2010 Summer League Rosters: Orlando Magic
July 10th, 2010

This post is a bit late, considering the Magic have played their games. However, the site’s outages just before free agency started set us back a bit, and then obviously free agency itself kind of blew the cock off the whole thing. Sorry about that. Since I’d already started it, we’ll do it anyway. Jeff Adrien It’s hard for a 6’7 power forward to make it in the NBA. You have to be pretty exceptional at something to do it. Adrien, though, is exceptional at nothing. He’s solid at most things except foul shooting; decently athletic, willing and able to rebound, capable of defending the post, prepared to run, and able to shoot right handed hook shots. But despite his height, he’s in absolutely no way a small forward. He’s a very undersized power forward who is neither really athletic nor Chuck Hayes. Adrien played in the LEB Gold last year, averaging 12.3ppg and 7.7rpg for Breocgan Lugo. It’s a league ideally suited for him. Joe Crawford Crawford is slightly undersized for a shooting guard at 6’4, could use a slightly better three point stroke (and definitely from the foul line), and is not exactly consistent; he is, however, a talented and versatile scorer, mainly through penetration. Crawford is a former draft pick of the L.A. Lakers, 58th overall back in 2008. Had he been drafted somewhere else, he might have stuck in the NBA by now. He’s good. As it is, he’s appeared in only 2 games, for the Knicks in the last week of the 2008/09 season. He scored 9 points in 23 minutes. Not bad. Joe Crawford fact: Joe Crawford is Hawks draft pick Jordan Crawford’s brother. That is all. Paul Davis Davis has spent at least part of three years in the NBA, including starting last […]

Posted by at 9:02 AM

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 65
May 9th, 2010

– Raymond Sykes After going undrafted out of Clemson, Sykes signed a training camp contract with the Phoenix Suns. He had little to no chance of making the team, however, and was waived within a week. Sykes then took his energetic style of play to the D-League and spent the year with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 3.0 fouls in 23.9 minutes per game. His PER was 16.7; over 48 minutes, that equates to a PER of 33.5, which is almost Lebron-like (38.3 PER per 48.)   – Wally Szczerbiak Wally Szczerbiak looks to be done. His contract with the Cavaliers expired last summer without incident, and he has not signed elsewhere since. Szczerbiak was a target of the Denver Nuggets back in November, but he declined their minimum salary contract as he was still recovering from left knee surgery. He also was supposed to work out with the Knicks, but it did not happen for the same reasons. No official announcement about his retirement has been forthcoming, but then again, they rarely do. The PER thing was a joke, by the way.   – Szymon Szewczyk Bucks draft pick Shevcheck is signed with Air Avellino in Italy. Air Avellino have made the news for other reasons this week, but Shev has helped to keep the boat steady. He is averaging 11.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 27 minutes per game; in Avellino’s absolutely must-win game last night versus Angellico Biella, Shevcheck played 41 out of 45 minutes, and totalled 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks to ensure victory. Szymon Szewczyk was born in Szczecin. This prompts the question; how much is the Z worth in the Polish version of Scrabble?   – Yuta Tabuse Former Suns guard Yuta Tabuse […]

Posted by at 11:00 AM

Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 51
March 8th, 2009

– Jamaal Tatum was the strange beneficiary of a training camp contract by the Portland Trail Blazers this summer, but unsurprisingly lost out on the 15th roster spot (which, surprisingly, Shavlik Randolph won). Tatum promptly returned to his D-League team of last season, the Idaho Stampede, for whom he averages 12.1 points and 3.7 assists per game, while shooting less than 40% from the field.   – Bryce Taylor is with Premiata Montegranaro, the team that Shawn Kemp nearly played for. Taylor averages 11.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game, this coming on a team that features starting point guard Kiwame Garris averaging only 2.5 apg himself. I think I might have mentioned that before somewhere, but it’s hard to remember, because these posts are starting to all run into each other in my mind, into a big gloopy ball of confusion and doubt. Apologies if you’re suffering from the same.   – Donell Taylor has spent the year with Egaleo in Greece, averaging 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.   – I think we all thought that Maurice Taylor was done. He hadn’t played since 2005/06, hadn’t played well since 2000/01, and had spent a long time unsigned, out of our hearts and minds. He was waived by the Knicks in September 2006, signed by the Kings a few days later, was kept over Justin Williams, and was later waived in January when Justin was re-signed, not playing a single game for the Kings in that time. Two years then passed, and it was assumed that that was all she wrote. But it wasn’t; in January this year, Taylor signed a three-year deal with Milano, albeit one which only allows him to play in EuroLeague games. Taylor has since played in three games, which […]

Posted by at 4:16 PM