Summer league round-up: Portland Trail Blazers

View the Blazers summer league roster.

- Deji Akindele: By being in this list, Akindele shows himself to once again be on the fringes of the minds of NBA executives, somewhere where he's been for about 5 years now. Last year in Italy, Akindele averaged 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 blocks. He even hit a three. The offense gets slightly better every year. However, the age keeps creeping up too.

- Jerryd Bayless: Rumour has it that my Bulls are pursuing - if not insistent upon - Bayless' inclusion in any potential three way trade that also seems them acquire Carlos Boozer. Not entirely sure of why, to be honest. Isn't the team with Derrick Rose the last team that needs to be looking to acquire a player whose strength is slashing to the rim, but who has a weak jumpshot, can't defend off-guards who isn't really a pass first player? The two can't pair up, and there aren't going to be many minutes behind Rose. So I'm not sure I understand this insistence. (Portland fans will probably speculate that trying to trade for Bayless means the Bulls can now trade Rose, since Jerryd will be better. They're like that.)

- Dante Cunningham: Cunningham once tried out for the British national team, but hasn't been heard from since; presumably, he didn't get a passport in the end. I have no idea what his claim on one was anyway, since he was born in Maryland to American parents, but it's a shame if he's never going to join us. Pops Mensah-Bonsu needs a backup, after all. Cunningham developed a fine mid range jumpshot last season out of roughly nowhere, which is what turned him from an undrafted talent into a high 30's pick. It serves as a nice compliment to the rest of his game, which is solid if not spectacular. He'll probably make the team after Portland's pursuit of Paul Millsap went awry, but even if he does I can't imagine he'll play much next year.

- Uche Echefu: A thoroughly ordinary player who rebounds and defends fairly well, but whose offense is unspecific. I realise that this is a really dumb criticism to levy against a player, and thus I should explain; by "unspecific", I mean "I never quite figured out where he was best at. He'd sometimes play in the paint, sometimes from the midrange and sometimes shoot some threes, yet wasn't really good at any of the three." Make of that what you win. By the way, I only saw Florida State twice, so you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to.

- Matt Freije: Last season, Matt Freije played in the Lebanon for about two weeks, in China for about two months, and in Puerto Rico for two more. He averaged 20/8 in China, and 20/7 in Puerto Rico. Yet strangely it was the stop in the Lebanon that made the biggest impression, as last month Freije received a Lebanese passport and agreed to join their national team. ShamSports.com - news that matters.

- Thomas Gardner: Many of my fellow Bulls fans fell in love Thomas Gardner after a garbage time outing that saw him jack up outside shots relentlessly, shooting 6-16 overall for a sweltering 14 points. My fellow Bulls fans are an easily led bunch. And kind of stupid, too.

- Pooh Jeter: Jeter played 4 years at the University of Portland, and his hometown ties probably factor in his appearance here. Of course, the 16.3 points that he averaged in Spain last year will also help. Jeter is clearly beasting it up in Europe and will probably do so for quite some time. But he's also kind of small for a point guard, and once the NBA tars you with that brush (often correctly), you're never getting rid of it. So he should probably stay in Europe. It's not a bad continent, after all. As long as you stay out of France.

- Bobby Jones: In a 14 month period from September 2007 to October 2008, Bobby Jones moved 10 times between NBA franchises, including of them three times. Since then, though, he's not made one single stop. And he's not going to, either, having already agreed to sign with Banca Teramo in Italy for next season. Has his whistlestop tour stopped so soon? That would be a shame. Especially since Quentin Richardson's about to break his record.

- Joe Krabbenhoft: Krabbenhoft is ideally suited to the NCAA game. He doesn't score much, and is only about 6'7, but he's strong, physical, likes to elbow people in the face and punch them in the balls. He's a decent rebounder and good passer, but with little offensive talent, size concerns and mediocre athleticism. In the NCAA, you can start at centre for four years with that, and have yourself a lot of fun and playing time in doing so. But you need more than that for the NBA.

- Patrick Mills: Mills broke his foot in his first day with the team, after falling about 15 places too far down the draft. It's not been a good month for him. I'd like to say that he's going to make the Portland team, but Christ knows what their roster's going to look like come opening night. If Kevin Pritchard gets his way, it won't be anything like this one.

- Dwayne Mitchell: Mitchell signed with the L.A. Lakers last training camp, didn't make the team, went to the D-League, and was assigned to the Lakers' affiliate, the L.A. D-Fenders. There, he averaged 18.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists, shooting 51% from the field, and upping his assist/turnover ratio from 1:1.37 to 1.58:1. He still can't shoot, though, shooting only 23% from three point range and 68% from the line. The turnover numbers are better, so he's getting there. Unfortunately, he's 27 next month.

