The best of what’s left
July 30th, 2010
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| Shaq and LeBron in a twat-off |
The international basketball market is incredibly dry right now, and there’s a lot more produce than buyers. The whole nation of Greece is broke, and Spanish clubs are running into financial barriers they’re not normally known for. Even Italian teams, including four time defending champion Montepaschi Siena, are facing budget cuts.
In the NBA, most of the big stuff has been done. Of the 280 or so rotation spots in the league, most have …
A History Of Failed Physicals
July 26th, 2010
The following post will features as many Head puns as I can think of, with varying degrees of subtlety.
Earlier this month, free agent Indiana Pacers guard Luther Head came to terms with the New Orleans Hornets on a two year contract. A mere couple of days after this news was reported came the news that Head’s job offer was gone; he had failed his physical examination with the team, and that the signing had been called off. Head is …
2010 KBL Draft Results
July 24th, 2010
The South Korean basketball league (KBL) is an interesting one. Much like the Chinese Basketball Association, it is interesting for three main reasons;
1) It’s full of import players that you’ve heard of,
2) The domestic players’ talent level is pretty bad,
3) The import players’ talent level is pretty good.
This leads to huge statistics from players that you’ve heard of. And that can never be bad.
The KBL employs a draft process for its import players that …
Ex-NBA player Charles Shackleford arrested for selling prescription medication
July 23rd, 2010
Per a million places, but arbitrarily taken from ENCToday.com, former NBA big man Charles Shackleford has been arrested in an undercover drug operation that saw him trying to sell 150 pills to the rozzers.
Charles Shackleford is in trouble with the law for the second time in six months.
Shackleford, a former Kinston High School, NCSU and NBA basketball player, was arrested by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday after he allegedly sold 150 prescription pills to an
…
Lorenzen Wright has gone missing
July 23rd, 2010
Per this story from George Brown of WREG.com, former NBA big man Lorenzen Wright has gone missing.
The family of Lorenzen Wright says he’s been missing since Sunday.
Wright’s sister, Savia Archie, says her family is very concerned.
Archie said, Wright was last seen on sunday when he was expected to fly out of Memphis, but no one has heard from him since.
The family has filed a missing persons with the Collierville police department.
2010 Summer League Rosters: Detroit Pistons
July 18th, 2010
Patrick Christopher
Christopher is a streak shooter out of Cal who doesn’t do a whole lot else. If he’s hot, he can score 30; if he’s not, he can go 3-15. Regardless of whether he’s making them, he takes them, which could be interpreted as a good or a bad thing. He’s athletic and strong, but he doesn’t do much with them other than take jump shots. Had he done so, he might have gotten drafted.
Austin Daye
In spite …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Cleveland Cavaliers
July 17th, 2010
Jerome Dyson
There was a time when averaging 20/5/5 at UConn meant a guarantee to be drafted. Not so for Dyson. For all the scoring numbers, Dyson is far from a complete scorer; for all the assist numbers, Dyson is far from a point guard. And at 6’3, he’ll struggle to be a shooting guard as well.
Much of his production comes from the fast break, where he is unbelievably good. He can snake his way to the basket with …
2010 Summer League Rosters: New York Knicks
July 15th, 2010
Eric Boateng
Boateng is an English centre who played one year at Duke, before transferring to Arizona State, where he just completed his senior season. He barely played at all in his first four seasons, but finally got a chance to play last year, and responded with averages of 8.8ppg and 7.2rpg on 66% shooting. However, even though he turns 25 in November, Boateng is still an incredibly raw player. He turned it over 2.1 times per game in only …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Washington Wizards
July 14th, 2010
Trevor Booker
My early proclamations that Booker might be the next Paul Millsap were a bit premature, and overlooked the fact that Booker is about half the rebounder that Millsap is. Jumped the gun a bit there, I did. However, I remain confident in Booker’s abilities to contribute at the NBA level, despite his lack of size for the position. Boozer is athletic enough and has improved his face-up game, both the drive and the shot. He’ll have to be …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Houston Rockets
July 14th, 2010
Blake Ahearn
Ahearn is the shooter from Missouri State who has played a few games for the Miami Heat. He’s a rather unique little sausage; an extremely brilliant shooter from the foul line and from three point range, and who can masquerade as a point guard reasonably well, but who is unathletic and doesn’t contribute much elsewhere. The most notable part of all that is the efficiency; Ahearn always shoots over 40% from three and over 90% from the line, …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Minnesota Timberwolves
July 14th, 2010
Mo Charlo
Charlo is a small forward formerly from Nevada who turns 27 next week. He is an athlete and defensive specialist, who has spent much of his professional career in the D-League. Last year, playing for the Reno Bighorns on account of his local ties, Charlo averaged 9.7ppg, 5.2rpg and 2.7apg. There were also a couple of near triple doubles in there, with statlines of 12/15/9 and 19/12/8, before a slow finish to the season dragged down his numbers. …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Atlanta Hawks
July 13th, 2010
Alade Aminu
Aminu was covered in the Bobcats summer league round-up thing of last week. In 4 games for Charlotte, Aminu averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. Additionally, Aminu has signed a contract to play for Chalon in France next season. So whatever chances he had of making the Hawks roster now look shot.
