Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 46

Because twice a night is twice as nice.

- Renaldas Seibutis is part of a deep Iurbentia Bilbao team, averaging 10.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in the Eurocup, alongside 6.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in the Spanish league.

- Now is the time to refamiliarise yourself with Warriors great, Mladen Sekularac. Mladen was drafted in the second round by the Mavericks back in 2002, coming off a season that saw him average 17.6 points in the Saporta Cup, the predecessor of sorts to the Eurocup. From there, Sekularac (whose name I'm finding really hard to abridge) went to Bologna in Italy, where he didn't play much and was released mid-season. In 2003/04, Rac averaged a slightly modest 10ppg back in the Adriatic league, and then saw his rights traded to Golden State as a completely unnecessary minor part of the Erick Dampier trade. It was at that moment that it all started to go south. Sekularac had signed with Buducnost to start the 2004/05 season, but left after they stopped paying him. He then signed in December of '04 with Apollon in Greece, but appeared in only two games, totalling 0 points. Zero. Nada. Since then, Kula has been in Belgium, where a series of injuries have seen him go from the fifth leading scorer in the country in 2005/06 to a fringe starter in the present day (as might have the realisation that he was playing in Belgium, almost always a backwards step for any man's NBA aspirations). Sek is now 28, and has not panned out despite once being touted as his nation's best prospect for a generation. And guess what? Right now, he's currently injured. Larac signed a two year contract with Charleroi this summer, and then got injured in his debut, back in October. He hasn't played since, and has all of two points to his name on the year. Bad times.

- Mouhamed Sene was waived by the Thunder on trade deadline day to accomodate Thabo Sefolosha. The team have since waived Joe Smith, thus opening up a roster spot for Sene's return. But it's not going to happen. Do you know why it's not going to happen It's not going to happen because Saer Sene is not an NBA calibre player. Not now, and probably not ever. Remember that before you tout him as a signing for your team, as so many of you seem to be doing. (Note: if it happens, this post will self-destruct.)

- Josip Sesar - a 2000 second round draft pick of the Sonics, later traded to the Celtics - has never left the Balkans. In fact, the only times he's played for a team outside of his native Croatia have been for teams in Bosnia, and that's where he finds himself now, with a team named BC Zrinjski Mik Company Mostar. The team don't even appear to have a website, so I can't tell you what Sesar averages. But then, you don't really care, do you? He's 31, he's a lot worse than he was when he was 21, he never joined the NBA, and he's never going to. That's all you really need to know.

- Ansu Sesay is playing for ALBA Berlin, a team who have managed to make it strangely far in the Euroleague before their triumphant run ended last month. Sesay averages 9.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in Euroleague play, alongside 12.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in German league play. Six of ALBA's top 7 scorers are Americans (a list that includes Casey Jacobsen, Adam Chubb and Rashad Wright, as well as Sesay), and the seventh is a Serbian named Aleksandar Nadjfeji. German national basketball is looking healthy, then.

- The most important update of this entire series is finally here. Ha Seung-Jin was traded by the Blazers to Milwaukee in the 2006 offseason, as a part of the trade that took Jamaal Magloire to Portland. Ha was waived during training camp, kicked around for a couple of months, and was then acquired by the Anaheim Arsenal of the D-League. Ha played in 26 games for The Arse, with 16 starts, and averaged a frankly depressing 2.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.0 fouls. In the size starved D-League. Bad times. But this was still in 2006-07, remember. Since then, Ha's managed to do even less. Ha did not play last year, and this year he is back in his native Korea playing for KCC Egis. But there is hope at last - Ha has played in 37 games with the team, averaging 22 minutes, 9.3 rebounds, 7.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 fouls per game, shooting 66% from the floor and 43% from the foul line. Those are, if nothing else, numbers. And you can only obtain numbers by playing in games. So this means that Ha is at least playing in games. And for that, we are grateful, and mightily relieved. The dream is not yet over.

For the sheer hell of it, here is that classic Ha picture again, having lost none of its magic in the last three years.



