Desmond Farmer is in the D-League, trying to find one more NBA call-up from somewhere. In 29 games for the Reno Bighorns, Farmer is averaging 41 minutes, 24.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, so those numbers certainly support his candidacy. However, his reputation around the league is far less supportive; Farmer tends to dominate the ball, is not especially good at it (3.7 turnovers per game), shoots too much (42%) and pouts when he doesn't. In trying to prove that he's more than just a catch and shoot player, he has inadvertently proved that he's mainly a catch and shoot player.
Nick Fazekas is signed with Dijon in France, where he has averaged 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in 25 minutes per game for Dijon. However, he has not played since the end of November due to injury. Sports24.com has more:
A lot of people didn't know who Sonics draft pick Peter Fehse was a couple of months ago. However, they soon learnt after his draft rights were traded for Matt Harpring and Eric Maynor. At the time, this website's player page for Peter Fehse appeared second in a Google search for Fehse's name, and, given that it was one of the few that's actually been written, people wanting to learn about Peter Fehse used it as a means of doing so. Because of this, Peter Fehse became the most viewed profile page on this website. Good times.
(It's now second to Sarunas Jasikevicius. I've been meaning to find out why that is.)
Fehse's season last year was, inevitably, cut short by injury. Fehse has battled injuries since the day he was drafted, and they are the reason he never developed as a prospect. In fact, he's been set so far back in recent years that he's now with a club in the German thirddivision; the BSW Sixers. BSW, coached by recently retired former Mississippi State guard Chuck Evans, are 7-7 in the Regionaliga North, which ranks two rungs below the Bundesliga. Stats are unavailable, but he scored 13 points in their last game.
Noel Felix, now 28, is still the same player he was when he was 24. He is currently plying his athletic trade in the D-League, where he averages 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 fouls and 0.9 blocks in 21 minutes per game for the Maine Red Claws. He has not taken a three all season.
NC State's Courtney Fells went to summer league with the Orlando Magic, where he shot 14% and committed 8 turnovers in 53 minutes. He then moved to Cyprus, where he is signed with Proteas EKA AEL Limassol. If you've been following this series of posts you will know that there's no Cyprish statistics available - as well as the fact that I'm trying to avoid using the word Cypriot for no reason whatsoever - but we do have Fells' EuroChallenge numbers. In 9 games, Fells is averaging 9.9 points and 2.2 rebounds, with 89 points scored on 94 shots.
Bucks draft pick Andrei Fetisov is retired from basketball. He was last time we covered. And the time before that. He's been retired since February 2007. We probably won't cover him again.
After leaving UCLA in 2006, Michael Fey has spent two years in China and one in Jordan. Before that, in 2006, he appeared on the Lakers summer league. He must have left some kind of lasting impression, because three years later, the Lakers brought him into training camp to (ostensibly) fight for a roster spot. He didn't make it - he was never going to make it - but Fey's return to America and subsequent trip to the D-League are quite the departure from a man previously doing the Samaki Walker Tour Of The Far East. Assigned to the Lakers' affiliate, the D-Fenders, Fey is averaging 12.1 points and 6.2 rebounds in 24 minutes per game.
Nebraska product Kimani Ffriend is signed in Cyprus, and, as described earlier, there are no statistics available for Cyprianic basketball. All I can tell you is that Ffriend has scored 36 points in Apollon's last two games. And that when you translate his name into Greek and back again, it comes out as "Fred."
Pittsburgh graduate Levance Fields was undrafted, despite his decent Khalid El-Amin impression to end last season. After pairing up with Fells at Orlando's summer league, Fields moved to Russia, where he signed with Spartak St Petersburg. There, he averages 13.7 points and 3.9 assists per game (6th in the league) in the Russian league, alongside 8.9 points and 4.5 assists (8th) in the Eurocup. Fields exploded for a 36 point outing in the Russian league on December 11th, shooting 13-16 in only 35 minutes, but he's scored only 15 points on 30 shots in the four games since.
By the way, Khalid El-Amin currently leads the Ukraine in assists.
West Virginia graduate and former Bobcat D'Or Fischer is spending a second season with Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Maccabi fans are a fickle bunch sometimes, and they (or at least, those that I know) seem to be clamoring for Fischer's release. His numbers are down from last year, which isn't helping. But his numbers aren't bad; 6.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.0 blocks in 20 minutes per game in the Israeli league, alongside 6.3/4.5/1.3/1.5 in 18mpg in the Euroleague. I think the fan's problem is more to do with the fact that he's American.
