Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 28

One final Mengke Bateer note - while I called him Mongolian earlier, he's actually from Inner Mongolia, which is considered part of China, in much the same way Vermont is considered part of the USA. I didn't realise that there was a difference between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, but there is, and so I will bring that difference to you now.

And for some old dudes.


- Penny Hardaway

Hardaway last played in December 2007 with the Miami Heat. Finding anything that he's done since then has not been easy. His website is just a shade out of date, and if he has business interests then I don't know what they are. What we know for sure is that two years ago he gave a million dollars to the University of Memphis two years ago, because John Calipari has a way of making things like that happen.



- DeVon Hardin

Thunder draft pick Hardin played in Greece last year, but now he's back where they can keep an eye on him. Hardin is with the Thunder's D-League affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers, but he's not doing very well there. In 27 games with 20 starts and 20.5 minutes per game, Hardin is averaging only 5.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, with 155 points on 122 shots and a foul every 8 minutes. It should be somewhat simple for an NBA calibre big man to put up near-double double stats in the D-League; even Chris Richard managed to do it, when his 9/8 for the 66ers was deemed sufficient to be signed three times by the Chicago Bulls. But Hardin hasn't done it, nor has he come close to it. His minutes have affected somewhat by the Thunder's assortment of assigned players, including big men D.J. White and B.J. Mullens at various times. Yet it's not really an excuse.



- Matt Harpring

Harpring was a member of the Thunder's roster until just after the trade deadline, when the Thunder quietly waived him. Before that time, Harpring was doing TV work for the Utah Jazz; after that time, he still is.

Dallas' deadline deal for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood was proof, to an extent, of what I said at the time about the deal that first brought Harpring and Eric Maynor to Oklahoma City. Had OKC held on to that cap space longer, I believe they could have gotten more for it; by offering some long term salary relief (which OKC could do), as well as short term salary relief (which OKC could do even better than Dallas), OKC could have received the package that Dallas did instead. The Thunder are already very good, but put Brendan Haywood on this team, and they become amongst the West's very best. This was doable. And so while Maynor is a nice player for them, I still think it was premature, and a misappropriation of their unrivalled resources. (Of course, this can never be proven. But the Dallas deal suggests it was the case.)

Also, by not getting under the luxury tax despite trimming so much salary, Utah fails. Close, but close wasn't enough. Since it's the kind of thing I like to wonder about, I wonder if there were avenues available to them to do so that they just deemed to be too far. For example, OKC and Presti were the ones who gave C.J. Miles that contract in the first place; is there no conceivable way in which Utah could have palmed him off there, even if it's only for Kyle Weaver? Just thinking out loud here. Maybe they decided dumping three rotation players just to save money was too much to justify. But whatever the reason they had for not getting under the tax - be it by choice, or because they couldn't get it done - Utah know that it's possible to dump a good player on an average salary and pick up a comparable player for the minimum. They know this because they've done it, and so if they could have done it one more time with this Miles to OKC deal, then perhaps they should have.

The counter argument to that says that, if C.J. Miles is so readily replaceable with a cheaper player, then OKC could just pick up the cheaper player instead should they need to. That counter argument makes a valid point. And so perhaps that answers my own question as to the viability of a Miles-to-OKC deal. (The fact that the Thunder have acquired Thabo Sefolosha and James Harden since that offer sheet was signed is also not insiginificant. Oklahoma City no longer have a place for Miles.)

But the larger, general point remains. You see it a lot, when D-League players come in and contribute at least 85% of what the multi-year veteran they're replacing can give, to a watching audience shocked by their competence. This happens every year, and this year has been no different, with players such as Sundiata Gaines, Reggie Williams, Anthony Tolliver, Chris Hunter and others readily contributing to NBA teams. Utah themselves kind of did this when they brought in Wesley Matthews in the offseason, a man so beautifully average that he made Ronnie Brewer expendable. About 40 or so NBA rotation players are entirely replaceable by players outside of the NBA, who would be deemed to have NBA talent had they had the opportunity/fortune of those in front of them. This is particularly the case with wing players, but also applies to all positions, and it's not just something that's been the case since the D-League existed. For example, for all these years Calvin Booth has been bringing in paychecks and signing multi-year contracts, how much worse than him has Zendon Hamilton been? Pretty much no worse at all, really. But Booth had opportunity and fortune, and Hamilton did not. So Hamilton grafted for whatever money and employment he could get, while Booth got much more money than his play merited and a prolonged career based off one timely summer. It's somewhat unfair, but it's just how it is. (And despite how it may appear, that's not meant pejoratively towards Booth. Take what you can get, Calvin, and God bless you for that.)

