Summer league round-up: Golden State Warriors

View the Warriors summer league roster.

- Connor Atchley: In his junior season, Atchley was looking like a decent big man prospect. He averaged 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for Texas, while also shooting 41% from three point range on over 100 attempts. However, his senior season was then a complete wash-out; 4.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, .397 FG%, .278 3PT FG%. What went wrong? I don't know. Some people want to blame Dexter Pittman. But either way, Atchley took himself out of the second round. Now 24, Atchley can count himself kind of fortunate to even get a summer league spot, because 24 year old 6'10 228lb sub-40% scoring jumpshooting power forwards are not generally NBA worthy.

- Stephen Curry: Curry has played 6 games in the last 7 days for Team USA, totalling 50 points and 6 assists. Some people think he'll be the next Ben Gordon. Some people think he'll be the next J.J. Redick. Vital Penis thinks that he'll be the rookie of the year. Me, I think he'll be nearer the first than the second, and definitely not the third.

- Jermareo Davidson: Davidson has a non-guaranteed contract with the Warriors for next season, and is also officially listed as the second heaviest player on their roster behind Ronny Turiaf. Pretty weird, that, considering Davidson's slightly lanky frame. Last summer, the Bobcats exercised their team option on Davidson and guaranteed his contract, before then waiving him and experimenting with a variety of big men (Andre Brown, Dwayne Jones and Linton Johnson), finally settling on Juwan Howard. There's the Larry Brown influence for you. Davidson spent 15 games in the D-League, averaging 16/11, before the Warriors called him up, where he averaged 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds for the big league team. I expect him to make the team again.

- Lawrence Hill: Never heard of Lawrence Hill, to be honest with you, but here's what some searching reveals: Hill is a 6'8 power forward who just finished his senior year at Stanford, where he averaged 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 50% shooting. Not very good rebounding numbers there, to be honest, and the points and rebounding numbers are both down on his sophomore season, where he averaged 16/6. Lawrence Hill is also an award-winning Canadian novelist and memoirist, a small suburb near Bracknell, and a small electoral ward in the city of Bristol. And he hates it when white people buy his albums.

- Joe Ingles: Joe Ingles should have been drafted. Let's be honest. I won't call out Chinemelu Elonu or Robert Dozier by name or anything, because that would be unfair, but there were many domestic players drafted in the second round that didn't need to be. They would have gone undrafted, had they not been drafted. And they would have wound up with the first team to offer them $20,000 to come to training camp. Anyway, whatever. Ingles averaged 13.1ppg, 4.1rpg and 3.5apg for the Melbourne South Dragons in Australia last season, numbers down across the board from the year before. It might be high time for him to escape Australian basketball, given how badly it's struggling; his decision might be accelerated by the fact that the South Dragons have refused to participate in the newly reformed NBL, despite being the defending champions.

- Jared Jordan: Jared Jordan hasn't made it as far as a regular season NBA game yet, but he's shooting for his third straight training camp spot on his third different team. Jordan was second in the D-League last year with a 9.0 assists per game averaged, to go along with 10.9 points and 3.4 rebounds, although he only shot 28% from three point range and had some injuries. As ever, the Warriors could use a true point guard, which Jordan certainly is. But they also don't have many roster spots to go around, and they have enough small guards already. Including this guy.....

- Acie Law:....who sucks, but whose contract is guaranteed. Law has done quite literally nothing since being taken 11th in 2007. In 11 career games, he is shooting only 39% and averaging 7 assists per 48 minutes, with a career PER of 8.9. It's hard to show less than that in two years, but the optimist within me would like to think that a change of scenery and a higher tempo offense will help turn things around for Law. But that certainly wasn't the case for Marcus Williams, and if they don't around, this may well be Law's last year in the NBA.

- Cartier Martin: Martin broke into the NBA with the Bobcats last year, but didn't show much, shooting 36% in 33 games. Before that, he was in the D-League, averaging 20.6 ppg on 48% shooting for the Iowa Energy. He doesn't really have a shot on a forward-heavy Warriors roster, so the D-League beckons again.

