Where Are They Now: 2009 Summer League Teams Part 3

It's been roughly two months since summer league started, and most of the players involved have been rehomed now. The following is a list of where everybody currently is, or where they might be going.

This list gets a bit long, so if you want to just skip to your favoured team, you can do so. I'll allow that.


New York Knicks

My initial summary


- Wink Adams: Adams is signed with Oyak Renault Bursa in Turkey. Wink Adams fact: an anagram of Wink Adams is "wankmaids." When I'm rich and famous, I'm hiring wankmaids. Fact.

- Alex Acker: Almost as soon as he was back in it, Acker is out of the NBA again. He is signed with Armani Jeans Milano in Italy.

- Blake Ahearn: See Nets/Sixers entry.

- Morris Almond: Almond is unsigned. I haven't heard anything about him agreeing to a training camp invite anywhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was with the Knicks.

- Warren Carter: Unsigned.

- Joe Crawford: Crawford is, and always was, under contract through 2010. So he's going to camp.

- Toney Douglas: Douglas shot like crap in summer league, but passed for an impressive 7 assists per game. If he's going to try and reinvent himself as a point guard in the up-tempo system, then that's a pretty good start. However, the entire team shot less than 39% for the tournament, which is less complimentary of Douglas's offense-running skills.

- Patrick Ewing Jr: Ewing missed summer league with injuries. He is unsigned, and sounds like a training camp candidate.

- Jordan Hill: Jordan Hill may well prove to be the second best big man in this draft. This says more about the draft than Jordan Hill.

- Ron Howard: Unsigned.

- Yaroslav Korolev: For the Knicks to have thought they could have gotten anything out of Yaroslav Korolev was very, very ambitious. Although not nearly as ambitious as the Clippers drafting him in the first place. I can't find anything that either confirms or denies that Korolev will be with Dynamo Moscow again next year, but assume that he is until further notice.

- David Noel: Noel agreed to sign in France with Roanne back in June, and was still playing in the Philippines playoffs when summer league was going on. As a result, he never played for the Knicks.

- Mouhamed Sene: Sene was waived by the Knicks after summer league ended. He blocked 8 shots in 35 minutes of SL play, but, as ever, showed nothing else. He remains unsigned. Answer me this: who was the last player drafted in the lottery with absolutely no background success in the professional game before he was drafted, that went on to be actually be at least decent in the NBA? It wasn't Sene. It wasn't Korolev. And it wasn't the guy whose entry is two below this one, either. It's been a while.

- Rashaad Singleton: Singleton is unsigned. The ABA looks inevitable.

- Nikoloz Tskitishvili: Skita played well in summer league, blocking shots and shooting the good three pointer that he now lives by. With the recent proliferation of draft bust articles, it's hard to find any good Skita news. But as far as I know, he's unsigned.




Oklahoma City Thunder

My initial summary


- DeAngelo Alexander: Unsigned. Uninteresting.

- Marcus Dove: Likewise.

- Tony Durant: Durant also doesn't appear to be signed anywhere, but his Twitter makes it sound like he's having great fun anyway hanging around his brother's mates and meeting honeyz. Which is fair enough.

- Moses Ehambe: Ehambe is also unsigned and looks like a decent candidate to return to the D-League.

- James Harden: Will I stop saying "giggidy" after every mention of this man's name? Hopefully.

- DeVon Hardin: Will I stop saying "giggidy" after every mention of this man's name? Probably not. Hardin had a decent summer league, outplaying the guy he was backing up (B.J. Mullens), but he's unsigned as of right now.

- Kyle Hines: Hines is to spend a second season with Prima Veroli in Italy's LegaDue.

- Serge Ibaka: Ibaka signed with the Thunder, to a contract absolutely identical to that of Mullens. Such is the way of the rookie salary scale.

- Shaun Livingston: After waiving Earl Watson and trading Chucky Atkins, Livingston is now set to be OKC's primary backup point guard. Considering this man was being salary dumped 7 months ago, and couldn't play basketball two years ago, this is a hell of a result. Unless Kevin Ollie steals it from it.

- Keith McLeod: McLeod is unsigned. If he's looking for another NBA training camp invite, he's an optimist.

- B.J. Mullens: As if determined to make me stop saying "giggidy," B.J. wants to be known as Byron from now on. I refuse to co-operate.

- Richard Roby: In two summer leagues with the Thunder, Roby played all of 12 minutes. Thanks for all the travelling, Rick. He remains unsigned.

- Doug Thomas: Thomas played all of 1 minute more than Roby. Again, thanks for your patience. He too is unsigned, and if you want to know if he'll return to the mighty Sweden, then this is the website that will bring you that news. Eventually.

- Robert Vaden: Despite having "drafted in the NBA" on his resumé, the best Vaden could manage was a spot in Italy's LegaDue with Aget Imola.

- Kyle Weaver: Weaver turned it over quite a ridiculous amount in summer league, but played fairly well otherwise. By the way, is it just me, or does he look like Eddie Robinson?

