Dowell is signed in Israel, putting up numbers quite impressively similar to those of his senior season in college. He's playing for Altshuler Saham Galil Gilboa - a team that really needs to settle upon one name only - and is averaging 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.
There are two types of players in Israel; Israelis and Americans. That's it. Despite Israel being kind of in Europe, there are only a handful of non-Israeli European players in the league. And by "a handful," I mean "two." The breakdown of the nationalities of players on Israeli league rosters, according to Eurobasket.com, goes like this;
- 60 thoroughbred Israelis
- 50 thoroughbred Americans
- 7 Americans with dual Israeli citizenship due to residency (Chris Watson, Jason Thomas, Jeron Roberts, Shawn Weinstein, David Bluthenthal, Derrick Sharp, and ex-NBA player Cory Carr)
- 1 Australian (Julian Khazzouh)
- 1 player born in Belarus, but who has lived in Israel since childhood, goes by an Israeli name, and who holds a dual Israeli passport (Vladimir Yiermish/Vladi Ermichin)
- 1 Welshman who has played in Israeli since he was a teenager and who holds an Israeli passport (Tal Michael Dunne)
- 1 hybrid who was born in Sarajevo to Serbian and Bosnian parents, whose family fled to Israel during the war, and who then moved to America, but who considers himself Israeli (Robert Rothbart; read his quite amazing story here)
- ......and 1 thoroughbred Serbian (Sasa Bratic)
I don't know if it's all just a big coincidence, politically motivated, or because of some instilled belief that American players bring a level of flair that other countries can't match (a belief which does exist in portions of the continent). But whatever it is, it's a pretty jarring conclusion. 123 of the 126 players in the Israeli league hold either an American or an Israeli passport. If it's diversity they want, it's diversity they did not get.
Heat draft pick Robert Dozier is American, but he's not in Israel. Instead, he's signed in Greece, which means he has to spell his name weirdly due to the Greek alphabet that I don't understand. (This is primarily because I have made no attempt to.) Known in Greece by what reads on the back of his jersey as being a bit like "Robert Ntoziep", Dozier is playing for Kolossos Rhodes, and averaging 9.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. That's "R" as in "Robert Ntoziep," "O" as in "Oh my God, it's Robert Ntoziep"........et cetera.
Until recently, Jazz draft pick Tadija Dragicevic was a member of Crvena Zvezda in Zagreb, and the team he's been with for his whole life. A team captain, Dragicevic left the team during the summer, but return just before the season's start, and was once again the team's best player. He averaged 13.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in the Eurocup, alongside 12.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the Adriatic League.
However, Dragicevic left Red Star last week. And this time, he actually did it. Like the rest of the team, Dragicevic wasn't being paid, so he left the team and signed with Lottomatica Roma in Italy. In doing so, Dragicevic agreed to forego the 120,000 Euros that Red Star still owed him. That was pretty magnanimous of him.
It was my very great pleasure to watch Dragicevic a few times at Crvena Zvezda this year. He is a very polished offensive player. He can drive, shoot and post, to great effect and with poise, grace, charm, penache and refinement. However, he can't defend anybody. And he never could.
Despite signing with the Denver Nuggets for training camp - which would boost any man's CV - Draper finds himself in only the Italian second division this season. Playing for Prima Veroli, Draper averages 15.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.8 steals per game, shooting 50% from the field, 43% from three point range and 79% from the line. Draper signed as a replacement for Dawan Robinson, who got hurt in October and who still hasn't returned. Yet despite those statistics, Robinson doesn't lead the team in a single category. Not even steals. We'll find out more when we get to H.
Former Nets draft pick Drejer signed a 3 year deal with Lottomatica Roma in August 2007, but played only 6 games with the team before retiring due to chronic ankle problems. He was aged only 25 and has been out of the game since. Earlier this month, Drejer started a comeback when he rejoined SISU, the team he played for before he went to Florida. However, Drejer announced this comeback in the same week that SISU announced that they were perilously close to bankrupcy and stated letting players leave. So it's too early to say if it's been a success.
