Domincan Republic native Flores has moved to the coldest climate of his career. Playing for Samara in Russia, Flores is averaging 13.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the Russian Superleague, alongside 19.5/4.5/1.9 in the EuroChallenge. His backcourt team mate is Bosnian national team member, J.R. Bremer. It's not the tallest backcourt in the world.
Forbes started the season in SerieA, and averaged 13.3 points per game for Vanoli Cremona. He left the team last month, and hooked with Ironi Kfar Hamaccabia Ramat Gan (better known as Ramat Gan) in the Israeli league last week. Ramat Gan were last in the Israeli league when Forbes joined, but Forbes scored 28 points in his first and only game for them so far to lead them to a victory over Ironi Nahariya. And now Ironi Nahariya are in last place.
28 year old ex-NBA player Alton Ford was in the D-League last year after being out of the game between November 2005 and December 2007. He wasn't great there, averaging 10/7/4 for two different teams, where the "4" represents his fouls per game. Ford didn't start this year with anyone, but last month he caught on with Bourg in the French second division. (I don't like Star Trek, so no jokes here.) In 4 games, Ford has totalled 13 points, 13 rebounds, 11 fouls and 1 block.
Ford started the season in Russia, averaging 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 24 minutes per game for Spartak St Petersburg. He left in November (i.e. before the team fell to 1-11 and last place), and signed in January with Carife Ferrara in SerieA. There, Ford averages 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 25 minutes per game. He had 0 blocks in 92 minutes in Russia; he has 15 in 126 minutes in Italy.
Ex-Celtic and Sonic guard Forte averaged 24.5 points per game for Bologna to begin last season, yet they let him go anyway. He then moved to Snaidero Udine (another SerieA team), where he averaged a further 12.0ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.5apg and 2.4spg, but Udine got relegated and Forte was let go at the season's end. Like Udine, Forte now finds himself in LegaDue, averaging 21.1 points and 4.0 assists for Edimes Pavia.
Note; even though LegaDue is a second division, it's still a better league than some country's first divisions. LegaDue, for example, is a better standard of play than the Belgian league, and roughly comparable with the French league. Just a barometer for you there.
Danny Fortson last played in the NBA in 2007, where he racked up 40 points, 43 rebounds and 38 fouls in 14 games for the Sonics. He did not play anywhere after that. Fortson now lives in Newport, Ohio, where he apparently enjoys an active nightlife.
There exists a Facebook group by the slightly un-PC name of "Danny Fortson is the shit". On it is this rather worrying wall post:
Shan Foster is signed in Turkey with Kepez Bld Antalya. He's averaging 9.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, shooting three 3's for every free throw, and with more threes than twos. He hasn't expanded his game, although he also hasn't lost his jumpshot, shooting 39% from three point range.
Foster is back in America receiving treatment for an injury. He could be seen in the crowd at the Vanderbilt-Tennessee game last month, sporting gold face paint. Nice of him to play along.
Despite the spelling, Shan is pronounce Shane. The same is not true of Sham, though.
Minor league journeyman Tremaine Fowlkes last played with the Fresno Rebels in late 2008. The Fresno Rebels were an ABA team, so you know without even looking that they no longer exist. (Sad, but true. They merged with the Washington Raptors after only three months, and are now known as only that.) I'm not sure what he does now, but unless there's two guys in California with that name, this might be him.
Fowlkes has more NBA rings than the rest of this list combined.
Fotsis is with Panathinaikos for his second straight season and seventh in total. On the stacked defending Euroleague champions roster, he is averaging 6.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 24 minutes per game in the Euroleague, alongside 6.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 20 minutes per game in the Greek league. He also still holds the Euroleague record for rebounds in a single game with 24.
Fotsis didn't work out in his one NBA season - by which I mean, it didn't go too well, and not that he refused to practice - but he's nonetheless a straight baller.
