Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 45
March 4th, 2009
– Jamal Sampson started the year in China (woop!), but unfortunately his averages were rather normal. Sampson averaged 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds for the DongGuan New Century Leopards, before being replaced in early February by Cory Underwood, the team clearly realising that if Olumide Oyedije can average 20/20, then Sampson should at least average 35/26. But he didn’t.
– Ricky Sanchez, whose rights are owned by Philadelphia, is embroiled in a bit of a soap opera. Sanchez played last season in his native Puerto Rico for Grises de Humacao, but hasn’t played in the few months since that season ended. Currently, there’s an argument going on within Puerto Rico as to who he can and can’t play for. At some point in time, Sanchez was traded to the awesomely named Ponce Lions, but the Puerto Rican season is about to start, and Sanchez refuses to play for Ponce. The reason given by his agent is that Sanchez plans to attend “some” NBA camps this season (something clearly he considers to be possible), and he doesn’t want to be tied into a contract with a BSN (Puerto Rican league) team should an NBA offer come his way. Someone should tell him that it won’t, and ease the crisis. The dispute rages on, as FIBA have banned Sanchez from playing in the Venezuelan league. Apparently you need a formal letter of transfer to leave the Puerto Rican league, even if you’re a free agent. Harsh. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
– Melvin Sanders is playing for Gran Canaria in Spain. He averaged 14.3 points per game in eight EuroCup games, and averages 10.2 points per game in 19 Spanish league games. He also has 24 total assists in those 27 games. Sanders recently picked up a Georgian passport, via means I have absolutely no explanation for. This means that the Georgians, should they so choose, could feature a backcourt of Melvin Sanders, Shammond Williams and Tyrone Ellis. Some classic Georgian names there.
– Patrick Sanders is in the D-League, averaging 14.7 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Iowa Energy.
– If you remember Adam Parada’s entry on this list – in which I listed a long list of listed places where Parada had previously played, and in amongst this list of random places was the Sacramento Kings – then you’ll notice how this following entry is going to be much the same. Eric Sandrin is (maybe) a current members of the Singapore Slingers, a Singapore-based team who were formerly competing in the Australian NBL. However, they dropped out, and decided to tour Asia instead. In additional to this, Sandrin was recently drafted by the Samsung Thunders in the [South] Korean basketball league’s “Ethnic Players Draft”, which is their wording and not mine.
n 2007/08, Sandrin had played in Korea for Mobis Phoebus, which sounds like a believable baddie in a Power Rangers episode. Sandrin had previously split the 2006/07 season between Poland and Portugal, and split the 2005/06 season between the CBA and the ABA. The 2004/05 season saw him play in the ABA, then in Brazil, then for the Harlem Globetrotters, and before that he had played in Brazil, Austria, Luxembourg, and the NCAA Division II. And somewhere in amongst all that, Sandrin did enough to win a 2005 training camp invite with the Kings.
– Viktor Sanikidze is another Georgian, but unlike Melvin Sanders, Sanikidze can claim to have actually been born there. Sanikidze is playing for TU/Rock in Estonia, and averaged 8.5/4 in two EuroCup games, 4.6/3.8 in 5 EuroChallenge games, and 8.1/6.8 in the Baltic league.
– Daniel Santiago is with Barcelona, and averages 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in Spanish league play, alongside 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in the EuroLeague. David Thorpe is a fan.
– Romain Sato is into his third season with Montepaschi Siena, the team that is absolutely running away with the Italian league. Sato averages 10.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague, along with 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in the Italian league. Sadly, his website, www.starinanylanguage.com, no longer seems to exist. But you can find some archived versions of it here. It’s basically just him talking.
– Alex Scales started the season with BC Kyiv, averaging 12.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in the Ukrainian league, before leaving the team after they dumped all their foreign players due to bankruptcy. Scales has since joined GMAC Bologna, but for reasons I’m not sure of, he has to wait until March 8th until he can debut. Fun Alex Scales fact: Alex Scales has appeared in one NBA regular season game, when he totalled 9 seconds of court time for the San Antonio Spurs at the end of a first half of a game in November 2005, defending an inbounds play. For this, I will always be a fan.
– The Don, Luke Schenscher, averaged 16.9 points and 10.8 rebounds this past season for the Adelaide 36ers, and won player of the month for January/February. He has grown his hair out long, thus enhancing his likeness to Janae Timmins from Neighbours, but he’s also grown a beard that prevents the similarity from being faultless. That would be bad. I don’t want to be attracted to Luke Schenscher.
– Finally, you will probably already know of the common factor in Sofoklis Schortsanitis’s career; he gets out of shape and gets suspended, undermining his fine scoring talents. I haven’t yet seem him play this year – although I do have an Olympiacos game in amongst 25 or so NCAA games that are queued up on my Sky Plus – but he still plays very few minutes, so I’m guessing he’s still out of shape. Sofo averages 7.9 minutes, 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague, as well as 9.6 minutes, 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in the Greek league. He has 43 total rebounds and 47 total fouls. So you can see how the evidence is stacking up against him. However, despite this cycle seeming like it’s gone forever, Sofoklis is still only 23, giving Clippers fans something to cling onto.
