Calling it early; Miami will trade Dorell Wright along with New Orleans' 2010 second rounder to the Grizzlies in exchange for changing the protection on the Grizzlies 2012 secound rounder - already owed to the Heat from last year's Shaun Livingston deal - from top 55 to top 50. (That is to say, in exchange for as little as possible.)
That's a prediction, not a story, but it makes sense; Miami gets under the tax with this deal, and Memphis gains a free decent player and a 40's pick to replace their own, which is owed to the Lakers as a part of the Pau Gasol deal. It's the kind of deal a lot of teams have done lately, not least of all Memphis, who spent much of last year taking on either people's unwanted cap hits in exchange for future picks and cash. It's a solid way to do business, and, post-Iverson buyout, they can afford to do it again. Add this to my list of predicted trades, which previously featured one other; Hilton Armstrong to the Clippers, who's now gone to the Kings instead. Don't know why I was so hung up on it being the Clippers. Thought too much about TPE's and forgot about cap space.
Also, what I said earlier about Mikki Moore was wrong. Golden State does not pay him more now that they've waived him; for some reason, the rebate thing applies once a player has been paid more than the two year minimum, regardless of whether he's on the roster not. Thus, Golden State will still only pay $825,495 to Moore after all. Sorry. The confusion/misinformation stemmed from the case of Austin Croshere, who last season signed a one year minimum salary contract with Indiana (later claimed off waivers by Milwaukee) but who didn't make it beyond the guarantee date; Croshere got paid $543,026 by the Bucks for his two months of work, which was 73 days worth of the team or more year veteran's salary for that season ($1,262,275), but apparently that wouldn't have applied if his contract was guaranteed. This makes it even weirder than the Bucks waived him, since it cost them $543,026 for 73 days work and would have only cost $254,555 for another 97 more. But anyway.
Byars is American, so he's obviously in the German league. He's with ALBA Berlin, yet he's averaging only 6.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in the German league, along with 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in the Eurocup, shooting only 26% from three point range in the Budnesliga and 33% in the Eurocup.
Nevertheless, Bulls fans still haven't stopped talking about him.
Dynamo Moscow lost all their good import players over the last year because they ran out of money. This means that Bykov - who last year was buried as the third point guard behind Hollis Price, Brian Chase and Jannero Pargo, and behind Travis Hansen at shooting guard - now gets to star. His numbers are up across the board, averaging 18.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in the Eurocup, in conjunction with 22.9/2.9/4.4 in the Russian Superleague. He leads the Superleague in points per game, and is third in assists per game as well. Yet Dynamo have only a 3-5 record anyway because they have no imports to support him with.
Rashid Byrd appears to be unsigned. I say "appears to be," because someone purporting to be his cousin said on this site's Facebook page that Rashid had been reacquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the D-League team with which he finished up last season. However, no source of D-League news seems to agree with her. So either it's a premonition, something that's going to happen soon, a misunderstanding, or a lie. The last one seems unlikely.
Zarko Cabarkapa was out of the game for three years, from early 2006 to early 2009, due to the chronic injuries that hampered his NBA career. He reappeared last January with his former team, Buducnost in Montenegro, for whom he played four games. He totalled 25 minutes, 11 points, 5 rebounds and 7 fouls, before not playing again after February after having yet another surgery. Cabarkapa is now 28 years old, still unsigned and still recuperating, but he hasn't given up yet.
Cage is with Dexia Mons-Hainaut, a Belgian team not keen to admit that they're actually Belgian. The team has a 10 man rotation, and yet employs only one German; youth player Alexandre Libert. (Former Idaho State forward Jim Potter is into his fifteenth season in Belgium, so I guess he counts too.) Dexia recently lost their American head coach - Chris Finch - to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, and replaced him with an Israeli head coach and a Dutch assistant. It's a very international affair, just as long as that nation is not Belgium.
On the year, Cage is averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in the Belgian league, alongside 7.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in the Eurochallenge. He also totalled 10 points in his only Eurocup game of the year, but I watched that game, and he kind of sucked a bit. (Although his accidentally-banked-in three was kind of cool.) Indeed, the whole Dexia Mons-Hainaut team sucked in that game; after beating Valencia in the first leg by 15 points, all Dexia had to do was either win again, or lose by no more than 14 points. This should have been easy, even on the road, and Dexia actually led by double digits at one point. But then they pissed it all away in the second half, lost by 18, and were knocked out of the competition. Whoops.