Gerald Fitch led the Turkish league in scoring last season, and by quite a long way as well. He averaged 28.2 points per game (albeit in only half the season) and has since left Turkey to go to Spain. Playing for Fuenlebrada, Fitch is averaging 20.4 points in only 28.8 minutes per game, alongside 4.8 points and 2.7 rebounds. The 20.4 ppg leads the league, which means that Fitch has now led both the Turkish and Spanish leagues in scoring in consecutive seasons. Even if he has to chuck a bit to do it, how much more can a man do?
Marcus Fizer was a member of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2007-08 season, but popped his knee out (again) before the season ended. He was under contract to Maccabi for the 2008-09 season as well, but missed the start of the season recovering from the knee injury and was waived in January as a part of the regime change. He played in only two games. Fizer then spent last summer in Puerto Rico, where he averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds. He hasn't played anywhere since then, but last week he signed in Puerto Rico for their next upcoming season, joining a team called Guaynabo. His team mate there will be Antoine Walker.
Antoine Walker and Marcus Fizer on the same team. That's a team that just got interesting.
Beginning now, there will be a series of posts detailing the summer league rosters of every NBA team this year. (Those rosters can be found here.) This is because summer league is great fun, and because the lavish descriptions of fringe NBA players gets me off. But you probably knew that already.
Maybe we'll add this to the list of things that get started and never finished. Maybe not. But on that subject, those of you who want the draft roundups finished, don't worry. They will be. It might not be until August, when things get dull again, but they will get done. You'll have your Jamie Feick news soon.
Anyhoo, let's begin this filthy bitch with the Boston Celtics, since the alphabetically superior Atlanta Hawks don't have a summer league team this year.
Their team:
- Nick Fazekas: Fazekas should be in the NBA, really. But he's not. Even though was paid $711,517 by the Mavericks last season, he wasn't on their roster, as they waived him as a concurrent part of the Jason Kidd trade eighteen months ago. This decision would have been instantly forgettable had the Mavericks not had the immortal tat of Devean George, Antoine Wright, Jerry Stackhouse and Shawne Williams on their roster last season, but anyway. Fazekas went to camp with the Nuggets last season, as did pretty much every player in the history of the game, and then spent the year with Oostende in Belgium and ASVEL in France. I'd like to think that the team that has put up with Brian Scalabrine for four years could find a spot for a similar but better player like Fazekas, but it doesn't seem likely.
- J.R. Giddens: Giddens played all of 8 minutes with the Celtics last year. There's no real need for this 24 year old non-contributor to be on the roster of a veteran team with championship aspirations, but his D-League numbers from last year (36 games, 17.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 bpg, 58% shooting) suggest that there might be something to pursue there. There'd better be, since they used a first rounder on him. Giddens still doesn't a jumpshot, which still doesn't help him.
- Lester Hudson: Hudson was the Celtics' only pick in the draft, 58th overall, ahead of Chinemelu Elonu and Robert Loggia. He averaged almost 28/8/4 at Tennessee Martin in his sophomore season, and averaged much the same in his freshman season as well. Kind of makes you wonder why he went to such a small program if he's that good. Hudson might make the Celtics roster, but if he doesn't and Gabe Pruitt does, then you'll know what stopped him. Don't need both, really.
- Coby Karl: Karl started last season in the D-League, averaging nearly 19 points and 6 assists for the Idaho Stampede, before leaving partway through the season to sign for DKV Joventut Badalona. He barely played in Badalona, though, and averaged less than 5 points per game. His chances of making the Celtics roster seem slim, considering Giddens is the incumbent with a guaranteed deal. Karl, an ex-Laker, was last heard of when it was reported that he was giving his dad - Nuggets coach George Karl - inside insight to the Lakers' style of play and personal before the Western Conference Finals between the two teams. This news made some Lakers fans irate, annoyed that Karl would show more loyalty than the man that brought him into this world than the team that kept him on the inactive list for a year before waiving his ass for Sun Yue. That was fun to see. NBA fans are great like that.
- Chris Lofton: Lofton went undrafted last season and didn't sign a training camp deal, instead going to Turkey and signing with a team called Mersin (also the home of Eddie Basden). There, he averaged 20.2ppg, 2.6rpg and 2.0apg, shooting almost twice as many three pointers as he did two's. Considering he shot 46.1% from three point range, that doesn't seem like a bad idea. Lofton also managed to break the Turkish league single game scoring record when he scored 61 points, making 17 three pointers in that game. This should tell you how he plays. Lofton had a workout for the Grizzlies back in May, but joined the Celtics summer league instead, despite Eddie House's presence seemingly closing the door on his chances here. Chris Lofton fact: Chris Lofton once had bollock cancer. That is all.
