Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 1

The Where Are They Now series of posts started out by accident, yet they've become the most enjoyable part of the website. They seem to be fun for you to read, and they're definitely fun for me to write, so now that Christmas time has passed and new seasons have begun around the world, we begin a list anew.

The list covers all the players in the site's player database that aren't currently in the NBA. This is the best part of 1,000 people, ranging from retired players you've heard of, to unsigned draft picks you've never heard of, to free agents on the cusp of the big dance, to players who one day will be in the NBA, to players who absolutely could play in the NBA but who are doing well enough elsewhere, to players who one day will be in the NBA,all the way down to random players I like who never have been in the NBA and that never will be. It'll be long and fun at times, long and dull at other times, and sometimes just plain long. I'll try to find as many different ways to say the phrase "on the season he is averaging" as can be, but if I repeat myself, chalk it up as an occupational hazard.

In theory, there's going to be one of these a day until about April. The list will be in alphabetical order, ish. So let's begin.


- Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Abdul-Wahad was covered last month in the 1993 Draft Round-up. For those too lazy to click that link and scroll down, I shall reproduce it here.

Tariq played in only 67 games this entire decade. He played 29 games in 2000-01, 24 games in 2001-02 and 14 games in 2002-03. His last NBA game was April 14th 2003, and he never played outside of the NBA. He had a tryout with Climamio Bologna in the 2006 preseason, but he did not make the team, and that was it. Nevertheless, he got paid huge amounts of money during that time in exchange for services not rendered, and he's been investing it into the entertainment industry. Abdul-Wahad owns a French TV channel called 3A Telesud, is a partner in whatever this is, and is a partner in this clothing company.

The only change since that was written has been Tariq's decision to delete me from his Facebook friends list. Fair enough. I can handle that. In this Twitter-laden age, Facebook doesn't have the tantalising same athlete-connectibilitivity that it used to have, a connectibilitivity which, it has to be said, is pretty cool. With the onset of public Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages, being a player's Facebook friend doesn't really offer anything any more (even if it does lead to hilarious sentences such as "Uros Slokar is now friends with Corey Benjamin"). It's also been pretty magnanimous for those athletes to allow the fans to snoop on their personal lives in such a way; rest assured that when I'm really really really ridiculously famous, I won't be doing this. So thank you, Tariq, and God speed.



- Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Like Abdul-Wahad, Abdur-Rahim was recently covered in the 1996 draft thing. To discover whether or not he is currently working as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, read it. CLUE: Yes.

In the pipeline is a piece called "A History Of Failed Physicals," one which I'm currently researching to see if it has the legs I think it might. Shareef will play a pivotal role in its success.



- A.J. Abrams

After going undrafted, Texas muli-record holder A.J. Abrams is playing in Greece, where, due to their funky alphabet, he is known as A.J. Eimnpamz. For Trikalla in the Greek A1 League, Eimnpamz averages 17.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 35 minutes per game. It doesn't look as though he has any aspirations to expand the distributing aspect of his game, although nor does it look like his size is holding him back from scoring too much on the continent.

Trikalla are 12th out of 14 teams in the A1, armed with only a 2-6 record, and it's not been a good season. Their three imports are Abrams, Kasib Powell and former Pittsburgh forward Tyrell Biggs, but it's not really helped the team, and Biggs in particular has been very bad. Trikalla recently brought in Mark Dickel (me neither), which might have spelled the end for Biggs, and which gives Abrams one more player not to pass to.



- Mohamed Abukar

Abukar was in the D-League last season with both the Austin Toros and the Idaho Stampede, and after the D-League season ended he went to Switzerland to sign with the Lugano Tigers. While there, he averaged 19.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in the final seven games of the year, and has stayed there this season, averaging 16.2 points (second on the team) and 6.4 rebounds per game (third).

Swiss basketball is pretty poor, which is why we don't often talk about players being there. To give you a yardstick on that, the current leading scorer in Switzerland is a small guard named Kenny Thomas (not THAT Kenny Thomas), who averages 21 points per game for Lausanne. But last year, Thomas was playing for Radford, a Big South Conference team that made it to the first round of the NCAA tournament, only to lose to North Carolina by 43 points. Thomas averaged 14ppg last year on 41% shooting for Radford; he's doing better in Switzerland than he was in the Big South.

