Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 14

This one might be shorter than the last one.

One final note on Keon Clark: despite what I said earlier about Clark's mandatory weekly court appearances being "almost universally described as good", Clark failed a drug test as recently as late November. So maybe it's not all coming up Milhouse after all.



- Victor Claver

Windpipe is still with Valencia, his hometown team and the team he's been with since he was 15. He's averaging 11.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the Eurocup, alongside 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in the ACB. Good numbers all, with only one drawback; Claver is shooting a combined 26 of 87 from three point range between the two competitions, which is .298%.



- Mateen Cleaves

After spending last year in the D-League, Mateen Cleaves is currently unsigned. This would appear to be by choice, as his Twitter reveals a new career direction. Cleaves has teamed up with some guy named Jon Connor (not the one of Terminator fame) to launch Varsity Records, a record label that appears to have one client (Connor) and one manager (Cleaves). This would appear to be a full time venture for Cleaves now, so he is perhaps done with basketball at the age of 32. I'm speculating about that, of course, but only because of Cleaves's apparent dedication to this new endeavour.

Is Jon Connor any good? You be the judge.

Hard to tell, really. That's just noise on that video. The behind-the-club's-stage angle is never the best one acoustically. But the crowd seem to be enjoying it.

Here's an article about them both.





- Keith Closs

For the 2007-08 season, a 31 year old Closs joined the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League, and spent the entire year there. It represented the best job security that Closs had had since his NBA career floundered almost a decade ago, and an article (which I now can't find) spoke of his comeback from the apathy and alcoholism that had plagued him until that point. It was a nice story.

Since that season ended, though, Closs' career has been back to its previous stop-start ways. Closs started last year in China, averaging 14.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and a league best 4.5 blocks in 18 games for the now-defunct Yunnan Running Bulls. After putting up a triple double (13/13/11) in his final game with the team in late December, he moved to rival team Liaoning for a tryout, but did not make the team, and then this summer he was a part of the stacked IBL team, the Los Angeles Lightning.

What's he doing now? Well, this very week, Closs was the first pick in the second round of the Universal Basketball Association draft by the seminally named GIE Morrow Disciples, a team that clearly read the Anthony Morrow Facts before choosing that name. The Universal Basketball Association is a minor league that you've probably never heard of; nor had I until I looked up Keith Closs' recent career. The UBA is based in Texas and used to be known as the United Regions Basketball League. The MVP of the league last year was Atlanta Christian's very own Jermaine Barnes, who averaged 41 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals per game.

For Keith Closs to have been only the 9th pick, there must be 8 players in the UBA deemed to be better than him.

(By the way, Jermaine Barnes has never played to a standard above the ABA, which isn't much of a standard at all. But the advantage to that is huge statistics, and Barnes fully took advantage of that by averaging 48.2 points per game for an entire season in 2007-08. It was in the Japanese third division, but still.)



- Dominique Coleman

Coleman made his name in the D-League last year, playing for the now-defunct Colorado 14ers. He averaged 15.1ppg, 7.6rpg, 4.8apg and a league best 2.8spg, numbers he hadn't previously approached, not even in the Big 12. Coleman took this new CV to Belgium, where he joined Dexia Mons-Hainaut and awaited some hot Eurocup action. However, despite his 22 points and 9 steals in two games, Dexia were knocked out of the Eurocup (see also: Justin Cage's entry), and Coleman moved to another Eurocup team in Angellico Biella. There, he averaged 4.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the Eurocup, alongside 5.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Italian league, before being released. Coleman was only ever signed as injury cover for Fred Jones, and once Jones returned to health, Biella didn't have room to keep Coleman. He is now unsigned.



- Coleman Collins

Collins is in Germany, playing for ratiopharm Ulm. The lack of capitalisation there is theirs, not mine. Collins is averaging 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 24 minutes per game, shooting 57% from the floor and 54% from the foul line.

It's been a while, so let's play Count The Germans: on a 15 man roster, Ulm have 10 Americans (including two called Kevin Martin and John Bryant), 1 Dane (going by the very un-Danish name of Darko Jukic), 1 Bosnian and 5 Germans. Three of those Germans are in the regular playing rotation, including national team forward Robin Benzing.