- Bryan Mullins: It was said that Mullins was going to join the Bulls summer league team, but that clearly didn't happen. Mullins averaged 9.3 points, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals last year for Southern Illinois, which aren't huge numbers in a not-huge conference. He did, however, win all kinds of academic athlete awards, who majored in finance, and who had a 4.0 GPA. So if the basketball thing doesn't work out, he should still be fine for employment.
- Gabe Pruitt: Pruitt played in 47 games last year and shot 31%. The remnants of Stephon Marbury played ahead of him. To call it a tough year would be being pretty kind, especially since he got arrested for DUI somewhere in amongst that. Pruitt was drafted 32nd overall in 2007 (usually a high value position), and has a guaranteed contract for this season, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he was dumped somewhere at some point.
- Kevin Rogers: I watched Rogers quite a bit with Baylor last year (the NIT got a surprising amount of coverage over here), and I never quite figured out what it was that he was good at. He showed a reasonable outside shot, a reasonable inside game, some reasonable rebounding, the occasional nice bit of help on defense...but nothing really standyouty. If anything, he stood out at Baylor primarily because their other options as big men were Quincy Acy (clumsy and about as technically refined as a nail bomb), Josh Lomers (no discernible skills whatsoever other than being huge, white and slow with a tremendously full head of hair) and Mamadou Diene (who had about 3 minutes of stamina on his pokey knees, and the discreet touch of a drunk and horny Captain Hook touching a hedgehog's erogenous zones up while pinned against a piss-stained wheelybin). I came away with the impression that Baylor was a jack of all trades but a master of none. That works in Baylor, but not in Boston.
- Bryce Taylor: Taylor was on the Timberwolves summer league team last year, where I watched him lovingly unfurl a good jumpshot, and an efficient and pretty solid overall game with no outstanding attributes to it. Taylor spent last season with Premiata Montegrenaro in Italy's Serie A, where he averaged 13.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game. On the down side, he also only averaged 0.5 assists in 29 minutes a game, which can't be good, even if assists are far harder to come by in Italy's slightly authoritarian scoring system.
- Mike Sweetney: WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!! Sweetney's back!!! Good times. Since his rookie contract expired as a member of the Bulls in the summer of 2007, Sweetney has not been heard from at all. He literally disappeared off the map. Wasn't even on Facebook or anything. It looked bleak. But a sighting finally came; the Boston Globe reported that he was in the crowd for Bulls/Celtics game 7 back in May, and maybe that was the precursor to this. Hopefully he's found a a way to solve his weight problems, and found what was the cause of them in the first place. I am eagerly awaiting to see what shape he's in (no circle jokes), because if he can stay under 280, he can resume an NBA career.
- Robert Swift: Swift showed some signs of life in his second year in the league. He showed some offensive talent, activity (that old chestnut) and defense mobility, and averaged roughly 6/5/1 as a 20 year old centre. And that's not bad going. Then he grew his hair out, got tatted up, started to get zany in lay-up lines, and severly screwed his knee. There followed only 8 games in two years, as the knee recovery was repeatedly set back and not helped by other injuries. Swift played last year with the Thunder on his qualifying offer, but was still only healthy/good enough to play in 21 games, averaging 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds. Danny Ainge finally gets his man, but by this point, he's probably not going to see in Swift the very things that used to drive him wild with desire. A year in the D-League to recuperate his injuries and revive his CV wouldn't be a bad idea for Swift, if he can tolerate going from a $3 million+ salary to the mere pittance that D-Leaguers get. But I can't say his career options are particularly expansive.
- Bill Walker: The Celtics would almost anything to not play Walker last year, even after a series of injuries that made the need for an extra forward become of paramount importance. Walker appeared in only 29 games for the Celtics, averaging 7.4 minutes and 3 points. In the D-League, he played in 15 games and averaged 18.9 points, demonstrating a better-than-advertised jumpshot. He's certain to be back next season, as he's signed for three more years and next season's salary is guaranteed. I just hope that they'll value his input more this year.