Also, the Lugano Tigers employ a ten man rotation that features only one real Swiss player. Four players have Swiss passports, but, as their names might suggest (Derek Stockalper, Dusan Mladjan, Slavisa Pantic), three of them are naturalised. Even the real Swiss homegrown, Luka Vertel, has mixed Croatian heritage. The Tigers roster is made up of five Americans (Abukar; Stockalper, who plays for the Swiss national team on the side; former North Carolina bench player Byron Sanders; former Pacers summer leaguer Scott Vandermeer; D-League veteran Mike Efevberha), one Brazilian (Gustavo Lo Leggio), one Croatian-Slovenian (Martin Mihajlovic), Vertel (part Croatian), Pantic (naturalised Bosnian) and Mladjan (naturalised Serbian, although he's been in Switzerland for the best part of a decade). And that list does not include former Michigan State guard Travis Walton, who went home last week. Switzerland isn't turning out a great amount of homegrown international basketball talent, and the Lugano Tigers definitely aren't.

But, although it was via Italy, Switzerland DID produce Thabo Sefolosha. So i's not all bad.



- Alex Acker

Acker started last season with the Pistons, got traded to the Clippers in a trade that I totally predicted (self aggrandising!), went to summer league with the Knicks, and then left the NBA. He signed with A.J. Milano in Italy, and appeared in the league's first 8 Italian league games (averaging 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds) and their first four Euroleague games (8.8 and 2.8). However, he hasn't played since November 12th due to injury. I don't know what the injury is exactly, but a quick Google translate reveals that it's a "torn muscle." Don't know which.



- Hassan Adams

Adams has not played anywhere this season. Not sure why. Last year, the Raptors signed him to a fully guaranteed $711,517 salary incredibly early in the offseason, watched Hassan turn up out of shame, and had to dump the contract on the Clippers (in the same way as Acker above), who then waived him. Adams then signed in Serbia for Vojvodina, but appeared in only two games before being waived in early March. He has not played anywhere since. I'm assuming he's injured.



- Kenny Adeleke

Adeleke started the season with Napoli in Italy's Serie A, but played only three games, totalling 30 points and 27 rebounds. Unlike Tariq, Kenny hasn't deleted me from his Facebook, but that hasn't really helped me any since he never uses it. So what was designed to be a useful mechanism for garnering Kenny Adeleke information has not really worked out.



- Jeff Adrien

Adrien is in Spain, averaging 12.8 points and 7.7 rebounds for Leche Rio Breogan Lugo. Those are good numbers, but they come from the second division, the LEB Gold. And even though the Spanish league is the strongest league in the world outside of the NBA, the second division isn't particularly great. (It's better than Switzerland, though.) Adrien has also managed to total only 5 assists in 15 games, which is quite hard to do.



- Maurice Ager

Ager is also in Spain, in the ACB (first division) with Cajasol Sevilla. Unfortunately, his statline there this season is unnervingly similar to his NBA statlines of the last three seasons; that is to say, he's struggling mightily. In 8 games, Ager is averaging 2.4 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists, shooting 22% from the field, 20% from three point range and 67% from the line. He has gone scoreless 4 times in those 8 outings, has fouled in 7 of the 8 games, and has played in only about half of the team's games. Cajasol are having a decent season, ranked 6th overall in the ACB with an 8-6 record, but they're doing so with a 7 man rotation. They could use Ager's help, particularly now that Domen Lorbek has left. But they're not getting it. It also won't help that Cajasol just made a big move in acquiring Ivan Radenovic, who, despite not playing Ager's position, gobbles up some of his available minutes.



- Blake Ahearn

Blake Ahearn was in Spain as well until this week, when he was released by Estudiantes Madrid. In the last two years in the D-League, Ahearn has boasted true shooting percentages of .670% (in 2007-08) and .629% (in 2008-09), which is absolutely freaking ridiculously good from a 6'2 guard. This year with Estudiantes was not really any different; Ahearn shot 41% from three point range (36-87), and a typically Blake Ahearn-like 98% from the foul line (57-58), on his way to averaging 14.2 points per game. However, he only shot 29% from two point range (10-34), and he also averaged only 0.8 assists a game to go with that. As shooting specialists go, you can't be much more effective than that, but a specialist is as much as he was.

EDIT - Estudiantes signed Chris Lofton today, another specialist shooter.



- Ayodeji Akindele

In keeping with the theme in this post, Akindele WAS in Spain, and is not any more. Akindele signed with Xacobeo BluSens Obradoiro in the ACB in the summer, but he never played for the team after failing his physical due to a meniscus injury. He has not signed elsewhere since. Xacobeo replaced him with Mike Higgins, who is 43 years old in two months time, yet who is apparently more able to play that Deji is right now. Tough break, but he'll be fine.

