Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 50

- D.J. Strawberry is with Fortitudo Bologna, the same team as GMAC Bologna, but not the same team as La Fortezza Bologna. Can't stress that enough. Strawberry averages 14.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in Eurocup play, alongside 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Italian league. Strawberry is a combined 16 of 76 from the three point line, confirming once again that his major weakness is still a weakness.

- Brad Stricker has been on and off the Dakota Wizards roster all year, averaging 11 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 fouls per game. His playing time wasn't exactly consistent; his last ten games with the Wizards saw him play 5, 4, 3, 5, 2, 2, 8, 30, and 8 minutes respectively. Stricker eventually asked the Wizards for an unconditional release, as he wanted to play for a team closer to his home due to some family issue. He was granted it, and now plays for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, where he averages 17.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 3.6 fouls, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.

- Erick Strickland now works for the Mavericks in a capacity that I'm too confused to understand. Here's Erick himself with an explanation. Did you know that Erick Strickland's real first name is Demerick? Me neither. Fun fact.

- Rod Strickland is the director of basketball operations for the University of Memphis, while also taking classes there to finish his degree. Ever since his hire in 2006, Memphis have gone on to be slightly brilliant. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. But, since Strickland's role entails things like organising travel plans, checking on student's academic scores, and scheduling visits for recruits, it probably is.

- Curtis Sumpter averages 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds for Chorale de Roanne Basket, the third best team in France and the subject of a slightly seminal 1978 song by The Police.

- Bruno Sundov this week left Cibona Zagreb (in Zagreb) to join Vive Menorca (in Menorca). He also started the season with ASK Riga in Latvia. Sundov has not yet played for Menorca (who also feature Frederic Weis, so that's going to be a hell of a frontcourt), and he totalled only 16 points, 5 rebounds and 8 fouls in his 30 total minutes for Cibona in the Adriatic league (36 minutes, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 fouls in the Euroleague). However, for Riga, Sundov's numbers shot up to 18.8 points and 8.8 rebounds in the Eurocup, along with 14.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in the Baltic league. Somehow, though, the 7'3 Sundov has managed to block only 8 shots all season, in a combined 33 games and 621 minutes.

- Allegedly, Bob Sura's girlfriend stabbed him with some keys when she found him at a restaurant with another woman. These allegations and many more can be found here. Read with caution.

- Mike Sweetney is missing. Not just missing in that I can't find out anything about him, and not "inform the police" kind of missing. Just sort of missing. After never losing the necessary weight, even when the guaranteed money ran out, Sweetney's contract expired with the Bulls and he became a free agent in the summer of 2007. He has not been heard from since, and has not played anywhere, not even in summer league. Sam Smith mentioned in a column at some point last season that not even the players association could find him any more. Not even Facebook can help us on this one. I hope he's all right. If you know anything about Mike's whereabouts and well-being, let me know.

- Szymon Szewczyk - another one of those turn-of-the-century "let's draft a Euro! You never know!" second rounders, this one by the Milwaukee Bucks - is still in Russia with Lokomotiv Rostok. He's doing rather well at a decent standard of basketball, averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in the EuroChallenge, as well as 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in the Russian Superleague. However, he's also now 26 years old, and was picked with the 35th pick, so it's still been one hell of a reach. (Still, it could have been worse. Players picked after Zoochick that year included Nedzad Sinanovic, Paccelis Morlende, Slavko Vranes, Ramon Van Der Hare and Xue Yuyang. You know about the lack of achievements by some of them already, and as we get further through this list, you can see just how little the others have done too. Should be fun!)

- Yuta Tabuse scratched around in the D-League for a few years, trying to find a route back to the NBA. He barely got off of the bench, though, and this season returned to his native Japan, where he speculated that a season of beastly numbers would get the job done. (His hefty paycheck this year won't hurt, either.) However, he hasn't exactly been as brilliant as he might have hoped for - for Link Tochigi Brex, Tabuse averages 34.1 minutes, 11.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game, shooting 23% from three point range. Still, the assists and steals totals lead the JBL, so he's still one of the better players amongst weak competition.

- Finally, Chris Taft's career progression has been minimal. Taft played only 17 games in his underwhelming rookie season of 2005/06 with the Warriors, before suffering prolonged chronic back injuries, and was waived that offseason with a year still guaranteed on his contract. He then didn't sign anywhere until early 2008, when he played 8 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds. True to form, Taft is currently unsigned, but he has recently been approached by Philippines National Team Director Rajko Toroman about whether he would be interested in ecoming a naturalized Filippino citizen, with any deal contingent on the health of his back. Clearly, it's still not quite right.

Of this list, only D.J. Strawberry played in the NBA last season. We're scraping the barrel for you here today.

Summer signings, round 23

- Previously, I had theorised immaturely that Mario Kasun had left Barcelona after a fight with Andre Barrett. This is because I'm not funny. The actual reason, though, was because Kasun had agreed a deal with Efes Pilsen in Turkey, and therefore he and Barcelona terminated the remainder of his contract by mutual consent. ShamSports.com - the home of childish banter that you could definitely do without.

- Horace Jenkins or Alex Scales might sign with Crvena Zvezda in the Adriatic League. It's a tempter, isn't it? Do you want the 30 year old NBA rookie or the man with the 9 second career? Tough choice. Either way, both are able to write "NBA" on their resumé, which guarantees them work for life. Hopefully, one day, I can do the same.