Another straight baller is Richie Frahm, who has not lost his jumpshot any in his 30's. Frahm is in Turkey, signed with Mersin to be the shooting specialist that replaces Chris Lofton. It was an unenviable task considering how freaking amazingly well Lofton shot the ball for Mersin last year - including hitting 17 threes in a single game - but Frahm gave it a go. On the season, Frahm averaged 8.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 7 games; however, he was released last month in favour of Vincent Grier. And Vincent Grier can't shoot.
Francis last played in the NBA in December 2007. After Portland waived him immediately after acquiring him in the Zach Randolph deal - they decided they would rather have paid Steve $28 million to go away than to have Zach Randolph - Francis signed a two year deal for slightly over $5 million with the Houston Rockets. He played in only 10 games for the team, however, and shot only 33%. He was then salary dumped onto Memphis partway through his second season (in turn gaining Memphis the pick later used to draft Sam Young), and was waived, ne'er to return. The last reports come from last summer, which said that Francis was working hard at the IMG Academy, trying to get right for one last go around. But the athletic skills have gone, leaving Francis having to rely on smarts and skills. And, harsh as it sounds, he never had a lot of those.
Former Illinois guard Chester Frazier has not yet begun the coaching career believed to be inevitable, and is instead proceeding with a professional playing career. Playing for Goettingen in Germany, Frazier averages 5.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21 minutes per game in the German league (shooting 33% from three point range and 53% from the line), alongside 3.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24 minutes per game in the EuroChallenge (shooting 11% from three point range and 88% from the foul line).
In other former Illinois player news, Trent Meacham is averaging 15.3 points per game in the Austrian league, Calvin Brock is averaging 15.5/6.8/3.4 in the German second division, and Brian Randle averages 12.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in Israel.
And in current Illinois player news, Demetri McCamey has really figured it out, hasn't he? Could be a late second rounder now.
When I said I would have these lists done in time, I meant by January 10th, the start of the Vegas Summer League. I forgot that the Orlando Summer Pro League comes first. Whoops. Oh well. If we're late, we're late.
We're also going back in the alphabet, because Dallas have finally announced their roster. Still nothing from Cleveland yet, though.
- Alfred Aboya: Typically, we start with the one guy that I've never heard of before. There's nothing wrong with that, though, since it means we get to learn. Aboya is a 6'9 big man who just finished his senior season at UCLA, a team that seems to have lost its entire roster over the last three weeks. He averaged 9.9 points and 6.3 rebounds last season, and, when I finally get around to those UCLA games that I keep promising to watch, I'll be able to fashion a more formulated if still largely ignorant opinion of him. But I'm willing to bet you already that he's better than Lorenzo Mata-Real.
- Rodrigue Beaubois: Beaubois was the Maverick's first round draft choice this past summer, when they traded the rights to B.J. Mullens for him. I'm only upset that I missed out on a "Mark Cuban turned down a B.J." joke, despite the predictability of it all. Beaubois averaged 10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the French league last season, which isn't particularly impressive from a 6'2 guard in a weak standard of competition. Yet I read somewhere that they're bringing him over immediately anyway. Albuquerque awaits.
For the record, Brown split last season between the Austin Toros of the D-League (where he averaged 14,9 points and 9.5 rebounds), Banvit Kulubu in Turkey (where he averaged 12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds) and the Bobcats (where he totalled 4 points and 12 rebounds in 4 games).
- Nick Calathes: Calathes is a straight baller, who has already signed with Panathinaikos for next season. He did that even before he was drafted, facilitated in that quest by having a Greek passport. And when we get to the Clippers entry, I'll tell you why this news confuses me. Calathes' NBA prospects are hindered by his athletic disadvantages, but Europe will love him. And if he develops that outside stroke some, we'll probably see him back here one day.
- Shan Foster: Shan Foster (pronounced Shane) is an out and out shooter who can pretty much only shoot. That's it, really. There's nothing wrong with that, though, because you can never have too many shooters, and Foster's a good one. Donnie Nelson states that Foster has improved his range out to real three point range, which will help him, but what won't help him is his kind of mediocre season last year. Foster averaged 10.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 30mpg for Eldo Caserta in Italy's SerieA, shooting only 36% from three point range and scoring a total of 311 points on 270 shots. That's not very good, really.