Drejer's wife is called Nadia. Here they are going at it.
Drobnjak was in Turkey last year, where he played 4 Euroleague games for Efes Pilsen but didn't appear in a single Turkish league game. Since playing about 20 minutes all season didn't really do much for him, Drobnjak moved to Greece and signed with PAOK Thessaloniki. On the season he is averaging 8.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21 minutes per game, albeit shooting only 21% from three point range.
I am currently compiling a list of 100 Chessy And/Or Terrible Commericals Featuring NBA Players. Submit any you may have. The following advert doesn't really fit the criteria, given that it's not a real advert. But here it is anyway.
When Peja Drobnjak agreed to do an advert that featured him saying the phrase "spray me with the water," he knew the Sonics wanted him to do it just so that we could laugh at him, right? Hopefully. If he did, I'm happy to laugh along with him. If he didn't, I'll just feel bad.
Alabama product Dudley is spending his fifth season with Turk Telekom. He's been there so long that he now goes by the name Ersin Dagli. True story. On the season, Dagli is averaging 11.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in the Turkish league, alongside 13.2 points and 8.0 rebounds in the Eurocup. Impressively, Dudley has shot 150 field goals in the Turkish league compared to only 19 foul shots, which is Malik Allen like in its one sidedness. He shoots more jumpshots now, as you can probably tell.
Duenas retired in 2007, aged 32. He now works for Barcelona in some capacity, but my Spanish isn't very good so I can't tell you what it is. I could tell you what the Spanish for "milk wench" is, but Roberto Duenas is not a milk wench. Not yet.
In researching that underwhelming stanza, I was alerted to the presence of the Spanish word "desquitarse." Easily my favourite Spanish word of all time.
After a summer that I've already talked about way too much, Duncan moved to Belgium and joined Liege. He is averaging 11.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 fouls per game in the Belgian league, as well 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 fouls in the EuroChallenge.
Dunston is spending his second season in Korea, where he's so much stronger than most other players that his comparative lack fo height and athleticism for a post man doesn't really matter. He is averaging 14.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 25 minutes per game for Mobis Phoebus.
Korean league rules allow each team to have only two imports, and the two can't play together at the same time. This means that Dunston has to share the court time with Phoebus's other import, Aaron Haynes, another 6'7 forward who averages 12.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. This makes Dunston's minutes rather inconsistent, and are the reason why he plays only half the game despite his excellent per minute numbers. Import players go to Korea anyway though because of the great pay and the many many games.
Dupree went to an NBA training camp this year, marking the seventh straight year he has been in a training camp. He lost out on a spot on the Jazz team to Wesley Matthews, and after that he moved to Germany. In the German league, Doop averages 11.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while in the Eurocup he averages 9.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 fouls. He's shooting 41% from three point range in the German league, and 17% in the Eurocup.
An Israeli league-style breakdown of the German league's diversity will follow another day, regardless of whether you want it or not.
- Vlade Divac is currently trying to become President of the Serbian Olympic Committee. Never thought I'd say that about anybody, but there it is.
- Nigel Dixon was in China to start the season, but left in the new year. Dixon averaged 26.3 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, with 69% FG and 44% FT percentages, before being replaced by Jelani McCoy. By the way, speaking of Nigel, the eagle eyed and really regular viewers of this site may have noticed a few weeks ago that every player's name had been changed to "Nigel" when viewing either the rosters or player index pages. This wasn't a childish joke, but merely an error that I forgot to fix. I'll explain; hile trying to make some changes to the dull technical bits (specifically, we were creating the ability for players to appear on two rosters at once), we noticed that the changes that we had made didn't take. Unsure of why this was, we reasoned that maybe the host company had a setup, whereby any user's changes to certain Javascript files were not parsed until the following day. So, to test this, we changed the setup again, making it so that all player's first names would be changed to Nigel if it worked instantly. If it didn't work instantly , then we'd know that our original theory (about changes not taking until the next daily server rest) was correct. It didn't work instantly, and so our theory was correct. But then my stupid arse forgot to delete the Nigel version, and so everyone was Nigel for a day. So there you go. ShamSports.com - run by an amateur, and assisted by a friend of a similar mental age.
