Ben Uzoh

Ben Uzoh - It is two years since Uzoh fell out of the NBA, and he has spent all of the interim in the D-League. This season he is averaging 13.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists for the Tulsa 66ers, but the same holes in his game remain. Uzoh is a big athletic guard with decent defense and transition, but he doesn't do enough with the ball, and he is not very effective without it.

Ben Uzoh — Unconventional point guard with size, athleticism, defense and aggression, currently averaging a points and rebounds near-double double in the D-League. As long as you don’t need a spot-up shooter, Uzoh has something to offer.

In some additional related bookkeeping, the reason for many of the players listed in the previous list was due to the NBA's contract guarantee date. All players on NBA rosters on or after January 10th have their contracts guaranteed for the remainder of the season (future seasons are unaffected); this also includes waivers. In-season waivers are 48 hours long and do not include weekends; therefore, with the 10th of January being a Monday, players had to be waived by close of business on Wednesday 5th in order to have cleared waivers before the deadline date.

Eleven players with not fully guaranteed contracts were waived in the hours before that deadline: Steve Novak, Damien Wilkins, Jarron Collins, John Lucas III, Ime Udoka, Lester Hudson, Ronald Dupree, Brian Skinner, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Sundiata Gaines and Rodney Carney. Twenty seven unguaranteed players survived; Delonte West, Von Wafer, Brian Scalabrine, Samardo Samuels, Manny Harris, Alonzo Gee, Brian Cardinal, Melvin Ely, Gary Forbes, Jeremy Lin, Ish Smith, A.J. Price, Ike Diogu, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Ben Uzoh, Didier Ilunga-Mbenga, Shawne Williams, Malik Allen, Garret Siler, Patty Mills, Sean Marks, Darnell Jackson, Chris Quinn, Sonny Weems, Jeremy Evans, Cartier Martin and Hamady Ndiaye. Players with contracts who had already become guaranteed due to specific guarantee stipulations in their contracts were Sherron Collins, Derrick Brown, Josh McRoberts, Willie Warren, Derrick Caracter, Luther Head and Joey Dorsey.

Straight after the draft, on the first possible day, the Nets signed Tulsa guard Ben Uzoh and Duke centre Brian Zoubek. Uzoh has $35,000 of his $473,604 contract guaranteed, and Zoubek has $50,000 guaranteed. [Eddie Gill] will battle Uzoh for the third point guard spot, a role which became necessary after Courtney Lee was traded to Houston. However, Uzoh - who was broken down here, along with Zoobs - should have the inside track on the spot, because of his skills, his upside, and his guaranteed compensation.

Ben Uzoh

It was entirely possible that Uzoh would get drafted. After all, we are a mere 12 months removed from when Patrick Beverley was drafted, and he was picked in a draft stacked with small guards. Uzoh resembles Beverley defensively, good size for a point guard with a huge wingspan and fine athleticism, and can harass opposing point guards when he tries to. It's also perhaps unfair to overly penalise the guy for being a mediocre playmaker, since it's not exactly easy to set up shots for starting forwards Bishop Wheatley and Joe Richard when the two just can't score. When it came to feeding the post for Jerome Jordan - which was about half of Tulsa's offense - Uzoh was pretty good at it. And when it came to creating for himself - which was about the other half - he wasn't bad at that either.

Unfortunately, like Beverley, Uzi is still not much of a ballhandler or a shooter. But Beverley scored a gig with Olympiakos this year as a defensive role player. Uzoh could get something similar down the road. Or, if he gets something even better then that, he is a logical Keyon Dooling replacement. Time will tell.

[...] EDIT - Uzoh and Zoubek have both signed official contracts with the team. Good signings, and both may stick.