James Augustine
Augustine was previously covered on the Jazz summer league roster recap. Playing for Utah in the Orlando summer pro league, Augustine averaged 6.2 …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Milwaukee Bucks
July 13th, 2010
Antoine Agudio
Of all the undersized jump shooters in the D-League, Agudio might be the best. The cheerful looking one is the all-time scoring leader in the history of Hofstra, beating out former Bulls guard Norman Richardson when he averaged 22.7ppg in his senior season. Agudio is a 6’3 pure shooter, who last year for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds averaged 15.1ppg, 2.5rpg and 2.8apg with 44% three point shooting. He’s strong, able to also create off the dribble, and tries hard …
2010 Summer League Rosters: San Antonio Spurs
July 13th, 2010
DeJuan Blair
I really don’t think DeJuan Blair needs to be here. Summer league is designed for players who need to prove something; those barely on a roster, those looking to make it onto one, draft picks trying to prove their worth, and also-rans looking to use the opportunity for good European gigs. But the only thing DeJuan Blair has to prove is the long term health of his knees. And unnecessary playing time is not the answer for that.…
2010 Summer League Rosters: Denver Nuggets
July 13th, 2010
Antonio Anderson
Anderson was previously covered in the Bobcats summer league roster round-up of last week. As it happens, however, Anderson played only 89 seconds for the Lolcats, recording nothing but a trillion. Per 48 minutes, that’s still a trillion.
Romel Beck
Beck is a 6’8 Mexican shooting guard out of UNLV with a whole load of scoring talent. However, in his life he has only ever had one NBA contract; a training camp contract with the Rockets last year …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Chicago Bulls
July 12th, 2010
Rather than repeating myself unnecessarily, I shall instead just link to to my breakdown of the Chicago Bulls’ 2010 Summer League Roster, written at ChicagoNow.com, where I front the premier Bulls blog, Bulls Confidental.
Breakdown of the Chicago Bulls’ 2010 Summer League Roster
The typo of Morris Almond’s name is a particular highlight.
2010 Summer League Rosters: Portland Trail Blazers
July 12th, 2010
These things tend to tangent. Stick with it.
Luke Babbitt
I’m still not sure of why Portland has been trying to acquire small forwards so proactively. The Luol Deng rumour won’t die, even if you want it to, and the team just signed Wesley Matthews to a full MLE contract. They also traded for Babbitt’s draft rights and signed him straight away, despite already having Nicolas Batum on the roster. Batum is really good and already has a capable …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Phoenix Suns
July 12th, 2010
Earl Clark
Clark’s rookie year was not great, due in no small part to a lack of opportunities. He averaged only 2.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game, shooting 37% with an 8.5 PER, and not always playing the quality defence for which he (should) be known. The departure of Amar’e Stoudemire should in theory have gotten him more playing time; however, the acquisitions of Hakim Warrick, Josh Childress and Hedo Turkoglu, plus the retention of Grant Hill…
2010 Summer League Rosters: Los Angeles Lakers
July 11th, 2010
Derrick Caracter
Caracter stayed out of trouble in his time at UTEP, and began developing into the player that he could always have been. He’s lost weight, shaved his stupid hair cut, and doesn’t have to worry about academic problems any more. Now, barring any petulance relapse, Caracter gets to just be a player. He’s becoming a decent one, too.
Devin Ebanks
Given time, Ebanks will be able to do a decent if slightly lesser impression of Trevor Ariza during …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Toronto Raptors
July 11th, 2010
Solomon Alabi
If you read my draft recap, you’ll know how I feel about the Alabi pick. I’m pretty much all for it, and believe he has a chance to be a good contributor in the NBA. At #50, I think he was a steal. Even with hepatitis.
If you haven’t read my draft recap, go do so. But you might want to book a day off work in advance. It’s a bit long.
Bobby Brown
Brown just completed …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Golden State Warriors
July 11th, 2010
Will Blalock
Blalock’s recovery from a life-threatening stroke continues, as he gets back to nearer his NBA-calibre best. He started last year with the Maine Red Claws, and was traded after 25 games to the Reno Bighorns, for whom he averaged 11.8 points and 7.4 assists per game. Blalock has battled weight problems since his stroke, but he lost weight during the D-League season and improved as the campaign went along. Blalock turns 27 in February and will probably never …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Dallas Mavericks
July 10th, 2010
Roddy Buckets
The final year of Jason Terry’s contract is only partially guaranteed. Only $5 million of $10,658,000 is guaranteed; the rest becomes guaranteed dependent on how many minutes Terry plays. Terry’s contract will become guaranteed if he plays in more than 60 games and more than 1,500 minutes next year; if he doesn’t, and he’s waived before next July 15th, then whoever owns him could get a break of a few million dollars.
I’m telling you this because Boobwar …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Orlando Magic
July 10th, 2010
This post is a bit late, considering the Magic have played their games. However, the site’s outages just before free agency started set us back a bit, and then obviously free agency itself kind of blew the cock off the whole thing. Sorry about that.
Since I’d already started it, we’ll do it anyway.
Jeff Adrien
It’s hard for a 6’7 power forward to make it in the NBA. You have to be pretty exceptional at something to do it. …
Changes In 2010/11 Salaries Due To Performance Incentives
July 10th, 2010
The worst part about maintaining the internet’s premier NBA salary information resource is that the information is never static. It is ever-changing. Due to things such as conditional guarantees, trade kickers and the like, rarely do contracts ever stay the same. This is particularly true because of the science of performance incentives.
Performance incentives can be included in contracts for almost any reason, including (but not limited to) All-Star selections, championship, or team wins. The only rules are that any …
2010 Summer League Rosters: Charlotte Bobcats
July 8th, 2010
Alexis Ajinca
After giving up a pick with very lax protection to get him – in the end, it became the one used on Luke Babbitt – Charlotte have spent two years not playing Ajinca. Jinx played 182 minutes only on his rookie season, and topped that in his sophomore season with only 30 minutes played all year. He spent a lot of the year on assignment in the D-League, averaging 14.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, 3.0 turnovers and …