- Mustafa Shakur was a recent signing for Panellinios in Greece, where he backs up Anthony Grundy and averages 6.0 points and 1.2 assists. I watched a Panellinios game a few days ago, and, after Shakur committed two admittedly rather dumb fouls in the first 30 seconds, the commentators spent the remainder of the game doing little else but talk about how bad Mustafa Shakur is. They did this unapologetically and relentlessly, despite Shakur scoring 18 points in 13 minutes right in front of their eyes, on a relentless sequence of superbly effective drives. The lesson here is SHUT UP ROY.

- Doron Sheffer has retired for the fourth time. The first time came back in the year 2000 at the age of 28, when it transpired that he had cancer. He returned in early 2003, and managed to avoid retiring until October 2005, when he retired again due to the "sleepless nights" he got from the "waste of time" that basketball was to him. That solemn vow lasted for all of six weeks before he unretired again in December, and Sheff saw out the season with Hapoel Tel Aviv, playing in only 5 games before breaking his hand. Guess what he did then? Yep, he retired, this time in April 2006, and this one lasted until July 2007, when Sheffer returned to play one final season with his original team, Hapoel Galil Elyon-Golan. This time, he managed a full season. And then he retired again after the season ended. We can only guess that this is really it this time, even if the evidence is decidedly stacked against it.

- Ricky Shields is arguably the best player in Slovenia, leading his team, the league leading Krka, in both points and assists with averages of 15.1 and 2.7 respectively, along with 4.8 rebounds per game. If "best player on the best team in Slovenia" isn't the ultimate CV boost, then I don't know what is.

- Joe Shipp is playing for Minas Tenis Clube in Brazil, a team who strangely favour basketball over tennis. Shipp averages 19.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in the Brazlian league.

- Paul Shirley's blog on ESPN.com over the summer alluded to the idea that his 2008 stint in Spain with Vive Menorca might have been his last ever professional basketball player gig. It wasn't, because Shirley signed a one month contract this November with Unicaja Malaga as an injury replacement for Marcus Haislip. However, that's over now, and Shirley is again unsigned, seemingly not looking too hard for work either. He's now writing a lot for ESPN about music.

- Finally, some good news. After almost two years out of the game, Wayne Simien is back and playing, albeit not at the standard that he once was. Simien is with Caceras in the Spanish LEB Gold [second divison], averaging 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. It's a start. Despite how few NBA games he played, though, Simien has still appeared in the second most out of anyone on this list, with 51 games, albeit way behind Ansu Sesay's 127. (Sene and Ha both appeared in 46, Shirley in 18. The rest have appeared in 0, and probably never will. These lists are somewhat desperately really, aren't they?)

Summer signings, round 15

- Chris McCray signed with Rimini in Italy, a town whose very name made it destined for basketball greatness (and thus, by proxy, destined for Chris McCray). While we're on the subject of people named McCray, I'd like to extend an RIP to Colin McRae. And Steve Fossett. And Glenn Miller. And Matthew Harding. And Bernie Mac. And Mother Teresa. And basically anybody who has ever died. Except for maybe Fred West. And Hitler. And Judas. And Saddam Hussein. And Mutsuo Toi. I'll stop this now before you find a less preachy blog to read instead.

- Andre Emmett and JamesOn Curry are both reportedly negotiating with Hapoel Jerusalem. I know that this blog is about "signings" and not negotations, since a whole lot more negotiating goes on than signing. But, sod it. I'm a maverick. I don't play by the rules. Not even the arbitrary ones that I created in the first place. (Kevinn Pinkney was also supposed to be talking to Hapoel, despite a previous blog post relaying the news that he'd signed for an Italian team. However, now another report has come out saying that he's signed with a third team, also in Italy, called Cantu. The lesson, as ever: screw Danny Ainge.)

- Eugene Jeter signed with Vive Menorca of Spain (specifically, the island of Menorca), much to the chagrin of at least one Minnesota Timberwolves fan who thought that Jeter could be the answer to their team's "oh Jesus, someone has to pass the ball?" problem. Since the drafting of Derrick Rose, Eugene Jeter is no longer the best professional point guard in the world with the nickname "Pooh", so the question has to be asked as to why we should still care about him. (Poor old Pooh Richardson is now down to third place, despite his basketball career being far more successful than that of Pooh Jeter's to date. These rankings might not be official, or accurate. Also, if anyone wants to conduct a study as to why only point guards are nicknamed "Pooh", I'll help finance your work, to the tune of a couple of quid.)