The NBA prefers familiarity, and familiarity breeds the opposite of contempt. Some players get more than they deserve, while their comparable peers run up the air miles just trying to find the right situation. There is nothing especially wrong or flawed about this circumstance, and it sure as hell applies to all works of life in some way. Yet it perhaps should be less of a surprise when a D-Leaguer or undrafted free agent is brought in and is able to be a consistent distributor in an NBA rotation. It's normal, it's sensible, and it's worth considering when you start giving average players MLE money. Any team that does its homework can find minimum salary talent. Utah are one such team - they've since done it again with Othyus Jeffers - and it's a shame they didn't have one more left in the gun.



- Adam Harrington

Every year, I mean to keep a list of players who were bought out of their D-League contracts midseason to go and play somewhere else around the world. And every year, I forget. I do keep a list of NBA call-ups and assignments, but that's not the same thing. I'm talking about moves such as Carlos Powell to Liaoning, Courtney Sims to Puerto Rico, Zabian Dowdell to Unicaja Malaga, etc. But I never remember.

One such move that was entirely overlooked was that of Adam Harrington, who started the season with the Springfield Armor before being bought and moving to Poland to join SKK Kotwica Kolobrzeg. (The very same.) Harrington averaged 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds for the Armor, compared to 11.2 points and 2.0 rebounds for Kolobrzeg.



- Lorinza "Junior" Harrington

Junior Harrington is also in Poland, playing for Asseco Prokom Gdynia. Gdynia are still in the Euroleague, preparing for a quarter final matchup against the mighty Olympiakos. So despite how much they've achieved just to get this far, they're in trouble now. Harrington is a small part of this run, averaging 3.5 points and 1.7 assists in the Polish league, alongside 1.8ppg, 1.4apg and 1.3 spg in the Euroleague.



- Othella "Senior" Harrington

Othella played 3 games in the D-League last year, after taking a long time to recover from knee surgery. He did not play very well in them, yet they were his only games all season. And this year, Othella has played 3 fewer games than that. He tried out for a spot with Petrochimi in Iran back in December, but did not make the team. He remains unsigned.



- Lucious Harris

After many years of trying, we might have found something.



- Mike Harris

Harris has had three stints in the NBA this year. He started with the Thunder, with whom he signed for training camp before being waived in favour of Ryan Bowen, and later returned to the Rockets for a couple of weeks, for whom he appeared in 2 games. Later on came a ten day contract with the Wizards, for whom he played 13 minutes and scored 4 points. And in between those gigs has been the D-League, where Harris once again finds himself. For the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Harris is averaging 27.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, leading the league in scoring and ranking third in rebounds per game.



- Paul Harris

Syracuse grad Harris started the season in training camp with the Utah Jazz, but that earlier rant should give you an inclination of how that worked out. Harris got injured in camp and never appeared in a preseason game, and even though he was later taken 8th overall in the 2009 D-League Draft by the Maine Red Claws, he hasn't played in the D-League this season either due to the injury. Harris declared after his junior year, and could be on the number 1 ranked Orange right now, but as it is, he sits unsigned in the D-League player pool rehabbing an ankle injury. This isn't the ideal way to start a professional career, but bad luck can't be helped.

Paul Harris looks pretty freaking similar to Mike Harris in that picture, does he not?



- Terrel Harris

As described here, Harris started the year in France, but it didn't go too well. Upon being released, he returned to America and joined the D-League, being acquired by the Maine Red Claws. In inconsistent playing time over a few months, Harris has averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, yet shot only 32% from three point range.



Finally....

- David Harrison

Harrison was covered in the 2010 CBA Season Round-up from last week. The CBA regular season just finished, and Guandong won with a 30-2 record. Seasons are finishing and yet I'm only up to H in the alphabet. Eep.