Calathes is playing for Panathinaikos, where his Greek passport helps the team bypass rules in non-Greek players. He played quite a lot to begin the year backing up Vassilis Spanoulis, but has seen less time since Sarunas Jasikevicius returned from injury. On the season, Calathes (or Kalathis to the Greeks) averages 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in the Greek league, along with 4.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in the Euroleague. Those numbers might not look too good, but as the third string point guard on one of the world's best and deepest teams, they're pretty solid.
Nick's brother Pat is three years older and 8 times balder. Pat retains a strong hairline at the front, but the crown is starting to go and he's only in his mid 20's. I feel your pain, brother. Pat is also in Greece and playing for Maroussi, another Euroleague team. He is averaging 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in the Greek league, along with 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in the Euroleague.
Calloway was announced as a signee of Khimki to start the summer, but apparently that was a lie. Instead, after doing fairly well for the New Orleans Hornets in summer league, he went to Spain and joined Cajasol Sevilla. Calloway is putting up his usual all-around numbers, averaging 10.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 28 minutes per game, shooting 41% from the field and 40% from three point range.
Also on that team is Maurice Ager, who we've already covered in part 1. I thought you might like to know that he has raised his shooting percentage since part 1 was written, from 22% to 26%.
I can't find Elden Campbell. And believe me, I've looked. It wouldn't be a surprise if the man named the "Big Easy" is taking it Big Easy in his 40's, but it'd also be useful to find something. So if you know something, phone in.
D-League veteran Campbell has gone back there, rejoining his last team, the Anaheim Arsenal, who are now known as the Springfield Armor. (Arse to Arm. Giggidy.) The Armor aren't good this year, sporting only a 3-14 record, and part of the reason for that is their lack of size. It's not Campbell's fault, as he averages 9.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in only 20 minutes of 10 games. But their other main centre option is former Tennessee big man Major Wingate, who manages to turn it over three times a game in only 28 minutes. Not easy to do when you're not a big man scorer.
Caner-Medley was with Calloway's team Cajasol Sevilla last season, but it didn't end well. Caner-Medley drunkenly punched a team mate in the face at the club's end of season party, and was kicked out, ne'er to return. He's gone back to Spain anyway, joining up with Estudiantes Madrid and averaging 11.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Also on that team is British prospect Dan Clark. Clark won his fame as a prospecy in NBA circles back in 2005, but he's never done much with is since, toiling on loan in the Spanish minor leagues while Estudiantes held onto his rights. However, this season marks the first time he's gotten regular ACB time, and he's doing rather well with it. In 10 games this year Clark is averaging 4.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game, shooting 50% from the field and 50% from three point range. As a 21 year old in the ACB, that's not bad.
Capel was briefly a member of the Bobcats back in 2005, thanks in no small part to the fact that his dad Jeff was an assistant there at the time. Capel was only there for training camp, though, and did not make the team. Indeed, his career only lasted two more years total before Capel had to retired with chronic back problems aged only 26. He then rejoined the Bobcats as a radio announcer, later switching to becoming an announcer for ACC games, and then followed family tradition by becoming a coach. He is currently an assistant coach at Appalachian State.
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 Taiwanese ones.
- Will Blalock: The Pacers have been said to be looking for a point guard all summer long now. They kept Jamaal Tinsley inactive for all of last season, despite him being able and willing to play. Jarrett Jack is a restricted free agent, and even though he's expected back, he isn't really a point guard anyway. Neither is Travis Diener, and they seem to hate T.J. Ford more than it seems as though they should. (Must be because he's black.) But while Will Blalock is very much a point guard, I don't think the answer to the Pacers' point guard problem lies in a man who averaged 4.5 points and 2.1 assists in the German league last season.
Byars' three point percentage by month, last season:
November - 0% December - 56% January - 28% February - 50% March - 26% April - 0% Overall - 38%
It might be a coincidence that the two months he shot the most threes in were December and February. Or it might not.
