DeJuan Blair I really don’t think DeJuan Blair needs to be here. Summer league is designed for players who need to prove something; those barely on a roster, those looking to make it onto one, draft picks trying to prove their worth, and also-rans looking to use the opportunity for good European gigs. But the only thing DeJuan Blair has to prove is the long term health of his knees. And unnecessary playing time is not the answer for that. Michael Cuffee Cuffee turned 27 yesterday (happy birthday!), and joins the Spurs for his second summer league stint. He was also with the team in 2008, easily the two highlights of his career. The rest of Cuffee’s CV reads Middle Tennessee State, WBA, Denmark, Finland, USBL, D-League, Lega Due (Italy) Turkey, and then the Lega Due again; last year for UCC Casalpusterlengo, Cuffee averaged 11.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. Those are rather average numbers from the below average Italian second division, and it’s hard to see what the Spurs see in Cuffee other than his tremendous athleticism (which isn’t worth a lot unless you turn it into production). Bryan Davis I have written before about the Spurs’s constant attempts to keep young players that they are interested in around their roster, if not strictly on it. By doing things such as owning their own D-League affiliate (thereby ensuring generous assignments) giving Curtis Jerrells $75,000 to attend training camp even when he has absolutely no chance of making the team (and subsequently having him assigned to the Toros for that reason), signing Marcus E. Williams at every possible opportunity, and using part of their MLE on signing Alonzo Gee and Garrett Temple when there’s a matter of days left in the season, the Spurs bypass the maximum roster size while keeping […]
– In Italy, Bucks draft pick Szymon Szewczyk signed a two-year extension with Air Avellino. He ranked second the team in rebounds last year behind Chevon Troutman, was second in points behind Dee Brown, and also managed not to get arrested in a drunken car wreck unlike the other two. Another NBA draft pick signed in Italy, Petteri Koponen, is to remain in Bologna for at least one more season. And ex-NBA player Jumaine Jones is staying with Pepsi Caserta for at least one more season, which really crippled this otherwise infallible post. – Another ex-NBA draft pick to have signed in Italy is Milovan Rakovic, whose rights are owned by the Magic. Rakovic was one of the best players in the Russian Superleague last year, averaging 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 25 minutes per game for Spartak St Petersburg. He’s cashing in on that and moving to Italy to play for Italian powerhouse Montepaschi Siena. There’s lots of upheaval in Russia at the moment; the Superleague teams have all signed a pact vowing to break away from the current governing body, with whom they are thoroughly disenfranchised, and to begin running operations on their own. Amidst this upheaval, many players have left; Spartak also released James White (14.8/3.7) and Goran Suton (played 94 minutes all season). Additionally, UNICS Kazan have released veteran Lithuanian jump shooter Saulius Štombergas, and Lokomotiv Kuban have released their imports James Gist, Andre Owens and Gerald Green. It’s probably fair to say that Green will not be returning to the Dallas Mavericks. – Not everyone is suffering, though. Khimki have taken advantage of the situation by signing ex-Blazers forward Sergei Monia from cash-strapped rivals Dynamo Moscow, and have also signed ex-Nets guard Zoran Planinic from the other Moscow team, CSKA. CSKA can […]
– Alex Garcia Brazilian guard Garcia has toured the world over the years, including a couple of stints in the NBA. He is now back in his native Brazil, playing for Universo/BRB Brasilia, a team seemingly sponsored by a l33t speak manufacturer. Brazilian league statistics are hard to come by, but Garcia must be doing well, as he was an All-Star this season. As far as I can tell from the NBB website, Garcia averages 18 layettes (presumed to be points) and 3.6 assistances (presumed to not be rebounds) per game. A layette would be a great name for a hooker. – Thomas Gardner Gardner spent his third consecutive October in his NBA training camp when he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, but he was an early and quiet cut. He then moved to Belgium in January where he is playing for the Antwerp Giants. Gardner hasn’t shot well in his first three Belgian league games, averaging 9.7 points on 35% shooting, but in five EuroChallenge games he is averaging a much healthier 14.2 points on 46% shooting. I did not mention any other statistics of his because, true to form, there are very few of them. The guy is a shooting specialist. – Pat Garrity Garrity retired from basketball after the 2007-08 season. Now in retirement, he is pursuing a business MBA at Duke’s Fuqua Business School. He also worked for Credit Suisse during the summer, a financial services company. – Alonzo Gee Gee went undrafted out of Alabama, and made his way to the Spurs summer league roster. From there he made his way to the Timberwolves training camp roster, and after being waived he was the sixth overall pick in the D-League Draft by the Austin Toros. This cheers me up because in July, […]
– Antonio Anderson: Anderson was Tyreke Evans’s ill-fitting backcourt team mate last season. Like Evans, Anderson is 6’6, athletic, and a good passer and playmaker for that height. Like Evans, he’s not ideally suited for guarding the point and has no significant jump shot. But unlike Evans, Anderson is not carving up defences off the dribble. And unlike Evans, Anderson is 24. The dribbling and shooting flaws haven’t gone away yet, and time is running out for it to happen. – Romel Beck: Beck is a 27-year-old former UNLV grad whose four-year professional career has included his native Mexico, the CBA, the D-League, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Italy and Croatia. Last year in 16 games for the Dakota Wizards, Beck scored a blindingly efficient 15.9 points in 27 minutes per game, on percentages of 50.9%/49.2%/90.2%. Beck pretty much only scores; he doesn’t much rebound, make plays for others, or play much defence. But even though he’s thin, he’s very tall for a shooting guard. And he’s definitely got the scoring talent. Here’s a video of him crossing over Kobe Bryant before making a step-back four-oint play; (Note: that really is him. His full name is Romel Roberto Beck Castro.) – DeJuan Blair: Should be a Bull. Dammit. – Eric Dawson: Dawson is a 25-year-old big man who’s only had one season of note. He attended Midwestern State, a Division II school that you’ve probably never heard of, and since leaving has spent two years with the Austin Toros of the D-League. Last year he averaged 10.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 fouls in 24 minutes per game. They’re not bad numbers, certainly, but in the D-League, but he’s also 25, which limits his upside. Still, he’s come far. – Nando De Colo: I’m not going to pretend […]
– Pat Garrity retired this summer, and according to reports behind a paywalled article, he has since gone back to school. But I’m not paying for it to find out. This is my limit. – Mickael Gelabale is unsigned, and – presumably – still rehabbing his severe knee injury from last March. – Otis George is averaging 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in the Italian second vision with Umana Reyer Venezia, although he hasn’t played for a month due to injury. George has also turned himself in a 41% three-point shooter, which isn’t ever bad from a supposedly undersized centre. Although I don’t think this guarantees an Anthony Tolliver-like career projection. – C.J. Giles is playing for the L.A. D-Fenders in the D-League, where he averages 12.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game. Rashid Byrd, the other centre who I told you was playing there earlier in this list, was recently waived, which is hard to achieve when you’re a seven-footer in the D-League. So congratulations to him. – Eddie Gill is possibly the best point guard in the D-League, averaging 15.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.2 assists for the Colorado 14ers. He’s shooting only 39%, though. – Kendall Gill is still working for Comcast Sportsnet and doing studio stuff for Bulls games, but I don’t know if he still boxes. – Tony Gipson (also known as Nicholas Gipson, confusingly) averages 7.3 points per game for the Raiffeisen Furstenfeld Panthers in the Austrian league. The Austrian league. He doesn’t even start in the Austrian league. Might have jumped the gun a bit when I decided to add him to his website, you know. – Gordan Giricek is signed with Fenerbache in Turkey, but suffered a season-ending injury after only two games. […]