- Darius Washington: Washington had a great training camp with the Bulls last year, a team who then cut him anyway. Ostensibly, this was to save money for a team very close to the tax threshold, but they went on to sign Lindsey Hunter two weeks later and kept him for the entire year. So I think they just preferred the touch of the older man. (Giggidy.) Washington took the hint and buggered off to Russia, signing for Ural Great Perm, a team whose name is so brilliant that I can't help but point it out every type it crops up. Washington averaged 13.1 points per game in the Russian league, and 16.5 in the EuroChallenge. Like Lofton, Washington worked out for the Grizzlies last month, and yet like Lofton, he came to Boston instead. Maybe they both had crap workouts. Either way, like Lofton, his chances are minimal.
- Semih Erden - recipient of the funniest NBA forum thread title that I've ever seen, "Semih Erden is finally in the NBA" - never left Turkey. In his fourth year with Fenerbache, Erden is averaging 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in Turkish league play, along with 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in Euroleague play. And yes, I'm fully aware that that thread title isn't actually very funny, if at all. It's funnier when you're really overtired and have just eaten some very strong continental cheese.
- Ebi Ere is signed in Australia. If he has any sense, he'll never leave - he's a legend there. Playing for the third place Melbourne Tigers, Ere (pronounced 'Ear', at least by Rick Kamla) averages 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists, which is one of the highest points per game averages that this list has seen so far. Ere's teammates include former NBA centre Chris Anstey, and a man by the name of Stephen Hoare, whose mother must have had it tough. (Note: while looking up Ere's averages, I was looking up the Australian league (the NBL) on Wikipedia, to see how it was that Ere had played only 4 games. Turns out that he had actually played 23. While I was there, though, I chose to look up the New Zealand Breakers, another NBL team, and try to figure out why there was a New Zealandolian team in the Australian league. It was then that I noticed that the Breakers's former coach was called Frank Arsego. Best. Name. Ever.)
- Evan Bruce Eschmeyer - whose nickname ought really be "Almighty", given that name of his - gave up basketball many moons ago, in late 2004, due to chronic injury. Since then, he has founded an online recruiting service, gone back to Northwestern and earned further business and law degrees, campaigned a bit for the Democratic Party, and was "heaily involved" in Stanko Barac's successful presidential campaign. What he's done since then, I'm not sure, but there's sure to be something.
- Daniel Ewing is playing for Procol Harum (Prokom) in Poland, where he forms a midget backcourt with David Logan. (Also on that team - Ronnie Burrell. Remember him?) Ewing averages 14.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals in Euroleague play, and if ever you wanted to know why so many fringe or former NBA players were signing with this Polish team (Ewing, Logan, Burrell, Koko Archibong, Pat Burke), then now you know why. It's because they're in the Euroleague. And that gets you exposure. And exposure keeps the money coming in.
- Patrick Ewing Jr is with the Reno Bighorns (giggidy) in the D-League, as the Knicks still don't have a roster spot with which to sign him. (And apparently no one else wants to.) Ewing Jr averages 13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 turnovers a game. Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing Sr is an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, as is Steve Clifford, whose ability to transform his head into a ripened purple turnip during the sideline of every game continues to baffle and amaze.
- Olu Famutimi is into his second season with Khimik in the Ukraine. The second season isn't going as well as the first - O-Fam averages 10.7 points and 4.7 in the Ukranian league, but that drops to 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds (and 32% shooting) in the EuroChallenge. Which is the EuroChallenge, you ask? To be honest, I've forgotten as well.
- Desmon Farmer made the San Antonio Spurs roster out of training camp, but it didn't last very long, as the Spurs quickly waived him to pounce on Blake Ahearn, who the Wolves had also let go. (Ahearn didn't last long in San Antonio, either. Don't know why.) Farmer subsequently buggered off to Russia, where he averages 15.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists for Spartak Primorie Vladivostok, the team in last place in the Russian superleague. Tough break.
- Nick Fazekas didn't make the Nuggets roster, went to Belgium to play for Oostende, was released after getting injured, and since signed in France with ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne. Fazekas has played one game in the French league, scoring 8 points with 12 rebounds in 20 minutes. He should be in the NBA. That is all.
- I like to Peter Fehse as a yardstick for how hardcore into the NBA you are. By this I mean that if you know who Peter Fehse is, you are some kind of seriously hardcore NBA fan. Not even fans of the team that drafted him know who he is, because that team (the Sonics) no longer exist. So, here goes: Peter Fehse is a ginger German with a jewfro, whom the Sonics drafted with the 49th pick back in 2002. They did this on the assumption that this 18 year old 7 footer would pan out. But he emphatically hasn't. A combination of a lack of skill and endless injuries has pretty much put his career on hold. Unsigned since September 2007 due to an achilles tendon injury, Fehse finally signed with Braunschweig this month, the same team that he has tried to play with for about 5 seasons now. (Them and their second team, at least.) But guess what? He hurt himself again in his second game back, once again the achilles tendon, and his season is over. His career might be, too. This amusing Google Translate tells the full story, although Peter Fehse himself says it best:
"You can look at only with gallows humor take."