- Russell Westbrook: Westbrook had a very good Orlando summer pro league. He continues to impress, sort of.

- D.J. White: Same goes for White, who might not welcome Ibaka's presence, but who has played well at every level so far. The difference in strength between the 2009 and 2008 drafts is pretty bloody spectacular, when you think about it.




Orlando Magic

My initial summary


- Maurice Ager: After three really bad years, Ager is out of the NBA, and has signed with Cajasol Sevilla in Spain.

- Lance Allred: Allred has signed in Italy's SerieA with NSB Original Marines Napoli, a team that was last year known as Solsonica Rieti and which weren't in Napoli. That list will happen, I promise thee. We'll add it to the site's to-do list, which currently features 55 things. (True story.)

- Ryan Anderson: A good addition. A good summer for Orlando, all told.

- Brian Chase: Chase has signed with C.B. Valladolid in Spain's ACB.

- Ronald Dupree: Dupree never played with the Magic after all. See Nuggets entry.

- Courtney Fells: Unsigned.

- Levance Fields: Fields is signed in Russia with Spartak St Petersburg.

- C.J. Giles: See Nuggets entry.

- Richard Hendrix: See Nuggets entry. By the way, Orlando and Denver played in different summer leagues, which explains all this duplication between the two rosters.

- Stevan Milosevic: Milsoevic turned it over 7 times in 16 minutes of summer league action, which is not bad going. As far as I can tell, he is unsigned.

- Jeremy Pargo: See Pistons entry.

- Kasib Powell: Powell is playing with Tyrell Biggs and A.J. Abrams with Trikalla in Greece. He says he's pretty much given up hope of making the NBA. But he's good enough to be in it, whether the league knows this or not.

- Milovan Rakovic: I'm not certain if Rakovic will return to Spartak St Petersburg to partner Fields, but it looks like he will.

- Jeremy Richardson: Richardson has signed with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.

- Russell Robinson: Robinson is unsigned, and another year in the D-League makes sense, since he did actually develop there. And that's what it's for, after all.

- Darian Townes: See Jason Ellis, Nets/Sixers entry.




Phoenix Suns

My initial summary


- Kaspars Berzins: Berzins has signed with Fuenlabrada Madrid for next year.

- Josh Carter: Carter has signed with EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany.

- Earl Clark: Should he have gone ahead of former Louisville team mate Terrence Williams in the draft? Short answer: yep. Especially since the Nets spent all of last summer acquiring mediocre forwards. Don't see why they needed another one this year.

- Geary Claxton: Claxton is unsigned and looking for all the world like a D-League veteran in the making.

- Lee Cummard: Cummard is signed with ALBA Berlin in Germany.

- Zabian Dowdell: Dowdell impressed in summer league, and is looking for an NBA offer. If he doesn't get one, he has a standing offer from Italy, but it's in LegaDue. And Dowdell is above that.

- Micah Downs: Downs is the other American signed with KK Zadar in Croatia, alongside Trent Plaisted.

- Goran Dragic: Dragic's last two months of his rookie season weren't bad. His first 4 were awful, but there's always going to be an adjustment period. His summer league performance was pretty good, too, so maybe we can pretend his bad start didn't happen. But now would not be the time for a sophomore slump.

- Taylor Griffin: Griffin has signed with the Suns; a two year minimum contract with $250,000 guaranteed in the first year, and a completely unguaranteed second year that becomes $200,000 guaranteed if he makes the 2010/11 opening day roster. It looks like he really is going to play in the NBA after all.

- Jiri Hubalek: Hubalek is signed with Banco di Sardegna Sassari in Itaky's LegaDue.

- Takuya Kawamura: Kawamura went back to Japan and Tochigi Brex. He had his four minutes of NBA PT, what more does he want?

- Robin Lopez: I still believe.

- Carlos Powell: Powell has an offer from Carmatic, the LegaDue team also after Dowdell. He remains unsigned.

- Chris Rodgers: Rodgers was released early by the Suns and has not signed anywhere since.

- Alando Tucker: Am I the only person that gets Alando Tucker and Arron Afflalo mixed up? I hope not. I feel stupid enough already.




Portland Trail Blazers

My initial summary


- Deji Akindele: Akindele is signed with Xacobeo BluSens Obradoiro in Spain's ACB.

- Jerryd Bayless: Welcome to the deepest part of the bench, Jerryd Bayless. Don't worry, the whole league still rates you as some kind of future superstar, so you'll be fine in the long run. By the way, Bayless turned it over more than 6 times a game in summer league.

- Dante Cunningham: Signed to a two year fully guaranteed minimum salary deal. You heard it here first. Well, OK, you heard it here second, because you heard it here first. But I had a hand in that too. I'm a mover and shaker, don't you know. Got my hand in everything. Giggidy.

- Uche Echefu: Unsigned.

- Matt Freije: Freije, a newly Christened Lebanese national, just signed in his homeland with Al Riyadi.

