Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 14
January 24th, 2010
This one might be shorter than the last one. One final note on Keon Clark: despite what I said earlier about Clark’s mandatory weekly court appearances being “almost universally described as good”, Clark failed a drug test as recently as late November. So maybe it’s not all coming up Milhouse after all. – Victor Claver Windpipe is still with Valencia, his hometown team and the team he’s been with since he was 15. He’s averaging 11.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the EuroCup, alongside 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in the ACB. Good numbers all, and good defense, with only one drawback; Claver is shooting a combined 26 of 87 from three-point range between the two competitions, which is 29.8%. – Mateen Cleaves After spending last year in the D-League, Mateen Cleaves is currently unsigned. This would appear to be by choice, as his Twitter reveals a new career direction. Cleaves has teamed up with some guy named Jon Connor (not the one of Terminator fame) to launch Varsity Records, a record label that appears to have one client (Connor) and one manager (Cleaves). This would appear to be a full-time venture for Cleaves now, so he is perhaps done with basketball at the age of 32. I’m speculating about that, of course, but only because of Cleaves’s apparent dedication to this new endeavour. Is Jon Connor any good? You be the judge. Hard to tell, really. That’s just noise on that video. But the crowd seem to be enjoying it. Here’s an article about them both. – Keith Closs For the 2007-08 season, a 31-year-old Closs joined the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League, and spent the entire year there. It represented the best job security that Closs had had since […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 13
January 16th, 2009
– Carlos Delfino is still with Khimki in Russia, despite the rumours of a return to the Raptors ramping up a bit after Toronto dumped Hassan Adams off to the Clippers a fortnight ago. However, while these rumours may not be unfounded, they sure are illogical. Let me tell you why the Raptors dumped Hassan Adams – they dumped Hassan Adams because Brian Colangelo gave Adams a guaranteed contract in July, before Adams showed up out of shape and unable to consistently do the one thing that he’s best at – running around off the ball. Additionally, Hassan Adams is not an NBA rotation player even when in shape, which in hindsight was another reason not to give him that guaranteed contract. However, because Colangelo did, he brought the team so close to the tax threshold ($1,107 beneath it, to be exact) that the team could only carry 13 players in order to stay under it. When their big man injury situation got so bad that they had to sign somebody (Jake Voskuhl), the Raptors had to shift a contract in order to get underneath the threshold again. Adams was the logical choice – he was the final man on the bench, filled no team needs, had an appropriately sized yet easily moveable contract, and should never have been on the team in the first place. So the Raptors gave the Clippers some money as an incentive for taking on Hassan’s dead weight cap number. THAT’S why the Raptors moved Hassan Adams. It wasn’t a precursor to some move for Carlos Delfino. Let me ask you something – when you’re so staunchly obliged to stay under the luxury tax that you can’t even sign Jake Voskuhl without having to make corresponding roster moves to free up the money, while carrying […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 11
January 14th, 2009
– I have no idea where Keon Clark is, specifically. – Milone Clark averages 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. I openly admit to knowing basically nothing about Milone Clark, but, as a player who has never put up good numbers at any stage of his career (he even only scored 15 ppg in the Ecuadorian league) yet who somehow landed a training camp spot with the Knicks in 2006……well, perhaps Milone Clark is a very good defensive guard. – Mateen Cleaves is also in the D-League, where he averages 13.2 points and 8.2 assists for the Bakersfield Jam. (Also note – the jump shot is still broken.) The 8.2 assists is good for second in the league, behind only Walker Russell, who is way out in front with 11.1 apg. But only six players in the entire D-League average over 7 apg, which is somewhat remarkable in a league with an unsubtle emphasis on pushing the ball and stat-padding. Then again, maybe they’re all too busy shooting. – Keith Closs spent last year in the D-League with the Tulsa 66ers, where he admitted to his alcoholism and posted a season featuring nearly as many blocks per game (2.8) as rebounds (4.7), yet this season he left the D-League to go to China. Signing with the Yunnan Honghe Running Bulls, Closs averaged 14.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.5 blocks in the Chinese league, which frequently boasts amusingly lopsided statistics (speaking of, if and when we get to the letter W, have a look at Bonzi Wells’s scoring average), but left the team for reasons unbeknownst to me. Closs then had a trial with another Chinese team, the Liaoning Panpan Hunters, but left earlier this month and is currently unsigned. Somewhere in amongst all […]
30 teams in as many days as it takes: Dallas Mavericks
October 24th, 2007
Players acquired via free agency or trade: Brandon Bass (two year minimum) Trenton Hassell (acquired from Minnesota) Eddie Jones (two year, full BAE) Players acquired via draft: First round: None Second round: Nick Fazekas (34th overall), Reyshawn Terry (44th overall, unsigned), Reinaldas Seibutis (50th overall, unsigned) Players retained: Jerry Stackhouse (re-signed, three years, $22,376,250, I think) Devean George (opted out, re-signed, one year, $2,369,111) Devin Harris (signed a five year extension) DeSagana Diop (exercised team option) Players departed: Greg Buckner (traded to Minnesota) Austin Croshere (signed with Golden State) Kevin Willis (unsigned) Pops Mensah-Bonsu (waived, signed in Italy) Bobbins: The Mavericks have one of the worst young cores in the NBA. With only Devin Harris, Juan Jose Barea and Maurice Ager as the only returning players under the age of 26, and with only one of those players able to crack any NBA team’s rotation, Dallas enjoys (if that’s the word) almost nothing in the way of prospects. There’s Josh Howard of course, but he’s 27 now, and while DeSagana Diop is still only 25, you’re an optimist if you think there’s some skills in there that he’s merely kept hidden for six years. (Incidentally, did you know that Mavericks training camp signee Jamal Sampson is only 24 years old, despite being around for what feels like a million years, and that commonly-accepted youngster Diduer Ilunga Mbenga is about to turn 27? Me neither. These things are worth noting. That is, they are worth nothing if you’re pathetic like me. If you are, hooray! We should hang out.) Dallas tried to add to this somewhat this summer. Without a first-round draft pick, they picked Nick Fazekas high in the second, thus once again ensuring that they have a tall forward who takes 85% outside jump shots […]
