January 10, 2011

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.

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January 5, 2011

Damien Wilkins - Wilkins was picked up midseason by the Hawks when Joe Johnson got injured, but he too was released because of the contract guarantee date. He didn't manage much in his 13 games with the team, putting up a PER of 9.7 and not exactly being an ideal fit for the team already with the fairly similar Maurice Evans. Wilkins can contribute on both ends of the floor, but he turns 31 next week and offers no one particular speciality.

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October 1, 2010

Wilkins is perhaps the best player of the bunch, a decent NBA player as recently as last year. Playing for the Timberwolves - the team who initially signed him to that 5 year contract back in the McHale era - Wilkins averaged 5.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20 minutes per game, playing on a bad team insistent upon a lot of triangle offense with a load of players who didn't know how to run it. Nothing about those numbers is stand-outy, nor does Wilkins shine in any facet of the game when given the eye test. But he's solid. Wilkins does absolutely nothing attractively, not being a great athlete, not being a great ball handler, not being a good shooter, and prone to mistakes. But he's good at most things, is versatile both defensively and offensively, and does just enough. (He even scored 40 points once. A bit of a fluke, yet fun nonetheless.) He's never advanced beyond being an ordinary NBA player, and he never will do, but that's enough. There will be about 70 players in the NBA next year that are worse than that. There always are.

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August 21, 2010

- Damien Wilkins * - Wilkins worked out with the Cavaliers, but they signed Joey Graham instead.

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July 30, 2010

Damien Wilkins - Wilkins didn't score well last season, shooting only 43%, .295% from three point range, and averaging only 5.6 points in 20 minutes per game. Then again, he never scores well. Apart from that night he scored 41.

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