- Thomas Gardner: Unsigned, and it doesn't look like the Hawks want him back.

- Pooh Jeter: Jeter is unsigned, as evidenced by his Twitter, where he also proves that he can't spell for shit. His sister Carmelita won a bronze at the 2009 World Atheltics Championships last month, and she also has the finest name in the world. Carmelita Jeter. Good stuff.

- Bobby Jones: Jones is signed with Banca Tercas Teramo in Italy.

- Joe Krabbenhoft: Krabbenhoft is unsigned. His Twitter suggests a lot of holidaying and some succinct world views.

- Patrick Mills: Mills is unsigned. He probably wouldn't have been, but he broke his foot early in the summer. He may still sign.

- Dwayne Mitchell: Mitchell is signed with Hapoel Holon in Israel.

- David Moss: Moss is signed with La Fortezza Bologna in Italy.

- Drew Neitzel: Neitzel is signed with ES Chalon-Sur-Saone in France.

- David Padgett: Padgett is signed with U.B. La Palma in Spain's LEB Gold (second division).

- Jeff Pendergraph: Pendergraph has not yet signed with the Blazers, but he will do soon.




Sacramento Kings

My initial summary


- Robert Battle: Battle's surprise NBA sojourn is over with. Last year he was one of the best big men in the LEB Gold with Valladolid, helping them win promotion tot he ACB; he's gone back there for this season to consolidate his success.

- Jon Brockman: Brockman has not yet signed with the Kings, which, considering how high they picked him and how much rebounding help they need, seems a little strange. He figures to sign later.

- John Bryant: Unsigned. An 80 year old man of the same name recently went missing, which makes John Bryant news hard to find.

- Pat Calathes: Calathes is to spend a second season with Costa Cafe Marousi in Greece.

- Omri Casspi: Signed with the Kings; as soon as he sets foot on the floor in a regular season game, he'll be the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Although don't you go thinking that Yotam Halperin and Lior Eliyahu couldn't do it.

- Tyreke Evans: It has already been announced that Evans will start at point guard for the Kings. Thank Christ for that.

- Donte Greene: Greene was less selfish in this year's summer league than last year's, which is like saying that Pol Pot felt slightly less genocidal than usual at Christmas. Greene also shot less than 30%, so maybe some more passing was in order.

- Spencer Hawes: In case you missed it, Hawes didn't turn up to summer league, and didn't tell the Kings that he was doing this. Bad times. Stupid times, really.

- Marcus Landry: Unsigned, but had a good summer league. Training camp contract? Maybe.

- Wesley Matthews: Same as Landry, although he didn't do quite as well.

- Jerel McNeal: Also unsigned. Played fairly well in summer league, too, but didn't have as much opportunity.

- Brian Roberts: Roberts is signed with Brose Baskets Bamberg in Germany.

- Victor Stowes: Stowes signed in Venezuela with Espartanos de Margarita, a team that just took a seven year hiatus for reasons I don't know.

- Jason Thompson: Thompson didn't play in summer league, either. Did he need to?

- Ryan Toolson: Toolson is signed with Pinar Karsiyaka SK Izmir in Turkey.




San Antonio

My initial summary


- Antonio Anderson: Anderson is unsigned. D-League, presumably.

- Romel Beck: Beck is unsigned, and only yesterday was kicked off of the Mexican national team for being too selfish. He was leading them in scoring at the time, so he must have been REALLY selfish.

- DeJuan Blair: Signed a four year contract, the first two years fully guaranteed, the final two years fully unguaranteed with guarantee dates to come. Use the salaries pages.

- Eric Dawson: Dawson is signed with the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan.

- Nando De Colo: Coco De Colo is signed with Valencia in the ACB.

- Alonzo Gee: Unsigned. That reminds me, I've still got to watch Alabama versus Auburn from like 6 months ago.

- James Gist: Unsigned.

- Malik Hairston: Going to camp with the Spurs. Contract is $50,000 guaranteed.

- George Hill: Will back up Tony Parker once again, and will do it bloody well.

- Carldell 'Squeaky' Johnson: Unsigned, presumed D-League returnee.

- Stephane Lasme: Lasme is signed with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel.

- Ian Mahinmi: Now is the time to show something. I appreciate that injuries killed his year last year, but Mahinmi still hasn't done a damn thing yet, and the Spurs don't have money to waste.

- Jack McClinton: McClinton shot like crap in summer league, but might go to camp anyway. But if he does, it's unlikely he makes the team.

- Donell Taylor: Unsigned.

- Marcus Vinicius: Vinicius is signed with Sigma Coatings Montegranaro in Italy's SerieA.




Toronto Raptors

My initial summary


- Paul Davis: The sexually immature Davis is unsigned, and hasn't got the full MLE contract that he predicted.

- DeMar Derozan: He'll be somewhere in the Raptors rotation at some point, but Bryan Colangelo needs to remember that you can have indeed too much depth. So don't bring in any more two's now, Bryan.