- Anthony Morrow: Morrow was so surprisingly good last year that he spawned his own range of Chuck Norris facts. All he really does is shoot, but it's a hell of a jumpshot that he's got, and he has the size and athleticism to get almost any of them away. If Michael Redd is a precedent (and he'd better not be), then $90 million awaits; until then, it's an unguaranteed minimum salary for Morrow. But he's definitely coming back.

- Quan Prowell: Quan Prowell is not only the title emblazoned on the box of a crudely translated illegal DVD copy of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but is also a 6'8 former Auburn forward. Last year, he averaged 15.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in Turkey, playing for Casa TED Kolejliler Ankar, a team with a less than catchy name. Question: if the Rockets are looking at all these 6'8 combo/power forwards, why didn't they just keep Richard Hendrix?

- Anthony Randolph: Is Anthony Randolph going to be the next Magic Johnson, the next Scottie Pippen, the next Josh Smith, the next Lamar Odom, or the next none of these? I don't know. But I do know that I'm waiting around to find out.

- Lawrence Roberts: As mentioned in the Detroit round-up, Roberts played for Crvena Zvezda last year, acting as the sage old head to a team of young upstarts. He was injured a lot, yet led the team in rebounding. However, he shot only 43% in the Adriatic League, and 37.5% in the Eurocup, taking an ever-increasing amount of jumpshots from an ever-increasing distance away. Not necessarily good from your power forward whose main strength has always been his rebounding.

- Jamal Sampson: including summer leagues and minicamps, Jamal Sampson has now played for (or been a member of) the Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic (for a few minutes), Milwaukee Bucks, L.A. Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Bobcats, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets and now the Warriors. He's only 26, so he still has time to complete the set. Completing his skill set wouldn't be a bad idea, either - Sampson is still a pretty awful offensive player, who spent last year in China, where he averaged 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds for Liaoning. And if he can't score there, he won't score anywhere.

EDIT - An updated version of the Warriors roster saw Lawrence Roberts replaced by Othello Hunter, another power forward. Hunter spent all of last year with the Hawks, who signed him as an undrafted free agent after he played well for them in summer league. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.5 rebounds for them in 16 games, but was not extended a qualifying offer. He, too, is not Richard Hendrix. I'm trying to make a point here.

Where Are They Now: Derrick Murray

The look back at the compelling protagonists of the 1996 draft will be coming up soon, as soon as I can find 13 available hours in which to write it. Until them, I bring you a quasi-update from the 1994 edition.

In that post, I wrote this paragraph:

Last month, [Lamond] Murray signed back in the IBL for the third time, signing with the seminal Los Angeles Lightning, where he is currently averaging 25/6.

You weren't expecting that, I'm guessing. But here's the best part - the Lightning's lineup is freaking stacked. In an otherwise piss-poor league, the Lightning have managed to boast a lineup full of ex-NBA players, featuring Murray, current Clippers assistant and minor league veteran Fred Vinson, journeyman big man Jamal Sampson, the artist formerly known as Bryon Russell, ex-Suns guard Toby Bailey and former Rockets guard Juaquin Hawkins, who is with his first team since suffering a stroke last year. Did you see all that coming? No, me neither. In fact, apart from Murray, I didn't know about all those players being there when I started writing this. Good times, maybe.

Well, I have an update on that.

Sampson left the team after only 4 games, but the team replaced him pretty quickly, signing ex-Kings training campee (a new word), Adam Parada. Bailey has also finally turned up, as he was still playing in the German playoffs at the time of the last update. (He's currently averaging a triple double through his first two games, too.) The team also boasts California State senator Tony Strickland on the team, who hadn't played competitive basketball since averaging a double double at Whittler College in NCAA's division 3 almost two decades ago. That's a PR move and a half, that.

But the big news is that the Lightning have sinced added more ex-NBA pedigree, adding Raptors legend Darrick Martin to the team.

You needed to know that. You just did.



This post also serves as an excuse to fire out the two timeless Derrick Murray videos, which I think I will never, ever get bored of.