- Tyler Hansbrough: Us Bulls fans discussed at length whether it would be a good idea to pick Tyler Hansbrough at #26. We eventually decided on "yes". (And, after what we wound up doing with the pick.......well, you know.) As draft day approached, we moved on to discussing whether it'd be justifiable to pick Hansbrough as high as #16. Opinion was split, but the majority said "no". Turns out it was irrelevant anyway, as Indiana went for him at #13. And, since it's the 2009 draft we're talking about, I think they can get away with that.
That earlier comment about T.J. Ford's race was uninspired satire, by the way. I don't care how vanilla the Pacers are. Neither should you.
- Roy Hibbert: Frank admission - Roy Hibbert is better than I thought he would be. He can score at the NBA level. Just can. He'd be better if he toned down the shot block attempts and focused more on the rebounding, and that foul rate is pretty ridiculous, but not many 22 year old rookie centres can score at that rate. Once he stops being Bargnani-ish on the defensive glass, he'll be goooood.
- Jared Homan: The Ho-Man played 16 games in the Euroleague last year as a member of Cibona Zagreb, which is a very high standard of basketball for any man to be playing. Unfortunately, he didn't play very well in them, averaging only 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds, along with 2.4 fouls. His size is still a virtue, but his size is also nothing special by NBA standards. And nor is his age (26). Still, Rasho Nesterovic is a free agent, which opens up a space on the Pacers for a new white centre.
(If I keep forcing this joke home, it might start being funny. Maybe.)
- Aaron Jackson: Jackson broke the freak out last year, averaging 19.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, with percentages of 55.4%, 40.5% and 80.9%. Those numbers are up across the board from the year before, and his scoring output was more than doubled from his junior to senior years. Learning to shoot can do wonders for a man's game. If he'd been in a less point guard heavy draft, or at a school more noteworthy than Duquense, then he might have gotten drafted. As it is, he's now fighting Will Blalock for a training camp spot, a fight that both will probably lose.
- Trey Johnson: Johnson briefly played in the NBA last season, signing a couple of ten day contracts with the Cavaliers. He only scored 4 points, all from the foul line, but it's an NBA career at least. When he wasn't at the big dance, he was in the D-League, living up to his first name with the Bakersfield Jam. Johnson scored 21 points per game in 41 minutes per game, shooting 46% from the field and 41% from the three point line. If he can be bothered to start playing defense, he might go down as the best player in the history of Jackson State. But until then, that title belongs to Lindsey Hunter. Or Purvis Short.
- Leo Lyons: I watched a lot of Missouri last year. It was hard not to, because they did pretty well. J.T. Tiller is my boy. But my opinion of Lyons isn't highly flattering. He has some touch, some athleticism, and his wild flails to the rim are effective. But he makes a crap load of mistakes, doesn't really have NBA size, and nor was his heart really in it defensively. If he was a sophomore, he would have been one to keep an eye on. But he wasn't.
- Josh McRoberts: McRoberts finally got some PT last season, and in doing so he put up an almost identical PER to that of Marquis Daniels. He's also grown a brilliant beard, and either is or was plugging Lauren Conrad from MTV's The Hills. Not a bad year for McBob, all told. He's a restricted free agent, but he'll return.
- A.J. Price: If drafting three straight seniors out of big programs wasn't enough of a clue (Hibbert, Rush, Hansbrough), then the Pacers picking Price in the second round this year ought to have alerted you to the fact that Larry Bird watches the NCAA tournament. More importantly, if the Pacers really are serious about getting an extra point guard regardless of how many options they already have, I would imagine that Price has a beeline on that spot right now. But that's only if they do. (By the way, I just spent ten minutes trying to think up a plausible Jamaal Tinsley trade scenario. But I couldn't do it. Is there not room for him in Indiana to rebuild his value just a little bit?)
- Brandon Rush: Rush's rookie year wasn't good, scoring inefficiently and ranking last on the team in plus/minus rating. But he has an opportunity here; Marquis Daniels is an unrestricted free agent, Mike Dunleavy's knee is reportedly all kinds of haggard, and new signing Dahntay Jones is a not-very-good defensive specialist. There's minutes available for Rush, then, if he can figure out how to get to the foul line more than once a week.