- David Doblas: Doblas is committed to a third year at Lagun Aro, the ACB team that used to be a LEB Gold team named Bruesa-Guipuzcoa. Confusing, really.

- Quincy Douby: Douby is still with the Raptors, despite everyone around him being culled. He's currently the 15th man on a 15 man roster, but that's also all he needs.

- Carl English: English is signed with Caja Laboral Vitoria in the ACB.

- Ekene Ibekwe: Ekenechukwu is signed with Kepez Bld Antalya in Turkey.

- Nathan Jawai: See Dallas entry.

- Demetris Nichols: Having been both a member of the Bulls and Knicks last year, and having been a member of Raptors summer league, and having had a workout with the Pacers earlier this summer, it's fair to say that Nichols is on the cusp of the NBA. As a result, he'll probably go back to the D-League. He may even get a camp invite.

- Patrick O'Bryant: O'Bryant's now-guaranteed contract seems to ensure that he'll be a Raptor next year, if only an inactive list Raptor.

- Smush Parker: Parker is unsigned.

- Brent Petway: Petway is signed with Ilysiakos Athens in Greece.

- Shawn Taggart: Taggart is unsigned, and if anyone knows the meaning behind the "murder" joke that I'm temmpted to make here, then you're a bad bad man. Should have stayed in school, really.

- Roko Ukic: Ukic is now a Buck, just one of their many pointless acquisitions this summer. You can probably tell that I'm less than enthralled by their summer.




Utah Jazz

My initial summary


- James Augustine: See Chicago entry.

- Jimmy Baron: Baron shot the ball well for Jazz, although in fairness all he did was shoot the ball. He did enough to win a spot with Mersin in Turkey, which is why he didn't need to play any more summer league (see below).

- Cedric Bozeman: The Boze Man is unsigned and looks like a logical candidate to return to the D-League, what with all the progress he made there last year.

- Derrick Brown: Brown has signed with Charlotte to a two year minimum salary contract. First year is fully guaranteed, second year is $100,000 with multiple guarantee dates.

- Josh Duncan: Duncan's summer league exploits (57 points on 29 shots) landed him a spot with Liege Basket in Belgium.

- Andre Ingram: Ingram is unsigned. A third straight season with the Flash (AAA-AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!) looks to be in order.

- Kosta Koufos: Koufos played useful minutes on a contending team. The Jazz have great big man depth, and he's partly why.

- Kevin Kruger: Kruger is signed with Original Marines Napoli in Italy.

- Kevin Lyde: Lyde is signed with Eisbaeren Bremerhaven in Germany, thus sparing Jazz fans the inevitability of him coming to training camp again.

- Wesley Matthews: See Kings entry.

- Eric Maynor: Question for Jazz fans: does Maynor play ahead of Ronnie Price next year, or behind him? And if it's behind, why?

- Goran Suton: Suton has not yet signed, be it with the Jazz or with anyone. If he signs with the Jazz, he'll be very lucky to make the team, so he's best served using his Bosnian passport to land a nice European gig somewhere. I've heard that Italy is nice.

- Dar Tucker: Unsigned. Dar Tucker fact: Dar Tucker's name "Dar" is short for "Darquavis", which is one of the most unique names you'll ever hear.

- Larry Turner: The people's champion is signed in Spain with Fundacion Adepal Alcazar. But they're not in the ACB. Nor are they inthe LEB Gold. They're in the LEB Silver, the third tier of Spanish basketball. Larry Turner, everybody. A big hand please.

- Gary Wilkinson: Wilkinson was taken in the KBL draft and will play for Dongbu Promy next year.




Washington Wizards

My initial summary


- Alade Aminu: Unsigned.

- Dwayne Anderson: Unsigned.

- Ryan Ayers: Unsigned. Good start to the list, this.

- Jimmy Baron: Baron didn't play for the Wizards; see above.

- Andray Blatche: Blatche put the three pointer to bed in this summer league. Maybe he's figuring it out. He's also changed his number to #7 for no obvious reason.

- Javaris Crittenton: With Gilbert Arenas returning, Randy Foye and Mike Miller arriving, DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young returning, and Mike James hanging around whether the Wizards like it or not, where the hell is Crittenton going to play next year? Considering they just gave up a first round draft pick to get him (admittedly only returning a heavily protected one), they're surely going to have to find somewhere.

- John Edwards: Edwards has signed abroad for only the second time in his professional career, going to join Kolossos Rhodes in the Greek league. He's now 28, and exactly the same player as he was when he was 22, so maybe he's conceded the NBA dream and is now looking for paychecks.

- Josh Heytvelt: Heytvelt played in every Wizards summer league game, even starting 1, but he didn't do a lot. He has since signed in Turkey with Oyak Renault Bursa, alongside Wink Adams and a guy called Ufuk Kacar. Good names all.

- James Lang: Unsigned.

- Javale McGee: JaVale McGee doesn't like me very much.

