Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 24

- Alex Garcia

Brazilian guard Garcia has toured the world over the years, including a couple of stints in the NBA. He is now back in his native Brazil, playing for Universo/BRB Brasilia, a team seemingly sponsored by a l33t speak manufacturer. Brazilian league statistics are hard to come by, but Garcia must be doing well, as he was an All Star this season. As far as I can tell from the NBB website, Garcia averages 18 layettes (presumed to be points) and 3.6 assistances (presumed to not be rebounds) per game. A layette would be a great name for a whore.



- Thomas Gardner

Gardner spent his third consecutive October in his NBA training camp when he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, but he was an early and quiet cut. He then moved to Belgium in January where he is playing for the Antwerp Giants. Gardner hasn't shot well in his first three Belgian league games, averaging 9.7 points on 35% shooting, but in 5 EuroChallenge games he is averaging a much healthier 14.2 points on 46% shooting.

I did not mention any other statistics of his because, true to form, there are very few of them. The guy is a shooting specialist.



- Pat Garrity

Garrity retired from basketball after the 2007-08 season. Now in retirement, Pat Garrity is pursuing a business MBA at Duke's Fuqua Business School. He also worked for Credit Suisse during the summer, a financial services company.



- Alonzo Gee

Gee went undrafted out of Alabama, and made his way to the Spurs summer league roster. From there he made his way to the Timberwolves training camp roster, and after being waived he was the 6th overall pick in the D-League draft by the Austin Toros. This cheers me up because in July, I wrote:

"The chances of him playing for the Austin Toros next season are about one jillion percent."

So that's nice.

On the season, Gee is averaging 20.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and one of the D-League's best players. He still does not have strong three point range - Gee is shooting 38% from down there, but on about 1.5 attempts per game - yet he's scoring well anyway. And he certainly has the size for the role. So another training camp placement seems inevitable.



- Mickael Gelabale

Gelabale was another training camper this year, although he wasn't supposed to be. He missed most of last season recovering from his March 2008 knee surgery, returning only for the last 6 games of the D-League season. He played fairly well there and went to the Mavericks summer league roster, but did not make the team, and instead went to Spain.

Once there, Gelabale found himself in a Johnny Kerr style bruhaha when he agreed to sign for Lucentum Alicante in Spain's ACB, only to find that the agreed salary had been changed without his knowledge when he turn up to sign the contract. He left without signing the deal and fired his agent. And then came the trip to the Lakers' training camp.

A few weeks later, Gelabale joined Cholet, the French team he started his professional career with. In 5 Eurocup games for Gelabale averaged 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds, alongside 9.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in the French league.



- Otis George

Former Louisville big man Otis George's career was highlighted by a training camp contract with the Knicks in 2005. Since then he's spent one year with the Tulsa 66ers in the D-League, and then three straight years in the Italian second division. Last year he averaged 12.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.5 fouls and 2.0 steals per game for Umana Reyer, taking an unusual 3 three pointers a game and making 35% of them. This season, however, he is is unsigned.



- Trey Gilder

Gilder signed with the Grizzlies in training camp to a $25,000 guaranteed contract, and stuck around for a couple of weeks before being waived. He appeared in two games, and as a result he is now tied for the league lead in true shooting percentage (1.000%, along with Ryan Bowen) and is fourth in PER (31.2; behind Paul Davis, Bowen and LeBron James, in that order). It's not much of a boast in a five minute sample size, but I'd totally claim it.

Back in the D-League, Gilder is averaging 14.3 layettes and 5.6 rebounds for the Maine Red Claws, numbers almost identical to last year's.



- C.J. Giles

(I will tread carefully here, because the Phillipine basketball fans are a proud bunch.)

Former Lakers camp invite Giles started this year as Smart Gilas' import player. Smart Gilas are a Philippines team that aren't like normal club teams; even though they play in the domestic Philippines league, they were founded to be the next Philippines national team. A selection of amateur and college standouts were chosen to form the basis for this new team, along with one import player, training religiously with a veteran Serbian coach (Rajko Toroman) in order to have created a competitive team in time for the 2012 Olympics. It's a unique plan, and the fact that Smart Gilas are competing in the Filipino PBA league makes it all rather strange, but the intent makes sense.