Speaking of Mike Higgins; he played in the NBA once, you know. That was 19 years ago now, in the 1990-91 season with the Sacramento Kings. This season he's totalled 10 points, 19 rebounds, 17 fouls, 1 assists and 0 blocks. It's been an epic career, but it's winding down now.

The Assassination Of Devean George By The Coward Donnie Nelson

February 13th, 2008. Wednesday. Raining.

The Dallas Mavericks are tootling along with a 34-17 record. They're pretty good, and perhaps they know it, because they're suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to do something stupid.

A veteran team with only one good young player decides on a plan to get older and worse. The Mavericks decide that Jason Kidd is a significant upgrade over Devin Harris, and work out a variety of scenarios that see them trade Devin and two future first round draft picks for Kidd. They're wrong, but they work hard at it anyway, determined to obtain a player that puts them further away from the hump that they're already sliding away from. Two years ago, it would have been a steal. But not now.

Eventually, they stumble upon a scenario that both they and the Nets can agree upon. Dallas agrees to trade Harris, the picks, cash, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George to the Nets in exchange for Kidd and Malik Allen. The fillers are largely meaningless; outside of Harris, only Diop is a significant player for the Mavericks, and even then he sucks more ass than most people care to acknowledge. The core of the deal is Harris for Kidd, and both teams seem pretty happy with that. The fundamental pieces are together, peripherals of the long-awaited deal are finally in place, and everyone's a winner. (Except Dallas.)

Things then get a bit weird. Through a hitherto little-known technicality, one of the least important components of the deal - backup forward George - has the power to veto the trade. George re-signed with the Mavericks in the previous offseason to a one year contract, and Dallas will have early Bird rights on him when his contract expires. However, if George gets traded, the recipient team will lose his Bird rights if they trade for him, which reduces George's chances of getting handily paid next season. [Let's pretend for a minute that such chances existed.] I don't really understand the purpose of the rule, but it exists, and it applies to Devean. As a result, players on one year contracts who will have early or full Bird rights at the season's end are given the right to veto any trades that they may be in, so that they aren't powerless to prevent having their Bird rights taken away from them. And that's the power George wields.

The rule wasn't really written for situations like this. I'm not really sure who it does apply to, really, but it definitely wasn't for this reason. Yet it applies anyway, and therefore, to a chorus of anger and giggles, George exercises his right to veto the trade and emphatically pisses on Mark Cuban's strawberries for at least 72 hours.

Vetoing the trade doesn't endear George to the Mavericks fans. They boo him lustily, already aggrieved by his crapness and his club's weird affection for him. It also doesn't help that he plays 33 minutes later that same night, and scores 0 points on 11 shots. But technically and morally, he did no wrong. He did what he had to do, and looked for himself. He merely made some people look bad while doing it.

(It also doesn't really hold up the Mavericks, who rework the trade later in the week anyway, substituting Stackhouse and George for Keith Van Horn and Trenton Hassell. With Antoine Wright also coming back in the reworked version, it's a better deal anyway. But I digress.)

---

Fast forward to this month.

George saw out the season with the Mavericks, sucked horribly, yet re-signed with the team for two more guaranteed years anyway. The inexplicable love that Donnie Nelson and Devean George feel for each other can never be topped, or properly understood. But it's about to change when Nelson tries to trade George again. And this time, he succeeds.

Two weeks ago, George was traded to the Raptors as a peripheral part of the Shawn Marion deal. Along with Antoine Wright, he went to Toronto as the afterthought backups to the also-acquired Hidayet Turkoglu, a move which showed the Raptors putting on a fine demonstration of creative financing, if not a good idea of how to build a team. (And if you don't think there's not an I-TOLD-YOU-SO post coming on that subject, then you're very much mistaken.) However, as far as Devean George was concerned, there was another caveat.

Now, it's possible that they are not vengeance-driven horrible bastards. It's possible that they just did this without considering the possible side effects down the road. But here's the thing; when re-signing George this past summer to a two year $3.2 million contract that paid $1.6 million in both seasons, Nelson and Cuban added a somewhat rare clause to the contract that called for George to get a $200,000 bonus if the Mavericks win a certain number of games this season. I don't know what the threshold was, but I'm guessing it was 50 wins, since that's what they won last season (such predictions are calculated during the moratorium using the team's record from the previous season as the basis). Since the Mavericks can be realistically expected to achieve that next year, George had himself a $200,000 bonus.