- Dominic McGuire: D-Mac remains on the Wizards roster. His contract is fully unguaranteed and has no guarantee date, so it costs the Wizards nothing to keep him around until training camp. But to stay beyond that, he'll have to show something. The 5.5 points and 3.5 turnovers per game on 20% shooting that he totalled in summer league isn't getting it done.

- Tywain McKee: McKee signed in what's left of the Australian league today with the Wollogong Hawks. It probably didn't help that he shot 9% in summer league.

- Tyrese Rice: Rice is signed with Greece with Panionios, where he'll pair up in the backcourt with B.J. Elder (giggidy). Considering that the two are pretty similar, it doesn't sound like a great idea.

- Jason Rich: Rich turned a blistering 21% shooting performance in summer league into a nice little contract with Maccabi Haifa in Israel. Maccabi Haifa have probably made more news this summer for their signing of Jeremy Tyler, but it's still a good placement for Rich.

- Alex Ruoff: Ruoff didn't play with the Wizards in summer league. He didn't need to, because he signed with Belgacom Liege quite a while ago.

- Diamon Simpson: The highly likeable Simpson never actually made the Wizards summer league team; he, along with Anderson, Ayers and Lang were the cuts made from a mini camp the Wizards held before summer league play started. Simpson remains unsigned.

- Kyle Spain: Spain is not signed in Spain, annoyingly, but is instead signed with the Passe-Partout Leuven Bears in Belgium. Hell of a name, that.

- Brandon Wallace: Wallace is unsigned, but he's not going back to Poland.

- Nick Young: If Washington starts Foye at shooting guard, like they should do and like they've threatened to, then how do Stevenson and Young divvy up the backup minutes? Will Young beat out Stevenson? He should do, considering Stevenson has the offensive ability of Mother Teresa on a particularly charitable day. But I'm not yet convinced that he will.

Summer league round-up: New Jersey Nets/Philadelphia 76ers

This one feels a bit weird, because I'm writing about how players are expected to perform in a competition that's already finished. Hmmmm. Oh well, for the sake of uniformity, we'll do it anyway. Not to self - plan in advance next year.

To save money, and to add purpose, the Nets and Sixers agreed to share a summer league team this year. It's not a practice I'm keen on, because I think the more spots given out to random nobodies, the better, and by having only one team that makes 12 less spots for random nobodies. So that's a shame. But at least they bothered at all, unlike some teams.

View the joint Nets/Sixers summer league roster.

- A.J. Abrams: Abrams's college career consisted of three things - decent defense for his size, running around endlessly trying to get open, and then shooting jumpshots. And a really bloody college career it was, too. However, Abrams is only 5'11. There are plenty of 6'6 guys who spend their entire careers trying to get NBA teams to notice that they specialise in exactly the same things, and (Kyle Korver excepted) they usually fail. So how likely is Abrams to do the same with his half-a-foot height disadvantage? He isn't, really. He's small even for a point guard, but the fact that he's an exclusive two guard counts heavily against him. Heavily. Abrams' only chance to become an NBA player is to develop a semblance of ball handling ability, and rework himself into a crude Jannero Pargo imitation. But Pargo isn't exactly a regular rotation player in the NBA himself, so A.J's chances are very slim.

- Jeff Adrien: Adrien was covered in the Grizzlies round-up. It's pretty industrious of him to have wriggled his way into the summer league rosters of three teams, which really maximises his options. It was also a damn good idea to get onto the Grizzlies and Nets rosters, the two teams with the worst power forward rotations in the league last year. That'll help his limited chances a bit. And, despite Adrien's limitations and damaged prospects as outlined in the other round-up, can he really be much worse than Yi Jianlian? Good luck to him.

- Blake Ahearn: Ahearn has had two shots in the NBA - once with the biblically crap Miami Heat 2007-08 team, and a small stint in the early part of last season with the San Antonio Spurs. He's played a combined 15 games and shot 27%, which is probably not brilliant. But it's also not an accurate depiction of Daniel [his real first name] is like as a shooter; he's a great one, really. This is evidenced in his D-League numbers of last year, when he scored 22.7 points and 5.0 assists per game for the Dakota Wizards, shooting 45% from the field, 42% from three point range and a typically Blake Ahearn-y 96% from the foul line. (For those unaware, Ahearn shot 95% from the foul line for his NCAA career.) Ahearn's problem is not with his scoring, but with his position; like so many others before him, he's not really a point guard, yet he measures at only 6'2 and 190. He's trying to make himself into a point guard, and is getting there slowly, as shown by those assist numbers. Unfortunately, those numbers were record in a hefty 39 minutes per game in an assist-heavy league, and also came along with 3.3 turnovers a game. (As an unrelated aside to the assists thing, Ahearn also only averaged 2.4 rebounds per game in that time, which isn't getting it done.) Playing alongside former NBA point guard Maurice Baker factors into those numbers, but Baker is far from a pure point guard himself. His great shooting stroke will keep him on the fringes of the NBA for a while, but his existential quandary will keep him out of the realms of guaranteed contracts. Probably.