- Mickael Gelabale: Gelabale spent two years with the Sonics, but just when he'd started to make some progress in his second year, he screwed up his knee. He was out of the game for about a year, and only returned in late March, when he played in 6 games down the stretch for the L.A. D-Fenders in the D-League, averaging 16.0 points and 4.3 rebounds. If his athleticism isn't affected by the knee injury, then he'll stay on the NBA radar for a while, but it would take a truly fine summer league showing to get him there this year.
- Luke Jackson: Try as he might, Luke Jackson has still never stuck around in the NBA for more than about eight minutes at a time. This is the one, Luke. This time. Jackson spent last season in the D-League with the Idaho Stampede, averaging 17.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game, shooting 44% from three point range and 85% from the line. So not only did he shoot better than Shan Foster, but he demonstrated a more efficient and all-around offensive game. Work hard on that D, Shan.
- Curtis Jerrells: As with Kevin Rogers before him, I saw a crap load of Jerrells last year, aaaaaand.....he's all right. His shot is his strength, but it's also not strong enough to get him into the NBA on its own. His floor game is solid if unspectacular, but his half court offense is mediocre, he's a shoot-first player, and he hasn't the consistent enough range to make you touch yourself. Put 5 to 10% on that three point percentage, C.J, and we'll revisit this.
- Bryson McKenzie: McKenzie averaged 2.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in the D-League last year. Those numbers, they.....they suck. And yet they're about as much as the turns-26-next-week McKenzie has ever achieved in his three year professional career. But here's a 22 minute highlight mix anyway.
EDIT: Apparently this entry wasn't favourable enough. An e-mail I received:
To Whom It May Concern:
This is A Man Whose Name I Edited Out, the agent for Bryson McKenzie. Before you start posting stuff, please do more homework on players. Bryson did averaging 2.9 pts and 4.6 rebounds last year in the D-league, but he was only there for a month and a half and came towards the end of the season. Before that he was playing 1st Division internationally and in 2008 averaged 17 ppg, 13 rpg, and 3 bpg game. Then after that he left the NBA D-League and went on to play in the International Basketball League in the spring of 2009 where he averaged 17.5 ppg, 14.5 rpg, and 3.9 bpg. See Link: http://www.vancouvervolcanoes.com/profile.php?playerid=61.
On May 8, 2009 he had a game where he had 26 points, 29 rebounds, and 9 blocks and . He led the league in rebounds and block shots and led his team in scoring. He was also with the Lakers in the 2007 NBA Summer League as well. If you can change your comments about my client, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
So, there you go. Now you know more about Bryson McKenzie than I could ever teach you. Thank you, Mr Agent Sir, for filling the gaps in this Bryson McKenzie synopsis. I've got several thousand other players to cover if you want to help me with those too.
(You don't? Oh.)
- Aaron Miles: Miles was on the Mavericks summer league season last year, too, where he did a decent job of not being Keith McLeod. (And yet McLeod was the one who got the training camp contract. Ho-hum.) Miles spent last season in Greece, where he averaged 11.3 points and 3.5 assists for Panionios, but he also did the usual Aaron Miles thing and shot only 10-51 from three point range. And that persistent flaw continues to be the reason why this 26 year old former Warriors guard can't get back into the league.
- Ahmad Nivins: I like Nivins. I've told you that before, but there it is again. And if the Mavericks find a way to keep both him and another favourite of mine, James Singleton, as the backup forwards, then I'll be a happy bunny. But that might involve Donnie Nelson and Devean George being separated from one another. And I'm not sure either of them wants that. Maybe we should force it to happen. Tonya Harding one of them if necessary. (Note: don't really do that. I don't want an "incitement to riot" charge on my work visa application.)
- Trent Strickland: Strickland is another D-League veteran coming off of a pretty solid year. Strickland averaged 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds in roughly 30 minutes per game for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Those are especially good rebounding numbers from a 6'5 swingman. Unfortunately, T-Strick has always lacked a consistent jumpshot, and still does, shooting only 31% from three point range last season in over 100 tries. If he had one of them, he'd probably have had a modicum of NBA experience by now. But he hasn't.