But then he was traded to the Raptors. They didn't win 50 games last year, and thus the CBA cannot consider them likely to do it this year either. As a result, George loses $200,000. And though he's subsequently been traded to the Golden State Warriors in a shameful deal for Marco Belinelli, the same applies; George has lost his bonus.

Revenge.

Of course, the fact that the Mavericks had given George a combined $5,943,370 to play with them over the last three seasons means the last laugh is still firmly on them. Their inability to realise that they were paying to retain a man with scoring the scoring efficiency of Willie Green, the rebounding of Jason Collins and the oft-misrepresented defense of Andres Nocioni means that they're the real victims here, the victims of their own silliness. But, still. Vengeance is sweet.



(EDIT: It's been brought to my attention that they above is too confusing. Fair enough. Here's the gist of it, reworded; based on last year's win total, the Mavericks were expected to win 50 games. As a result, George's cap number was raised to $1.8 million. Now that he's a Warriors, it's been knocked down to $1.6 million again. But George was only going to be paid $1.6 million UNTIL the 50 wins happened, at which point he'd get the bonus. The basic point remains, though; by not now being a Mav, George loses $200,000. That is all.)

Summer league round-up: Orlando Magic

Don't tell me. I already know.

View the Magic summer league roster.

- Maurice Ager: The highlight of Maurice Ager's NBA career was when he cried on draft night after being taken at the very end of the first round. That was touching. Since then.........nothing. In three years with two teams, Ager has shot 33% from the field, put up more fouls than rebounds, and more turnovers than assists. He's a scoring specialist, yet he's never shown the ability to score on an NBA court. He's never demonstrated NBA three point range on his jumpshot, gets wild, and chucks in the few opportunities he gets. You can say, rightly, that he's never had an extended run in the NBA. Yet he's also been in it for three years now, fully healthy, yet still never seeing rotation time. He wasn't even any good on his D-League assignment. At some point, you're just not suitable.

- Lance Allred: Allred is now 28, but he's only been on the NBA radar for two years after averaging a double double with the Idaho Stampede in 2007/08. That landed him a brief stint with the Cavaliers down the stretch of the season, who waived him last October. Allred then returned to the Stampede and averaged 15.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last year; more importantly, he took his new found fame and fortune, and wrote a book about his professional basketball career. Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA is the title of Allred's book, and it's available for all good book stores, or by clicking the link there.

- Ryan Anderson: Yes, I saw how Anderson did in summer league. Yes, it was very good. Yes, he's probably a lottery selection had he been drafted in 2009 instead of 2008. Yes, I know that his rookie year PER was a solid 13.6. And yes, he's more than a throw-in to the Vince Carter deal. But he also had plenty of opportunities in his rookie year, starting 30 games and playing over 1200 minutes, just to shoot under 40% and rebound badly. He should be a nice player for the Magic, and a good fit for the system. But he's also not really a starter. Not yet.

- Brian Chase: Chase is a 5'8 score first guard. You don't need me to tell you that it's really hard to make the NBA as such a player. Nevertheless, Chase is good, and scores everywhere he goes. Last year was no different; Chase averaged 12.2 points and 2.5 assists for Le Mans in France, before moving to Dynamo Moscow to act as Jannero Pargo's replacement, where he passed more and averaged 10.7ppg/3.7rpg/2.9apg. The Magic could use a third point guard after trading away Rafer Alston, and Chase has at least a shred of NBA experience. But they'd rather have a second stringer and kick Anthony Johnson further down the bench. And even if they can't get C.J. Watson or whoever to do that, then Tyronn Lue is still a better option. Magic fans may now disagree with that.

- Ronald Dupree: He's like Courtney Lee, except he's a worse jumpshooter, quite a bit bigger, shoots every layup like Lee's game 2 effort, and has a bigger head. Doop is one of the better D-League players not to be in the NBA, and last year was the first year of his professional career that he wasn't in it for at least a bit. Hopefully we can buck that trend before it becomes a trend.

- Courtney Fells: If you watched Courtney Fells in summer league, you'll have gotten the idea of what he's like. He's a decently sized highly athletic two guard who shoots a lot, but often not very well. He's streakier than an old man's nappy after a fulfilling fry-up, and he has far from a complete all around game. For all his athleticism and occasionally brilliant shooting, he's decidedly normal, and never averaged more than 11.3 points per game in college. Why is that?