- Dionte Christmas: I've not seen Christmas, and admit as much. (I had a Temple game from last year saved somewhere, but I think I accidentally recorded over it. Probably with some soft core pornography.) Everyone tells me, though, that Christmas would have been a fine undrafted signing. So here's what the numbers say; Christmas averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists, shooting a mediocre 41% from the field and attempting 9 three pointers a game, which he hit at only 35%. Those numbers don't wow me. If you're going to be a specialist shooter, shoot higher than 35%. SO we'll see. (Or rather, "we have already seen;" Christmas scored 9.3 points per game on 44% shooting in 4 summer league games.)

- Chris Douglas-Roberts: Douglas-Roberts is in danger of getting overrated. Fans of pretty much all other teams seem to want to acquire him as an under-the-radar pickup for their shooting guard spot. They rave about his instant scoring punch, and his ability to create on his own. And it's all true. But lost in that is Douglas-Roberts' scoring inefficiency; he doesn't shoot three pointers, and while he gets to the foul line at a decent rate, he has to in order to be a decently efficient scorer. He shot 54% in both his college seasons, which is terrific, and he shot 46% in his rookie season which is also very good. However, his eFG is is 47%, which isn't too good, and his 53% true shooting percentage is solid, but not brilliant in a largely one dimensional scorer. Chris and Douglas are both decent defensive players, but they don't rebound and can't create for others. They enter the game looking to score, and if they don't have a good shooting night, they don't really provide much. They should form a decent shooting guard foursome with Courtney and Lee next season, yet they (Chris and Douglas, not Courtney and Lee) are not really starting calibre. Desire them accordingly.

- Jason Ellis: Ellis is a 26 year old former Boise State graduate who is a veteran of the US minor leagues. (He also spent two years in Switzerland. Hard to come back from there.) Last year in the D-League, Ellis averaged 7.1 points and 8.7 rebounds in 24 minutes per game for the Idaho Stampede, and while I'm usually wary of players who have more rebounds than points scored, Ellis surprises me bys hooting 47% from the field and 81% from the foul line. Not bad, that. However, the market on undersized power forwards is pretty saturated, and even in spite of his rebounding rate, Ellis' 6'7 200lb frame isn't getting it done in the NBA. Chuck Hayes may be an inspiration to many, but he's also an exception to the rule.

- Gary Forbes: Forbes did the rounds last year. Undrafted, he joined up with the Wizards for summer league, and was drafted in the 4th round of the D-League draft by the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He didn't make the Wizards roster, and turned down the league in favour of Italy, signing with Basket Napoli in Serie A. Unfortunately, Napoli went bankrupt before the season begun (you'd think they might have seen that coming, no?), and Forbes had to return to America where he joined up with the Skyforce. He averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 28 minutes per game, before being traded to the Tulsa 66ers, averaging 18.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 31 minutes of 30 games for them. After the D-League season finished, Forbes went to the Philippines, averaging 27.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in two games for the joyfully named Talk 'N' Text Texters of Tropang (the Philippines league has amazingly corporate team names), and then went to Venezuela to play with Trotamundos for a month. He's building himself an NBa resumé. Pay attention.

- Jrue Holiday: Finally got around to watching that UCLA game that I've been putting off. Got to say that my opinions of Darren Collison are higher than those of Holiday, who looked.....awkward. Not really a point guard, too small for a two guard, not a great shooter, average athlete....hmmm. Not sure of the tremendous upside potential, to be honest. Good defense, though (or so it appeared; it was hard to tell considering he was guarding an undersized chucker (Patrick Christopher) all night long). He didn't even play the point guard spot when Collison was out. So whatever it is that makes Holiday a #17 pick, I'm still waiting to see.

(Note: formulating opinions based on one game that you've watched is a dangerous proposition that isn't really advised. So always leave yourself a get-out.)

- Chris Johnson: Last year for LSU, Johnson averaged 7.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. He shot only 45% from the field, but the blocked shot and rebounding numbers are nice, and especially since they came in only 25 minutes per game. If he was a junior, we'd be saying how, with about 40 pounds more muscle and an improved post-up game, he'd be a future first round talent. But he's not. So now, he's an undrafted 190 lb positionless big man who turns 24 next week.

- Rob Kurz: Kurz was mentioned in the Minnesota Timberwolves summer league roster round-up thing. He hasn't gotten any better since then. But, if you like to see enthused if largely unskilled play featuring some retro one handed jumpshots, then Kurz might be your man. Or Ryan Bowen.

- Marreese Speights: If any team doesn't need Marreese Speights, it's the team with Elton Brand on it. I'd love Marreese Speights on my team; even though he never passes and puts forth scant little defensive effort, Speights is an explosive and athletic finisher, who has soothing and sensual touch inside the paint (giggidy) and from mid range. He can't be bothered to rebound, despite having all the athletic requirements for the job, and that's a pity. But off the bench, he can be a highly valuable scoring big man. And Lord knows my team could use one of them. So, Philadelphia; if you want Kirk Hinrich, then find a deal that starts with Speights, and somehow work it into a three way deal that gets us a defensive minded big two guard. Then he's yours. But Willie Green is not getting it done, and neither is Samuel Dalembert. So don't even go there.