The initial import player - someone who would receive a Philippines passport as a part of the deal - was initially Jamal Sampson. He left in the summer, and Smart Gilas tabbed C.J. Giles as his replacement, perhaps on account of his surname. However, Giles was released by the team for disciplinary reasons, reasons which (allegedly) include an intense nightlife, unashamed marijuana consumption, an uncooperative attitude and a punch-up with his brother. Giles played in 2 PBA games with the team and totalled 27 minutes, 12 points, 8 rebounds and 6 fouls before his release.

Gilas has since moved to Lebanon, where he is averaging 16.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 26 minutes per game for Al Riyadi. In a previous entry I said that Matt Freije also played for Al Riyadi, but this is not strictly true; Freije is under contract to Al Riyadi but will only play in certain tournaments; specifically, the Hariri Tournament, the Aleppo Tournament, the Dubai Tournament, the Waba Championship and the Asian Club Championships. He will only play Lebanese league games once the playoffs start. No, I don't know why either.



- Eddie Gill

Eddie Gill was in the NBA last year, albeit briefly. He signed with the Nets for training camp and also later signed two ten day contracts with the Bucks, spending the rest of his year in the D-League. Gill is now in Belgium, which is quite the departure from that, and he's struggling a bit. His averages of 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game are all pretty good, but Gill is shooting only 32% from the floor in 11 games. He's getting to the foul line a lot (75 FGA to 49 FTA), and the 34% from three point range is OK, but shooting 30% from two point range isn't getting it done.



- Kendall Gill

Kendall Gill is an analyst for Comcast SportsNet's coverage of Bulls games. He hasn't boxed since November 2005 - professionally, at least - and given that he turns 42 in a couple of months I think we can rule out a playing return.



- Tony Gipson

Tony Gipson is a former LSU graduate that probably not even LSU fans will have heard of. He totalled (not averaged; totalled) 2 points and 2 rebounds in his senior season with the team, and then went to Holland. He has also played in Austria, Iran, the PBL and Poland (for three days). None of these are especially relevant places. So why is he here? Well, he averaged 13/4 down the stretch of the 2007-08 D-League season with the Dakota Wizards. And I jumped the gun a bit.

Gipson is currently unsigned and no longer tweets.



- Gordan Giricek

Giricek is signed in Turkey with Fenerbahce Ulker. He is averaging 8.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in the Euroleague, alongside 7.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in the Turkish league.

Fenerbahce are currently second in the Turkish league with a 16-3 record, just behind the 17-2 Efes Pilsen. However, Efes are imploding a bit, because their star signings haven't really worked out. Bostjan Nachbar has made some rumblings about being dissatisfied there, and star guard acquisition Igor Rakocevic and the coach hate each other. So Fenerbahce are very much in the hunt.

Giricek was originally drafted by the Mavericks in 1999, but was traded twice before he arrived in America. First, his rights were traded to San Antonio along with those of Chris Carrawell for the rights to Leon Smith (famous for trying to kill himself), and then three years later the Spurs traded them to the Grizzlies for a 2004 second rounder (which the Spurs used on Romain Sato, who never played a game in the NBA.) I think Jerry West's tenure in Memphis was a bit overrated, but this was a good under-the-radar move.

(By the way, the Memphis GM at the time of the trade that brought in Pau Gasol was Billy Knight, whose next job was in Atlanta where he was charged with the task of cleaning up the mess that Gasol trade had made. That must have been weird.)

(Does anyone else think Giricek's picture here is basically just Kendall Gill's picture with the colours inverted?)



Finally....

- James Gist

Spurs draft pick Gist is signed in Russia. Playing for Lokomotiv Kuban, Gist is averaging 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in the Russian Superleague.

We'll have a more famous teammate of his in the next post.

Summer league round-up: Portland Trail Blazers

View the Blazers summer league roster.

- Deji Akindele: By being in this list, Akindele shows himself to once again be on the fringes of the minds of NBA executives, somewhere where he's been for about 5 years now. Last year in Italy, Akindele averaged 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 blocks. He even hit a three. The offense gets slightly better every year. However, the age keeps creeping up too.

