– Robert Traylor As you have probably already heard about, Robert Traylor owes a lot of money to the IRS. And he has a repayment plan to adhere to to give it back. But this has proven difficult. Traylor was the Turkish league All-Star Game MVP in 2008/09, averaging 14.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.1 apg and 1.6 bpg per game for Kepez BLD Antalya. Yet this summer’s move to the better standard (and better paid) Serie A did not work out. This is because Traylor joined Napoli, and, as regular readers will know by now, Napoli had the worst season in the history of sports. The bankrupt team weren’t exactly the ideal match for the indebted Traylor. Traylor left Napoli after seven games without being paid, and tried to get a playing gig in China. But this was vetoed by the league due to his tax problems. Those problems culminated in February; behind on his pre-determined repayment schedule due to his inability to find elite paying gigs, Traylor was sentenced to a 60-day jail term last season, which was suspended for this season so that he could go and play for Napoli. That sentence is suspended until June 1st; in the mean time, Traylor is playing in Puerto Rico. He has averaged 9.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for Vaqueros de Bayamon, and was named to the All-Star team last month. He is allowed to keep playing for Bayamon until their season ends, whenever that may be. But once it does end, Traylor must report to jail. – Uros Tripkovic Tripkovic left Partizan Belgrade for the first time in his life this summer, joining DKV Joventut Badalona as he set his sights on the better pay offered up by the ACB. It turns out that he […]
Continuing the round-up of training camp invites. – Milwaukee played the training camp game in the spirit that it deserves…..briefly. They initially announced three signings; former Marquette point guard Domimic James, D-League big man Marcus Hubbard and former Temple guard Mark Tyndale, and they later added veteran big man Charles Gaines to that line-up. However, all four have already been waived, because I took too long to write this. Still, for the sake of consistency, we’ll give a cheeky round-up anyway. James is an undersized guard with a sub-par jump shot and the worst free throw stroke on a point guard since Vernon Hamilton, who would have been a first-rounder two years ago, but who eventually went undrafted due to a string of injuries (and a lack of improvement). He’s quick, “dynamic” and great in transition, but being unable to shoot doesn’t do much for his half-court game, as any Kevin Ollie fan could tell you. James doesn’t turn it over a lot, but when you’re undersized AND a bad shooter, that’s not a great combination for the NBA. (He has signed with Mersin in Turkey for next year, alongside Jimmy Baron and Richie Frahm. So at least he’ll have shooters around him.) Hubbard was in training camp with the Hawks last year, thus making this his second consecutive NBA contract. Yet it’s not immediately clear as to why. Hubbard is an athletic big man, but he’s not a good rebounder or a shot blocker, and his offence is based around a mid range jump shot. All the athleticism seems to do for him is prevent his jump shots from getting blocked. And that’s not that big of a deal, really. He wasn’t a standout in the D-League last year, averaging 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds split between two […]
Continuing the round-up of training camp invites. – Phoenix are going to run with 13 players, because they always run with 13 players. And they already had 13 players before training camp started, so the prospects of their signings were slim to none before they even started. Regardless, the Suns brought in three more, just in case; Carlos Powell, Dan Dickau and Raymond Sykes. Dickau joins one of the few teams that he hadn’t previously on. For those counting, he’s now up to 10; Kings (drafted by, but never signed), Hawks, Blazers, Warriors, Mavericks, Hornets, Celtics, Blazers again, Knicks, Clippers, Warriors again, and now the Suns. It’s not bad going, that. Last year he was in Germany, averaging 17.6 points in only five games for Brose Baskets Bamberg, doing the Dickau thing of shooting jump shots and not much else. The story’s been told on him by now; he is what he is, and what he is is perpetually on the cusp. Well, except for that time Danny Ainge gave him $7.5 million. Carlos Powell has put up very big numbers in far smaller leagues, including one frankly awesome season in the D-League when he put up 22.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game for the Dakota Wizards. Last year was similar, when he put up 25.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game for Black Slamer in South Korea. He also led Australia’s NBL in scoring back in 2007, averaging 28.2 points per game. Those numbers are big, regardless of the context, and Powell’s scoring talent speaks for itself. He drives, shoots off the dribble, exploits the mid-range game, and his three-point range has gotten a bit better over the years. However, there’s also a reason for them; Powell completely and totally dominates the ball, […]