- The L.A. Clippers signed Jason Williams, thus pretty much concluding their business for the offseason. At times in these posts, I have slated the Clippers for what I deem to be some cap mismanagement. (I stand by it, although it has been pointed out to me that the Eric Gordon signing was probably necessitated by the common practice that dictates that rookies won't play in summer camps without a contract. I sort of knew that already, but I'm willing to concede the point anyway, because I'm entirely brilliant and just a little bit self-congratulatory.) However, they deserve due credit: this summer, they have signed Baron Davis, Ricky Davis, Brian Skinner and Jason Williams as free agents, while also taking on the market value contract of Marcus Camby while giving up nothing. That right there is a succession of moves that sees decent-to-fine players obtained for good value - Baron Davis signed for far less than the maximum, Ricky Davis signed cheaply for one year, Skinner took the minimum, Williams may as well have done, and Camby is tied in for two years at an extremely good price for an elite centre. For this, the Clippers deserve their due. I still worry about their long term future, or lack thereof (although they do have something of a 2010 plan on the go), and they aren't going to win much other than a playoff spot in the immediate future. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and signing good players for good prices never is. So, kudos.

- The Josh Smith played itself out thusly: Atlanta refused to budge from their lowball of a 5 year, $45 million offer; Smith looked elsewhere; Smith signed a 5 year and $58 million offer sheet from Memphis; Atlanta quickly matched. So that's pretty sensible all around. The news that Memphis isn't entirely against the idea of spending their cap room comes as a welcome relief, though, and it gives me an idea, one which will future in the next blog post. (Hint: It's based around an anagram of Neb Gondor. And the fact that I just made that a link may give the game away slightly.)

- Josip Sesar has signed with Zrinjski Mostar in Bosnia, and not the Boston Celtics. Damn shame.

- Sun Yue, second round pick of the Lakers last year, has agreed to sign with the team. Apparently, the important Lakers people reckon that Yue may get some point guard time, and Lamar Odom will also spent some time playing at the guard spots. Verdict: I think they're lying.

- Miami signed Yakhouba Diawara because they didn't think that they had enough players under contract yet.

- The Hawks signed Thomas Gardner and Othello Hunter. The Gardner signing, while largely inconsequential, gives the Hawks six guards not named Salim Stoudamire. That, plus this rather ominous blog report thing, gives me the vague idea that maybe Salim Stoudamire isn't going to back to the Atlanta Hawks next year. So, if there's anyone out there with sway in this 'ere NBA world - do me a favour. Either sign Salim Stoudamire, or help us find somebody who will. He's like Jannero Pargo, and everyone likes Jannero Pargo (or, rather, everyone hates playing against him.) He'll probably come cheaper, too. I demand that someone sign him. I have no leverage with which to make such demands, but that didn't do Luol Deng any harm. (Devin Brown also needs a home, but I think I'm over this now.)

- The New Orleans Hornets re-signed Ryan Bowen. Yeehaw. The Hornets' bench now reads thusly: Mike James, Rasual Butler, James Posey, Bowen, Hilton Armstrong, Julian Wright, and Melvin Ely. Who out of that lot do they expect to be a sixth man, exactly? They appear to have moved on from Pargo and Bonzi Wells, two players always willing to fashion a shot, even if they're not always a good idea. So who's going to provide the bench offense here? I'm aware that Chris Paul is basically Jesus, who could get even me an easy basket, but the real Jesus had a few days off, too. (He got his carpentry NVQ at a young age. Good plan. It's always a good idea to have a fallback option.) So the Hornets could really use someone that can find, take and make a shot off the bench. Mike James isn't getting it done, and Ryan Bowen really isn't getting it done.

Hey, I know! Maybe the Hornets could use Salim Stoudamire!