Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 12
January 15th, 2009
– Michael Curry is now the Detroit Pistons head coach. You knew this already, but an obsessive-compulsive love of consistency made me say this anyway.
– JamesOn Curry signed with Pau Orthez in France, but left before the season started. I don’t know why, but he hasn’t signed anywhere since, so it’s probably injury related. That is entirely speculative, though.
– Stephen Curry is a draft prospect, who is single-handedly taking Davidson from being a decent to good school, and who has draft experts arguing as to whether he’s the next J.J. Redick or the next Ben Gordon. Curry currently averages 28.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.1 steals, yet I will say no more about him, so as to not guess.
– Erik Daniels is in the D-League, averaging 20.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the expansion Erie BayHawks. Daniels does this as a 6’8 small forward that has played the vast majority of his time this season at centre. That’s the D-League for you.
There now follows a lot of people called Davis.
– Paul Davis was in the NBA, but now he’s gone. He left his number to turn you on.
– Josh Davis was also in the NBA, but now he’s also gone. But unlike Paul Davis – who was waived by the Clippers earlier this month and who hasn’t signed anywhere else yet – Josh Davis went to the D-League to continue showcasing himself. As the second-best player on a decent team – now the best since James Mays blew out his knee – J-Dave averages 17.9 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Colorado 14ers, trying desperately to get back to the NBA and chase down Tony Massenburg’s record for the number of different teams played with. (Speaking of, what is Bobby Jones’s excuse for not signing with another six teams this year? Stick around and find it. In like four weeks.)
– Antonio Davis and Dale Davis are both out of basketball, have been for a while, and probably always will be, after Dale’s supposed fling with the Pistons last season didn’t get anywhere. Similarly, the other J-Dave – former Golden State Warriors training camp invitee Justin Davis – is out of basketball, and has been since a brief trial in Germany back in November 2006. Therefore, as was the case with Chris Crawford, I am hereby announcing that I won’t bring you Justin Davis news any more, since there isn’t any. (Readers note: Bizarrely, when I said that about Crawford, someone e-mailed me and told me that, somewhat out of spite, they were going to single-handedly track him down and get an update from him on his life. If someone wants to do the same with Justin Davis, then be my guest. You could form a merry band of freedom fighters, fighting for what’s right in the world; peace, saving the rainforests, the downfall of terrorism and Chris Crawford updates. I could be your leader. You can be like my droogs or something. Except we won’t be as annoying as the real droogs. Or as darkly violent.)
– Kyle Davis was never in the NBA, and I don’t want his number to turn me on. He signed in Cyprus after being waived from the D-League, but left after three games and is currently unsigned.
– Willie Deane was playing for Lithuanian legends Zalgiris, and was shooting 22% from the field in EuroLeague competition, but unfortunately, Zalgiris just went bankrupt. Deane therefore left the team, and is also currently unsigned.
– An article on the whereabouts of Andrew DeClercq was conveniently released only a few hours ago. Here’s the link.
– And finally, because we haven’t had a very good entry in this post up until now, here’s an update on someone that we’ve already covered.
Back in my original update on Kenny Adeleke, I mentioned how I didn’t really know anything about him. All I knew is that he was a slightly undersized centre and a fine rebounder, and that he once went to training camp with the Seattle Supersonics. That was all I knew. I had never seen him play, and didn’t even know that he was left-handed.
So I set out to right those wrongs. I set out to learn about Kenny Adeleke, to educate myself (and, by proxy, you) about the life and times of Kenny Adeleke. I did this the only way I know how – by adding him as a Facebook friend. Here’s what I got:
Kenny Adeleke (full name Andrew Kehinde Adeleke) is a left-handed power forward, who is currently unsigned after leaving Lukoil Akademik of Bulgaria in late December. Last season, he played in Turkey with Banvit Basketbol, where he was second in the Turkish league in rebounds per game (11.4 rpg), and first in the EuroCup (11.0), while also averaging over 14 points per game in both competitions. (Note – the Eurocup in 2007/08 was not the same thing as the EuroCup today. It’s confusing, but I’ll try to explain. European teams have their leagues in their own countries, and the good teams also play in Europe-wide competitions. The top tier league of this kind is called the EuroLeague. The second is now called the EuroCup, but used to be called the ULEB Cup. And the third tier competition is now called the EuroChallenge, but used to be called the Eurocup. Those tiers are not officially defined as such, since they are run by different competing entities, but functionally, that’s what they are. Adeleke played and starred in the third of these during his time in Turkey. Hope that clarifies it a bit.)
Adeleke would appear to be something of a legend in Turkey, as more than about 98% of his Facebook friends are Turkish. (The first page of his friends list, with 50 people on it, are all Turkish, which kind of proves my point. By the way, characterising a player’s popularity based on the demographics of their Facebook friends list is the future.) Adeleke played his college ball at Hofstra, where he averaged 20.7 ppg, 13.1 rpg, 1.0 spg and 1.7 bpg in his senior season, but went undrafted anyway, since apparently that wasn’t enough. In between his college career and his season in Turkey came a stop in Israel at Hapoel Galil Elyon, where Kenny averaged 15.8 ppg and an Israeli league-leading 9.3 rebounds a night, along with 10.8 ppg and 9.0 rpg in the Eurocup. (Note: Again, this Eurocup is the since-renamed third-tier competition, not the second-tier ULEB Cup that is now called the EuroCup. Do please keep up.) It would seem that everywhere he goes, he performs – even for Lukoil this season, Adeleke averaged 16.3 points and 12.7 rebounds in the Bulgarian league, and 13.2 points and 13.0 rebounds in the EuroCup. (And this time, by “the EuroCup”, I mean the second-tier one, the one that used to be called the ULEB Cup. Not the third-tier one that used to be the Eurocup and is now the EuroChallenge, the one that I meant in the previous two instances of the words “EuroCup”. The difference is discerned by whether the C is capitalised or not. Wow, I really hope these brackets are helping.)
Away from the game, Adeleke majored in psychology, and is a big fan of Eric Cartman, leather jackets and Baron Davis’s beard. As are we all.
If I ran an NBA team, Kenny Adeleke would get at least a tryout. That kind of rebounding rate got Reggie Evans a five-year contract, so it could at least get Kenny Adeleke another training camp signing. Who knows, he might stick.