That you can, Peter Fehse. That you can.
- Noel Felix was playing in the D-League for The Arse, but was waived due to injury earlier this month. Felix averaged 13.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks a game, as well as 2.9 turnovers, a strangely huge amount for a man who barely dribbles.
- Andrei Fetisov has retired and hasn't played since February 2007. Can you see a theme here? Go to the unsigned draft picks list, and cross off all those who we have deemed to be retired in these Where Are They Now posts. The list suddenly gets a lot shorter.
- Finally tonight, do you want a 31 year old athletic but unskilled power forward? If so, you might want to check out Kimani Ffriend, as the L.A. Clippers did only last year. Ffriend, a late bloomer who didn't play organised basketball until he was about 29, averages 15.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for Mersin in Turkey. Unfortunately, he's finally getting good only after he's hurtled past 30. So Europe awaits. Still.
This post was written a million years before it was posted.
- Alexander Johnson has signed in the German league for Brose Baskets, so his life is basically over. (Hah! Not really, German people. Or Alexander Johnson. Or Alexander Johnson's agent. Just a little running jokes we have here. It's hilarious every time, I promise you.)
- Donell Taylor is to join the Bobcats for the training camp, because you can always find a use for a guard that can't make a layup or a jumpshot or pass or run an offense or do anything to an average standard on the offensive end. Or at least, I think that's right. It must be, because Lindsey Hunter keeps getting work.
- How much Eurelijus Zukauskas news is too much Eurelijus Zukauskas news? Well, since we've had none ever, I think we're still some ways short of our limit. So here I am, announcing to you that E-Zook has re-signed with Zalgiris, in his native Lithuania. (If you don't know who Eurelijus Zukauskas is, I'm generously going to tell you - he's a really big and really slow Lithuania centre who the Bucks drafted back in the mid 90's, and whose rights they still own purely as a technicality. He's like Arvydas Sabonis was in his dying days, only inferior. See! Now you've learnt, and now you can discuss him with your friends. However, I sincerely hope, but can't guarantee, that they'll still by your friends afterwards.)
- Also, how much Bulgarian league news is too much Bulgarian news? Quite frankly, it's limitless. So here's some Bulgarian league news - the mighty and insatiable Tim Pickett has signed with Lukoil Akademik, a team in the Bulgarian League. Don't tell your friends this one, though. Make it our little secret.
- Lawrence Roberts signed with Red Star Belgrade, a basketball team in Belgrade, whose team logo has a red star in it. It all makes sense when you break it down and analyse it in its most basic form.
- Matt Freije is to join the Bucks for training camp, because you can never have too many jumpshooting power forwards with weak rebounding rates. Oh, wait, yes you can. By the way, there are a lot of jumpshooting power forwards who do the rounds in the NBA these days - Freije, Malik Allen, Pat Garrity and Steve Novak to name but a few. However, almost all of them are one dimensional players who offer nothing else. Nick Fazekas, however, can also rebound to go with his jumpshot. So why's he the one on the outside looking in? He's going to get a spot with the Nuggets training camp this year, but we all know he's going to be waived, because Denver like to keep costs down. This is injustice. Add Nick Fazekas to my new campaign list (to be announced shortly).
- Mustafa Shakur signed in Spain with Tau Vitoria Ceramica Saski Baskonia (delete as applicable), where he'll replace Goran Dragic, if Goran ever completes his buyout and signs with Phoenix.
- The whistlestop Ronald Dupree World Tour Of The NBA now includes Cleveland, where he'll sign for training camp, and then be cut from.
- This article, dated September 9th, implied that Sam Cassell was to sign a new contract with the Celtics soon. But he hasn't. Make of this what you will.
- Denver rounded out their roster by signing second rounder, Sonny Weems. The subject of Weems has come up a few times now, and I've still got nothing interesting to say about him. Instead of trying, I'll cop out and not bother.
And now, ladies and gentleman, Mr Conway Twitty.
(Possibly the most amusing backing band that I've ever seen in my life.)