(Note: feel free to send in any "streakier than a....." similes. I'm starting to run out.)

- Levance Fields: Fields is pretty brilliant, if you like undersized point guards with little scoring talent. Good passer, though. The NBA probably isn't on the horizon, with maybe a few seasons on the fringes, but his European career has already begun; Fields has signed for Spartak St Petersburg, which is in Russia (not Florida).

- C.J. Giles: Giles was covered here. He played one game for the Magic's summer league team, playing 4 minutes and 36 seconds, scoring 2 points, grabbing 3 rebounds and recording 2 steals. A pretty solid 4 minutes and 36 steals.

- Richard Hendrix: I went on about Hendrix quite a lot during the Warriors round-up, as well as the Nuggets round-up. Unsurprisingly, he played well for Orlando in summer league, averaging 9.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. He'll get signed by an NBA team this year. If he doesn't, then.......well, then Devean George, Ryan Bowen, Jason Hart, Jarron Collins, Kevin Ollie, Rob Kurz, Juwan Howard, Michael Ruffin, Malik Rose, Brevin Knight and Cedric Simmons had better not be in it either.

- Stevan Milosevic: Stevan Milosevic (often confusingly listed as Stefan) is a big old Serbian centre who plays in Germany. Last year for the Koeln 66ers, he averaged 9.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Hmm. 9/5 in the German league. It's not a lot, really. I realise that he's a big 23 year old 7 footer who's showing a modicum of offensive talent, and that such things are always highly regarded (as evidenced by Hamed Haddadi getting a contract similar to that of a late lottery selection last year), but it's not much of a resumé, really. Oh well. Duly noted. (By the way, in summer league play, Milosevic channelled his inner Chandler and totalled 7 fouls and 7 turnovers in 16 total minutes. Pretty hard to do.)

- Jeremy Pargo: Pargo is nothing like his brother Jannero, which is somewhat rare to find in brothers. He doesn't really have NBA talent, though. Being in a draft so heavy on point guards didn't help, just like it didn't help Fields, Dominic James and the rest. But he isn't a good shooter or a decision maker, and Jannero can at least do the first one.

- Kasib Powell: It's purely circumstances that have prevented Kasib Powell from having a solid 5 season NBA career so far. Ronald Dupree did, after all, and he's no better. He has the talent and a solid all around game, and has had a couple of looks. But the only NBA playing time he's ever gotten was 11 games down the stretch for the abhorrently tanking Miami Heat team of 2007/8, and that's not fair on anyone. Nonetheless, Powell has a chance here, because despite of Orlando's solid moves this summer, they could use some cheap wing depth. And personally I'm rooting for him.

- Milovan Rakovic: Rakovic was the last pick in the 2007 draft that the Magic bought off of the Mavericks. He hasn't really done anything since, averaging 8.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in the Russian league last year for Spartak St Petersburg, rebounding really badly for a 6'10 player and blocking only 2 shots in 26 games. However, next year, he'll have Levance Fields passing to him. So that should cheer him up.

- Jeremy Richardson: Richardson was with the Magic all of last season, despite them waiving him at one time. He barely played, appearing in spot minutes of 13 games and shooting 28% (including a 2-14 outing), and the Magic didn't extend a QO. His time in Orlando is especially over now that they've agreed to terms with Matt Barnes. Richardson might catch on with another NBA team next year, but that would mean he's been in the NBA for four straight years, and I'm not sure he's quite that good. He's all right, though.

- Russell Robinson: Robinson wasn't drafted in 2008, despite being the starting point guard on the national champion Kansas Jayhawks and after earning his third straight trip to the Big 12 All-Defensive team. Instead, he went to the D-League, and averaged 12.3 points, 4.4 assists and 2.1 steals for the Reno Bighorns (giggidy). He shot 45% from the field and 36% from the three point line, and had a far better second half to the season than the first one. If his offense keeps trending upwards and the defense doesn't waver, he might get a chance one day.

- Darian Townes: Townes started last in Poland, buggered off to the D-League, played there until the season finished, then went to Puerto Rico. He has already signed in Holland for next year. The most important thing here is that he won't be playing for the Orlando Magic next season.