- Michael Doleac was not re-signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer, clearly satisfied that they had enough crap big men. Doleac has not signed elsewhere, or created news of any kind that I can find.
- The other MD, Marcus Douthit, is into his second season with Altalya Belediye in Turkey. (There's a third word in their name, but I can't spell it.) Averaging 13.2ppg, 6.5rpg and 1.2apg last season, Douthit has regressed slightly as a scorer this season, averaging 11.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in Turkish league play, on percentages of 44% and 62%. You can guess which way around those percentages go, but here's a clue - they're not the same way around as Nigel Dixon's are above.
- Former Virginia Tech guard Zabian Dowdell is in the Italian second division, playing for Fastweb Casale Monferrato, and averaging 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. Good numbers, but remember they're from the second division.
- Dion Dowell started the season in Belgium, averaging 9.2 points and 3.0 rebounds for current league leaders Dexia Mons-Heinault. However, Dowell left earlier this month, probably due to his limited playing time, and Dexia's Midnight Runners replaced him with former San Antonio Spur draftee Bryan Bracey. Dowell then signed in Israel for Altshuler Saham Galil Gilboa, for whom he has totalled 17 points and 11 rebounds in two games. I don't know if Dowell is a German passport holder (he was born there, and lived there for 7 years), but, if he isn't, he should be. It would greatly enhance his fledgling European career.
- Tadija Dragicevic is playing for Crvena Zvezda in Serbia, averaging 9.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in Adriatic League play. As expected, he didn't sign with the Jazz this summer, because he's not ready. But apparently no one told Rotowire.
- Christian Drejer signed a three year contract with Lottomatica Roma last year, which lasted only 6 games. His recurring left foot problem recurred, and, after an extended absence and more operations, Drejer decided he had to retire. This quote comes to your courtesy of Google Translate, from this page:
I've really tried to get my feet in order, but it has never really succeeded, so even though it is sad to have to stop, it has not been a difficult decision. I simply can not play," explains the 25-year-old Christian Drejer.
So, Nets fans, your dreams of the enigmatic point forward are now officially over. Or they should be.
- Roberto Duenas has also retired (really), and is now pursuing his dream of being a professional underwear model. (Not really.)
- Predrag Drobnjak is playing for Efes Pilsen, where he has averaged all of 2.3 points and 1 rebound in Euroleague play. Speaking of Drobnjak, here's a thing. Once upon a time, about 10 to 15 years ago, my dad's car was broken, and so we had to hire a taxi to get me to football practice. As I was practicing, my dad and the cab driver hung around for the duration, chatting away, because there wasn't really enough time for my dad to go home and come back. My dad said that the taxi driver man seemed nice. However, 9 days later, his face (the driver's, not my dad's) appeared on the front page of the local newspaper after he was arrested for kiddie fiddling. And that man looked a bit like Peja Drobnjak. Therefore, in a way, I was nearly bumraped by Peja Drobnjak. That's all I have to say about that.
- Finally, Josh Duncan is signed with Pau Orthez. Pau may be one of the few French teams that you've ever heard of, but this year, they're in last place with a 2-12 record, including an 0-7 start. Duncan isn't really helping - he played in only 5 games, averaging 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds, before getting injured in early November. (I seem to remember that he blew his knee out, but can't find proof. Apply within.) They also lost every game that he played in. So it's not gone well.
- As the old saying goes, no news is good news, except when there's no news about Alain Digbeu. But thankfully, there now is some! Huzzah! Digbeu has signed with Kavala Panorama in Greece, the team that also just signed Cavaliers guard Billy Thomas from off the street. Insert flippant comment.
- Speaking of the Cavaliers, the guy that Cleveland signed at the same time as Thomas - forward Kaniel Dickens - has signed with Napoli, where he'll sign heads and flavour bounces with the best of them.