- David Moss: Moss is a former Indiana State player player who rebounds very well for a 6'5 and who has a solid all around game, but no other stand out characteristics. In the Lakers post, when I mentioned that David Monds had already signed elsewhere....he hadn't. I was thinking of David Moss instead, who has already landed a plush gig with last year's Serie A champions Montepaschi Siena. He signed for three years, too, which means he'll be nearly 29 before he's back on the market again. So that's probably the end of his NBA dream.

- Drew Neitzel: Neitzel is still trying to rework himself into a pass first guard, and it's going fairly well. But he also only averaged 5/3 in Germany last year. And that's.....pretty bad. Pretty damn bad.

- David Padgett: See this.

- Jeff Pendergraph: Pendergraph's going to make the team. Channing Frye, Shavlik Randolph and Michael Ruffin are not. That trio combined for 818 minutes last year. Those minutes look like they're Pendergraph's.

Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 35

For what it's worth, a "team of admins" are now looking into the problems with this website's server, which has now mutated from one problem into two. It's not fun for any of you, but least of all for me. But at least we're trying. I'll just keep putting stuff up here anyway, both on this blog and site-wide. If and when you're lucky enough to be able to see it, it's all yours. Be patient, resilient and brave. We'll get through this together, even if some lesser folk die along the way.

Why this had to happen at the time of the trade deadline, I don't know. But it could be worse. This website didn't exist during the 2007 moratorium. Maybe I should put ads up and get a dedicated server. Yeah, that might be wise.

- Rich Melzer is currently unsigned, and played only three games last season for the German side Quackenbrueck, whose name also doubles as a duck's favourite breakfast. Having just turned 29, this doesn't seem like a particularly healthy direction for Melzer's career to be going towards. Then again, he used to play in Australia, so this might be better.

- Pops Mensah-Bonsu is a legend. There are two reasons why I think this. The first is because he's English. The second is because he's a legend. Pops started the year with DKV Joventut Badalona in Spain, playing five Spanish league games and totalling 14/9 in his one Euroleague game, before injuring himself (I think it was his shoulder) in late October. DKV released him (I think it was by mutual consent - it's all written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look for it), and Pops spent the next three months on the sidelines. However, in late January he returned, and was acquired by the Austin Toros of the D-League as just one more in their long line of decent big men this season. In the 6 games that Pops has played for Austin, he has absolutely beasted in the way that only legends can, averaging a fully stuffed statline of 25.3 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, 4.7 fpg, 2.8 spg and 1.3 bpg, and shooting 61% from the field. This man can, will and should be in the NBA. By the way, with him, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Joel Freeland and potentially Kelenna Azubuike (whose initial application for a British passport was turned down, even though he was born in London, due to the immigration status of his parents at the time), British basketball finally has something that it has never previously had; genuine hope. That's a starting five that could beat the Kings right now, and it's all ours (sort of). In a period of world basketball that sees old mainstays like China and Lithuania getting up there in age with no great influx of youth coming through, Britain has a chance to make an impact on the world basketball scene for the first time since.....well, ever. We've been so far behind for so long that you might not even notice it happening, but in the not too distant future, this could be a team that plays in the important competitions for a change. And believe me, this would be an achievement. Even losing at a high level would be solace of sorts. Maybe one day, we'll develop a league worth televising.

- Ron Mercer is also a legend, albeit in a different way and to a far lesser degree. Since his retirement back in late 2006, Mercer's sole foray into the headlines was back in 2007, when he was cited for misdemeanour assault after punching a bouncer in the face at a strip club. It is not known what else he does with his time.

- Scott Merritt is playing for InterCollege Etha Engomis in Cyprus. He averages 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 fouls. Haven't a gag for this.

- Aaron Miles is signed with Panionios in Greece. I had a Panionios game to watch the other day, but my bastard Sky+ (it's like Tivo) recorded over it. Oh well. Miles is averaging 11.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the Greek league, with 13% three point shooting, alongside 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 25% 3FG in the Euroleague.

- Oliver Miller's last basketball gig was as the player/coach of the Arkansas RiverCatz (the Z makes it appeal to children!) in the ABA back in 2006/07. I don't know how it went, nor what he does now. But he does (or did) have a clothing label called "Da O Zone". However, a gig Google of that reveals only this:


Scary stuff.

- Reggie Miller is now one of my least favourite announcers around. No offence.

- Paul Miller now comes off the bench in Poland. For Anwil Wloclawek, Miller averages 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. One of my favourite memories from this past summer league was a clip of Quentin Richardson walking up to Miller with a camera on him, and repeatedly (and playfully) punching him, while Miller stood still and looked a bit bemused by it all. If you saw this too, you'd understand.

