Melvin Ely

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.

Believe it or not, Melvin Ely is now 32. He did not play in the NBA last year, signing with the Kings for camp but failing to make the team, and then never played anywhere else either. Ely's reputation as an interior scorer persists, even though his numbers tell a less flattering story; for his career, Ely is shooting .457%, with a total rebounding percentage of only 11.7% and average D. He never advanced beyond being an OK NBA player, and with his age being what it is, he's not about to change that. It's be quite the feat to even get back to that.

Melvin Ely - The days of Melvin Ely being thought to have promise are genuinely over. The now-32 year old did not play in the NBA last season, and may never play in it again. Apart from one good season - conveniently, a contract season - Ely has been (not had) a substantial bust in his NBA career, shooting only .457% and having a career total rebounding percentage of only 11.7% (which is only just better than Luol Deng's career mark of 10.8%.) Ely can block the occasional shot, but so can many players. And most of them can grab rebounds and score better than that.

Mays started brilliantly, as you can see, but then left for undisclosed reasons and is currently unsigned. Bozeman has already been covered, and so in the interests of time, I won't do it again. Also covered was Melvin Ely; he's not listed above, for he has not played a game for the Ducks, yet he almost did, and he may have done kind of maybe once sort of.

- Melvin Ely

Ely joined the Kings for training camp, but did not make the team. Despite a shortage of size, the Kings felt that the rarely active Sean May, Kenny Thomas' expiring contract and the 5'11 Jon Brockman would suffice as backup big man options, and felt they didn't need Ely. Ely then went to China for some tryouts, at least one of which was with the Beijing Ducks. Ely may even have played a game with the team, and if he did, he totalled 14 points and 9 rebounds. It's almost impossible to tell, however, because Chinese information (in English) is almost impossible to come across, and running Chinese websites through Google Translate tends to translate the player names as well, which isn't helping anybody.

What we know for sure is this; Beijing started the year with Cedric Bozeman and James Mays as imports. Bozeman is still there and beasting, but Mays has left after posting roughly 30/11 for a couple of months. Mays was replaced by former Heat big man Ernest Brown, but an anonymous import played in a game a couple of weeks before Mays' departure. Was that man Ernest Brown, or was that man Melvin Ely, since Melvin was on trial there at the time? I do not know. And that's all the Melvin Ely news I have for you.

Melvin Ely fact: Melvin Ely has more rings than Karl Malone.