- After signing Brian Skinner and waiving Josh Powell, as described in the previous blog post, the Clippers finally did the other obvious thing and withdrew the qualifying offer to Nick Fazekas. This moves leaves them with roughly $1.4 million in remaining cap space. However, if they hadn't made the moves to sign draftees Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor unnecessarily early, as well as the even more unnecessary Jason Hart trade, then that number would be more like $2.5 million. I'm going to keep bloody going on about this until someone patronisingly rubs me on the head and tells me that it's OK.
- Adonal Foyle re-signed with the Orlando Magic, who still don't have a good backup big man. I'm all about Marcin Gortat, though. I like him. Also, free agent Magic guard Carlos Arroyo signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, a move insignificant of itself, but which serves to make this year's already weal free agency point guard crop even weaker. Someone needs to either gamble on Shaun Livingston, or get Kevin Ollie back in this league. Anything to keep Smush Parker out. (NB: Earl Boykins was rumoured to be going to Maccabi, but that was before the Arroyo signing was announced, so I doubt that's still on. However, for all his failings, Boykins is maybe now the best free agent left on the market. That's how bad the market is.)
- While we're on the subject of crappy journeyman point guards, Anthony Goldwire is still going, signing for Egaleo in Greece. Goldwire's kicking 40's door down, in the words of the lyrically superior Eminem, but he's still getting basketball jobs. So he's either broke, or he deeply loves the game. I truly hope it's the latter.
- The Lakers signed a short D-League scoring guard, Dwayne Mitchell. Seems like a weird place to start when they have other depth concerns, but oh well. I watched qutie a bit of the Lakers summer league, and Mitchell didn't play much behind such luminaries as Joe Crawford, Coby Karl, Brian Roberts and Cedric Bozeman. I don't know what to make of that.
- Julius Hodge says he wants to make an NBA comeback. Hmmmm. For those unaware, Hodge played for the New Jersey Netssummer league team. For those also unaware, the New Jersey Nets basketball operations person thingy is Kiki Vanderweghe. For those yet further unaware, Kiki Vanderweghe is the man who drafted Hodge way too frigging high back when Vanderwghe was the basketball operations person thingy with the Denver Nuggets. Yet even while crossing the country to follow the one guy to date who thought him worthy of an NBA contract, Hodge couldn't get himself another one. That doesn't bode well.
- Another Dallas secound round draft pick, Renaldas Seibutis, has signed with Bilbao in Spain. Do you know how hard it is to think up good Renaldas Seibutis jokes? Let me tell you. It's very hard indeed. So I won't bother.
- Ndudi Ebi has signed with Carife Ferrara in Italy, alongside Harold Jamison. There just aren't enough Harold Jamison updates in the world today. Do you know what you get if you Google News-search "Harold Jamison"? Nothing. Well, nothing in English, anyway. Fucking shame.
- Steven Smith has signed with Kolossos Rhodes in Greece, perhaps the finest non-Phillipino team name I've ever seen. Such imperialism! Such history! Such distinction! Such pressure! Good luck Steven.
- Uros Slokar has signed for Fortitudo Bologna. By the way, if you like professional basketball players with accessibility, you'll LOVE Uros Slokar's website. Feel free to email him. Tell him I sent you. Offer him the job as this site's main web developer. Don't tell him that it's unpaid.
Seriously, fuck it. Fuck it hard. Right in the face.
The Denver Nuggets traded former DPOY Marcus Camby to the L.A. Clippers yesterday, for absolutely nothing. The Nuggets got no more than the right to swap second round picks with L.A. in 2010, a year in which the Clippers will have the lower pick anyway, meaning that Denver won't be exercising the option. That's it. That was their return. That was what they got.
That was what they got for Marcus, freaking, Camby.
I am really annoyed by this.
Marcus Camby is a former DPOY award winner. He may have another one left in him yet, too. Camby is a high calibre player - last year, he averaged 13.1 rebounds and 3.6 blocks a game. 3.6 rebounds per game is a lot of rebounds. And 3.6 is a hell of a lot of blocks. He can pass, and also shoot 20 footers, if you give him a week and 40 feet of elbow room.
Camby is a rare commodity in this league; he is a centre that isn't crap. He is at the peak of his career, and strangely also at his peak physical conditionm having set his new personal best for games played in a season, with a commendable 79 games last season. Without wanting to go overboard and do something silly, such as calling him a dynamic two way player, it's safe to say that Tampon is one of the best at his position, the position that is so hard to fill that General Managers will consistently try any old shit to try and strike gold. In a league where most executives would willingly sacrifice their closest family memebers to get an elite centre, the Clippers now have two. And they're not even overpaid.