Great times.

Where Are They Now, 2009: Brimful of Asha on the 45

I am capable of independent thought, but for now, here's the copying of more numbers.

- Jamal Sampson started the year in China (woop!), but unfortunately his averages were rather normal. Sampson averaged 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds for the DongGuan New Century Leopards, before being replaced in early February by Cory Underwood, the team clearly realising that if Olumide Oyedije can average 20/20, then Sampson should at least average 35/26. But he didn't.

- Ricky Sanchez, whose rights are owned by Philadelphia, is embroiled in a bit of a soap opera. Sanchez played last season in his native Puerto Rico for Grises de Humacao, but hasn't played in the few months since that season ended. Currently, there's an argument going on within Puerto Rico as to who he can and can't play for. At some point in time, Sanchez was traded to the awesomely named Ponce Lions (hehe), but the Puerto Rican season is about to start, and Sanchez refuses to play for Ponce (hehe). The reason given by his agent is that Sanchez plans to attend "some" NBA camps this season (something clearly he considers to be possible), and he doesn't want to be tied into a contract with a BSN (Puerto Rican league) team should an NBA offer come his way. Someone should tell him that it won't, and ease the crisis. The dispute rages on, as FIBA have banned Sanchez from playing in the Venezuelan league. Apparently you need a formal letter of transfer to leave the Puerto Rican league, even if you're a free agent. Harsh. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

- Melvin Sanders is playing for Gran Canaria in Spain. He averaged 14.3 points per game in 8 Eurocup games, and averages 10.2 points per game in 19 Spanish league games. He also has 24 total assists in those 27 games. Sanders recently picked up a Georgian passport, via means I have absolutely no explanation for. This means that the Georgians, should they so choose, could feature a backcourt of Melvin Sanders, Shammond Williams and Tyrone Ellis. Some classic Georgian names there. God bless Georgi Kinkladze.

- Patrick Sanders is in the D-League, averaging 14.7 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Iowa Energy.

- If you remember Adam Parada's entry on this list - in which I listed a long list of listed places where Parada had previously listlessly played, and in amongst this list of random places was the Sacramento Kings - then you'll notice how this following entry is going to be much the same. Eric Sandrin is (maybe) a current members of the Singapore Slingers, a Singapore-based team who were formerly competing in the Australian NBL. However, they dropped out, and decided to tour Asia instead. In additional to this, Sandrin was recently drafted by the Samsung Thunders in the [South] Korean basketball league's "Ethnic Players Draft", which is frankly hilarious on many levels. In 2007/08, Sandrin had played in Korea for Mobis Phoebus, which sounds like a believable baddie in a Power Rangers episode. Sandrin split the 2006/07 season between Poland and Portugal, and split the 2005/06 season between the CBA and the ABA. The 2004/05 season saw him play in the ABA, then in Brazil, then for the Harlem Globetrotters, and before that he had played in Brazil, Austria, Luxembourg, and the NCAA Division 2.

Somewhere in amongst all that, Sandrin did enough to win a 2005 training camp invite with the Kings.

- Viktor Sanikidze is another Georgian, but unlike Melvin Sanders, Sanikidze can claim to have actually been born there. Sanikidze is playing for TU/Rock in Estonia, and averaged 8.5/4 in two Eurocup games, 4.6/3.8 in 5 EuroChallenge games, and 8.1/6.8 in the Baltic league.

- Daniel Santiago is with Barcelona, and averages 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in Spanish league play, alongside 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in the Euroleague. David Thorpe is a fan.

- Romain Sato is into his third season with Montepaschi Siena, the team that is absolutely running away with the Italian league. Sato averages 10.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in the Euroleague, along with 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in the Italian league. Sadly, his website, www.starinanylanguage.com, no longer seems to exist. But you can find some archived versions of it here. It's basically just him talking.

