2010 Summer League Rosters: Los Angeles Lakers
July 11th, 2010
Derrick Caracter Caracter stayed out of trouble in his time at UTEP, and began developing into the player that he could always have been. He’s lost weight, shaved his stupid hair cut, and doesn’t have to worry about academic problems any more. Now, barring any petulance relapse, Caracter gets to just be a player. He’s becoming a decent one, too. Devin Ebanks Given time, Ebanks will be able to do a decent if slightly lesser impression of Trevor Ariza during his Lakers days. Ebanks can’t dribble or shoot, but he will run the court and defend whomever you want him to. I have been saying this since about February 2009, so the fact that Ebanks is now a Laker is pretty cool. It gives me the opportunity to say it for another seven years. Gerald Green Last year, Gerald Green played in Russia. Playing for Lokomotiv Kuban, Green averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, shooting 44% from the field and 35% from three point range. Unfortunately, there’s no stat for whether he “gets it” yet. Rob Kurz Kurz was a Chicago Bull as of 9 days ago. He never played for them, but got a few grand and great playoff seats for the privilege of spending two months with the greatest team in the world. Kurz is an NBA calibre player with very good rebounding numbers, decent defence and an old-school one handed jump shot, a face-up combo forward with occasional post offence who should be in the NBA somewhere next year. However, I’m not sure it will be with the Lakers. He would be a luxury for them, i.e. a non-rotation player. And they can’t really afford those. Ibrahim Jaaber Jaaber was announced as a member of the Pistons summer league roster last year, but […]
Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 63
April 29th, 2010
– Latrell Sprewell We’ll start by confirming the obvious; Sprewell has not played since his Timberwolves days. If he had done, that would be one of the transactions you’d have heard about without needing my input. Since that time, Sprewell has made the news for four reasons; a foreclosure on his yacht, a foreclosure on his home, an alleged assault on his girlfriend, and a foreclosure on his other home. The yacht’s gone, Spree paid the debt on the first home, and the assault charge was dropped 14 months later. But as for the second home foreclosure, on a $2.3 million home in the wonderfully named town of Purchase, Sprewell lost that in November. This was also the last time he made the news. It’s quite the depressing story of yet another athlete who burned it all away. Then again, as I sit here on my bed at 8.32am staring down the barrel of a long morning of essay writing, I find it slightly unfounded for me to be criticising a man for spending millions of dollars on twenty years of (presumably) wall-to-wall high living that I can only dream of. He may have lost all his money, but he probably had a load of fun doing it, so that’s something. – Ondrej Starosta Czech Republic big man Ondrej Starosta crept onto the NBA scene in 2004-05, when he averaged as-near-as-was a double-double for Chalons-en-Champagne in the French league. He was 26 years old at the time and had been a member of Real Madrid before that, so he wasn’t unheard of, but he also hadn’t done high-level stuff in his career before then except be 7’1 tall. After that season, Starosta went to summer league with the San Antonio Spurs, averaging 5.5 rebounds per game. The Spurs didn’t […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 50
March 7th, 2009
– D.J. Strawberry is with Fortitudo Bologna, the same team as GMAC Bologna, but not the same team as La Fortezza Bologna. Can’t stress that enough. Strawberry averages 14.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in EuroCup play, alongside 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the Italian league. Strawberry however is a combined 16 of 76 from the three-point line, confirming once again that his major weakness is still a weakness. – Brad Stricker has been on and off of the Dakota Wizards roster all year, averaging 11 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 fouls per game. His playing time wasn’t exactly consistent; his last ten games with the Wizards saw him play 5, 4, 3, 5, 2, 2, 8, 30, and 8 minutes respectively. Stricker eventually asked the Wizards for an unconditional release, as he wanted to play for a team closer to his home due to some family issue. He was granted it, and now plays for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, where he averages 17.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 3.6 fouls, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. – Erick Strickland now works for the Mavericks in a capacity that I’m too confused to understand. Here’s Erick himself with an explanation. Did you know that Erick Strickland’s real first name is Demerick? Me neither. Fun fact. – Rod Strickland is the Director of Basketball Operations for the University of Memphis, while also taking classes there to finish his degree. Ever since his hire in 2006, Memphis have gone on to be slightly brilliant. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. But, since Strickland’s role entails things like organising travel plans, checking on student’s academic scores, and scheduling visits for recruits, it probably is. – Curtis Sumpter averages 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds for Chorale de Roanne […]