- Jerryd Bayless: Rumour has it that my Bulls are pursuing - if not insistent upon - Bayless' inclusion in any potential three way trade that also seems them acquire Carlos Boozer. Not entirely sure of why, to be honest. Isn't the team with Derrick Rose the last team that needs to be looking to acquire a player whose strength is slashing to the rim, but who has a weak jumpshot, can't defend off-guards who isn't really a pass first player? The two can't pair up, and there aren't going to be many minutes behind Rose. So I'm not sure I understand this insistence. (Portland fans will probably speculate that trying to trade for Bayless means the Bulls can now trade Rose, since Jerryd will be better. They're like that.)

- Dante Cunningham: Cunningham once tried out for the British national team, but hasn't been heard from since; presumably, he didn't get a passport in the end. I have no idea what his claim on one was anyway, since he was born in Maryland to American parents, but it's a shame if he's never going to join us. Pops Mensah-Bonsu needs a backup, after all. Cunningham developed a fine mid range jumpshot last season out of roughly nowhere, which is what turned him from an undrafted talent into a high 30's pick. It serves as a nice compliment to the rest of his game, which is solid if not spectacular. He'll probably make the team after Portland's pursuit of Paul Millsap went awry, but even if he does I can't imagine he'll play much next year.

- Uche Echefu: A thoroughly ordinary player who rebounds and defends fairly well, but whose offense is unspecific. I realise that this is a really dumb criticism to levy against a player, and thus I should explain; by "unspecific", I mean "I never quite figured out where he was best at. He'd sometimes play in the paint, sometimes from the midrange and sometimes shoot some threes, yet wasn't really good at any of the three." Make of that what you win. By the way, I only saw Florida State twice, so you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to.

- Matt Freije: Last season, Matt Freije played in the Lebanon for about two weeks, in China for about two months, and in Puerto Rico for two more. He averaged 20/8 in China, and 20/7 in Puerto Rico. Yet strangely it was the stop in the Lebanon that made the biggest impression, as last month Freije received a Lebanese passport and agreed to join their national team. ShamSports.com - news that matters.

- Thomas Gardner: Many of my fellow Bulls fans fell in love Thomas Gardner after a garbage time outing that saw him jack up outside shots relentlessly, shooting 6-16 overall for a sweltering 14 points. My fellow Bulls fans are an easily led bunch. And kind of stupid, too.

- Pooh Jeter: Jeter played 4 years at the University of Portland, and his hometown ties probably factor in his appearance here. Of course, the 16.3 points that he averaged in Spain last year will also help. Jeter is clearly beasting it up in Europe and will probably do so for quite some time. But he's also kind of small for a point guard, and once the NBA tars you with that brush (often correctly), you're never getting rid of it. So he should probably stay in Europe. It's not a bad continent, after all. As long as you stay out of France.

- Bobby Jones: In a 14 month period from September 2007 to October 2008, Bobby Jones moved 10 times between NBA franchises, including of them three times. Since then, though, he's not made one single stop. And he's not going to, either, having already agreed to sign with Banca Teramo in Italy for next season. Has his whistlestop tour stopped so soon? That would be a shame. Especially since Quentin Richardson's about to break his record.

- Joe Krabbenhoft: Krabbenhoft is ideally suited to the NCAA game. He doesn't score much, and is only about 6'7, but he's strong, physical, likes to elbow people in the face and punch them in the balls. He's a decent rebounder and good passer, but with little offensive talent, size concerns and mediocre athleticism. In the NCAA, you can start at centre for four years with that, and have yourself a lot of fun and playing time in doing so. But you need more than that for the NBA.

- Patrick Mills: Mills broke his foot in his first day with the team, after falling about 15 places too far down the draft. It's not been a good month for him. I'd like to say that he's going to make the Portland team, but Christ knows what their roster's going to look like come opening night. If Kevin Pritchard gets his way, it won't be anything like this one.

- Dwayne Mitchell: Mitchell signed with the L.A. Lakers last training camp, didn't make the team, went to the D-League, and was assigned to the Lakers' affiliate, the L.A. D-Fenders. There, he averaged 18.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists, shooting 51% from the field, and upping his assist/turnover ratio from 1:1.37 to 1.58:1. He still can't shoot, though, shooting only 23% from three point range and 68% from the line. The turnover numbers are better, so he's getting there. Unfortunately, he's 27 next month.