- Alex Scales started the season with BC Kyiv, averaging 12.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in the Ukranian league, before leaving the team after they dumped all their foreign players due to bankruptcy. Scales has since joined GMAC Bologna, but for reasons I'm not sure of, he has to wait until March 8th until he can debut. Fun Alex Scales fact: Alex Scales has appeared in one NBA regular season game, when he totalled 9 seconds of court time for the San Antonio Spurs at the end of a first half of a game in November 2005, defending an inbounds play. For this, I will always be a fan.

- The Don, Luke Schenscher, averaged 16.9 points and 10.8 rebounds this past season for the Adelaide 36ers, and won player of the month for January/February. He has grown his hair out long, thus enhancing his likeness to Janae Timmins from Neighbours, but he's also grown a beard that prevents the similarity from being faultness. That would be bad. I don't want to be sexually attracted to Luke Schenscher.

- Finally, you will probably already know of the common factor in Sofoklis Schortsanitis's career; he gets dangerously fat and gets suspended, undermining his fine scoring talents. I haven't seem him play this year - although I do have an Olympiakos game in amongst 25 or so NCAA games that are queued up on my Sky Plus - but he still plays very few minutes, so I'm guessing he's still fat. Sofo averages 7.9 minutes, 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game in the Euroleague, as well as 9.6 minutes, 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in the Greek league. He has 43 total rebounds and 47 total fouls. So you can see how the evidence is stacking up against him. However, despite this cycle seeming like it's gone forever, Sofoklis is still only 23, giving Clippers fans something to cling onto. Good luck with that.

Third Prize Is You're Fired

"Anybody wanna see second prize?"


"Second prize is a set of steak knives."



- Milwaukee signed Ron Howard, T.J. Cummings, Matt Freije and Kevin Kruger for camp. If you're wondering who Ron Howard and T.J. Cummings are......well, you have yourself a valid question, but both are represented by Elfus-Siegel Manegement, an agency quite adept at landing their players places on training camp rosters. (If you were wondering, this is how Garth Joseph rolled up on the Bulls training camp back in 2003, for one beautiful week.) That's basically the only reason that they're there, though, and be very careful when you Google-search T.J. Cummings's name. Freije gives the Bucks a weak-defending jumpshooting power forward, as they only have two right now, which just isn't enough. And Kruger gets to spend a couple of weeks in the NBA, even though he has no chance of making a roster that sees Luke Ridnour, Ramon Sessions and Tyronn Lue ahead of him, whether he likes it or not. Sham's prediction: The Bucks told Damon Jones not to report, and they'll try to trade him, but he will probably be waived if that can't be done. That would open up a roster spot for someone, but what would be the point of any of those four filling it?

- Minnesota made me a happy man this summer. Their camp signings were Kevin Ollie, Blake Ahearn and Rafael Araujo, while Chris Richard accepted his qualifying offer. Blake Ahearn is a nice player. Kevin Ollie is a moustachioed legend with something of a Brunson complex. But....Araujo? That's friggin' perfect, man, on so many levels. There's so much right about that move. Part of it is the way that Rob Babock won't let go, part of it is the fact that it's Rafael Araujo, but also because his signing allows for the existence of this picture:



Only Rafael Araujo could use training camp media day as an excuse to pull an unhateably funny face such as that, while sitting in a brand spanking new home jersey that he's already managed to dribble on. The NBA needs Rafael Araujo.

Sham's prediction: Unfortunately, it probably won't get him. These moves give Minnesota 18 players under contract, 16 of which are at least partially guaranteed (except for maybe Richard. Notice I said maybe). The two that aren't are Ollie and Araujo, which doesn't bode well for Hoffa, as much as we want him to make the team. As things stand, Minnesota has the unrivalled Frontcourt Fivesome Of Shite™, with Araujo, Brian Cardinal, Calvin Booth, Mark Madsen and Jason Collins all on the roster. I want this to continue on forever and ever. But it won't. (Ahearn makes the team, by the way, and Booth gets cut. This is the prediction that I promised you, from the website that occasionally keeps its promises.)

