Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 19
February 1st, 2010
– Byron Eaton Eaton went undrafted out of Oklahoma State because he didn’t have NBA talent. He joined the D-League and was assigned to the Tulsa 66ers, but he played in only 2 games, totalling 1 point, 1 assists and 5 turnovers. Tulsa then released him in December. The fact that he’s 5’10 and 260lbs might be why. – Ndudi Ebi Former Timberwolves draft pick Ebi spent last year in Italy’s Serie A, but this year downgraded to Lega Due, the division below. (Why Lega Due is not called Serie B, I do not know.) The obvious benefit there is to Ebi’s numbers, and he’s responded with averages of 16.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 assists per game. He leads Rimini in rebounds (with no one else having more than 4.5), steals and blocks, and is second in points only to Carlton Myers. Carlton Myers used to be one of the best scorers in Italy, averaging over 20ppg in Serie A for about 26 years. Myers has played all but 7 games of his 19 year career in Italy and turns 39 in late March, so he’s a long way out of his prime, but even at this ripe old age he is scoring a very efficient 17 ppg at a decent standard of basketball. This is not comparable to his best, though, for Carlton Myers once scored 87 points in a Serie A game. This occurred as recently as 1995, and here’s a, uh, really awkward video of some of it. But it’s not as awkward as this picture of Carlton Myers naked. Carlton Myers is pretty much an Italian, despite the name, being born to an Italian mother and spending basically his whole life there. However, he was born in London, as was […]
David Monds replaces John Edwards at Kolossos Rhodes
December 2nd, 2009
John Edwards spent two years in the NBA. He signed as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State with the Pacers in 2004, played spot minutes in 25 games, and the Hawks signed him to a two-year, $2.08 million contract in the summer of 2005. After one year with Atlanta – in which he totalled 70 points, 48 rebounds and 76 fouls – the Hawks traded him back to the Pacers as filler in the Al Harrington deal. The Pacers then waived him, and after a training camp contract with the Timberwolves in 2007, that was it for John Edwards in the NBA. Edwards has spent two of the last three years in the D-League, seemingly aware that the knock on him is his “rawness.” Last year for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, he averaged 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 21 minutes per game, fairly sedate numbers for a centre-starved league. Those numbers are particularly sedate when you consider that Edwards is now 28 years old. You can’t be raw forever. He did not return to the D-League this year, instead signing with Kolossos Rhodes in Greek’s AI League. In theory, he was going to provide an NBA-calibre frontcourt along with recent Heat draft pick, Robert Dozier. In practice, though, he’s not been a stand-out. Edwards has played only 36 minutes on the entire season, totalling 12 points, 5 rebounds and 8 fouls. Now entering his physical prime, Edwards has never been able to stop fouling, has never dragged up his rebounding rate, and even though he’s offensively inclined, he still can’t score without a size advantage. Therefore, Kolossos have released him in favour of recent Lakers camp invite and another D-League veteran, David Monds. Monds doesn’t have Edwards’ height, but he has strength, athleticism and poise. Poise counts […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 15
January 18th, 2009
– Bryant Dunston is in South Korea, averaging 17.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks for a team called Mobis Phoebus. Dunston doesn’t have any great chance of making the NBA, but after watching the entire Lakers summer league – in which an extremely backcourt-heavy roster started Dunston at centre, with Sharrod Ford at power forward – I grew to like him. I seemed to like his unathletic yet reasonably smooth game featuring plenty of lefty baby hooks and defensive positioning. It reminded me of Michael Sweetney. And I like Michael Sweetney. (In fairness to Dunston, at age 22 with reasonable skill, he still has a faint chance of sniffing the NBA at some point, even if it’s only a camp invite. But I don’t think signing in Korea is getting it done. And he should probably put those three-pointers to bed.) – Ronald “Doop” Dupree didn’t make the Cavaliers out of training camp, and went back to the D-League with the Tulsa 66ers. As is often the case when he’s in the D-League, Doop has beasted, averaging 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but he still can’t shoot consistently, shooting only 31% from three-point range and 69% from the free throw line. He’ll also be 28 on January 26th, so a happy birthday to him. – Ndudi Ebi is signed in Italy, and still hasn’t panned out. Ndudi is the third-leading scorer on an Italian team called Carife Ferrara, behind Harold Jamison (THE Harold Jamison! Throw-in to the Miles for McInnis swap Harold Jamison!) and Andre Collins (yes, THE Andre Collins! From Loyola! The very same!). Ebi is really the fourth leading scorer, if you also include Rick Apodaca (THE Rick Apodaca! Former Magic training camp invitee Rick Apodaca! Et cetera!), but Apodaca only played in […]