- Daniel Ewing is going to Poland, for a team named Asseco Prokom. You might not have heard of Prokom, despite their chart topping single "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" from a few decades ago, but you might have heard of some of Ewing's new team mates. Ronnie Burrell, Koko Archibong and David Logan? Anybody? Ch'yeah, you've heard. You don't forget names like Koko Archibong and David Logan in a hurry, let me tell you.

- Yuta Tabuse has decided to enhance his NBA dream by leaving America. After three years of barely playing in the D-League, Tabuse has gone home to Japan, to play for a team by the wonderful name of Tochigi Brex. Tabuse will be the highest paid player in Japan, and his contract contains an NBA escape clause, for he believes this move to be an important step in his long-awaited return to the NBA.

This decision might surprise some people, but there is one thing I can say for certain: I have not changed my mind on taking on the challenge of playing in the NBA,"

Yeah. Good luck with that.


- Universitet Surgut signed both Lionel Chalmers and Akin Akingbala, thereby earning themselves some coverage on this, the NBA's most scrub focused website whose URL begins with an S. So here's some Universitet Surgut information, because they earned it:

1 - They're a Russian team.
2 - Kyle Davis used to play for them.
3 - They sucked last year.

That's all I've got.


- Miami signed Jamaal Magloire, apparently blissfully unaware of how staggeringly crap Jamaal was last season.

- Cleveland signed Lorenzen Wright, also apparently blissfully unaware of how staggeringly crap Lorenzen was last season. Speaking of, I've been known to defend former Hawks General Manager Billy Knight in the past, but let's remind ourselves of something - in the summer of 2006, Knight was armed with maximum cap room. He needed a centre and a point guard. He signed Lorenzen Wright and Speedy Claxton. He signed them for a combined six years and $31.14 million. Since then, the two players have combined to play 142 out of a possible 328 games, with combined totals of 394 points on 461 shots, along with 361 fouls. Wright has long since left the team, after one and a half shocking seasons of play led to him being mere salary filler in the Mike Bibby trade. Claxton's been even less helpful, playing a dire first half of his first season, then missing the next year and a half due to injury. In the unlikely event that he returns this year, he'll be fourth on the Hawks depth chart, all while earning over $11 million guaranteed over the next two seasons.

Defend that if you can. Hint - you can't.

- Cleveland also lost a player, sort of, after reserve guard Billy Thomas agreed to sign with a Greek team named Kavala/Panorama. However, the Cavaliers haven't actually waived Thomas at any point, and he remains under contract to them for next year, albeit an unguaranteed minimum salary. This remains true even though the Panoramic news broke a few days before I write you this post. It's unlikely that Cleveland would stiff Kavala over this and refuse to cut him, given that it's only Billy bloody Thomas and that they clearly gave him permission to get other offers, but it would be funny if they did. Let's make it happen.

- Herbert Hill signed with Le Mans a hundred million years ago, but his contract has since been terminated, because Hill still hasn't recovered from the knee surgery that caused him to miss all of last year. A knee injury that prevents him from playing basketball, clearly. But not one that prevents him from driving. Hill was replaced in Le Mans by J.P. Batista, the forward Gonzaga forward once told by Dwayne Bruce that he wasn't cut out for professional wrestling.

- James Thomas has been loaned from Upim Bologna to Erdemir in Turkey. For those American fans unaware of the concept of loaning a player, it's exactly what it sounds like.

- And finally, some amateurism. Somehow, somewhere, I had some news on Trey Johnson. He was going to sign somewhere, and I forgot to write down where it was. So that was clever of me. However, it may work out for the best anyway, because since this booboo occurred, it's been reported that Johnson will go to training camp with the Phoenix Suns, alongside former Heat guard Robert Hite and some tall white guy.

I think I got away with that one.

Summer League Time, When The Weather Is Fine.

Yeehaw!



I looooove summer league. Looooooooove it. (Note: the extra O's mean that I really looooooooooove it.) It's great. It's like training camp, only better. There's more players that you've never heard of, and more players that yu have heard of but had completely forgotten about. The best type of player, that one. Good times.

This year's summer league roster are lovingly listed on this website, and, if you're anything like me (and hopefully you aren't), you'll read them every morning. Some rosters are yet to be announced, which means there's even more hardcore excitement to come. Hooray!


Highlights this year include:

- Romeo Travis playing on Cleveland's summer league team for the second straight year, still longing to hook up with former Akron high school teammate LeBron James, but this year joined by another Akron starlet, their mutual friend Dru Joyce, as Cleveland continues to surround LeBron with the talent needed to get them over the top.

- Josh Davis adding two new teams to the ever-glorious "NBA Teams That Josh Davis Has Spent Time With In A Non Sexual Way" list, by playing for both Portland and Indiana's summer league teams.

- The surprise return of the utterly skint Robert Traylor, and the slightly less auspicious but far more welcome return of journeyman centre John Thomas, whose name still gets to me.

- The discovery that there's a player called Longar Longar.

- ShamSports.com favourite Olumide Oyedeji playing on the Milwaukee Bucks team, alongside Roderick Riley, an awesome blast from the past who is also the heaviest player in any summer league by about 45 pounds, and who also is playing alongside someone else called Roderick for probably the first time in his life.

- Yuta Tabuse's comeback trail beginning anew.

- Koko Archibong. Koko Archibong!

- Knicks guard Antione Johnson single handedly raising the bar in the Antawn Jamison/Antywane Robinson "Who Can Spell Antoine In The Most Fucked-Up Way Possible" tribute game, and

- Indiana signing MC Hammer.


Good times. These are the things that I care about. Here's to training camp.