- Anthony Smith: Smith averaged 17.6 points and 6.5 rebounds for Liberty last year. And here's a Googled factoid:
As a junior, Smith was the only player in the nation during the 2008 season to attempt at least 200 three-point field goals and succeed on at least 40 percent of his three-point field goal attempts (41.0), while also hitting over 50 percent of his field goal attempts (51.5). Only four other players in the nation accomplish the same feat while attempting at least 100 three-point field goals, including Mario Chalmers (Kansas), Lee Cummard (BYU), Malik Hairston (Oregon) and James Harden (Arizona State).
Despite the apparent brilliance of his jumpshot, though, he never shot over 66% from the foul line in his four year NCAA career. And that's all I've got.
Since Cleveland and Dallas haven't announced their rosters yet, and Charlotte aren't having one, we'll advance list this along to Denver, whose summer league effort this year is a strange one. Their roster is only small (for not, at least), but they've made a decent effort nonetheless.
- Derrick Byars: Byars survives as a testament to the reign of Billy King as Sixers general manager. The Sixers acquired the 30th pick in the 2007 draft as a part of the Allen Iverson to Denver trade, but they decided that they didn't want the guaranteed contract that it necessitated. Therefore, on draft night, the Sixers traded the pick to the Blazers for the number 41 pick and cash, using the 41st pick on Byars. They then waived Byars in training camp, and wound up with just the cash. Nice return on a first round draft pick, that, particularly one which featured a second round with Marc Gasol, Ramon Sessions, Glen Davis and Carl Landry in it. Byars' only other NBA flirtation came when he signed with the Thunder in training camp last year, but he didn't make the team. He then went to the D-League, and averaged 17.7ppg and 4.9rpg for the Bakersfield Jam, but there's a guy elsewhere on his list who has taken any potential roster spot that Byars may have had. (Clue: it rhymes with "creams".)
- Dontaye Draper: Draper is a 5'11 guard out of the College of Charleston, who was also on the Nuggets 2007 summer league roster. He split last season between France and Belgium, averaging 20.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.5 assists in the EuroChallenge for Hyeres-Toulon Var Basket (the French half of that split). Draper has been trying to reinvent himself as more of a pass first guard over the years, which is kind of necessary when you're 5'11, but while the assist numbers have continued to go up, so have the turnovers (he averaged 5.1 assists in the French league last year, but against 4.5 turnovers). He also doesn't shoot well, shooting poorly from the foul line and inconsistently at best from three point range. As quick and explosive as he is, it's difficult to play in the NBA if you're a 5'11 shoot first player who's prone to turnovers and not the best shooter. Although maybe it's not all about the NBA.
- Ronald Dupree: Dupree was in camp, too, but with the Cleveland Cavaliers. If you're willing to count that, he's now been in the NBA for parts of the last 6 years, which is not bad going. Dupree spent last year in the D-League, averaging 19.8/6.6/3.7 for the Tulsa 66ers, and 17.3/7.2/3.9 after a midseason trade to the Utah Flash. That's not half bad from a guy who's better on the defensive end, and if the Nuggets decide they can't be arsed to overpay Dahntay Jones, then Dupree is a minimum salary replacement waiting to happen. But then again, Captain Creams might be in his way, too.
- Richard Hendrix: Last year, the Warriors drafted Hendrix 49th overall, and signed him to a three year contract. They then waived him in December when Monta Ellis returned from the suspended list, choosing to do so over waiving Rob Kurz (who just left as an unrestricted free agent) and Marcus Williams (who they waived later anyway). Williams never appeared in a game for the Warriors, yet he got paid a guaranteed salary anyway, and is even going to get $100,000 from the team this season as well. His situation is kind of symptomatic of the Warriors management last season. It was shite.
Hendrix then went to the D-League, and averaged 11,6 rebounds in 31 minutes per game for the Dakota Wizards. If he sounds like a man who has NBA talent to you, that's because he has.