Summer league round-up: Oklahoma City Thunder

Sorry about the lack of stuff being done. I've not been well. Summer league has actually finished now, and yet I still haven't finished these round-ups. I've also barely watched any summer league myself, getting only as far as the end of the first quarter of game three. (BTW; Ben McCauley = shot maker.) Nevertheless, I'll finish these things up anyway, if only for personal use and a mild sense of fulfilment.

View the Thunder summer league roster.

- DeAngelo Alexander: Last year, DeAngelo Alexander averaged 6.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in the German league, shooting 16% from three. Before that, he was in Romania. I don't think you'll need any more than this. If he does something significant one day, we'll come back to it.

- Marcus Dove: Dove is a former four year player at Oklahoma State, who went undrafted in 2008 and buggered off to Belgium. There, he averaged 10.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shooting 7.7% from three point range and 56% from the foul line. Dove is an unashamed defensive specialist, but you can't be a complete non-factor on offense and still make it as a small forward in the NBA. Not unless you're RyBo.

- Tony Durant: The "relations of stars who got summer league spots because their star cousin/brother/uncle asked the team to bering them along" list gets a new addition. It's a great list, that over the years has featured William Pippen (Scottie's nephew), Joel Bosh (Chris's brother), John Millsap (Paul's brother), Zach Marbury (Stephon's brother), Daniel Artest (Ron's brother), Romeo Travis (LeBron James's toyboy) and Rodney Billups (Chauncey's brother). The common theme with these players is that they have absolutely no NBA calibre resumé outside of that, and Tony Durant is no different. Last year for Towson, he averaged 3.4 points and 2.0 rebounds. Towson is not a big school, in a not big conference, and those are not big numbers. At all. But the bloodline is enough.

Speaking of Joel Bosh, here's Joel Bosh being awkward.



- Moses Ehambe: Ehambe was in the D-League last year, functioning as a three point specialist for the Tulsa 66ers. He averaged 10.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 18 minutes per game, shooting 41% from both the field and the three point line. Here's a story.



Looks a bit like Kevin Garnett, no? Only a bit less intense. Obviously he's less intense. No one is more intense than Kevin Garnett. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself. Ohhhh, he'll be sure to tell you. The big silly highly intense goose.

- James Harden (giggidy): Earlier, I compared James Harden to John Salmons. I just want to reaffirm here that I mean the 17ppg version of John Salmons, not the highly awkward version of Salmons from his Philadelphia days. And hopefully Harden is a bit less awkward that Salmons is.

- DeVon Hardin (giggidy): Harden played in only 11 games last year due to injury, averaging 6.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for Egaleo in Greece. The 1.5 blocks was enough to lead the Greek league, though, which says more about how Greek centres play than it does about DeVon Hardin. Given that Hardin and Harden are now owned by the same team, you can probably see where my childish mind is going with this; I am now openly campaigning the Oklahoma City Thunder to draft Erik Harder from Groene, Ayron Hardy from Jacksonville and Dick Hardman from Arkansas-Little Rock. Yes, I spent a very long time looking those up.

- Kyle Hines: Kyle Hines puts up numbers wherever he goes, and last year was no different. Last year, for Prima Veroli in Italy's LegaDue, Hines averaged 16.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per game. While it is admittedly only the Italian second division, those are huge defensive numbers. Prima Veroli also won promotion to Serie A on the back of Hines' play, and he has re-signed with the team for next season. So now he'll be taking his game to a big stage. We'll see how it translates.

- Serge Ibaka: Ibaka has already signed with the team for next season, after turning himself into hot property (not hot garbage) in Spain last year. He didn't play huge minutes last year, but he did play well in them, averaging 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in only 16 minutes per game for Ricoh Manresa in the ACB. 19 year olds barely see any playing time in the ACB unless they're really good, so bear that in mind. Here's a picture of Ibaka's naked torso for the ladies and/or homosexuals out there:



- Shaun Livingston: Earl Watson has been waived, and Chucky Atkins soon will be, so it's looking good here for Shaun Livingston to win a roster spot. He looks to be properly healthy now, if no better than he was pre-injuries (which is to be expected)

- Keith McLeod: Keith McLeod hasn't been in the NBA at all for the last two years, after managing to stick around for the previous 4. Dallas almost ruined that by signing him strangely early last July, but McLeod never made it out of training camp, and we were spared once again. Instead, he spent the season in the D-League, scoring 14 points per game on 40% shooting along with 4.4 assists for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. He'll also be 30 in November. It's hard to fathom that this man was a 23ppg scorer in college.

