Herbert Hill

Randolph Morris - Morris just completed a guaranteed two year contract with the Hawks, and now has four years of NBA experience to his name. Also to his names are totals of 438 minutes, 140 points, 104 rebounds and 100 fouls. Nonetheless, he showed a little something last year. Morris only ever received garbage time minutes, but in them, he at least showed the ability to score the ball. 62 points in a season is not something to be ecstatic about from a fourth year player, yet Morris demonstrated the offensive talent that got him this far, and it might just help him land somewhere else for next year. Now, he needs to stop fouling.

(If you need proof that Morris made significant strides last year, look no further than his year-on-year PER; 1.5, 4.3, 1.8, 14.6. Quite the crescendo. Even better, Morris only played 4.4 minutes per game, so per 36 minutes that equates to a PER of 118.7. And that's quite high.)

- Ex-Sixers draft pick Herbert Hill is familiar to Korean basketball, having played there last season for the Daegu Orions. He was one of the league's best players, ranking fourth in scoring (19.1ppg), second in blocks (9.5rpg) and second in blocks (2.2bpg). Hill never played in the NBA after being drafted out of Providence; he spent a year on the Sixers inactive list, recovering from a torn meniscus. He then got arrested for DUI just after that season ended, and missed the majority of the following season still recovering from the surgery. The numbers above therefore comprise his first real professional season, and it went pretty well.

- Herbert Hill

Providence big man Herbert Hill's professional career has barely gotten going due to knee injuries. He was drafted by the Sixers and stayed with the team all season, but never played in a game for them due to knee surgery, and the rehab from that overlapped into last year. Hill initially tried out for Le Mans in August 2008 but was not sufficiently recovered, and did not return to action until February, when he played the last 15 games of the D-League season with the Bakersfield Jam and Tulsa 66ers. Now healthy again, Hill has spent all of this season in South Korea with the Daegu Orions, a team whose name I keep misreading as the Daegu Onions. (Chuck Swirsky would love them.) Hill is averaging 19.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 32.2 minutes per game.

Hill's American team mate on the Onions is a former Louisiana-Lafayette swingman called Anthony Johnson, which is quickly becoming the most popular name in basketball. Not only is there that Anthony Johnson, but there's also THE Anthony Johnson (the one with no neck that currently doesn't play for the Magic), as well as Montana guard Anthony Johnson who scored 42 points in the Big Sky Conference Championship Game. That last Anthony Johnson scored 42 of his team's 66 total points, 34 in the second half, and his team's last 14. He was able to create off the dribble at will, using all kinds of craft and penache, and his jumpshot looked sweeter than a flambéed cantaloupe. I don't know what the future holds for unathletic 6'3 scoring guards, no matter how good their jumpshot. But I do know that that performance will be remembered for a while.