- Coby Karl: Karl was covered in the Celtics round-up, but he features on the Nuggets roster as well because his dad is the head coach. And that makes it easier to make rosters. Walker Russell was once briefly a Knick because his dad is a scout for the team, and Jason Capel was a Bobcat for a couple of weeks because his dad Jeff was an assistant coach at the time. It's all very incestuous, this NBA thing.
- Tywon Lawson: I want it on record that I don't think Ty Lawson will be much worse of an NBA player than Jonny Flynn, the man taken twelve places ahead of him. I will accept the shellacking if I'm wrong, but take your time in reminding me of that, since one of them has Chauncey Billups for company next year, and one of them have Sebastian Telfair.
- Kareem Rush: Rush is still a one-dimensional scorer, and he's still not a very good one. He scored 54 points on 58 shots last year with the Sixers, lowering his overall career numbers to 2,204 points to 2,178 shots. The Sixers appear to have realised that they, as the less than proud owners of Willie Green, are the last team that needs another shooting guard like that. And they're right. But then again, no one needs Kareem Rush. And that goes for the Nuggets too.
- Cedric Simmons: If you're an optimist, you'll look at Cedric Simmons' age and his draft position, and think that he's a worthwhile prospect for your team to take a flyer on. "There must be something there", after all. Well, there isn't. He is one of the worst offensive players in the game, is a sub-par rebounder, doesn't move too well, hasn't NBA size, is clumsier than a wolfhound in slagboots and has all the polish of a schoolyard bundle. He is good for one or two poster blocks a year, and that is it. He shoots worse from the foul line than Ben Wallace or Chuck Hayes. Just don't go there, I'm telling you.
- Sonny Weems: Weems is partially guaranteed for next season, to the tune of $174,284, a seemingly arbitrary amount the logic behind which I can't figure out. Nevertheless, he should make the team easily enough, and might even get an expanded role if Dahntay doesn't return. Weems spent most of last year in the D-League, where he averaged 21.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 28 minutes per game for the Colorado 14ers. Pretty bloody good, that. And that's why the first two players on this list need to turn Buddhist.
A lot of people are called Brown, I've noticed. How fascinating.
- Dee Brown started the year with the Wizards, but was then waived when it emerged that he wasn't much god, nor was he the answer to Washington's pretty severe outside shooting problems. He then went to a Suns mini-camp, where he beat out Eddie Gill, Damon Stoudamire, Darrell Armstrong, Walker Russell and Troy Hudson to win Phoenix's mandatory 13th roster spot. He's since had his arse waived again this week, due to the mandatory contract guarantee date of January 10th. The Suns, seemingly, are going to do what they so love doing - keeping the bare minimum of players at all times, going to 12 as and when they can, to avoid paying out as little money as possible. This from the team that traded away Rudy Fernandez and Rajon Rondo just to save money, and who then gave Goran Dragic more than either of them. Even the Jason Richardson trade saved them money, It kind of makes you squirm, doesn't it?
- I've been literally inundated with one request for news on Never Gonna Keep Me Down Elton Brown. Oddly, that request comes from soneone who already knows the answer. But, sod it, let's play along anyway. After spending the preseason with the Chicago Bulls, and having trouble getting a shot away without it being blocked by a defender and/or the rim, Elton went to Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv, hoping to be good again. However, Elton appeared in only one game, scoring two points with two rebounds, before it was announced in late December that Maccabi were releasing him, supposedly because they were disappointed with his conditioning. Whether he has actually left yet, I'm not sure, but he's not playing with the team, and any remaining chance of some dramatic turnaround with the team is going to be made even less likely once Marcus Fizer makes his return from long term injury lay-off, which will happen in the near future. So, the D-League it is then.
- Andre Brown started the season with the Charlotte Bobcats, after surprisingly making the team out of training camp. (Their quest for a big man started with Brown, then included Linton Johnson, saw a brief sojourn with Dwayne Jones, and eventually they settled on Juwan Howard. Somewhere in that cycle, they waived Jermareo Davidson. In case you didn't know, Larry Brown now coaches the Charlotte Bobcats.) Waived soon afterwards, Andre Brown now plays in the D-League with the Austin "Danger" Toros, thereby guaranteeing himself a contract from the San Antonio Spurs at some point. Brown averages 16.1 points and 10.0 rebounds whilst remaining the worst free throw shooter alive today.