- Terrence Williams: How is Williams going to score in the NBA? He's not much of a shooter, he's never really had to play without the ball in his hands, he tends to get wild, his 43% FG last season was the highest of his four year career, and the highest FT% he ever shot was the 61% in his freshman year. That's as a forward. His passing vision and skills are nice, but he's not going to be a primary ballhandler in the NBA, and that nullifies them slightly. No, his best chance in the NBA will be as a defensive specialist and a disruptive influence, using his athleticism and energy to piss off the opposition all night and force some turnovers. It's something he could be very good at, too. And if he ever gets the complimentary jumpshot that still evades him, then he'll be reet.

But do you really take someone like that eleventh overall?

A brief question and answer session

Recently, the Philadelpha 76ers fired their President Billy King on multiple counts of general incompetence. It needed to happen years ago, but didn't. Still, better late than never.

However, I have a question (or three) on the subject, that needs answering.

QUESTION: Why did they let King handle the incredibly unsuccessful Allen Iverson trade and this whole past offseason of mismanagement before they decided to follow him? Why did they let him put the team in a position to rebuild, by dealing Iverson for assets and buying out Chris Webber, just to them allow him to screw that position by not tanking in the last draft, trading away one of the first rounders they received for no return in order to save money, and then spending that money on Calvin Booth and Reggie Evans? Did they really think going through a rebuilding phase with King leading the way - if only for a little bit - would ever be sensible?

ANSWER: ..........?

30 teams in 36 or so days: Philadelphia

Philadelphia 76ers


Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Jack diddly crap



Players acquired via draft:

First round: Thaddeus Young (12th overall), Jason Smith (20th overall, acquired in draft night trade)
Second round: Derrick Byars (42nd overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned), Herbert Hill (55th overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned)


Players retained:

Louis Williams (exercised team option), Shavlik Randolph (exercised player option)


Players departed:

Joe Smith (signed with Chicago), Alan Henderson (unsigned, might yet return)


Bobbins:

Trivia question: Which player did Billy King either sign or re-sign this offseason for way too many guaranteed years and guaranteed money, as is his yearly custom to do at least once?

Answer: No one.

This is extremely unusual behaviour from the man who in recent years has given out or taken on the contracts of Aaron McKie, Allen Iverson, Chris Webber, Samuel Dalembert, Dikembe Mutombo, Todd MacCulloch, Greg Buckner, Kevin Ollie, Derrick Coleman, Marc Jackson, Keith Van Horn, Eric Snow, Steven Hunter, Jamal Mashburn, Glenn Robinson, Brian Skinner, Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, George Lynch and Willie Green, amongst others. Years of piling on payroll and trying to manoeuvre his way out of previous bad personel decisions have left his team with a big tab to pick up, and not much to show for it. This, it would appear, has stymied King's spending habits, if only for a bit (next year, the Sixers payroll predicts to be about half of where it is now).

The offshoot from this, though, is that King has not improved his team in any capacity via trades or free agency. And this leaves him with all his eggs in one basket, having to address his team needs via the draft.

Historically, this is where King does his best work. Having not had much in the way of high draft picks during his tenure, on draft night King has acquired players such as Larry Hughes, Speedy Claxton Nazr Mohammed, Kyle Korver and John Salmons, as well as Green, MacCulloch, Dalembert and Iguodala, the majority of whom turned in great value for their draft spot. This season, armed with three first rounders as a result of the Iverson trade and also a second rounder, King figured to improve his roster notably in one hit.

Did it work? Did it bollocks.

In the 2006 draft, King made a draft day trade that wound up with him selecting Rodney Carney in the first round. It was a strange pick - a backup at best with playes in front of him, and with no standout skills to really speak of outside of his athleticism, Carney didn't add much to a roster which, at that time (and even now), needed a big infusion of talent. The pick was made just that little bit more pointless when King then selected another small forward - Bobby Jones - in the second round. He also signed free agent small forwards Steven Smith and Louis Amundson at various points in the season.

You could say he has a thing for small forwards with decent to debatable talent. And you'd be right - in this year's first round, he saw fit to draft another one, selecting the phantasmogoric Thaddeus Young with his first pick.

His second first round pick saw more of the strange duplication tactic going on. Already stuck with paying multiple years and a whole arseload of money to Dalembert and Hunter, King decided that he needed a third tall athletic shotblocker with mediocre offense, drafting Jason Smith out of Colorado State. Whether Young and Smith go on to become good picks isn't really the point - with a number of issues to address on his roster, King chooses to select another player who is predominantly a mere duplication of what he's already got in place.

How illogical.