- New Jersey are good sports. With 15 guaranteed contracts already, and with Keith Van Horn still technically a member of their team, the Nets signed four players for camp anyway. One of them - Awvee Van Storey - has already been waived, but Julius Van Hodge, Keith Eddie Van Gill and Keith Van Brian Van Hamilton survive. The Nets could really use a third point guard, and Gill fits that bit. Hodge does, too. Sort of. And one of them may well make it. The Nets still have 19 players on their roster, but one of them is Van Horn, who isn't in camp, and who only survives on the roster should a trade opportunity arise that needs his unguaranteed salary. Hamilton is another easy cut, for his minimal skill level isn't needed on a forward-heavy roster. And Maurice Ager's sole leverage is his guaranteed deal, for his play these first two years has been awful. With the depth chart against him, he too is an easy cut. That leaves a spot free for one of the two, if the Nets choose to add a third point guard. Given that they don't really even have two right now, they should. Sham's prediction: Gill.

- New Orleans has done the bench-with-veteran's-minimums thing that Denver so enjoys, and all but Sean Marks ($200,000) are guaranteed. With 14 players on a largely completed roster, the Hornets' only camp signings were point guard Jared Jordan and centre Courtney Sims. Sims was in the NBA last year at least, as Indiana signed and waived him about 40 times, whereas Jordan spent the year on the continent doing literally nothing. Working in Jordan's favour, though, is the fact that MVP candidate Mike James is the only point guard option behind Chris Paul that the Hornets have. Sham's prediction: Jordan, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was neither. They're not that good, after all.

- New York took pity on Allan Houston, signing him for camp, kind of like how you'd do to a particularly needy tramp. You pass by him on the way to work every morning for several months, but eventually his sheer persistence means that you buy him a cup of coffee one winter morning in exchange for a stream of gratitude, a stream of gratitude which, if not forthcoming, will lead to you never acknowledging his existence ever again. Houston won't make the team, and neither with Dan Grunfeld, but at least they get some free coffee and the attention of passers-by for a few minutes. Even minus those two, the Knicks need to make a cut. They have 16 players, with Patrick Ewing Jr on the outside looking in. The sentimentality factor of him making the team might be nice, but he's the only one without fully guaranteed money ($200,000 guaranteed only), who plays a position where Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Jared Jeffries and Quentin Richardson all play ahead of him. To get Ewing on the team, either Ewing has to play so well that the Knicks are willing to cut Anthony Roberson (despite his guaranteed contract and skillset useful to the team), the Knicks have to hope Stephon Marbury reignites all the bridges he's trying desperately to rebuild, or the Knicks have to cut their losses and pay Jerome James to piss off. Sham's prediction: The latter one is his best hope.

- Oklahoma City need a third point guard, and managed to find one with marginal NBA talent and local ties in former Rocket and fan of trilogies, John Lucas III. They also signed former Sixer and MP for Tyneside North, Derrick Byars, as well as minor league star and former giraffe, Chris Alexander. Sham's prediction: Why they signed Alexander is a mystery. Alexander's a late bloomer with massive bounce-flavouring numbers in the D-League, and so another shot at the league seems fair, but the Thunder don't have any players under 6'9, and adding one more seems unnecessary. Byars doesn't really add anything that Kyle Weaver and Damien Wilkins couldn't sort out between them. Lucas has the best chance to make the roster on depth chart alone, but I wouldn't be surprised or remorseful if they cut all three.

- Orlando's three signings all respresent good value and fringe NBA talent - forward Jeremy Richardson (who the Hawks seem to let walk unchallenged, for some reason), big man Dwayne Jones (who is one of my favourite offense-free centres, if only for the moustache and crooked smile), and Mike Wilks (the point guard version of Zendon Hamilton - an NBA calibre talent who everyone overlooks for some reason, and who bounces around for a few years getting looks with many teams, yet who never gets the multi year guaranteed contract that the law of averages should provide for them). Sham's prediction: Jones and Richardson picked a bad team to sign with, particularly Richardson, who has the ability to play in the NBA, but who is now on a team already heavy with small forwards. Jones offers no improvement over Marcin Gortat, so he won't make it either. Wilks should stick.