- David Moss: Moss is a former Indiana State player player who rebounds very well for a 6'5 and who has a solid all around game, but no other stand out characteristics. In the Lakers post, when I mentioned that David Monds had already signed elsewhere....he hadn't. I was thinking of David Moss instead, who has already landed a plush gig with last year's Serie A champions Montepaschi Siena. He signed for three years, too, which means he'll be nearly 29 before he's back on the market again. So that's probably the end of his NBA dream.

- Drew Neitzel: Neitzel is still trying to rework himself into a pass first guard, and it's going fairly well. But he also only averaged 5/3 in Germany last year. And that's.....pretty bad. Pretty damn bad.

- David Padgett: See this.

- Jeff Pendergraph: Pendergraph's going to make the team. Channing Frye, Shavlik Randolph and Michael Ruffin are not. That trio combined for 818 minutes last year. Those minutes look like they're Pendergraph's.

Summer signings, round 15

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where Are They Now? Part 14

Thomas Gardner is playing alongside Hiram Fuller for Mayaguez.

Marc Gasol is playing for Akasayu Girona in Spain.

Otis George is playing for Fastweb Casale Monferrato in Italy's lower leagues.

Eddie Gill has gone back to where he came from before his recent 10 day contratc with the Sonics - the Colorado 14ers/Balls of the D-League.

Kendall Gill is retired, and is now a studio analyst for Comcast's Bulls broadcasts.

Dion Glover was recently playing in Venezuela, but appears to have left.

Andreas Glyniadakis has left the D-League and returned to Greece to play for Marousi.

Anthony Goldwire is keepin' on truckin' at age 36, playing for Egaleo in Greece.

Joao Gomes, undrafted last year, is playing for Leche Rio Breogan Lugo in Spain's LEB-Gold devision. (Which isn't the top division.)

Jamon Gordon is playing for Antalya in Turkey.

Brian Grant is very retired.

Gerald Green remains unsigned after being waived by the Rockets, who inferred that they might look to re-sign him this summer. So he'll be back.

Send Antoine Walker to the All-Star Game

As Wordsworth once observed, "the child is the father of the man". I am now a man, but was once a child. However, while I am now a man, I am still a child inside. So maybe that sneaky bastard was onto something when he said this.

As a childish man, I play childish games. I have childish dreams, and childish tendencies. And one thing I've always wanted to childishly do is send a scrub to the All Star game.

I'd like to now make this a reality. In the NBA's overzealous attempts for parity, they tend to include some crap players on the ballot to give fans of all teams someone to vote for.

They've toned it down a bit from how it used to be, when the ballots were bigger. But still, some mediocre (or bad) players creep up onto the ballot every year. And we should capitalise on this.

Here's the players on it:

http://www.nba.com/news/ballot_071113.html

You can also submit write-in votes for players not on it.

The online voting doesn't exist yet, but when it does, each person is allowed to vote multiple times for whoever they want. This easily abusable system got Yao Ming voted in as a starter in 2002 when he didn't even nearly deserve it, because the whole of China voted for him.

It's the right time for that system to be abused again.

Antoine Walker would be best for this, because he is the worst player on the ballot by a mile. Currently nailed to Minnesota's bench, and never any good anyway, Walker is a stand out name on there. He's also fat, funny, and would believe in his own heart that he was there on merit, not as the result of a joke. He's also listed as a guard, which improves the probability of Tony Parker not making the team, And that's another positive side effect.

If we were to choose a real scrub like Thomas Gardner or somebody, we'd all have to submit write-in votes, and most people are too lazy for that. If it involves merely clicking, then we can make it happen. That's why a name that is on the ballot has to be chosen.

So what we need to do, when online voting comes around, is to vote for Walker many millions of times so that he is voted in as a starter. And I mean maaaaaaany times. As often as you can. Tell your friends, get them to do it.

This NEEDS TO HAPPEN.



If you want to go balls out and vote repeatedly for the Ridnour/Walker/Szczerbiak/Scola/Brad Miller Western lineup, please do.