see much of the court, because he was not very good. And when he did see the court, he didn't stay on it long, due to the terminal double whammy of being both rather shit at basketball, and having a bit of a minor foul problem (which would have been far worse had he played any defense whatsoever).

Seemingly, this rubbed Damir the wrong way. Per this DraftExpress article, Markota voiced his displeasure at the time, his role on it, and how they had forced him to hitting the bottle hard to drown his sorrows:

' "If I had a chance to play, I would not go to the night clubs. In some way it was the team’s fault. When you know that you’re not getting any playing time, you’re not motivated. One or two nights out won't hurt…There is no pressure, nobody is harsh on you if you lose the game, if you play bad. You’re still getting the money. There is no pressure from fans. Hopefully I’ll play more next season. No more fooling around." '

A week later, Markota was waived, while still being owed some guaranteed money and with Milwaukee in no roster spot crunch. Whoops!

Due to the previously mentioned tank job Milwaukee pulled last season, the second rounder that they gave away finished up as being pick number 33. So San Antonio managed to turn a number 59 pick in a weak draft - and the subsequent awful player - into a number 33 pick in a far stronger draft. And that seems like a pretty good piece of business from a team that quite often makes pretty good pieces of business. Whether they used that number 33 pick correctly is another matter, but time will tell. Maybe they could trade it to Milwaukee again.

Personally, I've got to say that I enjoyed every minute of it of the Damir Markota experiment. Milwaukee fans could - nay, they should - disagree with that sentiment, but it's great fun for the neutral when things go amusingly badly.

I will now stop putting down the Bucks. Promise. Well, for a bit at least.