King's other draft night moves involved swapping his third and final first rounder (subsequently used on Petteri Koponen) for a mid second rounder (subsequently used on Derrick Byars), with players such as Josh McRoberts, Glen Davis and Jermareo Davidson selected in between the two. And Philadelphia's own second rounder - number 38, used on Kyrylo Fesenko - was traded to Utah for their number 55 selection - Herbert Hill - and "future considerations".

Due to a roster spots crunch, it looks as though Byars and Hill will be coming to training camp to battle for only one spot, which isn't exactly an efficient return when you consider that we're talking about what began as the #30 and #38 picks in a deep draft. Oh and what's more, Byars is a small forward, and Hill is a centre. So more duplication there.

After trading Allen Iverson to Denver fairly early during last season, and following that up by buying out Chris Webber, Philadelphia went from being a 5-18 team at the time of the trade to ending with a 35-47 record. For you maths fans out there, that's a 30-29 record after the trade - above .500.

How they did this continues to baffle me. And why they did this is also dumbfounding. Perhaps it would have more fiscal - if somewhat irresponsible - to tank the blue blazes out of the remainder of the year, as was done by other teams, and try to win a top 3 lottery spot. They had the sufficiently shit team with which to achieve it, after all.

Still, in a sense, you have to admire them for trying to do the right thing, and play the right way. Yet, as one Philadelphia fan said to me towards the end of last season after I mentioned that I admired Philadelphia attempting to try and win games, "I want them to try as well! I just want them to fail."

It's a good point well made, and speaks to the questionable direction taken by management in recent times. When built to win, they lose. And when built to lose, they win. How bizarre.

In return for superstar Allen Iverson, Philadelphia received a half-year of Joe Smith, signed by Chicago in a particularly unspectacular bidding war (Joe didn't even get the full MLE for the two years that he signed. Gotta love GM's that lose out on important players because they overspent less deserving players and ran out of budget). They received Andre Miller, a nice player, and the later two first rounders, parlayed as described above into Jason Smith and Derrick Byars. And a bit of cap relief.

That's all. That's all they received back. For Allen Iverson. How......bizarre. And given the way that they didn't tank out the season, they wound up with Thaddeus Young over the Al Horford and Mike Conley types of this world. Or better, if they were lucky.

What a strange, strange year they had last season. And by "strange", I mean "bad". Here's to more of Kevin Ollie as a backup point guard.




Next season:

As mentioned above, Philadelphia played basically .500 ball for the final two thirds of last season. And I don't get it. The argument which states that it is the sum of the parts that equates to success rather than the value of the actual parts itself holds very true, and always has done. It certainly seems to have applied to the Sixers of last season, and to the neutral it was great fun to see an offense based largely around Kyle Korver succeed quite as it did.

But can it succeed again? If you're a Sixers fan, you have to hope so, because little help has come from outside.

The starting backcourt is talented, but the backups are weak. Kevin Ollie is awesome, but terrible. Louis Williams still hasn't shown an NBA calibre game. And while Willie Green can score, he's more inefficient than an American muscle car. This didn't get addressed this offseason, other than to add the swingman Byars alongside Carney as crossover artists at the 2/3 spots. Outside shooting comes in the form of Kyle Korver and Green, yet not much from everyone else (Iguodala has his days, but it's not a strength yet).

Front court scoring isn't particularly noteworthy, either. Shavlik Randolph will return, but Joe Smith departs, and no offense really replaces him. Jason Smith and Dalembert offer occasional yet inefficient offense at best, and Steven Hunter is bloody terrible.

They have the league's worst power forward rotation, worsened since Smith left for Chicago, and they also don't feature a particularly consistent or hardy centre spot.

There's a lot of flaws on the roster, is what I'm trying to say,

But then again, there was a lot of flaws on the roster last year, and they played mostly .500 ball. I don't know how they did it, but they did it, and circumstances have not changed much. They can do it again.

And besides, they're still in the Eastern Conference. So they still have a playoff chance.



EDIT - Ok, so after I wrote this, the Sixers decided to have a quick flurry of action. Having done toss all for over two whole months, they waited until the short window that it took me to write and post this to do the damn thang. Thanks for that, Billy. Show me up, why don't you.

The Sixers made three moves in this time. They signed Herbert Hill and Derrick Byars (albeit to unguaranteed deals), agreed to sign Calvin Booth, and traded Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones to Denver (apparently their favourite trading partner now) for Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez.

The trade opened up a roster spot, as Sanchez is unsigned (although only a fraction of Jones's salary was guaranteed anyway, but whatever), and helps alleviate some of the duplicaiton outlined above. Meanwhile, Reggie Evans may be perhaps the most one-trickish of all the one trick ponies out there in the league today, as well as being quite poor and overpaid. But he is, for what it's worth, the superior player to Steven Hunter. It's one extra year of salary, but hey, this is Philadelphia, who cares about that sort of thing?

But as for the Calvin Booth thing.....

.....they traded the number 30 pick for the number 42 pick under the guise of saving money, and then go and spend that money on Calvin Booth?

And Reggie Evans for that matter?

You're still the master, Billy King. You're still the fucking master.