Lance Allred

Weber State graduate Allred played briefly with the Cavaliers down the stretch of the 2007/08 season, his only NBA experience thus far. Cleveland called him up on account of the 16.2 points and 10.0 rebounds he had averaged during the season for the Idaho Stampede; in the ten minutes of NBA playing time he received, Allred put up a negative PER (admittedly a far from reprehensible act in only 10 minutes). Allred has spent most of the last four seasons with the Stampede, and has not had much luck on the occasions that he's chosen to leave. Last year, for example, Allred signed with Italian team Napoli, only for this to happen. He stayed in Italy to play four games with Scavolini Pesaro, averaging 5.3 points and 4.0 rebounds, before returning to the Stampede again and averaging 13/9. Allred, perhaps most famous for being legally deaf (although not fully deaf), signed this summer for Ukrainian team Khimik, but left there to try to make this team instead. Now aged 29, this might be his last NBA chance.

[...] Schenscher recently played in the Foot Locker High Stakes Hoops tournament, which rank from April 6th to the 11th. Eight teams are playing in a summer time tournament with $250,000 (Australian) in prize money; it runs independently of the NBL league season, features some funky rules (such as bonus points for winning individual quarters), and one particularly funky rule involving 4 point shots. This was the tournament's inaugural season; others who took part in it included Lance Allred, Sean Lampley, Corey Williams, Julius Hodge, and the eventual champions were the simply named "Rays," who had on their roster former St Mary's big man Ben Allen.

- Lance Allred

Allred, a D-League veteran, turned down the D-League this year to try and get some money. He initially signed with Napoli in Italy, but got out of there just in time. (More on their downfall later.) Allred then signed with Scavolini Pesaro for two months, another SerieA team, but in 4 games he totalled only 42 minutes, 21 points (on 22 shots), 16 rebounds, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 0 assists and 9 fouls, shooting 46% from the field and 20% from the foul line. He last played on November 1st, and left in late November when his 60 day contract expired.

I still haven't bought his book, but you still should. He's writing another one, although this time it's a work of historical fiction. There's also apparently a book of poems on the way.