I think that's the most successful game of Count The Germans we've had so far.



- Will Conroy

Apart from very short stints in the NBA and Italy, Conroy has been in the D-League since leaving the University of Washington in 2005. This means he probably still has a mortgage, because the D-League does not pay well. Conroy has done this for the simple reason that he knows he's on the cusp of the NBA, and the best way to get in it when you're that close is to be in the D-League and wait for opportune 10 day deals. However, despite averaging 27/8/5/2 down there last year, Conroy still couldn't get any guaranteed money in training camp this year, and went to the Rockets camp in October on a completely unguaranteed deal. Then, in spite of the Rockets having only two point guards, Conroy lost out on a roster spot to Brian Cook, because Cook's expiring salary can't be traded if he's not on the roster. And trading that remains a possibility, however small. So it was no joy for Will.

The guards to have been called up from the D-League to the NBA so far this season are Sundiata Gaines, Mario West, Cedric Jackson and JamesOn Curry. While Gaines' story has been quite cool, what else does Conroy have to do? No one in the NBA really needs Conroy right now, not even the Rockets, but he's being passed over for lesser players and has been for a while. If teams need a point guard to call up as injury cover, Conroy is ready and waiting, but they're not doing so. Worse still for Conroy; he just turned 27, and the window is closing.

Conroy went to China to start this season, but lost out in the crush that saw basically every former NBA player vying for spots there. He has since rejoined the D-League and is averaging 14.3 points, 8.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.



- Omar Cook

Montenegrin national team starter Omar Cook is one of the best point guards in Europe. His team Unicaja Malaga have turned over their backcourt recently, replacing Taquan Dean and Shammond Williams with Juan Dixon and Zabian Dowdell, but Cook remains a mainstay and one of the best passers on the continent. He averages 9.3 points and 5.7 assists per game in 25 minutes per game in the ACB, alongside 8.9 points and 6.0 assists per game in the Euroleague. If those assists numbers don't look like much, consider:

a) the minutes played.

b) the fact that assists are far harder to get in Europe; double the number and subtract a bit for their NBA equivalents.

c) the fact that the Euroleague and the ACB represent the second and third best standards of basketball in the world, and Cook is second in them both in assists per game.

Maybe now you'll understand why he is totally badass.

Also note; in 19 ACB games this year, Cook has only scored in double figures 6 times. One of the, however, was a 35 point explosion. That was fun.



- Brandon Costner

NC State product Costner was Coleman's teammate at Dexia before getting hurt in late October. He was replaced by Curtis Sumpter, but rejoined the team in early December, and is averaging 10.6 points and 4.0 rebounds on the Belgian league season. He was doing a lot better before the injury.

From what I've seen of him there this year, Costner has foresaken any remaining impulses to pretend he's a power forward any more.



- Ryvon Covile

Detroit Mercy product Covile is playing his second season with Orleans in France, with this year having an added bonus; Orleans are (or rather, were) a Euroleague team. In that competition, The Detergent averaged 9.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.3 fouls, alongside 10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.1 fouls per game in the French league. Covile's rebounding was his staple in college, yet he's not proving to be much of a rebounder now that he's undersized in the pros. However, his offensive output has increased over the years, which makes up for it.



- Chris Crawford

As regular readers will know, Crawford has been a particular point of interest over the years due to his complete disappearance a few years ago. That issue was addressed at length here, and an impassioned two person internet campaign to find Chris Crawford produced the following results:

1) He lives in Galesburg, Michigan.
2) He owns a company called "Slam Dunk Stables," a thoroughbred racing stable that either is or was part-owned by Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

I don't think we need any more than that.



- Joe Crawford

Crawford was in camp with the Knicks, yet despite having the guaranteed money advantage over Marcus Landry, Landry beat him to the 14th roster spot. And the Knicks didn't keep fifteen out of training camp, for as we later learned, they were keeping number 15 for Jonathan Bender. Crawford rejoined the D-League - where he will earn about half of the $50,000 the Knicks are paying him not to play - where he was assigned to the L.A. D-Fenders. He is averaging 17.7 points and 3.8 assists per game.