- Eric Daniel Brunson is still the director of men's basketball operations at the University of Virginia, where he presumably extolls the virtues of being all heart.
- Rodney Buford is currently unsigned, which, in a sense, isn't a bad thing. I think he's found the solution to his endless suspensions. If he's not under contract, he can't be suspended for smoking weed, can he? That's genius Rodney, that is.
- Pat Burke is playing with Prokom in Poland, where he averages 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds a game. He also just had a 20 rebound performance in the Euroleague, which is nigh on impossible to do, but which will guarantee him work for a while.
- Antonio Burks is no longer suspended, after being forced to sit out all of last season after walking out on a team that wasn't paying him. Seemed like an unfair suspension when so simplified, but, whatever. Burks signed a few days ago with Slupsk in Poland, if only for the name alone, and he has not played a game for them yet.
- Kevin Burleson is unsigned, and not even the Bobcats want him right now.
- Steve Burtt Jr is playing in Israel, where he averages 21.0 points and 3.4 rebounds for a team called Ashkelon. Fun Steve Burtt Fact, If Fun Is The Right Word For It: Steve Burtt Jr returned from his Christmas trip back to America a day late, after his mother forbade him from returning to the country until living arrangements were made for him in the middle of the country, out of the way of all that current Gaza shindig. Nasty business, that.
- I have no idea where Jackie Butler is. None whatsoever. The Rockets waived him last preseason, after only accepting him as pennance for getting Luis Scola for free. He then sat out the whole of last season. Butler was then supposed to join the Charlotte Bobcats for summer league, but didn't, and he hasn't been signed anywhere this season either. Keith Glass, if you're reading this, then let me know. And Keith Glass, if you're not reading this, I'm going to go back and re-write the review I gave your book. (Also note, re: the Bobcats summer league team - how stacked was that lineup? How the hell did it go 2-3?)
- Jamar Butler signed with Eldo Caserta in Italy, but left after only two games after disagreements with the coach, and has not played since. It's been said that he'll sign in Turkey, and it's been said that he'll sign in Germany, but at the time of writing he hasn't signed with either.
- Derrick Byars is with the Jam in the D-League, where he averages 16.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
- Finally, fabled basketball vagabond Rashid Byrd is also in the D-League, where he averages 4.3 points and 3.4 rebounds. His free throw shooting percentage (44.4%) is higher than his field goal percentage (39.3%). It's also enough to make him a better free throw shooter than Andre Brown.
ShamSports.com - Doing the hard work so that you can steal it. Salaries excluded.
Derrick Byars is playing for Chorale de Roanne of the French league. He has also recently changed agents, which is something that was brought to my attention via email by a Mr (or Mrs) B.D. Byars. So thank you, whoever you are. And if you have any idea how much guaranteed money Derrick got to go to training camp with Philadelphia last year, and wish to share that with me too, that'd be good.
Will Bynum is playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, where he was recently arrested and charged with a hit and run. Even more recently (Sunday), he was acquitted, after the judge ruled that his actions were the only reasonable ones that he could have taken in order to get away from the situation (Bynum and his car were being pelted by rocks by a large group of people who obviously didn't like him very much, and Bynum clipped one while speeding away). Strange times. Even stranger, none of the people doing the rock throwing got charged either.
Rashid Byrd, one of the greatest all time Random Training Camp Signings Of Seven Footers Who Happen To Play In A Gym Next To An NBA Team And Who Get Signed To Keep The Numbers Up, has gone back to the oblivion from whence he came. He is playing for the mighty OC Gladiators of the ABA.
Zarko Cabarkapa has not played professionally since leaving Golden State. Whether this is due to apathy or injury, I could not say. But if I remember rightly, he had a problematic back complaint. So maybe it's that.
Justin Cage is playing for the Colorado 14ers in the D-League, and still isn't as good as his agent says he is. (What, by the way, is a 14er?)
Elden Campbell is long since retired, and was recently honoured as a "Clemson Legend".
Marcus Campbell is playing for Avellino in Italy after transferring from The Arse just this week.
Jason Capel has quit playing professional basketball and is now a colour commentator. He's only 28, but apparently doctors told him to "shut it down". This story has movie potential. (That is to say, it has crap movie potential.)