- Ricky Minard is in his second season with Premiata Montegranaro in Italy, where he seems to constantly go by the name Minardi for some reason. (I guess it's deliberate and not just constant typos. By the way, best Formula 1 team of all time other than Forti.) Minard averages 17.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists, making him one of the leading scorers in Serie A. And that's a pretty impressive boast.

- Albert "Miracles" Miralles is into his fourth season with Pamesa Valencia, and might be a lifer. Miralles averages 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 fouls in the Eurocup, and 5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 fouls on the season in the Spanish league. To read a recent crudely translated interview of his, click this. Notice how it doesn't mention the NBA anywhere.

- Dwayne Mitchell is in the D-League with the D-Fenders, who got allocated him after he was cut from the Lakers training camp. This is the benefit of signing lots of long shots to your training camp roster. The downside is when you get a Jason Richards or Mike Wilks-like situation, where the player gets injured in camp and you have to pay them for the full season. That kind of sucks a bit. Mitchell averages 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists, but is shooting worse than ever from outside, with only a 19% three point success rate. That also kind of sucks a bit.

- Finally, Jerome Moiso was Pops Mensah-Bonsu's replacement at Joventut. How coincidental! Moiso averages 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in the Spanish league, while shooting 71% from the field.

Summer signings, round 13

- After signing Brian Skinner and waiving Josh Powell, as described in the previous blog post, the Clippers finally did the other obvious thing and withdrew the qualifying offer to Nick Fazekas. This moves leaves them with roughly $1.4 million in remaining cap space. However, if they hadn't made the moves to sign draftees Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor unnecessarily early, as well as the even more unnecessary Jason Hart trade, then that number would be more like $2.5 million. I'm going to keep bloody going on about this until someone patronisingly rubs me on the head and tells me that it's OK.

- Adonal Foyle re-signed with the Orlando Magic, who still don't have a good backup big man. I'm all about Marcin Gortat, though. I like him. Also, free agent Magic guard Carlos Arroyo signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, a move insignificant of itself, but which serves to make this year's already weal free agency point guard crop even weaker. Someone needs to either gamble on Shaun Livingston, or get Kevin Ollie back in this league. Anything to keep Smush Parker out. (NB: Earl Boykins was rumoured to be going to Maccabi, but that was before the Arroyo signing was announced, so I doubt that's still on. However, for all his failings, Boykins is maybe now the best free agent left on the market. That's how bad the market is.)

- While we're on the subject of crappy journeyman point guards, Anthony Goldwire is still going, signing for Egaleo in Greece. Goldwire's kicking 40's door down, in the words of the lyrically superior Eminem, but he's still getting basketball jobs. So he's either broke, or he deeply loves the game. I truly hope it's the latter.

- The Lakers signed a short D-League scoring guard, Dwayne Mitchell. Seems like a weird place to start when they have other depth concerns, but oh well. I watched qutie a bit of the Lakers summer league, and Mitchell didn't play much behind such luminaries as Joe Crawford, Coby Karl, Brian Roberts and Cedric Bozeman. I don't know what to make of that.

- Julius Hodge says he wants to make an NBA comeback. Hmmmm. For those unaware, Hodge played for the New Jersey Nets summer league team. For those also unaware, the New Jersey Nets basketball operations person thingy is Kiki Vanderweghe. For those yet further unaware, Kiki Vanderweghe is the man who drafted Hodge way too frigging high back when Vanderwghe was the basketball operations person thingy with the Denver Nuggets. Yet even while crossing the country to follow the one guy to date who thought him worthy of an NBA contract, Hodge couldn't get himself another one. That doesn't bode well.

- Kevinn Pinkney and Shan Foster have agreed to sign with Juve Caserta in Italy. Therefore, Shan Foster must continue to wait to PLAAAAY IN THE NBAAAAAAAA". (I laughed at myself. Judge me if you must.)

- Another Dallas secound round draft pick, Renaldas Seibutis, has signed with Bilbao in Spain. Do you know how hard it is to think up good Renaldas Seibutis jokes? Let me tell you. It's very hard indeed. So I won't bother.

- Ndudi Ebi has signed with Carife Ferrara in Italy, alongside Harold Jamison. There just aren't enough Harold Jamison updates in the world today. Do you know what you get if you Google News-search "Harold Jamison"? Nothing. Well, nothing in English, anyway. Fucking shame.

- Steven Smith has signed with Kolossos Rhodes in Greece, perhaps the finest non-Phillipino team name I've ever seen. Such imperialism! Such history! Such distinction! Such pressure! Good luck Steven.

- Uros Slokar has signed for Fortitudo Bologna. By the way, if you like professional basketball players with accessibility, you'll LOVE Uros Slokar's website. Feel free to email him. Tell him I sent you. Offer him the job as this site's main web developer. Don't tell him that it's unpaid.