- Still speaking of the Cavaliers, they also signed their second round pick this year, Darnell Jackson. The latest season of the British version of Big Brother featured an albino black guy named Darnell and, for those who can't imagine it, here's what an albino black guy looks like:
Thus marks the first and only time Big Brother will be referenced on this website. Christ it's bad.
- Sebastiani Rieti is another Italian team, apparently one with problems getting Americans to like them. In recent months, the club signed both Donnell Harvey and Tim Pickett, but both players have already been dumped by the team. Pickett's contract was voided by the team after he twice told them he had arrived in Italy when he hadn't, and Harvey was kicked off the team for "disciplinary" reasons before even playing a game for them. Donnell Harvey also failed to turn up for the Bobcats summer league team this year citing a "family emergency", so things haven't gone quite right for him of late. To replace either or both of these players, the team has already signed Roderick Wilmont, and is (or was) expected to sign Ricky Minard, which is great news if 2004 Sacramento Kings second round picks is your thing.
- Arvydas Macijauskas was waived by Olympiakos after breaking his foot. Man. They're strict in Europe. Hurt yourself? You're off the team. Tough break. Tough on injuries, tough on the causes of injuries.
- Marcus Slaughter has signed with Bremerhaven in Germany, a team not named after J.R. Bremer's pubes, despite how it may appear.
- And finally, the Golden State Warriors remain busy. After drafting Kosta Perovic back in 2006, the Warriors then waited a year before signing him to a three year contract that ranged somewhere between 5 and 6 million dollars last offseason. Twelve months and ten points later, that experiment has already ended, as the Warriors waived Perovic so that he can sign a three year contract with Pamesa Valencia of Spain. Once again, Chris Mullin gets away with his own mistake, and us salary people are excused from making excuses for Kosta's weird salary. In addition to this move, the Warriors signed two scrubs for training camp named DeMarcus Nelson (because Marcus is never enough) and Rob Kurz.
They also signed Dion Dowell, but you knew that already.
- Adam Haluska signed with Hapoel Jerusalem. I'm putting this one first, because originally I had it last, and the jarringly obvious lack of a bad joke was not a good way to end the post. I have failed you.
- Miami waived Bobby Jones before his contract became guaranteed, thus leaving Jones free to roam the land and add another scalp to his "I can totally play for every NBA team before 2010" campaign. (A campaign which may only exist in my head.) I'd recommend him to Memphis, but unfortunately, he's already been there once. So....Oklahoma City, anyone?
- Some things happen really quietly in the NBA. So quietly, in fact, tha they aren't actually announced at all. In the last six weeks or so, the Bulls have signed two players without telling anyone: restricted free agent Demetris Nichols accepted his unguaranteed qualifying offer, obviously aware that it's for more than he will get elsewhere, and number 1 overall pick Derrick Rose signed his rookie contract back in early July. For some reason, there was no press conference on this - one can only assume that they held off deliberately in order to do the damn thing so that they can announce his signing at a later date in conjunction with the signings of, say, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. That way, they can do one of those "Meet The Next Generation" type of press conferences, and maybe even get Jonathan Frakes as a guest speaker. However, as Ben Gordon has decided to be a right wazzock about his contract situation (more on this later), that plan hasn't really worked out. Nevertheless, Rose has signed, so all you conspiracy theorists....disperse.
- Similarly, the Warriors have signed undrafted forward Dion Dowell for training camp, doing so very early, with no announcement made. It's not unprecedented for this to happen - Utah did it with Roger Powell once, for example - but it is kind of rare. So when an announcement about Golden State signing Dion Dowell hits the streets in the first week of October, don't be surprised to hear an I told you so. (In the unlikely event that it doesn't happen, this post will self-destruct, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.)
