Will Blalock Blalock’s recovery from a life-threatening stroke continues, as he gets back to nearer his NBA-calibre best. He started last year with the Maine Red Claws, and was traded after 25 games to the Reno Bighorns, for whom he averaged 11.8 points and 7.4 assists per game. Blalock has battled weight problems since his stroke, but he lost weight during the D-League season and improved as the campaign went along. Blalock turns 27 in February and will probably never get back to the NBA, but his good D-League season, aided by a decent summer league performance, should see some good European gigs in the near future. Andre Brown Brown is back for his seventh consecutive season on the cusp of the NBA. After hundreds and millions of summer league appearances, mini-camp tryouts and training camp contracts, the former DePaul forward has 75 NBA games played to his credit, and is looking for the big three figures. Brown is athletic and a good rebounder, but is not without his flaws; his defence is more energetic than effective, he never ever passes, and his jump shot and free throw strokes are poor due to a bad cross-handed release that he has never corrected. Brown is 29 years old now and hasn’t got any better; what he is is pretty good, but what he is is permanently juuuuuust on the outside. Brian Chase Chase is a 5’9 scoring guard with a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. That doesn’t bode well for a man’s NBA prospects. Chase has actually spent time on an NBA regular season roster when he spent the first two weeks of the 2006-07 season with the Utah Jazz; however, he did not appear in any games. More than a little bit like Earl Boykins, Chase is extremely quick and a very […]
– Lindsey Hunter Lindsey Hunter was finally crowbarred off the Bulls roster a couple of weeks ago. This was a good thing; Hunter hasn’t been an NBA calibre player for some years, yet in all that time teams have believed so much in his off-court attributes that they have caved to his demands and signed him as a player, rather than as a coach. Never mind, it’s over now; Hunter was waived a fortnight ago to make room for Chris Richard, and immediately was hired (reclassified) as a player development assistant. – Othello Hunter Hunter was one of eight signings made by the Atlanta Hawks for training camp, but he was the only one to win a spot. The Hawks decided to keep two open spots and Hunter in favour of any of Mike Wilks, Juan Dixon, Garret Siler, Mario West (who they later brought back anyway), Aaron Miles, Frank Robinson and Courtney Sims. Such is the current economic climate. (By the way, for the last week or so, Courtney Sims’s name has been awesomely misspelt on Latinbasket.com. They’ve corrected the mistake now, but for a while there, you can probably work out what it said. [Note; very NSFW.] At least they still list Antoine Walker as “Anthony Walker.”) Hunter stuck with the team until the contract guarantee date, playing all of 29 minutes in that time, recording 11 points and 12 rebounds. When waived, he went unsigned for a few weeks before joining the struggling Ilysiakos in Greece, currently last in the A1 with a 4-16 record. In two games for the team, Hunter has record 47 minutes, 17 points and 12 rebounds. One of those two losses was a 41-point defeat at the hands of Olympiacos. – Ekene Ibekwe Maryland graduate Ibekwe was having a good […]
– Connor Atchley: In his junior season, Atchley was looking like a decent big man prospect. He averaged 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for Texas, while also shooting 41% from three-point range on over 100 attempts. However, his senior season was then a wash-out; 4.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, .397 FG%, .278 3PT FG%. What went wrong? I don’t know. Some people want to blame Dexter Pittman. But either way, Atchley took himself out of the second round. Now 24, Atchley can count himself fortunate to even get a summer league spot, because 24-year-old 6’10 228lb sub-40% scoring jump shooting power forwards are not generally NBA worthy. Considerable improvements are needed. But they were there once. – Stephen Curry: Curry has played six games in the last seven days for Team USA, totalling 50 points and 6 assists. Some people think he’ll be the next Ben Gordon. Some people think he’ll be the next J.J. Redick. Some think that he’ll be the rookie of the year; I think he’ll be nearer the first than the second, and definitely not the third. – Jermareo Davidson: Davidson has a non-guaranteed contract with the Warriors for next season, and is also officially listed as the second-heaviest player on their roster behind Ronny Turiaf. Pretty weird, that, considering Davidson’s slightly lanky frame. Last summer, the Bobcats exercised their team option on Davidson and guaranteed his contract, before then waiving him and experimenting with a variety of big men (Andre Brown, Dwayne Jones and Linton Johnson), finally settling on Juwan Howard. There’s the Larry Brown influence for you. Davidson spent 15 games in the D-League, averaging 16/11, before the Warriors called him up, where he averaged 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds for the big league team. I expect […]