Geno Carlisle's world tour of everywhere continues, and he is currently playing for Karisyaka in Turkey.
Bimbo Carmona is playing for Carolina in his native Puerto Rico, and still isn't someone that you've heard of. (Dammit, you should pour over summer league and training camp rosters some time. I do this often. Great fun. So many nobodies.)
Pat Carroll is playing for Alicante in Spain, and is also still entirely comparable to his brother Matt in every way. Except Matt has six years of guaranteed salary coming to him, and Pat is playing in Spain throwing lob passes to Martynas Andriuskevicius.
First round:Thaddeus Young (12th overall), Jason Smith (20th overall, acquired in draft night trade) Second round:Derrick Byars (42nd overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned), Herbert Hill (55th overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned)
Trivia question: Which player did Billy King either sign or re-sign this offseason for way too many guaranteed years and guaranteed money, as is his yearly custom to do at least once?
The offshoot from this, though, is that King has not improved his team in any capacity via trades or free agency. And this leaves him with all his eggs in one basket, having to address his team needs via the draft.
Historically, this is where King does his best work. Having not had much in the way of high draft picks during his tenure, on draft night King has acquired players such as Larry Hughes, Speedy ClaxtonNazr Mohammed, Kyle Korver and John Salmons, as well as Green, MacCulloch, Dalembert and Iguodala, the majority of whom turned in great value for their draft spot. This season, armed with three first rounders as a result of the Iverson trade and also a second rounder, King figured to improve his roster notably in one hit.
Did it work? Did it bollocks.
In the 2006 draft, King made a draft day trade that wound up with him selecting Rodney Carney in the first round. It was a strange pick - a backup at best with playes in front of him, and with no standout skills to really speak of outside of his athleticism, Carney didn't add much to a roster which, at that time (and even now), needed a big infusion of talent. The pick was made just that little bit more pointless when King then selected another small forward - Bobby Jones - in the second round. He also signed free agent small forwards Steven Smith and Louis Amundson at various points in the season.
You could say he has a thing for small forwards with decent to debatable talent. And you'd be right - in this year's first round, he saw fit to draft another one, selecting the phantasmogoric Thaddeus Young with his first pick.
His second first round pick saw more of the strange duplication tactic going on. Already stuck with paying multiple years and a whole arseload of money to Dalembert and Hunter, King decided that he needed a third tall athletic shotblocker with mediocre offense, drafting Jason Smith out of Colorado State. Whether Young and Smith go on to become good picks isn't really the point - with a number of issues to address on his roster, King chooses to select another player who is predominantly a mere duplication of what he's already got in place.
How illogical.
King's other draft night moves involved swapping his third and final first rounder (subsequently used on Petteri Koponen) for a mid second rounder (subsequently used on Derrick Byars), with players such as Josh McRoberts, Glen Davis and Jermareo Davidson selected in between the two. And Philadelphia's own second rounder - number 38, used on Kyrylo Fesenko - was traded to Utah for their number 55 selection - Herbert Hill - and "future considerations".
Due to a roster spots crunch, it looks as though Byars and Hill will be coming to training camp to battle for only one spot, which isn't exactly an efficient return when you consider that we're talking about what began as the #30 and #38 picks in a deep draft. Oh and what's more, Byars is a small forward, and Hill is a centre. So more duplication there.
After trading Allen Iverson to Denver fairly early during last season, and following that up by buying out Chris Webber, Philadelphia went from being a 5-18 team at the time of the trade to ending with a 35-47 record. For you maths fans out there, that's a 30-29 record after the trade - above .500.
How they did this continues to baffle me. And why they did this is also dumbfounding. Perhaps it would have more fiscal - if somewhat irresponsible - to tank the blue blazes out of the remainder of the year, as was done by other teams, and try to win a top 3 lottery spot. They had the sufficiently shit team with which to achieve it, after all.
Still, in a sense, you have to admire them for trying to do the right thing, and play the right way. Yet, as one Philadelphia fan said to me towards the end of last season after I mentioned that I admired Philadelphia attempting to try and win games, "I want them to try as well! I just want them to fail."
