Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 14
March 7th, 2009
– Vlade Divac is currently trying to become President of the Serbian Olympic Committee. Never thought I’d say that about anybody, but there it is.
– Nigel Dixon was in China to start the season, but left in the new year. Dixon averaged 26.3 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, with 69% FG and 44% FT percentages, before being replaced by Jelani McCoy. By the way, speaking of Nigel, the eagle eyed and really regular viewers of this site may have noticed a few weeks ago that every player’s name had been changed to “Nigel” when viewing either the rosters or player index pages. This wasn’t a childish joke, but merely an error that I forgot to fix. I’ll explain; hile trying to make some changes to the dull technical bits (specifically, we were creating the ability for players to appear on two rosters at once), we noticed that the changes that we had made didn’t take. Unsure of why this was, we reasoned that maybe the host company had a setup, whereby any user’s changes to certain Javascript files were not parsed until the following day. So, to test this, we changed the setup again, making it so that all player’s first names would be changed to Nigel if it worked instantly. If it didn’t work instantly , then we’d know that our original theory (about changes not taking until the next daily server rest) was correct. It didn’t work instantly, and so our theory was correct. But then my stupid arse forgot to delete the Nigel version, and so everyone was Nigel for a day. So there you go. ShamSports.com – run by an amateur, and assisted by a friend of a similar mental age.
– Michael Doleac was not re-signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer, clearly satisfied that they had enough crap big men. Doleac has not signed elsewhere, or created news of any kind that I can find.
– The other MD, Marcus Douthit, is into his second season with Altalya Belediye in Turkey. (There’s a third word in their name, but I can’t spell it.) Averaging 13.2ppg, 6.5rpg and 1.2apg last season, Douthit has regressed slightly as a scorer this season, averaging 11.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in Turkish league play, on percentages of 44% and 62%. You can guess which way around those percentages go, but here’s a clue – they’re not the same way around as Nigel Dixon’s are above.
– Former Virginia Tech guard Zabian Dowdell is in the Italian second division, playing for Fastweb Casale Monferrato, and averaging 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. Good numbers, but remember they’re from the second division.
– Dion Dowell started the season in Belgium, averaging 9.2 points and 3.0 rebounds for current league leaders Dexia Mons-Heinault. However, Dowell left earlier this month, probably due to his limited playing time, and Dexia’s Midnight Runners replaced him with former San Antonio Spur draftee Bryan Bracey. Dowell then signed in Israel for Altshuler Saham Galil Gilboa, for whom he has totalled 17 points and 11 rebounds in two games. I don’t know if Dowell is a German passport holder (he was born there, and lived there for 7 years), but, if he isn’t, he should be. It would greatly enhance his fledgling European career.
– Tadija Dragicevic is playing for Crvena Zvezda in Serbia, averaging 9.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in Adriatic League play. As expected, he didn’t sign with the Jazz this summer, because he’s not ready. But apparently no one told Rotowire.
– Christian Drejer signed a three year contract with Lottomatica Roma last year, which lasted only 6 games. His recurring left foot problem recurred, and, after an extended absence and more operations, Drejer decided he had to retire. This quote comes to your courtesy of Google Translate, from this page:
I’ve really tried to get my feet in order, but it has never really succeeded, so even though it is sad to have to stop, it has not been a difficult decision. I simply can not play,” explains the 25-year-old Christian Drejer.
So, Nets fans, your dreams of the enigmatic point forward are now officially over. Or they should be.
– Roberto Duenas has also retired (really), and is now pursuing his dream of being a professional underwear model. (Not really.)
– Predrag Drobnjak is playing for Efes Pilsen, where he has averaged all of 2.3 points and 1 rebound in EuroLeague play. Speaking of Drobnjak, here’s a thing. Once upon a time, about 10 to 15 years ago, my dad’s car was broken, and so we had to hire a taxi to get me to football practice. As I was practicing, my dad and the cab driver hung around for the duration, chatting away, because there wasn’t really enough time for my dad to go home and come back. My dad said that the taxi driver man seemed nice. However, 9 days later, his face (the driver’s, not my dad’s) appeared on the front page of the local newspaper after he was arrested for kiddie fiddling. And that man looked a bit like Peja Drobnjak. Therefore, in a way, I was nearly bumraped by Peja Drobnjak. That’s all I have to say about that.
– Finally, Josh Duncan is signed with Pau Orthez. Pau may be one of the few French teams that you’ve ever heard of, but this year, they’re in last place with a 2-12 record, including an 0-7 start. Duncan isn’t really helping – he played in only 5 games, averaging 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds, before getting injured in early November. (I seem to remember that he blew his knee out, but can’t find proof. Apply within.) They also lost every game that he played in. So it’s not gone well.