Summer signings, round 6

- So, in the last post, I talk about how the Boston Celtics free agents aren't expected back. I wasn't speculating or breaking news, merely regurgitating the news offered up by various Celtics beat writers. What then immediately happens? Eddie House and Tony Allen re-sign. Ter-bloody-riffic. Can't I be allowed to self-own without the assistance of others? I say enough dumb shit of my own to kick my own arse many times over. I don't need the incisive input of others to further drag me down, too. Dammit. The lesson, as ever: screw Danny Ainge.

- Speaking of the Celtics, they were also reported to be in the running for Golden State Warriors free agent forward, Matt Barnes. But Barnes has apparently (and I'm using that word at all times now) committed to sign with the Phoenix Suns for the minimum. How the hell did that happen? How did a decent player go for the minimum, when we're still only in the first month of free agency, a month that has seen inferior and comparable players go for the full mid level exception? How have Matt Barnes and his agent not managed to turn his career resurgence into a single multi-year contract yet? How did Steve Kerr manage to pull off such a good move? And why couldn't the Celtics wade in with at least their bi-annual exception? The lesson, as ever: screw Danny Ainge.

(Note: Rumour has it that the Celtics are pursuing Dallas Mavericks forward Devean George, who isn't expected to re-sign with Dallas for obvious reasons. (Also note: for those unaware of the obvious reasons, here they are: 1) Devean George is a bit crap, and 2) Devean George vetoed the original Jason Kidd deal, which, while rather inconsequential in the end, was definitely a bit embarassing. Double bracket.) George isn't a bad backup plan for the Celtics, despite me just calling him "a bit crap". But I still don't see why you wouldn't offer offer just a teeeeeny bit more for Matt Barnes, luxury tax ramifications be damned. You just won a title, for God's sake. Why such tight purse strings?)

- Josh Childress has balls of steel. Depending on who you believe, it's all but a done deal that Childress is going to sign with Olympiakos in Greece, in what is either the biggest deal ever signed by a European team, or close to it. There are people scattered all around the internet who can write, will write, and who are writiing considerably longer articles about what this move will mean for the long term future of the NBA, and particularly the perils and pitfalls of restricted free agency, something which I personally hope dies a miserable death. (Through a combination of the draft, restricted free agency, and being traded, some NBA players can go their whole careers without ever being able to choose their place of employment. How is that fair, even with the massive salaries that they get?) I, however, can't be bothered. But I will commend Childress for his testicular fortitude - trapped in a situation without any real leverage, he managed to find some, a victory for humanity and oppression everywhere. And for Europe, obviously. (By the way, for those who love to say things like "Childress won't fit in in Europe because he's not a very good shooter".....there's more to European basketball than shooting, you know.)

- Nets forward Bostjan Nachbar has also gone to Europe, signing with Dynamo Moscow (that's in Moscow) for three years. The weird pile-on effect from the Childress move is the subsequent over-analysis of the decision for every player who signs in Europe, such as Nachbar and Carlos Delfino. Suddenly, every European signing is symbolic of the demise of the strength of the dollar, or of a systematic failure of the NBA machine. But caught up in that overexuberance are two key oversights:

1) Nachbar and Delfino both started out in European leagues, so going back there isn't all that alien of a concept.

2) They are average NBA players at best. Average to fringe NBA players have occasionally signed in Europe for a while now. It is a direct by-product of the NBA teams signing and drafting so much European talent for themselves - there are only 450 spots in the NBA for about 600 deemed to be worthwhile players, and so some people are going to lose out.

Things are changing, but Bostjan Nachbar isn't a symptom. But, hey, don't let that stop you from overthinking it if you want.


- Primoz Brezec of the Toronto Raptors also signed in Europe, for Lottomatica Roma of Italy. But no one cares about that.

- In a shock NBA-to-NBA transaction, the Orlando Magic signed and traded Keyon Dooling to the Nets, in exchange for nothing significant at all. This represents the first bit of profitable Creative Financing™ of Magic GM Otis Smith's career, so maybe he's learning. As for the Nets, they now have 18 players under contract, but I'm sure that they can find it within themselves to cut Maurice Ager and Keith Van Horn. It is, however, the final nail in the coffin for my Andres Nocioni trade idea. Damn shame.

- Finally, I can bring you big news of two further European signings. Tamar Slay signed with Avellino in Italy, and Boise State's finest Matt Nelson signed with Mahatman Gandia in Spain's lower leagues. This interested me unil I realised that Boise State's finest Matt Nelson was not THE Matt Nelson. I know you feel that pain.

GregOstertagsHairline.com: the NBA website that answers the question that not a single person cared enough to ask.