They got one of them for freakin' nothing.
How does Marcus Camby fit alongside Wolfgang Kaman? I don't know, but it doesn't matter. He's going to better their team simply by not being Aaron Williams. The Clippers just bagged a huge infusion of quality to their team, and all they had to do was not overpay Luol Deng. If they can now trade for Vince Carter using little more than Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas to die, then suddenly they're dancing. A front seven of Carter, Camby, Kaman, Baron Davis, Al Thornton, Quinton Ross and Eric Gordon could break 50 wins, even without Elton Brand or a bench.
And yet, somehow, Denver couldn't even get a first round pick for him? Is that even possible? Is instant salary relief really THAT important? Why has this come up now? Why could they not use the Warriors' and Sixers' cap room, before they spent it, as leverage for a better deal? Not even Memphis's? They couldn't take back even a BIT of salary if it meant getting soem assets, like young players or draft picks? Not a bit? Really? You mean to tell me that a team heading in no particular direction and capped out like buggery can afford to give away its best players for absolutely no return whatsoever? How can any team out there justify spending $23 million on a fourth choice power forward while already nursing one of the league's highest payrolls, paying $60 unnecessary million to a guy who played 3 minutes the season before, as well as giving Chucky Atkins $13 million to do big fat Fanny Adams, can now somehow justify giving away its first round draft picks and frittering away quality players like confetti? This from a team that made the ultimate let's-give-this-shit-a-shot trade only 18 months ago?
Sod that.
Somewhere, somehow, someone is systematically wrong. Either Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke woke up with the arseache and ordered General Manager Mark Warkentein to do a dramatic about-face and cut payroll immediately at all costs, or Warkentein is a pillock. Or both.
Whichever it is, they have a problem. They're still cap strapped, they're still a lottery team, they still have no exciting internal future, they're still a badly assembled veteran team that isn't getting anywhere, and they're still being mismanaged. I'd feel bad for them, but they've annoyed me, so I owe them nothing.
The fans, however, have my sympathy. When teams make bad personal moves to save money, purely as collateral damage from their own previous stupid move, then the fans become the victims to the folly that is the NBA and its old boys network. Believe me, as a Bulls fan, I know that pain. I miss Tyson Chandler every day.
However, in a rare but special first here at eddiebasdenslegacy.com, I'm going to try and think positively. The sole solace for the Nuggets in this deal is the $10 million traded player exception that this deal created. Then again, it will probably go unused. However, if the Nuggets let Allen Iverson expire this summer, they will finally be out, barring widespread changes, from the tax territory in which they currently reside. If that happens, they will still have the TPE to use until July 15th, 2009. And at that point, they'll be able to add salary again. Whether they do this or not is another matter, but the ability to do so remains. And that's a small solace that Nuggets can take away and keep.
Who knows, they might even use it to bring Camby back.
By the way, while we're sort of on the subject of the Clippers and Elton Brand, let us tangent for a minute as you explain something to me. As I understand it, the time line of events in their negotiations go like this;
1 - Brand opts out.
2 - The Clippers and Brand verbally agree to a new deal rather quickly.
3 - The Warriors top this offer, just to see if they get lucky. The Sixers follow suit.
4 - Brand and his agent David Falk take news of this new offer to the Clippers, looking to use it as leverage with the Clippers to make them increase their offer slightly.
5 - The Clippers say no.
Now, why would the Clippers do this? By all accounts, they had a verbal agreement for a very reason 5 year, $65 million offer. Why would they be so inflexibile in renegotiating that slightly? $13 million is a good price for Elton Brand - if you're overpaying him at the end of the deal, you're underpaying him at the start, so it works out fine. Why wouldn't you add a few million if it kept him here? Why wouldn't you discuss a sixth year? Why would you extend qualifying offers to Marcus Williams and Nick Fazekas, keep the unguaranteed Josh Powell around unnecessarily, and even more unnecessarily sign first round draft pick Eric Gordon before compelting your cap space adventure, needlessly costing yourself almost $1.5 million in cap room, a figure which could add over $10 million to the value of a 5 year contract? A $10 million that would have meant the re-signing of your best player, and a hell of a good starting five to build upon?
The answer: I simply don't know. Maybe they didn't know the rules or something. Maybe they didn't know signing Gordon would cost them cap space. Maybe they think Fazekas actually matters in some why. I couldn't say. But I think the Clippers, in doing this, nearly managed to one-up The Juan Carlos Navarro Experience of this past season. And for that, I salute, pity, humilate and disown them. At least they got Camby as a backup plan.