- B.J. Mullens (giggidy): In keeping with a fine tradition of players who changed their names once making their big time, through fear of their former name being a perceived as childish (a list that off the top of my head consists only of Jamie Shields), B.J. Mullens wants to be known as Byron from now on. Fine. Whatever. Nick Collison's contract expires next summer, and Nenad Krstic's contract the summer after that; in theory, as those two move on to pastures anew, Mullens' role will grow accordingly. But in practice, he might suck too much.

- Richard Roby (.....giggidy?): Roby wasn't drafted in the 2008 draft, despite averaging 17/7 in his senior season as a wingman. He spent last year in Israel, averaging 9.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in the Israeli league for Bnei Hasharon. He shot only 30% from three point range, though, so his inconsistent shooting is still a concern.

- Doug Thomas: Thomas is a weird one. He's never done a damn thing; he was a bench player for two years at Iowa, he's played in Switzerland, he's not got NBA size, he's not especially skilled, and he spent last year in Sweden of all places. And even then he couldn't average 10 points per game The only thing vaguely of note in his career was a 10/6 season with the Iowa Energy back in 2007/08. Yet somehow, the 25 year old Thomas keeps getting NBA looks, even signing with the Suns once. I guess athleticism is enough.

- Robert Vaden: As alluded to here and here, my opinions of Robert Vaden aren't very well rounded.

- Kyle Weaver: Towards the end of last season, Weaver had finally beaten out Damien Wilkins for shooting guard minutes. And it's about time somebody did. Weaver's all around game is a bit unconventional, focused on defense and passing first, but he almost managed to show more of a jumpshot that I think we all expected, shooting 34% from three point range. Not great, but not a bad start. Weaver is under contract for three more years due to a really weird deal that Sam Presti gave him, so he'll be back to backup Harden.

- Russell Westbrook: Last year, Westbrook led the NBA in turnovers, shot under 40% from the field, and shot under 28% from the three point line. He was pretty much worse than Jay Williams' rookie year, but without the oppressive Bill Cartwright version of the triangle offense to blame it on. Yet everyone will tell you that he was pretty good last year and a lot better than we all thought he was going to be. And they're kind of right.

- D.J. White: White played in only 7 games in his rookie year due to injury. He had surgery to remove a benign growth on his jaw, then had another follow-up surgery to remove another growth that also involved taking a bone graft from his hip. Tough break. When he did play, though, he was good, averaging 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 18 minutes per game, shooting 52% from the field and 77% from the foul line. All things considered, that's a pretty good rookie year.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 22

Many of the following people are called Hamilton. If you don't want to know the result, look away now.

- Brian Hamilton signed with the New Jersey Nets for training camp after playing for their summer league team, which guaranteed him a free trip around Europe. Hamilton didn't make the team, though, and is currently unsigned. By the way, speaking of the Nets summer league team, look how stacked that bad boy was. They could have put together a depth chart of this kind of calibre:

PG - Jamar Butler, Will Conroy, Yuta Tabuse
SG - Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jaycee Carroll, Donell Taylor, Maurice Ager
SF - Julius Hodge, Marcus Slaughter, Brian Hamilton
PF - Ryan Anderson, Anthony Tolliver
C - Brook Lopez, Sean Williams

That team is friggin' stacked, even if it is (as are all summer league teams) a bit short. This wasn't quite how it worked out, as Jamar Butler didn't turn up, Sean Williams started at power forward, and a combination of Conroy and Carroll did most of the point guard work. But, still. In relative terms, that team is heaving. God I love summer league.

- Venson Hamilton is into his fourth season with Real Madrid. However, his playing time has all but disappeared. In the Spanish league, Hamilton averages 1.1 points and 1.8 rebounds in 6.7 minutes a game, slightly raising his scoring average to 1.6 ppg in Euroleague play. On the year, he has 18 points and 21 fouls. The money must be good, because the opportunity isn't.

- Vernon Hamilton was acquired yesterday by the Colorado 14ers of the D-League, where he can backup Eddie Gill at point guard, or replace him should Gill get a call-up. Fun Vernon Hamilton fact: the highest that Vernon Hamilton has ever shot in a single season from the free throw line is the 55.1% that he shot in 2005-06, while still a junior at Clemson. Nice.