EDIT: Quite a long time after releasing their roster, the Mavericks then released it again, with seven extra players on it. And here they are.
- Henry Dugat: Dugat is presumably only here because of Jerrells, his Baylor team mate. Dugat teamed with Jerrells and the immortal Tweety Carter to form a three guard midget backcourt, and between them they took a lot of threes. Dugat took the least of the three, but was a very efficient shooter from out there through his first three years. Unfortunately, his shot also vacated him, and hie shot 30% from three point range in his senior season (down from 40% his sophomore year), and 41% overall (down from 47%). As a 6'0 shoot first guard (and a shoot second guard), Fugat would have to have an exceptional jumpshot, exceptional speed, or an exceptional ability to get to the rim to be faintly NBA calibre. But he doesn't have any of them.
- Herbert Hill: Hill spent the whole 2007-08 season on the Sixers roster after being drafted by them late in the 2007 draft, but he didn't play any games due to a knee surgery. He was allowed to walk unchallenged, and had a tryout in August for Le Mans in France. However, his knee still hadn't recovered, and he wasn't signed. It was six whole months before he reappeared, when he was acquired by the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League, averaging an unimpressive 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 11 games. He later moved to the Tulsa 66ers, where things went a bit better, with averages of 17.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.4 blocks in 5 games. Impressively, in those five games he managed to hit 43 field goals, but only two free throws.
- Quinton Hosley: Hosley started last season with Real Madrid, and averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in the Euroleague. But he left the team in February, and I seem to remember reading somewhere that he wasn't asked to leave in a particularly polite manner. If you know what I mean. He then finished up the season in Turkey, playing 14 games for Galatasaray and averaging 15.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. What he would bring to the Mavericks, though, I'm not sure. Presumably he thinks he can earn enough minutes on this 18 man roster to get himself a little showcase in front of the baying crowd of dozens, and land himself another well paid European gig somehow. Why he wouldn't find a smaller roster, though, I'm also not sure.
- Nathan Jawai: Jawai was acquired via trade from Toronto the day before summer league started. He played only 19 minutes with the Raptors in his rookie season, and spent quite a lot of time in the D-League. But he wasn't very good down there, averaging a comparatively mediocre 11.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in 14 games. He does have a guaranteed contract for next year, however, so his chances of making the roster for next year have to be pretty good, Even if it comes at the expense of the superior Ryan Hollins.
- K.C. Rivers: I only saw Rivers once, and I was more mesmerised by Trevor Booker at the time, but I remember Rivers as being a spot-up shooter and decent rebounder, who didn't really have NBA size or the speed to compensate for that. Googling him, that looks to be the case. The league always needs shooters, though, so if he becomes an inescapably good shooter, he'll stay on the map.
- Damjan Rudez: If Kirk Hinrich and Michael Phelps had a dirty illicit love child, it would look like Damjan Rudez. Rudez is a slightly skinny Croatian international forward who plays for Olimpia Ljubliana in Slovenia, and who averaged 5.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in the Euroleague last year. He went undrafted in the 2008 draft, perhaps due to concerns about the versatility of his game. As the following video suggests, he's largely a jumpshooter.
- Moussa Seck: When he was 19 years old, Moussa Seck was a streetside cosmetics vendor in his native Senegal who had never played basketball before. He was spotted on the street by a scout, who may have picked up on the subtle fact that Seck is 7'4 tall. He's now 22, which means he's far from a polished and experienced basketball product. But he's still 7'4, so people are still interested in him. Seck spent last year with Poderosa Supernova Montegranaro, the feeder team of Serie A team Premiata Montegranaro. They play in a division so far below the big league team that I can't tell you a single other fact about them. To play in a lower standard of basketball and still be Googleable is damn near impossible, unless you're Bryson McKenzie's agent. But, at the very least, it's the start of a CV.
Seck is also 220lbs, which is only slightly more than what I weigh. Except I'm 6'3 and he's 7'4. I don't know what this says about either of us.
