Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 43

I suppose I ought really ask - are you enjoying these? Really? I'd like some feedback on this. I mean, even if you don't enjoy them I'm doing them anyway, because despite how tedious it can get trying to find new and exciting ways to list someone's rebounding averages, I've come too far to quit. And I'm also kind of enjoying doing it. But I need to know if you are too. If you're not, please say so, as your opinion is important to us, even if it will be largely ignored.

- Jason Richards is unsigned, perhaps unsurprising due to the knee injury he suffered in training camp that ended his season before it even began. Speaking of, if any Heat fans out there are wondering why Jason's getting a full $442,114 salary from the Heat this year (see salary page), it's not because the Heat signed him to a guaranteed deal. They actually signed him in July to a deal with a small $50,000 guarantee, enough to convince him to choose their training camp over anyone else's. However, because Richards was hurt while directly playing for the team, his contract is guaranteed until such time as he is able to return. And since he's out for the year, that means he's getting paid for the whole of this year. (The same has happened to Mike Wilks, formerly of Orlando and now of Memphis.) It's kind of a bugger for Jason that he's had such a serious knee injury in the first season of his professional career, but the $370,000 extra compensation that he got for his troubles will numb the pain a bit. I can only hope that this doesn't lead to a speight of fringe NBA players signing training camp contracts for nominal or no guaranteed money, just to then take a dive and pick up a fat check for a year. This would be bad, if alarmingly smart.

- Norm Richardson - a legend in my eyes for reasons not even I really understand - has already retired at least once from professional basketball. Clearly it didn't work out, though, because Norm is back and playing in Germany for the insatiable TBB Trier. N (it's like Q, only N) averages 10.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists, numbers that extol the virtues of his greatness better than my mere words ever could.

- Anthony Richardson's senior and junior years at Florida State were far less productive than his junior season, but he began his NBA career in earnest anyway. Richardson didn't play in his first professional season (if that makes sense), but for the 2006/07 season he signed with the fantastically named Butte Daredevils of the CBA. From there he played in the USBL for a bit, where he was a 20ppg scorer, and then went to 2007 training camp with the New Orleans Hornets. Richardson did sufficiently well there that he scooped a training camp spot with the team, although clearly he didn't make the regular season roster. Richardson then buggered off to Germany, where he scored 53 points in 7 games, and is signed this season with Eiffel Towers Den Bosch, a team which you may remember are deceptively located in Holland. Richardson averages 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in the Dutch league, along with 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the EuroChallenge.

- Rick Rickert spent the year with the New Zealand Breakers, who equally confusingly play in the Australian NBL. It took me a while to figure this out. Rickert averaged 13.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in the Australian regular season, which has now finished. In the semi final game Friday, which saw the end of the Breakers' season, the Breakers lost 103-97 to the Melbourne Tigers, via 26 points by personal favourite Ebi Ere. Rickert had only 7 points and 10 rebounds.

- Former Cavaliers great Filiberto Rivera is in Germany, playing for Brose Baskets Bamberg. Rivera averages 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Per game. Obviously.

- Lawrence Roberts is averaging 11.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in the Eurocup for Crvena Zvezda, alongside 9.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in the Adriatic League. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I'm going to go and watch a Crvena Zvezda game as soon as I finish writing this post, Roberts won't be in it, for he injured himself back on the 7th Feb and is not active at the moment. Bugger. Might go back to bed instead then.

- Dennis Rodman is currently appearing on Celebrity Apprentice, where he has demonstrated a stubborn refusal to bake cakes.

- Rodney Rogers..... :(

- Jalen Rose....... :|

- Bryon Russell is reportedly wanting to mount a comeback at the age of 38. This seems odd, given that he was done at the age of about 32. But good luck with that. I just don't think it will happen.

- Finally, Walker Russell Texas Ranger has emerged from somewhere as being one of the best point guards in the D-League. Russell averages 15.9 points and a league leading 11.4 assists per game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Is this further evidence of Isiah Thomas's ability to scout young talent? Seems so. Shame about his ability to scout old talent.

Summer signings, round 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where Are They Now? Part 31

Still don't know what's wrong.

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Don Reid hasn't played since leaving Detroit, and while there was rumours of them re-signing him not so long ago, they amounted to nothing.

Jared Reiner is playing for Bamburg in Germany, where he averages roughly 11 points and 8 rebounds.

J.R. Reynolds went undrafted and wound up playing for Vanoli Soresina, a rather poor Italian team. Reynolds averages 17.9 points, 3 and a bit rebounds, and 3 and a bit assists.

Darius Rice is a member of the "Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants" in the Phillipines, which is the greatest name for a sports team ever.

Anthony Richardson started the season for Ludwigsburg in Germany, but left for reasons that I am not sure of. Also playing for Ludwisburg - Vincent Yarborough. Awesome.

Norm "N" Richardson is fantastic, and I tracked his career like an avid fan should. After falling out of the NBA, N went to the D-League with the now-defunct North Charleston Lowgators, where he played out of position for the greater good of the team (professional!) and made Karim Shabazz look better than he was. N then went to France, where he won some kind of cup, and then announced his retirement "to pursue business interests" during the celebrations. It must have gone south, because 4 months later, N unretired and signed in Venezuela. Since then, he's been around the block, got a training camp invite one time with the Toronto Raptors, and continues to try and prove the world how brilliant he really is. This season, Norm was playing for Poloni ain Poland alongside Paul Miller, where he averaged 15.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, demonstrating the all-around game that made him world famous.

Rick Rickert was a member of the New Zealand Breakers this season, a team which is confusingly in Australia and not New Zealand. (No, really, it is. At the very least, it's a New Zealandish team who play in the Australian league. Answers on a postcard.) Rickert missed most of the year with a back injury, and averaged 17.8 points a game in the brief time that he did play. His team mate was former Heat guard Kirk Penney, who averaged 24 points a game. So that's nice.

Filiberto Rivera - or, if you'd prefer, Philip Rivers - is back in hs native Puerto Rico, averaging 11.6 points and 6 assists a game for a team called Baloncesto. His teammates include Bimbo Carmona, and Angela Reyes, that guy who everything thought the Bucks had signed, but they hadn't. (Darius Rice, mentioned above, played 6 games for Baloncesto, averaging 19.2 points and 6.7 rebounds a game. Carmona averages 19.4 ppg and 6.3 rpg.)

Anthony Roberson is playing for Beykozspor in Turkey, and the usual comment about Turkish statistics applies here. (I.E. there are none.)

Lawrence Roberts signed for Olympiakos in Greece for two years back in the summertime, but left before playing a game. I used to know why, but I forgot.

Bernard Robinson was waived by New Orleans immediately after being acquired on the day before opening day, and has not played since season. He may or may not be injured.


BONUS OLUMIDE OYDEJI NEWS: Olumide signed today for Granada in Spain as a replacement for Michael Bradley, who was let go due to being shit. Good times. Well, not for Michael Bradley.