- Zendon Hamilton is still going, albeit currently unsigned. The journeyman started the year in Russia with Spartak Primorie Vladivostok - the last placed Russian Superleague team that currently boasts Desmon Farmer amongst its members - but left after four games, totalling 28 points, 20 rebounds and 30% shooting in that time. Zendon Hamilton never got a fair shot in the NBA. Despite numerous try-outs and a career that spanned 6 fractured NBA seasons, Hamilton was better than a lot of the players that he kept losing out to. But because he never had a multi-year contract, he never stuck like he could have. There, I said it.

- Former Suns and Jazz centre Ben Handlotion hasn't played in three years. I seem to remember once finding a source that cited his retirement as being official, but I can't seem to find it again. But since he is 34 and has been out of the game since early 2006, you can probably go ahead and assume it.

- Tyler Hansbrough averages 22.7 points in less than 29 minutes a game for North Carolina. A senior, this is going to be the year that he finally gets drafted, whether he likes it or not. Watch as he plummets down the draft board, as teams pass over his prolific production in light of his lack of size and athleticism. (Note: I'm not saying that they're necessarily wrong for this. Just that it's going to happen. Just like it happened with J.J. Redick. And just like it should have happened with Adam Morrison.)

- Travis Hansen has been a very good swingman in Europe for a while now, and he's still with the Russian team that Jannero Pargo just left. Only just, though; there were strong rumblings of Hansen being signed by Lottomatica Roma. But it didn't happen, and Hansen stays in Russia, where he averages 15.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the Russia Superleague, alongside 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in the Eurocup. Now that Pargo and Hollis Price have left Dynamo, maybe Hansen will start getting paid on time.

- Penny Hardaway is unsigned and still not dead.

- Thunder draft pick DeVon Hardin signed in Turkey to begin the year, but left without playing a game as he was still recovering from injury. Seemingly better now, he signed this month with ESTIA Egaleo in Greece, and scored 7 points with 9 rebounds in his debut last Wednesday.

- Finally, I do do requests, and here are some of them now. Former Sixers centre Efthimios Rentzias retired in August 2006 due to chronic injury problems, aged only 30. In his final season, playing for a team called Forum Filatelico Valladolid (made up of Spanish stamp collectors, presumably), Rentzias averaged 7.8ppg, 4.0rpg and 1.2bpg in 10 games, before being waived due to his injury, and retiring for good a few months later. Former Louisville standout Taquan Dean is in Spain, playing for Polaris World Murcia, who are unfortunately second to last in the ACB. This isn't Dean's fault, as he averages 16.6. points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists while starting at shooting guard, shooting more threes than twos. And another former Louisville Final Four starlet, Juan Palacios, averages an uninspiring 9.2 points and 4.3 rebounds for CB Vic, one of the worst teams in the LEB Gold.

As for the guy who really wants Zoran Planinic information, check this website EVERY DAY, and eventually you'll get lucky.

Summer signings, round 25

Celery! All! Done!

- Andre Owens signed with Red Star Belgrade, which kind of answers my question about whether you'd rather have Horace Jenkins or Alex Scales . The answer is apparently neither. Good answer.

- The Lakers signed Brandon Heath for training camp. Heath did a decent job pretending to be a point guard for the Clippers' summer league team this season, and by "did a decent job", I mean "put up 3 assists and 13 turnovers in 5 games". (For what it's worth, he looked better than those numbers do. Although that's not hard.) They also signed C.J. Giles, taking their training camp roster up to 18 players already, and with an offer to Didier Ilunga-Mbenga still out there. They are also supposedly working out Jelani McCoy, so clearly they're looking for a tall crappy centre. All of this means that there's no room any more for Ira Newble, which we sorta already knew, but which this writer wants to confirm.

- Chris Quinn re-signed with the Miami Heat, and may well be the starter at point guard next year. Since winning the championship, the Heat have publicly pursued everybody, ever. From Mickael Pietrus to Smush Parker to Charlie Bell to Penny Hardaway, the Heat have made a play for everybody that has ever played the game, with almost no success on the free agency front. And now, three years into their search, their starting point guard figures to be Chris effing Quinn. This probably isn't pleasant for Heat fans. (And no offense to Chris Quinn, by the way. It's just that......you know.)