- Philadelphia committed like the champions that they are, signing Justin Reed, Maureece Rice, Jared Reiner, Antywane Robinson and Andre Emmett. Reed was then almost instantaneously replaced by minor league journeyman and author Cory Underwood, without a word as to why Reed didn't turn up. Underwood, Emmett and Rice have already been waived. Sham's prediction: An extra small forward wouldn't go amiss in Philly, who have the class of Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young at the position, but who have no emergency third stringer there. However, they could also use a good shooter, and Robinson isn't it. He just thinks he is. Reiner's best hope is for the Sixers to suffer another frontcourt injury, who have already lost J-Smoove Jason Smith for a hundred million years. If that happens, he can play emergency backup to the emergency backup incumbent, Theo Ratliff. Robinson probably has the advantage, but dammit, you need a guard that can shoot. There's plenty out there. Look harder.

- Phoenix brought in Robert Hite and Trey Johnson, to battle Sean Singletary for what will almost certainly be only one spot on the deep bench. This is assuming that the Suns only run with the minimum of 13 players, which history suggests that they will. They also brought in big man Coleman Collins, but I'm not sure what they want from him. Sham's prediction: Singletary will win. He's the slightly better player than Hite, and also the finances are in his favour. Singletary has $200,000 of his $442,114 guaranteed, and Hite is a second year player. So, if Hite were to make the team, it would cost Phoenix roughly $1.8 million (Hite's salary of $711,517, doubled for tax, plus Singletary's $200,000 guarantee also doubled for tax), more than double what it would cost to keep Singletary alone. And also because he's better.

- Portland's 15th and final spot is between rookie point guard and former world heavyweight champion Drederick Tatum, Luke Jackson, Shavlik Randolph and the mountain man Steven Hill. Again, points are to awarded for box ticking - between those four players, the Blazers have managed to cover every position, all manner of standards (ranging from "fringe NBA talent" to "complete project" via "who the hell is that?"), while also bringing in a hometown guy in Jackson. This is how you play the damn game. Sham's prediction: There's not a great deal of point in any of them, to be honest. I would like to see quite where Shavlik Randolph could do after two wasted seasons, but the Blazers don't need him and never will. The depth chart favours Jackson.

- Sacramento signed a random 26 year old Chinese player called Zhang Kai. You've never heard of Zhang Kai before. There's a reason for that. The Kings also signed Bobby Jones (YES! Chalk up another!) and Noel Felix (YES! Chalk up another!), apparently identifying the need for a small forward on the end of the bench. Sham's prediction: Depending on what happens with Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the Kings might have some wiggle room under the tax in the near future. But, if Shareef's contract isn't removed from the books after his recent retirement, then they won't. In that event, the Kings won't be able to afford either Jones or Felix without straying ever so slightly into tax territory. So even if either one of them did make the team, they'd be cut soon enough anyway. Jones is far more likely to make it, though, because he's by far the better player. Felix looked intriguing during his brief stint with the Sonics three years ago, but he hasn't done anything since then. He's now 27, and still with the holes in his game that he's always had. Jamario Moon doesn't strike twice. Also note: Zhang Kai has about as much chance of making the roster as I do of getting a front office job in the NBA. That is to say, no chance whatsoever.

- San Antonio kitted out their inactive list with some class. Salim Stoudamire ($200,000), Desmon Farmer (none), Darryl Watkins ($20,000), Devin Green (nada) and Anthony Tolliver ($200,000) all signed early to various levels of guaranteed money, and the Spurs then added to those with further camp signings in Brian Morrison and their second round draft pick Malik Hairston. (Note: Morrison was waived almost immediately for Charles Gaines.) Those seven players are fighting against each other for two spots, as the Spurs have 13 guaranteed contracts other than they, with only Jacque Vaughn being expendable. Sham's prediction: If only for the level of guaranteed money, Stoudamire and Tolliver are the front runners for the two spots, but Desmon Farmer has NBA talent and a modicum of experience. The Spurs don't need both Green and Hairston, and arguably don't need either. Watkins gives the Spurs some size and shotblocking, but they don't particularly need either right now. What they could use is another shooter, which looks doubly good for Stoudamire. Counting against Salim is his small stature, something which Farmer isn't burdened with. But the level of guaranteed money infers that the Spurs aren't too bothered about that. Gaines hasn't a chance.