- Milwaukee signed Francisco Elson. Why? Don't know, really. Is Elson better than incumbent backup centre Dan Gadzuric? Yes, yes he is. Pretty much everyone is. But is it by a lot? Not exactly. So is it worth signing a slight upgrade when you're already stuck with paying Gadzuric $20 million over the next three years? (By the way, you may have noticed that sometimes I befoul the signing of good players to decent value contracts, and sometimes I applaud it. This is because I'm temperamental, partial to prejudice, and often wrong.)
- In the same day, Gordan Giricek was reported to have signed with two different teams, in a situation even more bizarre than that of serial bigamist, Jumaine Jones. Triumph Lyubertsy of Russia - the team who just spent lots of money on glamour model Nenad Krstic as a replacement for Uros Slokar - were reported to have signed Giricek for one of those elusive 1+1 deals, but agent Marc Fleischer says that Giricek signed with Fenerbache of Turkey. And you'd think that he'd know, really. So we'll pencil him in for Turkey. (You know the best part about all of this? I'm Uros Slokar's Facebook friend. True story. The guy writes on his own wall a lot, but his English is as sound as Ealing North MP Stephen Pound. I like him.)
- Boston either just have signed or soon will sign their first round draft pick, J.R. Giddens. For all first round draft pick fans at home, this now leaves only two from this year's draft unsigned - George Hill of the San Antonio Spurs (who apparently will signed and will feature heavily), and Serge Ibaka of Oklahoma City (who, as intrepidly reported back in the boom boom selection days, has signed elsewhere already). You know who has been signed? Derrick Rose. Just thought I'd remind you.
- Jamar Smith has signed for Fastweb Casale Monferrato in Italy. Note: this is not Illinois's disreputable Jamar Smith, the one who recently got kicked off of the team for some naughtiness. Instead, this is Maryland's Jamar Smith, the one hurtling towards thirty, and the former San Antonio Spurs training camp fodder. In many ways, this is the more famous of the Jamar Smithii. (Plural.)
- Jannero Pargo signed with Dynamo Moscow, a team which isn't actually in Moscow, but which can be found in a small farmer's market outside Pontefract, Wales. (Readers note: I am talking out of my arse.) The signing of Pargo isn't exactly a heartbreaker, but it does weaken the already piss poor market even further. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. For every reasonably decent point guard signed, Kevin Ollie gets one step closer to a stay of execution, which can't be bad. Additionally, if any teams out there are upset at losing out of signing Pargo and are looking for a Pargo-like replacement, may I suggest Salim Stoudamire?
- Louis Amundson signed with the Phoenix Suns, naturally for the minimum. So clearly the Warriors looked elsewhere (namely, Dion Dowell). The Suns are now a Goran Dragic away from completing their roster, and we'll have more on that sneaky little bastard later.
- Marcus Douthit has signed with Antalya Buyuksehir Belediye. The last time I wrote something about Marcus Douthit, I asked the world if any of you knew what happened to Douthit's unique charges of embezzlement. Reader and one-time blog commenter Chris, whoever that is (God bless you sir) provided a quasi-update, but not an absolute resolution to this important question. And so, I'll ask again: does anyone know of what became of Marcus Douthit's embezzlement charges?
- Paul Davis returned to the L.A. Clippers to battle Steve Novak for the important role of gimpy looking 15th man whose very presence keeps the fans interested. Unhelpfully and unoriginally, I'm going to make the same observation that everyone else has made: boy, do they have a lot of Davii! (Plural.) Journeyman forward Dangerous Josh Davis can claim the one the Clippers as one of the few teams that he hasn't played for yet, not even in summer league (I think), and he's also currently unsigned. This union makes too much sense not to happen.
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.
Copyright ShamSports.com, 2005-2010. Every published word on this website
is copyrighted to the website's owner, including (but not limited to)
the really stupid ones that I wish I'd never written.
- Dion Dowell
- Robert Dozier
- Tadija Dragicevic
- Dontaye Draper
- Christian Drejer
- Peja Drobnjak
- Erwin Dudley
- Roberto Duenas
- Josh Duncan
- Bryant Dunston
- Ronald Dupree
