"There are two ways to argue with a woman, and neither of them work." - Carlos Boozer's reasoning for cancelling an interview because his wife wanted him to go home.

Where Are They Now, 2011: Bookkeeping The Retired Guys
April 19th, 2011

A lot of “where are they now” posts on other websites tend to deal mainly in answering a different question altogether; namely, “what did these players used to do?” Since it is assumed that that is known by anyone seeking to ask the original question – else it wouldn’t have been asked – such matters are not dealt with on this website. Instead, we deal with the question that was actually asked; where are these players now? Tariq Abdul-Wahad – Abdul Wahad part-owns France’s first black TV channel, Telesud. Shareef Abdur-Rahim – Reef was an assistant coach with the Kings for two seasons, before being moved up to assistant general manager this season. By proxy, if not by choice, he has a role in the Kings’s uncertain future. Cory Alexander – Last time we checked in on Alexander, he was working as an announcer for Virginia games. He still is, but not entirely by design. That link is to a very lengthy breakdown of Alexander’s post-retirement life; long story short, he’s lost all his money, and he’s suing Bank of America for it back. Courtney Alexander – Alexander and his wife run a not for profit youth development program. This article alludes to a possible comeback attempt. Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer – Last time we checked in on Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson, the pair were returning to Kentucky to complete their degrees. Anderson has also commissioned a documentary about the 1996 National Championship winning Wilcatds, dubbed The Untouchables. Kenny Anderson – Since the last update, Kenny Anderson has graduated with a degree in organisational leadership, and works as a personal trainer. Shandon Anderson – Shanderson owns a salon, a spa and a vegetarian restaurant, runs fashion shows, and wears skirts. Brandon Armstrong – Cannot be traced. Darrell Armstrong […]

Posted by at 6:30 PM

An Unnecessarily Exhaustive Guide To The EuroCup Final Four
April 15th, 2011

The NBA playoffs are basically upon us, and if you don’t pick a Bulls/Spurs finals, you’re a brave man. However, the onset of these playoffs is far from the only thing happening in basketball right now. After all, this is the crescendo of many league’s seasons, not just the NBA’s. This is particularly true in the cases of the intercontinental European leagues; the EuroLeague, which has already been covered, and the EuroCup, which is about to be. Continuing a series of posts that take fleeting glances at every worthwhile current player in the world today – the loose theme of which is ‘Why spend all that time watching it all just to never write about any of it?’ – there follows a look at the compelling protagonists of the final four teams in this EuroCup season. Teams list in no order other than alphabetical. Benetton Treviso After a thoroughly disappointing season last year, including being knocked out of the EuroLeague in only the qualifying round and being unable to make it out of the EuroCup top 16, Treviso jettisoned most of their roster. The biggest addition came in the form of Devin Smith, who joined from Greek side Panellinios. Smith is both the team’s leading scorer and its best defender, averaging 16.1 points in 28 minutes per game in EuroCup play, alongside 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 0.6 blocks. Smith started out life at a post player, has slowly worked his way outwards, and is now a pretty reliable ball handler and three point shooter as well. He probably takes too many threes now, and he’s certainly not explosive, but his offensive and defensive versatility make him the best player on the Benetton team. Alongside him in the frontcourt is well documented veteran Brian Skinner, who was signed a replacement […]

Posted by at 12:01 AM

Rockets sign Marqus Blakely to a multi-year contract
April 12th, 2011

The Houston Rockets exited the trade deadline with a full roster, but the subsequent buyout of Jared Jeffries opened up the 15th spot. Houston initially used this flexibility to sign multi-time Rocket Mike Harris to a 10 day contract, and later opted to offer him a second one when the first one expired last week. However, they will not sign him for the remainder of the season. Instead, with the spot opening up upon the expiration of Harris’s contract yesterday, the Rockets have used it to call up Marqus Blakely from the Iowa Energy of the D-League. Blakely, a combo forward from Vermont, began the season with the L.A. Clippers, with whom he had also played in summer league. He appeared in two preseason games with the team, and upon being waived, he went to the D-league, assigned to the Bakersfield Jam. Once there, Blakely averaged 13.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.6 blocks, before being traded by the Jam in late January to the Iowa Energy in exchange for a 2011 first-round pick. With the Energy, Blakely has averaged 17.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, shooting 70% from the floor. His 15 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks in 28 minutes led the Energy to victory in their first playoff game last week, a 103-96 win over the Utah Flash. Blakely’s contract with the Rockets will run for the remainder of the season and through 2013, as does the contract of Marcus Cousin, signed by the Rockets yesterday. Additionally, as was not the case with Cousin, Blakely has not been assigned to Houston’s self-owned D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Yet.

Posted by at 3:18 PM

An Unnecessarily Exhaustive Guide To The NBA Prospects Of The Unsigned NBA Draft Picks
April 2nd, 2011

If your team drafts a player, and yet never signs him, the chances are that they’ll still own his draft rights. The presence of those draft rights means that that player can sign only with the right-holding NBA team, and not with any others. Such draft rights can also be traded, either to a recipient team who values the player and thus gives something of value for them, or as arbitrary filler obliging the NBA’s rule that all partners in a trade must trade something outbound, however menial. In theory, there exists multiple uses for these draft rights. In practice, however, they are often of no use whatsoever. They exist as technicalities, relevant only on a whimsical level, interesting only to the insanely boring. Luckily, I am such a person. Atlanta Alain Digbeu (50th pick, 1997) – Digbeu was drafted late in the second round in 1997 after spending his career to date in his home land of France, specifically with ASVEL Villeurbanne. The 6’4 shooting guard played there for two more years, then embarked on a tour of Spain and Italy (including stops with big teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid), before returning to France a decade later to play for IG Strasbourg. Digbeu was once very athletic, but that has gone now, and he is now largely just a three point shooter and/or heady veteran. Digbeu is still playing for Strasbourg, averaging 6.5 points in 22.2 minutes per game, yet he just turned 35; his NBA candle obviously burned out a long time ago. Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 0% Cenk Akyol (59th pick, 2005) – Akyol was drafted by the Hawks aged only 18, on the off-chance that he would flourish into an elite European big point guard in the mould […]

Posted by at 9:45 PM