Finally....

- Austin Croshere

Despite playing for three NBA teams last year - the Pacers, the Bucks and the Spurs - Croshere has not played for any this year. It doesn't look like he's going to, either, as he now does television and occasional radio work for the Pacers.



Remember to use the site's Twitter account, which is rife with news of players not worthy enough for their own posts. For example, would you like to know which former Oklahoma State player was just suspended for signing in both Portugal and Montenegro at the same? If so, go there.

Summer league round-up: Los Angeles Lakers

View the Lakers summer league roster.

I've not heard of several of these people. Should enjoy this.

- Alan Anderson: Anderson has been on the fringes of the NBA for quite a while. He spent parts of two seasons with the Bobcats, playing in 53 games, and spent last summer on the Grizzlies VSL team. After failing to make the team, he signed in Russia with Triumph (the team perhaps better known last summer for the big contract they gave Nenad Krstic.....briefly), but left during midseason and joined Cibona Zagreb. There, he averaged 16.2ppg, 6.8rpg and 2.8apg in the Croatian league, alongside 18.4ppg, 5.6rpg and 2.1apg in the Adriatic league. However, he left Cibona last month, because they weren't able to afford is contract demands for next season, and Anderson has already signed for next season with Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

I'm not sure why he's even bothering with summer league, to be honest; his Maccabi contract does have an NBA-escape clause, meaning that he can get out of it if an NBA team comes a-calling later this summer, but that might not be preferable. His Maccabi contract also calls for him to be paid $800,000 next year - which, remember, is a net sum - and sees him in a guest guitarist role for one of the biggest bands in showbiz today. I'm not sure why he'd jeopardise that for the chance to sit on the bench behind Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic and Shannon Brown. But, good luck to him I guess.

- Aron Baynes: Baynes is a centre with dual Australian and New Zealian citizenship [Zealandish? Zealish? Zealandolian? On a postcard, if you would] who recently graduated from Washingon State university. In his senior season, Baynes averaged 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, on handsome percentage of 58% and 77%. He also has legit NBA size (being listed as 6'11 and 270lbs), plays physically, and is a post player through and through. However, he too has already signed elsewhere, catching on with the slightly bankrupt defending Eurocup champions, Lietuvos Rytas. The Lakers appear to have adopted a weird approach to summer league this year.

- Dominique Coleman: Coleman is a former Colorado Buffaloes guard who was last with the Colorado 14ers of the D-League. The Nuggets clearly weren't too interested, though. Coleman's D-League numbers from last year are pretty freaking impressive; in 50 games, the 6'3 guard averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.9 steals, shooting 50% from the field and 41% from three point range. This is particularly impressive when you consider that he'd played for three teams in Finland the previous season. Another year like the last one, Dominique, and you'll be famous.

- Chinemelu Elonu: When I watched Texas A&M last year, I saw Junior Elonu and thought "if anyone on this team is going to play in the NBA, it'll be him". He had decent defensive instincts, a mechanical and unattractive but fledgling offensive game, and the strength to make up for his comparative lack of size. Given an ever-present need to quench the NBA's thirst for defensive minded centres, I figured he might be on the radar down the road as someone who might be able to do a decent impression of the 2008 Adonal Foyle at some point. But that doesn't mean that I thought he had NBA talent.

- Tony Gaffney: Gaffney's numbers last year are pretty brilliant: 11.5ppg, 10.2rpg, 1.7apg, 2.0spg and 3.8bpg, on 54% shooting. However, they came at the basketball powerhouse that is Massachusetts, which helps provide some context as to how he did that. He also only measures at 6'8 and 205, which is NBA small forward size on an interior specialist. Considering his lack of offensive ability outside of opportunity scoring and hustle, he'll be best served with a tidy European career. By the way, everything I've just written also applies to Kenneth Faried.

