Mario West

It transpires that Lafayette was waived to accommodate former Hawks guard, Mario West. West has had a lot of tryouts with teams this summer, including the Celtics and the Spurs, because teams love his athleticism and his defensive hustle. But in 3 years, Mario also showed that he can barely make a shot. In fact, in three years, 156 games and 681 minutes with Atlanta, West made precisely 47 shots. He totalled 132 points, 131 rebounds and 122 fouls. He's in there for defensive purposes, often in one possession situations, and he isn't bad at that. But can any team afford to carry a player on their roster with such limited usage? Atlanta thought they could, but Boston surely can't.

Mario West - West has played parts of the last three seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. He has been used solely as a defensive specialist, which explains the absence of any offensive numbers; in 156 career games, West has averages of 4.4 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 0.8 fouls per game. If you need a last-play-before-the-end-of-the-quarter defensive specialist, then West is your man. But I don't think anyone ever really needs that.

Players who tried out for places in the CBA this season but who failed to win spots included Will Conroy, Frank Robinson, Courtney Sims, Lorenzen Wright, Mario West, Melvin Ely and Jamal Sampson. It's perhaps odd that these players would lose out to the Reggie Okosa and Brandon Crump types of this world, but all the more power to Reggie Okosa and Brandon Crump. You've landed yourself a plush gig.