- Toronto are a boring bunch of boring bastards, who originally vowed to go into camp with only the 13 players that they already had contract, but whom eventually plumped for a 14th in Jamal Sampson only when rookie centre Nathan Jawai was ruled out with heart trouble. Sham's prediction: The reason they didn't bring anyone in despite having two spots available is that the Raptors have run out of wiggle room below the tax threshold. For this reason, Sampson won't make it, and if he does, it won't be for very long.

- Utah brought in Gerry McNamara, Britton Johnsen (quickly replaced by Gabe Muoneke after Johnsen took an offer in the Ukraine) and Kevin Lyde for training camp. McNamara gets his first shot in the NBA after a decent college career led to a less than decent Euroepan career. Muoneke is a training camp veteran of the best part of a decade who still hasn't managed to make an NBA game. And Lyde is a fat guy who the Jazz had in training camp last year, whom they let go for beign fat, and who has managed to subsequently get even fatter. A strange training regimen. Speaking of fat people, isn't it high time someone at least enquired about Michael Sweetney? Sham's prediction: All three had to have known that there was simply no place for them on the Jazz roster, with 15 guaranteed contracts in place and no one likely to be cut or traded.

- Finally, Washington brought in four players to fight for one spot - Linton Johnson, Juan Dixon ($150,000 guaranteed), DerMarr Johnson and Taj McCullough. McCullough seemingly did enough with his 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds averages during summer league play to earn a camp invite, but God knows what it was. The two Johnson's (giggidY) and Dixon (giggidy) are basically squaring off for the Wizards final roster spot - Dee Brown is only $125,000 guaranteed, but with so little point guard play in front of him, he has only himself to blame if he doesn't make it. Sham's prediction: Dixon makes it, unless the Wizards are suitably swayed by DerMarr Johnson's height in an otherwise small backcourt.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Denver

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Chucky Atkins (3 years, $9.72 million)
Steven Hunter (acquired from Philadelphia)
Bobby Jones (acquired from Philadelphia)



Players acquired via draft:

None



Players retained:

Anthony Carter (waived, then re-signed, saving about $800,000)
Eduardo Najera (opted in)



Players departed:

Reggie Evans (traded to Philadelphia)
Steve Blake (signed with Portland)
DerMarr Johnson (signed in Italy)
Jamal Samspon (signed with Dallas)



Bobbins:

When you spend $162 million on only three players in one offseason, you're generally making a commitment to those as core players. Denver did this last offseason with Nene, Carmelo Anthony and Reggie Evans, investing in two power forwards despite also having the massive contract of Kenyon Martin firmly entrenched at the position, as well as Joe Smith and Eduardo Najera on hand to stand around looking sheepish.

When you then trade your only significant expiring contract and both first rounders this season (and Andre Miller) for soon-to-be-fading star Allen Iverson, you're making a subsequent commitment to for it all with what you have. You're foregoing the few assets you have, placing yourself deep into luxury tax territory to try and put your team over the top.

It's noble. And they could not realistically turn down the Iverson deal because of the small price tag. But, in the short term at least, it hasn't really worked.

Denver hasn't had their shooting guard position solved for a number of years. The days of the Kiki Vanderweghe era saw such greats as Predrag Savovic and Vincent Yarborough blemish the position, and while Vanderwghe did pursue a number of options to fill the position (ranging from Manu Ginobili to Clyde Drexler, of all people), the best he could manage was a brief flirtation with Voshon Lenard. New GM Mark Warkentein picked up The Prodigy Formerly Known As J.R. Smith from Chicago as a potential solution to the problem, but all that brought Denver was a tidal wave of emotions: from amusing highs (career high 37 points vs Chicago) to humiliating lows (being benched for stupidity during the playoffs, being called out by his coach, killing his friend in a car accident). And the two headed monster of Yakhouba Diawara and Von Wafer isn't getting it done.

