Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 38
April 2nd, 2010
– Maciej Lampe Lampe started the year in Israeli with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but the version of Maccabi that he had signed with in the summer did not last very long. It didn’t take long before he was allowed to leave, at which point he moved to Russia to play for UNICS Kazan. In the Russian league he is averaging 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds; in the VTB United league he is averaging 14.5 and 6.0 rebounds; in the EuroCup he averaged 16.9 points and 9.5 rebounds. The idea that Lampe was a combo 3/4 was never right in the first place, but it’s definitely not right now – he’s emerged as a good if inconsistent post player with occasional three-point range. He’s not Dirk, and he was never going to be Dirk. But he does have NBA talent, even if he didn’t exactly shine in the EuroLeague this year. – Sean Lampley Lampley spent last year in Qatar, an extension of the Langhi tour that not even Dan himself has yet managed. He played for two teams there, and then auditioned at the KBL Pre-Draft camp back in July. However, he has not played professionally anywhere this season. Lampley was reported to be about to sign with his former Australian team Melbourne Tigers back in November, but never did. Lampley recently lost his all-time Cal school scoring record to Jerome Randle. No shame in that, because Jerome Randle is pretty awesome. Won’t be drafted, but there aren’t many guys who can win any game single-handedly like he can. – James Lang Lang never lived up to his draft spot. Drafted in the second round seven years ago, Lang has spent his time since then in America, bouncing between the D-League and occasional NBA stints. He played briefly in […]
Antoine Walker released by Puerto Rican team
April 1st, 2010
It’s been well-documented of late, but here it is again. Former NBA player Antoine Walker is broke. He earned (so to speak) $110 million over his career, and yet he spent it all. Now, only 15 months removed from his last stint on an NBA roster, Walker is in serious financial straits, facing legal troubles for both unpaid gambling debts and for failure to maintain properties that he owns in Chicago. His agent sued him for unpaid fees – and won – and the NBA pay checks stopped coming last year. Whatever Antoine had, he spent, and he spent it on things with no redeemable value. Clothes, cars, drink, food, blackjack hands and dishonest associates. None of that means anything to a creditor. It’s all gone. Antoine is broke. It’s also been well-documented of late that Walker had gone to Puerto Rico to start playing ball again. Playing in Puerto Rico is far from an abnormal thing for good basketball players to do; for many years now, fringe and former NBA talents have played there over the summer for some extra money. The Puerto Rican league takes place when most others don’t, and it’s in large part because of this that it holds the attraction for such talented players. It is a pretty high standard level of basketball, too; players to have there this year include former NBA talents Lee Nailon, DerMarr Johnson, Courtney Sims, Damon Jones, Robert Traylor, and all this lot. Puerto Rico is a regular stop for fringe NBA players grinding out their careers around the world, players who often play in the far East and central Americas in a rotation now known as the Dan Langhi Tour. It’s a common occurrence and, all told, a decent gig. But Antoine wasn’t a fringe NBA player. He was […]
Puerto Rico – the new China?
May 25th, 2009
Those of you who like fringe NBA players may have enjoyed the series of updates recently about the Chinese Basketball Association. Any league that saw Olumide Oyedeji average nearly 20/20 can peak the interest of any of us. Players like playing in China; the exposure isn’t huge and the money isn’t great, but the CBA has the lure of the teams playing lots of games, with less emphasis on practice, copying the NBA model of basketball not imitated much around the globe. Furthermore, the standard of play was bad, which led to amusingly lopsided statistics that they could put on their CV; for example, Tim Pickett will now always be able to boast that he was a 39.4 ppg scorer at one point in his career. (It appears to be already paying dividends, since he just got a workout with the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s nice to know they’re checking out China. So would I.) The Chinese league season has ended, as have most leagues, but the Puerto Rican one is just starting. It’s not a coincidence that the BSN (Puerto Rican) league begins in mid-April, which allows them to experience an influx of fringe NBA talent much like the Chinese league did. The standard of domestic players in the BSN is better, so the numbers aren’t as wonky, but it still makes for a great proving ground for players who need a small career boost, or some extra money from a summer job. And, for us keen observers, it’s a great chance to watch bit-part players play big. Here are the numbers of people you may have heard of. – – Marcus Williams (Quebradillas): Williams (the Nets one) is possibly the best player in Puerto Rico. His scoring is inefficient, due largely to taking as many threes as he does […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 30
February 5th, 2009
Snowman update: my dog ate the nose, someone stole the hat, and the pipe fell out. However, the weather hasn’t been above freezing yet, and so he still survives as before, slightly icier but just as large. Good times. Before the list starts, here’s a quick TRIVIA QUESTION: which one of the following players has scored the second most regular season points in the NBA? Answer at the bottom. – Herve Lamizana recently left his team in the United Arab Emirates and joined Al Ittihad (and his wife Jean) in the Egyptian league. I can’t imagine where I’ll ever say that sentence again. I don’t have any stats for Lamizana, but if you like your college basketball enough to remember the names of obscure American players from about a decade ago, then here are Lamizana’s American team mates: John Thomas III (college: St Francis), Derrick Franklin (Columbus State) and Chauncey Leslie (Iowa). Those three are nothing to be sniffed at: between them, they’ve won the Turkish second division, a Jordanian league championship, and a Hungarian Cup runners-up medal. You can’t deny experience like that. – Maciej Lampe is still going, and getting somewhere. In his third season with Khimki, Lampe is averaging 14.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in the Russian league, both team highs, alongside 13.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in two EuroCup games. These numbers come on a stacked team that also features Jorge Garbajosa, Kelly McCarty and Carlos Delfino, amongst others. Lampe was a joke back in the day, but not any more. – Sean Lampley is signed with Al Arabi (and his wife Jean) in the Qatarian league. As if he could be anywhere else. – James Lang averages 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.6 minutes for the Utah Flash. That’s extremely good […]