I will never get over how such multi-million dollar business franchises can be mismanaged by the whims and misinformation of those in charge. All the damn time, too. Fucking dumbfounding.
(Readers note: Never listen to Elton John and blog. It leads to the creation of stupid post titles and slightly aggressive opening gambits.)
The Mavericks have one of the worst young cores in the NBA. With only Devin Harris, Juan Jose Barea and Maurice Ager as the only returning players under the age of 26, and with only one of those playes able to crack any NBA team's rotation, Dallas enjoys (if that's the word) almost nothing in the way of prospects. There's Josh Howard of course, but he's 27 now, and while DeSagana Diop is still only 25, you're an optimist and an idiot if you think there's some skills in there that he's merely kept hidden for 6 years.
(Incidentally, did you know that Mavericks training camp signee Jamal Sampson is only 24 years old, despite being around for what feels like a million years, and that commonly accepted youngster Diduer Ilunga Mbenga is about to turn 27? Me neither. These things are worth noting. That is, they are worth nothing if you're really bitterly pathetic like me. If you are, hooray! We should hang out.)
Dallas tried to add to this somewhat this summer. Without a first round draft pick, they picked Nick Fazekas high in the second, thus once again insuring that they have a tall white forward who takes 85% outside jumpshots and who doesn't move well on defense. It's a recent trend that began with Keith Van Horn, was last year handled marvellously by Austin Croshere, who now passes the mantle onto Fazekas.
Fazekas figures not to play much, though, after the unheralded signing of Brandon Bass seems to have given the Mavericks a backup power forward worth a damn. After two years of bland nothingness with the Hornets, Bass was allowed to leave unchallenged when Dallas picked him up. Since then, despite it only being preseason, Bass has shown signs of being a capable player, and being only 22 he can join (or rather, "be") Dallas young core.
But then, who gives a shit about a young core when you've just won 67 games the season before? To add young talent is nice, but all Dallas really needed to do was to keep the core that they had, maybe add one or two pieces, and try all over again. They did this, adding some perimeter defense in Eddie Jones and Trenton Hassell, while bringing back Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse for some more depth. The Mavericks can boast now one of the NBA's deeper teams, and they still rock the core that resulted in the 5th best record in NBA history last year (it was something like that, at least. I forgot what it was exactly).
They didn't blow it up, and under no circumstances should they have done. Watch as they now decimate the roster in a trade for Kobe.
Next year:
Much has been made of the Mavericks historic capitulation to the Warriors in round one of the playoffs last year, which set all kinds of trends that I can't rememeber. But what a lot of people tend to overlook was the sheer bad luck of it all. If any other team claims that eighth seed, Dallas polishes them off with no problem at all. Yet Golden State offered up by far and away the biggest matchup problem of them all, and it's them who Dallas drew.
The Mavericks did not help themselves by somewhat wilting under pressure, and Avery Johnson by his own admission did not make the correct adjustments.
None of this, however, means that the right way for the Mavericks to go is to start thinking "yes, what we need right now is the sub-30% clutch shooting of Kobe Bryant", or "we can never with win Dirk, let's trade him".
They have a formula, and it's one that works. It worked last year to the tune of 67 wins, and while regular seasons don't account for anything in the playoffs (as Golden State showed), it does serve to prove that this Mavericks team can beat all comers. All, that is, but one.
To solve Golden State (and believe me when I tell you that I realise how stupid it is to imply that a team's season rests on one matchup versus one solitary mediocre opponent), Dallas doesn't need to revamp their roster, but make some adjustments and not get rattled. They didn't, and so they lost. But were that situation to happen again, that's all it takes to avoid that drama again.
Dallas is arguably the best team in the league. The Spurs have the title and claim that crown, but Dallas is up there. They should once again finish with the best regular season record and win the Western Conference.
This year, they just need a better stroke of luck, and a dose of fortitude. If that happens, they may win the title. They're one of very few teams that are good enough.
Sham is a miserable and self-effacing little bastard, whose basketball opinions are often riddled with bias, insecurity, and rank immaturity. He has also never played the sport, and the only game he has ever been to see was a Ware Rebels game back in 2001. The night bus didn't show up and he had to walk the 9 miles home. It was after this that his passion for basketball really took off.
He considers himself to be Britain's foremost NBA expert, an arbitrary title that carries with it no basis in fact, or any worldly significance. He also wrote this section of the website in third person narrative, purely for reasons of arrogance.
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