2010 Summer Signings, Part 3
June 16th, 2010
– David Noel, who was mentioned in the previous post as leaving French team Roanne, has landed another gig in the same country. He has signed with Paris-Levallois. – In other French league news, Le Mans have released Marc Salyers, who had an uncharacteristically average season. Salyers averaged only 11.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the French league – good numbers, but not the star they assumed they were getting. The team also released Zack Wright, the best rebounding 6’2 guard you ever saw (26.9 mpg, 8.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.4 apg) while choosing to sign former Gonzaga big man J.P. Batista (13.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg) to a two-year extension. And fellow Pro A side Vichy signed Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter, who had previously been with Belgian team Dexia Mons-Hainaut. – The man Sumpter replaces in Vichy is Brent Petway, the athletic Michigan alum who has spent time around the NBA in summer leagues, training camps, the D-League and the like. He’s taking the strange step of moving down a level, going to French second division side Clermont for next season. Not many decent players play in the Pro B, but another one who will be is Marcus Campbell, the ex-Mississippi State big man and training camp veteran who has spent almost all of his career in the American minor leagues, and who has had NBA training camp contracts from the Rockets and Bobcats. – Rather than going to France, Mouhamed Sene is leaving it. Sene led the French league in both rebounds and blocks season and was named a joint winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award, but he’s making a lateral move to Belgium to play for Charleroi. Sene was playing in Belgium before his NBA career began, and hopefully he can improve upon […]
Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 20
February 10th, 2010
Chris Ellis, featured in the last update, has moved from the Ukraine to Romania. Here’s a couple of updates on people already covered; 1) Keon Clark has continued his weekly reviews in front of a drug court….or rather, he hasn’t. At his January 27th hearing, Clark turned up but received a “bad report”, and while I don’t know what that entails, I do know that it meant serving two weeks in PSB (which I believe to mean “prison,” as in “public safety building.”) Clark then didn’t turn up to his February 3rd hearing, and nor did he turn up to prison. I don’t know how a man doesn’t turn up to prison, but Keon didn’t. He is now MIA and an arrest warrant has been issued. (He also managed to get done for both speeding and driving with a suspended license, AGAIN, since the last update was issued. STOP DRIVING, KEON.) 2) The reason Vin Baker is not playing is that he is now an assistant coach at Texas Southern University. So is Nick Van Exel. Texas Southern are playing live on British TV next week. We’ve come a long way. (There are about 4 times more NCAA games than NBA games shown over here now, presumably because they’re cheaper. It’s good, though. And it would be better if the Lakers weren’t in 80% of the NBA games shown. That figure is only slightly exaggerated.) – Chinemelu Elonu Lakers draft pick Elonu is in Spain, playing for Zaragoza. He is averaging 6.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in only 19 minutes per game, shooting 60% from the field. That’s the good news. But why’s he only playing 19 minutes per game? It’s not because there’s a more talented player in front of him, for Zaragoza are in the […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Memphis Grizzlies
July 12th, 2009
This roster is heaving with talent, and will be particularly special if you’re a fan of the Connecticut Huskies. Remember, this list doesn’t include Rudy Gay. – Jeff Adrien: If Adrien was 6’11, he would have been drafted. He’s a consistent double-double player, a strong rebounder, aggressive defender and solid post-up scorer, with good post-up defence, a hook shot, and more energy than a coked-up Jerome Williams. However, he can’t shoot or face up at all, and nor does he have much perimeter defence. He’s an out-and-out power forward, generously listed at 6’7. And therefore, he’s an undersized hustle player who’ll always be on the outside of the NBA, fighting to get in. – Darrell Arthur: Arthur’s rookie season consisted of 44% shooting, a raging foul problem, and an embarrassing incident involving marijuana and “women” at the rookie initiation. Despite being the only power forward on the team’s roster, and the opportunity of 64 starts last year, Arthur did little with it, and the team often found itself going with the unsuitable Hakim Warrick or Darko Milicic in his place. So big was the power forward hole that the Grizzlies have agreed to trade for Zach Randolph (a deal which still hasn’t been officially consummated for whatever reason). Arthur still could bounce back and be a solid contributor, especially since it’s far from certain that Warrick is going to return. But dispensing with the off-court storylines might help, as might some more defensive intensity. – DeMarre Carroll: In my eyes, Carroll was not a first-round talent, yet he was picked 27th anyway, giving Memphis a cheap backup combo forward that means they won’t have to pay Hakim Warrick. Carroll is an example of the classic college power forward trying to reinvent himself as a small forward, but […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 16
January 19th, 2009
– Semih Erden – recipient of the funniest NBA forum thread title that I’ve ever seen, “Semih Erden is finally in the NBA” – never left Turkey. In his fourth year with Fenerbache, Erden is averaging 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in Turkish league play, along with 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in EuroLeague play. And yes, I’m fully aware that that thread title isn’t actually very funny, if at all. It’s funnier when you’re overtired and have just eaten some very strong continental cheese. – Ebi Ere is signed in Australia. And perhaps he’ll never leave – he’s a legend there. Playing for the third place Melbourne Tigers, Ere (pronounced ‘Ear’, at least by Rick Kamla) averages 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists, which is one of the highest points per game averages that this list has seen so far. Ere’s teammates include former NBA centre Chris Anstey, and a man by the name of Stephen Hoare, whose mother must have had it tough. (Note: while looking up Ere’s averages, I was looking up the Australian league (the NBL) on Wikipedia, to see how it was that Ere had played only four games. Turns out that he had actually played 23. While I was there, though, I chose to look up the New Zealand Breakers, another NBL team, and try to figure out why there was a New Zealandolian team in the Australian league. It was then that I noticed that the Breakers’s former coach was called Frank Arsego. Best name ever.) – Evan Bruce Eschmeyer – whose nickname ought really be “Almighty”, given that name of his – gave up basketball many moons ago, in late 2004, due to chronic injury. Since then, he has founded an online recruiting service, gone back to Northwestern and […]
30 teams in 36 or so days: L.A. Clippers
September 9th, 2007
This is the first of 30 instalments that will serve the dual purpose of being both offseason recaps and poorly thought-out predictions for next season, for all 30 NBA teams. These will be done in an order: that order is the order that I choose to do them in. There won’t be an alphabetical approach, nor one based on standings. They’ll be truly random. Randomness is the future. ___________________________________________ Players acquired via free agency or trade: Brevin Knight (two years, $3.3 million) Ruben Patterson (one year minimum) Josh Powell (three years, $2.6 million) Guillermo Diaz (three year minimum) Players acquired via draft: First round: Al Thornton (14th overall) Second round: Jared Jordan (45th overall, unsigned) Players retained: Quinton Ross (exercised team option) Players departed: James Singleton (declined team option, signed in Spain), Jason Hart (signed with Utah), Yaroslav Korolev (initially agreed to re-sign with the team right back at the start of free agency, but hasn’t done it yet, and now reports are flying about him signing in Europe instead), Daniel Ewing (waived, signed in Russia), Will Conroy (waived, signed in Italy) Bobbins: In amongst all the weird and strange things that have gone on throughout the league during this offseason, it seems to have escaped the attention of most people that the Los Angeles Clippers had one of the most economical and shrewd offseasons out there. After not getting ridiculously lucky and moving up in the lottery, the Clippers ended up drafting a consensus good pick, and also managed to draft a player in the second round who seemingly has trade value before he has even taken the court. Not stopping there, the Clippers waited for a while as other teams overspent for players, before making their own free agency splashes. Somehow, in Knight and […]