It's a good point well made, and speaks to the questionable direction taken by management in recent times. When built to win, they lose. And when built to lose, they win. How bizarre.
In return for superstar Allen Iverson, Philadelphia received a half-year of Joe Smith, signed by Chicago in a particularly unspectacular bidding war (Joe didn't even get the full MLE for the two years that he signed. Gotta love GM's that lose out on important players because they overspent less deserving players and ran out of budget). They received Andre Miller, a nice player, and the later two first rounders, parlayed as described above into Jason Smith and Derrick Byars. And a bit of cap relief.
That's all. That's all they received back. For Allen Iverson. How......bizarre. And given the way that they didn't tank out the season, they wound up with Thaddeus Young over the Al Horford and Mike Conley types of this world. Or better, if they were lucky.
What a strange, strange year they had last season. And by "strange", I mean "bad". Here's to more of Kevin Ollie as a backup point guard.
Next season:
As mentioned above, Philadelphia played basically .500 ball for the final two thirds of last season. And I don't get it. The argument which states that it is the sum of the parts that equates to success rather than the value of the actual parts itself holds very true, and always has done. It certainly seems to have applied to the Sixers of last season, and to the neutral it was great fun to see an offense based largely around Kyle Korver succeed quite as it did.
But can it succeed again? If you're a Sixers fan, you have to hope so, because little help has come from outside.
The starting backcourt is talented, but the backups are weak. Kevin Ollie is awesome, but terrible. Louis Williams still hasn't shown an NBA calibre game. And while Willie Green can score, he's more inefficient than an American muscle car. This didn't get addressed this offseason, other than to add the swingman Byars alongside Carney as crossover artists at the 2/3 spots. Outside shooting comes in the form of Kyle Korver and Green, yet not much from everyone else (Iguodala has his days, but it's not a strength yet).
Front court scoring isn't particularly noteworthy, either. Shavlik Randolph will return, but Joe Smith departs, and no offense really replaces him. Jason Smith and Dalembert offer occasional yet inefficient offense at best, and Steven Hunter is bloody terrible.
They have the league's worst power forward rotation, worsened since Smith left for Chicago, and they also don't feature a particularly consistent or hardy centre spot.
There's a lot of flaws on the roster, is what I'm trying to say,
But then again, there was a lot of flaws on the roster last year, and they played mostly .500 ball. I don't know how they did it, but they did it, and circumstances have not changed much. They can do it again.
And besides, they're still in the Eastern Conference. So they still have a playoff chance.
EDIT - Ok, so after I wrote this, the Sixers decided to have a quick flurry of action. Having done toss all for over two whole months, they waited until the short window that it took me to write and post this to do the damn thang. Thanks for that, Billy. Show me up, why don't you.
The Sixers made three moves in this time. They signed Herbert Hill and Derrick Byars (albeit to unguaranteed deals), agreed to sign Calvin Booth, and traded Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones to Denver (apparently their favourite trading partner now) for Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez.
The trade opened up a roster spot, as Sanchez is unsigned (although only a fraction of Jones's salary was guaranteed anyway, but whatever), and helps alleviate some of the duplicaiton outlined above. Meanwhile, Reggie Evans may be perhaps the most one-trickish of all the one trick ponies out there in the league today, as well as being quite poor and overpaid. But he is, for what it's worth, the superior player to Steven Hunter. It's one extra year of salary, but hey, this is Philadelphia, who cares about that sort of thing?
But as for the Calvin Booth thing.....
.....they traded the number 30 pick for the number 42 pick under the guise of saving money, and then go and spend that money on Calvin Booth?
And Reggie Evans for that matter?
You're still the master, Billy King. You're still the fucking master.
Sham is a miserable and self-effacing little bastard, whose basketball opinions are often riddled with bias, insecurity, and rank immaturity. He has also never played the sport, and the only game he has ever been to see was a Ware Rebels game back in 2001. The night bus didn't show up and he had to walk the 9 miles home. It was after this that his passion for basketball really took off.
He considers himself to be Britain's foremost NBA expert, an arbitrary title that carries with it no basis in fact, or any worldly significance. He also wrote this section of the website in third person narrative, purely for reasons of arrogance.
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