Yuta Tabuse was supposed to be on this team. But he didn't partake in the free agent minicamp that preceded it due to injury. I guess they figured they had better point guard options.
- Gerald Fitch was unsigned until very recently, as he joined the Turkish team Kepez BLD Antalya only last week. Antalya are currently second to last in the Turkish league, and Fitch arrives as the replacement for leading scorer and former Magic training camp invitee, Torell Martin, who retired to run a country pub in the southernmost corner of Wales. (OK, no he didn't. But he did leave.) Fitch has not yet played a game for his new team, and I'll be sure not to tell you when he does.
- D'Or Fischer is with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel, a rare and special boast for any big man to be making, given the extremely high turnover of big men that Maccabi have had this year. Also currently with Maccabi is one of my favourite players of all time, Marcus Fizer, who has just recently returned from a year long absence due to a knee injury. I don not really know why I like Marcus Fizer so much, so please do not ask. It denies all rational reasoning, but it is what it is, and there it is. Fischer averages 9.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.0 blocks in Israeli league play, along with 12.6 points, 7.8 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocks in Euroleague play. Fizer has totalled 13 points and 5 rebounds in the three games of his comeback.
- Gary Forbes was acquired by the Tulsa 66ers from the Sioux Falls Skyforce just a matter of hours ago. Tulsa traded Chris Ellis to get him, he of the recent update. For Sioux Falls, Forbes was the sixth man, and he averaged 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in his time there.
- Alton Ford has also just left his D-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and has signed with a team in Zhejiang, China. Which Zhejiang team it is, I'm not sure. Ford averaged 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.4 turnovers and 4.0 fouls in 28 minutes per game for the Vipers, who now have only two players left over 6'5 - Marcus Hubbard and Kurt Looby, former backup at Iowa. Remember things like this the next time you see Courtney Sims's D-League stats.
- Sharrod Ford plays for Virtus Bologna, and averages 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in Italian league play. In the EuroChallenge, Ford averaged 12.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks.
- Joe Forte is still dislikeable. Starting the year with Fortitudo Bologna (not the same team as Sharrod Ford's Virtus Bologna), Forte totalled 49 points and 7 rebounds in his first two games for Fortitudo, before being released due to general unpopularness. (At least, I think that was it. There was definitely some kind of bust-up. Either way, Qyntel Woods is also on that team, so it wasn't the most functional unit.) Forte later signed with Snaidero Udine, who are currently last in the Italian league first division, despite the presence of both Forte and Rashad Anderson. Forte averages 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 3.2 assists through 6 games.
- Danny Fortson is out of the game and out of the headlines. Probably best.
- Shan Foster has forgotten how to shoot, averaging only 9.7 points per game on 31% shooting from the three point line while playing for Eldo Caserta in Italy. Shan Foster wihout his jumpshot isn't much of a player, so I'm assuming and hoping that he'll find it again.
- Former GrizzlyAntonis Fotsis is playing for Panathinaikos back in his native Greece. Fotsis averages 7.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in Greek league play as the backup to the other former Grizzly Mike Batiste, former Maryland star Andrew Nicholas, and Dimitris Diamantidis, and there's no shame in coming off of the bench behind those three.
- Tremaine Fowlkes signed in the ABA, but left during preseason. I hope it's not because he wasn't good enough. That would be bad.
- Finally, and most spectacularly, former Warriors guard Luis Flores is another one playing in Israeli, averaging 19.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists while starting at shooting guard for Hapoel Holon. The other starting guard for Holon is called, and I quote, Lior Lipshits. I am not making this up. No, really. I'm not. I'm really not.
- 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.
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.
Copyright ShamSports.com, 2005-2010. Every published word on this website
is copyrighted to the website's owner, including (but not limited to)
the really stupid ones that I wish I'd never written.
- Luis Flores
- Gary Forbes
- Alton Ford
- Sharrod Ford
- Joseph Forte
- Danny Fortson
- Shan Foster
- Sweatier Menfolk
- Antonis Fotsis
- Richie Frahm
- Steve Francis
- Chester Frazier