- Terrel Harris: Harris averaged 13.9 points and 4.8 rebounds for Oklahoma State last year, taking lots of three pointers and looking for his shot at all times. But that also describes the entire Cowboys roster last year. (PS; Marshall Moses, use your right hand some time.) Harris was a solid offensive player, not really creating a whole lot but finishing the looks he got quite well. Unfortunately, that's not really good enough at the NBA level.

- Justin Hawkins: Hawkins played for the Kings summer league team last year, but I came away from that with absolutely no idea what he was good at. He played in all 5 games, started 2 and played 100 minutes, but averaged only 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds a game, shooting 32% from the field. He didn't leave an impression, really. He went to France for last season, where again his numbers don't really suggest anything NBA worthy: 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, on 42% shooting and 61% FT. I also hate The Darkness because their music is annoying and there's nothing cool about glam rock. So if there's a reason to view Justin Hawkins as an NBA prospect, and I've missed it, then do please let me know.

- Ben McCauley: From what I saw of McCauley last season, he either couldn't or wouldn't rotate on defense, and was slower than a paraplegic donkey in a minefield. He also wasn't strong, physical, or blessed with overwhelming NBA size. But he could shoot, and I saw him once gave a hard foul in the final two seconds of a blowout loss that sparked an enjoyable multi-player punch-up. So my impressions of him are mixed, with some great high points.

- David Monds: In keeping with the Lakers policy of bringing in players for summer league who have already signed elsewhere for next season, we now have David Monds, who has already signed somewhere for next year. Or at least, I thought he had; I forgot to write down where, and now I can't find it. Lest we forget, this website is amateurish.

Monds is another former Oklahoma State player, who was kind of an afterthought role player in college, but who has done a bit better since. He last played in Puerto Rico, where he averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds for Humacao, and before that he spent the season with the Dakota Wizards and Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the D-League, averaging roughly 12/9 between the two. He'll be 26 by the start of the next season, and a solid but unspectacular 6'9, but as I write this he just scored 17 points in 14 minutes in his summer league debut. So you might like him anyway.

- Adam Morrison: Christ. It shouldn't have been THIS bad.

- Taylor Rochestie: Roschestie (with an I, not an L, to rhyme with the singular of "testes") was Baynes's team mate at Washington State for the last three years, after transferring from Tulane. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last year, rocking a decent 2:1 assist to turnover ratio in the process. However, he also shot under 40%, and is only 6'1. If you can't shoot 40% in college at that height, you're not doing it in the NBA either. Rochestie is a fine shooter, but not an NBA calibre player.

- Luke Schenscher: Woop, it's the long overdue return of The Schensch. How could you ever leave me, you beautiful beautiful man. Luke was back in his native Australia last year, where he averaged 16.9 points per game, a league leading 10.8 rebounds per game, as well as 1.4 blocks, good for 3rd in the league. He shot 55% from the field and 75% from the foul line, which is great news if you've ever seen Luke Schenscher bank in free throws in your team's crucial first round playoff game. And I have. As for how the old school hook shot is looking these days, I couldn't say, but I imagine it to still be sheer unadulterated hardcore sex. Lakers fans, if he unfurls that bad boy in summer league play, get ready to nurse some semis.

- Mustafa Shakur: Shakur didn't have a great year last year, starting out with Tau Ceramica as the backup to Pablo Prigioni but not playing a lot, before moving to Panellinios in Greece, where he only played in the Eurocup games. In those Panellinios Eurocup games, he averaged 6.3 points and 1.2 assists on 54% shooting, which is about as much as any man can do in 11 minutes a game. But the European game isn't really suited to him, which might explain his continued desire to come home.

- Reggie Williams: Williams was with the Mavericks summer league roster last year, where he demonstrated good size and athleticism along with a penchant to get pretty damn wild at times. Williams is the best player in VMI history, leading the whole NCAA in scoring in both his junior and senior seasons. He did that without ever having a good jumpshot, which is more of a testament to the standard of competition that he faced than it is to his slashing game. Williams played in France last season, where he averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. However, he also shot 21% from three point range on over 100 attempts. So he still hasn't corrected that flaw.