- Darryl Watkins has signed with the San Antonio Spurs for training camp, a move that brings with it no incisive follow-up comment or silly joke.

- The Cavaliers finally re-signed Delonte West to a very fair deal. Worryingly, the Cavaliers have had a pretty good offseason. They've re-signed West and Daniel Gibson for decent value, traded peripheral pap for a starter and scorer in Maurice Williams, made two good draft picks in J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson to reinforce their weakest position, and made a good depth signing with Tarence Kinsey. Of course, they still inexplicably signed Lorenzen Wright (if you need a veteran third string centre, fine, but NOT HIM. Jesus, not him. Jake Voskuhl's still out there, for instance, and Jake's all right), but it mostly went well. If they find a way to never let Ben Wallace take the court again, and turn Wally Szczerbiak's expiring into a talented player, they might get over the hump that they've been painfully short of lately. There you go, I've credited Danny Ferry. I will now sever my own arms.

- A post from the dark ages informed you paupers that Thunder draft pick DeVon Hardin had signed in Turkey. However, I'm now here to inform you that he's no longer signed in Turkey, for the team let him go due to a stress fracture in his right foot. That's what they do in the continent - they release you if you hurt yourself. Seems harsh.

- Gabe Muoneke was also released, by Asvel in France, but not because of injury. Apparently he didn't "fit" the team's "profile". So it would appear that Asvel think they have room to be choosy when it comes to signing fringe NBA players.

- In spite of the fact that this is ostensibly a list of 'signings', the last two entries were the opposite of that, and this one makes three straight. More than once (i.e. twice), I have made reference to the ongoing Jumaine Jones saga. For those uninformed, Jones somehow managed to sign with two teams at the same time, causing a legal battle. This saga has now been resolved - Jones has been suspended by FIBA for a year, and since FIBA and the NBA respect each other's contracts and suspensions, this means that Jones is now out of basketball for a year, a worrisome proposition for a 29 year old with NBA aspirations. Bad times.

- And now, some signings. Big signings, at that. Ken Johnson has signed with Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany. Take a minute to let that sink in.

- The Orlando Magic found their third string point guard of dreams in Mike Wilks, while Pat Garrity officially announced his retirement. Mike Wilks should have been in the NBA last year, and Pat Garrity shouldn't, so this is justice more than anything. God speed, Pat Garrity, and all who sail within you.

- Robert Swift re-signed with Oklahoma City, taking his qualifying offer of three and a bit million dollars. This was a good idea for a man who has played 8 games in the last two years and who still hasn't recovered from an incredibly bad knee injury. I hope Robert Swift gets healthy, by the way. He was getting somewhere as a player.

- Steve Castleberry signed with Podebrady Sadska in the Czech Republic. Right now, you're probably thinking "who the fuck is Steve Castleberry?" It's a good argument, well constructed.

- And finally, some bonus trivia. Former Mavericks guard Jon Stefansson has gone back to Iceland, signing with KR Reykjavik and thereby foregoing a decent basketball career. Also, another former Maverick, forward Ruben Wolkowyski, has been offered a contract by Spanish team Fuenlabrada. Ruben Wolkowyski is easily the worst player I have ever seen in my life, and I've seen Steve Goodrich. And Steve Goodrich wasn't good. Or rich.

More importantly, Shawn Kemp has arrived with his new Italian team, Montegranaro, and now we get to see what shape he's in. The answer is....not bad.


Photo courtesy of whoever took it, and used without permission.

Summer signings, round 14

- Good news: Bobby Jones was claimed off of waivers. Bad news: Miami did it. Why is this bad news? Because Bobby Jones has already spent time with Miami, and going back to a team that he has already been with doesn't help Jones's quest to have briefly been on the roster of every NBA franchise before the start of the 2010 season. So far, in 2 seasons in the NBA - and if we rather generously include the 2006 draft, as Jones's rights were traded that night - Bobby has spent times with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Denver Nuggets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Houston Rockets, the Miami Heat, the San Antonio Spurs, Denver again, the New York Knicks, and now Miami again. That's 8 franchises in 24 months, a rate that not even an in-his-heyday Josh Davis could match. So, Miami - do us a favour and trade him to Atlanta for his namesake Solomon Jones or something. Don't be selfish.