You would think that trading for Allen Iverson, one of the finest scoring guards of all time and still at the peak at his game, woud solve the problem. Yet Denver is currently experiencing what Philadelphia had to figure out for all those years: it's all right having Allen Iverson, but who do you put alongside him?

Iverson and Steve Blake made for an effective offensive pairing for their brief time together last season, with Blake's pass-first nature complimenting the pass-last style of Iverson, and with Blake's jumpshot making a brief return after a half season away. But defensively, the duo combined to give Marcus Camby his inaugral Defensive Player Of The Year award, unable to keep anybody in front of them and without the height to in any way trouble shooters.

So what did the Nuggets do to rectify this?

They lost Blake to Portland, and replaced him with the aptly named 5'11 Chucky Atkins, a man with Iverson-like delusions but with Chucky Atkins-like ability.

Brilliant. There's the needed compliment right there.

In their only other offseason move of note, Denver made another trade with Philadelphia (note to all GM's out there - they're onto something here. It's good to trade with Billy King), swapping 85th string power forward Evans (by the way, why DID they pay their fourth stringer that much? Did we ever get an answer on that?) for Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones. Jones, should he make the roster, adds abslutely nothing of value, but does have an unguaranteed contract, which could turn out to be a nice saving for a team mired deep into luxury tax territory. And Hunter, if nothing else, is a man capable of playing the center position, even if he does play it very badly while rebounding without due care and attention. More importantly, they save on a year of salary, even if that saving is three years down the road. Every little helps, and all that.



Next season:

It would be nice if I was able to open this stanza with a comment along the lines of "A lot depends on whether star Kenyon Martin can bounce back from injury and finally fully realise his potential". But I can't. Because it's not happening. Not only is Kenyon Martin not a star, but he's also not getting back to where he was - microfracture surgery in each knee can do that to a man. A player who relied almost exclusively on explosiveness isn't much good when you take that explosiveness away. If Martin can return as a rebounding role player, he can help the team. But if he doesn't, he's just dead weight. Very expensive dead weight, at that.

Still, only 4 years and $60 million to go.

Being without Martin didn't hinder the Nuggets on-court progress, though, as Nene had something of a breakout season last year. Given a 6 year, $60 million contract despite only having played three whole minutes the previous season - bad business that they've gotten away with so far - Nene performed well, putting up 12 points and 7 rebounds in only 26 minutes a game, while providing good interior post defense. The pairing of he and DPOY winner Camby went some ways to counteracting the Nuggets pourous perimeter defense, while also making for a decent offensive pairing.

If nothing else, the Nuggets can boast a starting lineup of Camby/Nene/Anthony/Iverson/whoever, one of the league's most talented lineups out there. Who the "whoever" is going to be, though, remains a concern. If it's Atkins, they have problems - the man is a bench scorer, pure and simple. If it's J.R. Smith, they have problems - the man is an idiot, pure and simple. If it's Yakhouba Diawara, they have problems - the man is not very good, pure and simple. And if it's someone else, I'll be amazed.

More important than who the fifth starter is, though, is the age old question of whether Iverson and Anthony can co-exist (and by "age old", I mean "9 month old"). This question was never definitely answered last year, and it's the key to Denver's entire future.

If they can co-exist effectively, and if the team stays reasonably healthy (they'll never be truly healthy. I mean, they have Iverson, Camby and Martin, for God's sake) they could drag a Denver team into a position to surprise a few people, winning homecourt advantage and maybe making some inroads in the playoffs.

But if they don't bring the best out of each other, and if the Nuggets have their usual woe with injuries or worse, then this Nuggets franchise is again looking at a low playoff seed and a first round exit. And at that point, they're possibly a season away from losing Iverson and starting again.

With a youth movement currently consisting of J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza, they could do with avoiding that kind of mediocrity.

(Well, and Carmelo. He's useful, I guess.)