"Nobody thought I'd be a great coach. I'm the kind of guy you'd expect to be driving an 18-wheeler through town." - Rick Majerus

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 39
April 7th, 2010

– Nick Lewis D-League stalwart Lewis finally left there this summer after nearly three years, and moved to France to play for Roanne. He has averaged 8.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 17 minutes per game in the EuroChallenge, and 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds in 15 minutes per game in the French league. Considering that scoring rate, maybe he should play more.   – Quincy Lewis Former Minnesota Gopher and Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Quincy Lewis is retired. He was playing as recently as last year, playing in the EuroCup with Bilbao, and while he averaged only 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, it was at a good standard of basketball and on a deep team. Nevertheless, Lewis retired aged only 32, and became a volunteer assistant coach at DeLaSalle High School. He also majored in Sports Management back in 2007, and is now the CEO of 20/20 Sports Management.   – Ron Lewis Lewis is playing his second season with Nymburk, a Czech Republic team. No one signs in the Czech Republic unless they have good reason, and Lewis does; Nymburk were in the EuroCup, and made it as far as the quarter finals before losing to Bilbao. Lewis averaged 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in that campaign, alongside 12.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in the Czech Republic league. It was my very great pleasure to watch Lewis in several of Nymburk’s EuroCup games, yet it was a greater pleasure to watch Phillip Ricci, Michael Lenzley and Petr Benda. One has no neck, one is British, and one has a surname that is also a perjorative term. Something for everyone there.   – Sergei Lishouk Former Grizzlies draft pick Lishouk, whose rights are now owned by the Rockets, is playing in Spain with Valencia. After spending […]

Posted by at 2:33 PM

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 40
April 7th, 2010

– Erazem Lorbek Domen’s brother is with Barcelona, whose basketball team are almost as much of a juggernaut as their football team. But let’s not talk about their football team. Lorbek is averaging 10.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in the ACB, alongside 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds for the inevitable EuroLeague champions. He could play in the NBA, but he won’t.   – Derrick Low Former Washington State guard Derrick Low moved to Lithuania this year to play for a salary less than that of your average telephone engineer. He did this because the team he is playing for – Siauliai – were a EuroCup team, so it was a good opportunity to get some exposure. Low has had to play full-time point guard for much of the year, as opposed to all the off-ball time he has had in his career thus far, and he’s doing a decent job of masquerading as such. Low averaged 18.5 points and 3.8 assists in Siauliai’s EuroCup campaign, averages a further 14.7 points and 4.4 assists in the Baltic league, and averages 12.8 points and 5.3 assists in the Lithuanian league. The Lithuanian assists tie for third in the league. He’s also had all that hair cut off. Probably best.   – John Lucas III John Lucas’s son John Lucas went to China this year. He started out with a fight, but then quickly started owning. His team, Shanghai, are currently 1-1 against Smush Parker’s Guangdong in the CBA Semi Finals. Lucas had 56 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists in the series so far.   – Tyronn Lue Tyronn Lue did not play this season, after splitting last year between the Bucks and the Magic. He then retired somewhat unexpectedly aged only 32 to become an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. […]

Posted by at 10:10 AM

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 38
April 2nd, 2010

– Maciej Lampe Lampe started the year in Israeli with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but the version of Maccabi that he had signed with in the summer did not last very long. It didn’t take long before he was allowed to leave, at which point he moved to Russia to play for UNICS Kazan. In the Russian league he is averaging 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds; in the VTB United league he is averaging 14.5 and 6.0 rebounds; in the EuroCup he averaged 16.9 points and 9.5 rebounds. The idea that Lampe was a combo 3/4 was never right in the first place, but it’s definitely not right now – he’s emerged as a good if inconsistent post player with occasional three-point range. He’s not Dirk, and he was never going to be Dirk. But he does have NBA talent, even if he didn’t exactly shine in the EuroLeague this year.   – Sean Lampley Lampley spent last year in Qatar, an extension of the Langhi tour that not even Dan himself has yet managed. He played for two teams there, and then auditioned at the KBL Pre-Draft camp back in July. However, he has not played professionally anywhere this season. Lampley was reported to be about to sign with his former Australian team Melbourne Tigers back in November, but never did. Lampley recently lost his all-time Cal school scoring record to Jerome Randle. No shame in that, because Jerome Randle is pretty awesome. Won’t be drafted, but there aren’t many guys who can win any game single-handedly like he can.   – James Lang Lang never lived up to his draft spot. Drafted in the second round seven years ago, Lang has spent his time since then in America, bouncing between the D-League and occasional NBA stints. He played briefly in […]

Posted by at 2:33 PM

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 37
April 1st, 2010

– Petteri Koponen Blazers draft pick Koponen is still only 21 years old, but is already playing his second season with Canadian Solar Bologna in Italy’s Serie A (known as La Fortezza Bologna until about two months ago). Last year he was something of a bit-part player in Serie A play, but this year he’s one of their best, ranking second on the team in minutes per game (26.8) and points (11.7). Koponen is shooting 44% from three-point range and is also third on the team in assists with 1.7 apg, a team where the team leader (Andre Collins) has only 2.6 in over 29 minutes per game. Good old Italy.   – Yaroslav Korolev After two years of not playing in the NBA, Korolev went back to his native Russia, where he spent two years not playing in the Superleague. This year, to mix it up, he decided to get some playing time. Korolev entered the D-League draft pool and was picked with the last selection in the fourth round by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. He played 20 games for the Thunderbirds and averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds, but was traded in January to the Reno Bighorns for Marcus Hubbard. And in 23 games for the Bighorns, Korolev’s numbers have declined down to 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Better than Danny Granger yet? Not quite. No matter how much hindsight you give it, the selections of players such as Korolev, Skita and Darko look no less ridiculous. In fact, they’re more ridiculous than ever – athletic young big guys with amazingly little to show on their CV and no defined skillsets picked in the NBA draft lottery, far above multiple established, more talented and simply better players. It was a very strange period for the game, that […]

Posted by at 4:30 PM

Antoine Walker released by Puerto Rican team
April 1st, 2010

It’s been well-documented of late, but here it is again. Former NBA player Antoine Walker is broke. He earned (so to speak) $110 million over his career, and yet he spent it all. Now, only 15 months removed from his last stint on an NBA roster, Walker is in serious financial straits, facing legal troubles for both unpaid gambling debts and for failure to maintain properties that he owns in Chicago. His agent sued him for unpaid fees – and won – and the NBA pay checks stopped coming last year. Whatever Antoine had, he spent, and he spent it on things with no redeemable value. Clothes, cars, drink, food, blackjack hands and dishonest associates. None of that means anything to a creditor. It’s all gone. Antoine is broke. It’s also been well-documented of late that Walker had gone to Puerto Rico to start playing ball again. Playing in Puerto Rico is far from an abnormal thing for good basketball players to do; for many years now, fringe and former NBA talents have played there over the summer for some extra money. The Puerto Rican league takes place when most others don’t, and it’s in large part because of this that it holds the attraction for such talented players. It is a pretty high standard level of basketball, too; players to have there this year include former NBA talents Lee Nailon, DerMarr Johnson, Courtney Sims, Damon Jones, Robert Traylor, and all this lot. Puerto Rico is a regular stop for fringe NBA players grinding out their careers around the world, players who often play in the far East and central Americas in a rotation now known as the Dan Langhi Tour. It’s a common occurrence and, all told, a decent gig. But Antoine wasn’t a fringe NBA player. He was […]

Posted by at 12:02 PM