- Allan Houston wants to make another comeback attempt. Great. Good luck with that.

- The two remaining Oklahoma City unsigned draftees - DeVon Hardin and Serge Ibaka - have both signed contracts in Europe. Ibaka signed a three year contract with Ricoh Manresa of Spain, a deal which allows him to leave and return to the NBA after each year should he so wish. Hardin meanwhile signed with Belediyespor in Turkey on a one year deal. Neither signing is interesting.

- Earl Boykins has signed a one year, $3.5 million contract with Virtus Bologna in Italy, thereby making the remaining available point guard crop even worse. Not that the presence of Earl Boykins really did it much good.

- Filiberto Rivera has signed with Bamberg in Germany, thereby making the remaining available point guard crop even worse. Not that the presence of Filiberto Rivera really did it much good.

- For those keenly following the progress of Ivan Radenovic (if such people exist, I keep them well fed), Radenovic has upped sticks and moved to Greece, to play for Panellionios. If you couldn't be bothered to read previous posts on the subject of Ivan Radenovic, the Spanish team that he played for - Akasvayu Girona - extended his contract, and then went bankrupt, which was hopefully nothing to do with the size of Radenovic's contract. I'll miss Girona, you know. We got a few games of theirs on TV over here last year, and every time they were on, a staggeringly hot Spanish woman was the sideline reporter for the night. She spoke broken English in a hot accent, which just made the total package that much more enticing. You know how it is when women are so unbelievably good looking that it becomes impossible to rank their beauty when compared to other unbelievably good looking women? Well, she was one of them. So it's a shame that I won't be able to look at her talk four times a year for twenty seconds at a time A damn shame. And that's why I'll miss Akasvayu Girona.

- Jannero Pargo was reportedly on the verge of signing with the San Antonio Spurs, but now reports say that Miami has made a late bid for him. Since the Heat have spent most of their MLE on the unflinching duo of Mario Chalmers and James Earl Jones, the most that they can offer Pargo is the Bi-Annual Exception, which starts at $1.91 million, you have to wonder why Pargo opted out of the contract that would have paid him $1.976 million next year. Pargo has now opted out of his contract for two straight seasons, yet he remains unable to get the one massive paycheck that he's looking for. The chances of him signing a third straight two year contract with a player option, and then opting out after the first year, look impressively high. And that's got to be a world first. These are the things that I think about, by the way.

- Louis Williams re-signed with the 76ers, ensuring that they will have at least one shooting guard who will score more points than he will have attempted field goals. No, I haven't gotten over the Kareem Rush move yet.

- The Bobcats signed Shannon Brown, a move which doesn't seem to solve anything. By the way, if you are Shannon Brown, and you've just had your rookie scale contract cut down to only two years by Cleveland, and you're allowed to walk away unchallenged by your hometown Chicago Bulls, what reason would you possibly have for not joining on with a summer league team? Wouldn't it be a good idea to get in as much shwocasing as you can? This is what I would do, I'm pretty sure. (Note: if Brown was injured or otherwise incapacitated, therefore making my rant unjustified and ill-founded, please do not hesitate to keep that information to yourself.)

- The Rockets traded Steve Novak to the L.A. Clippers in order to save some money, so that they can try to re-sign Carl Landry and pay as little tax as possible. Or, ideally, none at all. It makes sense for Houston to dump the guaranteed money of an inconsequential player, but if someone could explain to me why the Clippers held onto Nick Fazekas for an unnecessarily long time, just to then trade for his older brother in Steve Novak, then please do that. Where's the vast gaping chasm of seperation between Fazekas and Novak, exactly? Is it a bigger or smaller gaping chasm of difference than the one that the Clippers saw between Jason Hart and Brevin Knight? An answer on those would be good, because I'm clearly not smart enough to get it. By the way, God bless Steve Novak. Class.

- Tarence Kinsey signed with the Cavaliers. Have I mentioned that Memphis waived Kinsey in preference to waiving Casey Jacobsen? I have. Will I mention it again? Probably. i just think it bears repeating, you know? The Memphis Grizzlies, everyone.

- And finally, what you've been waiting for - recently cut Nugget (so to speak) Taurean Green is about to sign with some team in some country in Europe. And I forgot to write down who and where.

What you've just witnessed, ladies and gentleman, is the work of an amateur. Be proud. Give generously.