Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 48
April 11th, 2010
– Brad Newley The Rockets seem to have an untoward number of draft picks who never play in the NBA, as well as an uncanny knack for accumulating unwanted draft rights from other teams. They currently have nine unsigned draft picks, most in the NBA, and while quite a few of them weren’t their own picks, Newley was. The Australian guard spent his first two years after being drafted in Greece, but moved to Turkey this summer to play for Besiktas. He has averaged 16.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in Turkish league play, while upping his three-point percentage from 32% last year to 43% this year. Newley missed two months of the year due to injury, but it didn’t take him long to pick up from where he left off. In fact, his only single digit outing of the year was in the season opener. – Jared Newson Jared Newson is a kind of small but very athletic swingman out of Tennessee Martin (perhaps more famous for Lester Hudson), who made the Mavericks’ training camp roster in 2007 after a strong summer league performance for them. This is his fourth professional season; he spent two of his first three in Germany, and one in Australia. Martin spent this year in the D-League, split between the Sioux Falls Skyforce and the Bakersfield Jam. Between the two of them, Newson has averaged 23 minutes, 9.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, shooting 47% from the field and 30% from three. – Drew Nicholas Maryland alum Drew Nicholas is playing his second season with Panathinaikos, last year’s EuroLeague champions. Functioning as a shooting specialist, Nicholas is averaging 10.0 points in 19 minutes per game in the Greek league, alongside 10.9 ppg in 27.0 mpg in the EuroLeague. He is shooting 42% […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 38
February 25th, 2009
– Lukasz Obrzut was an insignificant player in the D-League last year, averaging 3.1 ppg and 2.4 rpg over 38 games with both the Bakersfield Jam and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Before that, he spent four insignificant years with Kentucky, never averaging more than 2.0 ppg and 1.8 rpg. Now, he’s in Poland, averaging 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 fouls per game for the powerhouse that is ISS Sportino Inowroclaw (and by “powerhouse”, I mean “team in third-last place”). How very insignificant. But he won fans at all stops. – It was only a few short years ago that Michael Olowokandi was a starting centre in the Western Conference Finals. Things have changed wildly since then – the contracts dried up, as did the few skills, and a season of playing for the Celtics on the minimum salary (Kandi didn’t need the money, and did it just to prove to himself that he could, apparently) was the last she wrote. Kandi is about to turn 34 with a lengthy history, and I assume him to be unofficially retired. – In lieu of any Greg Ostertag news, here is a video of him diplomatically losing at table tennis to a sharply dressed pre-teen. – Bo Outlaw is retired and now a “community ambassador” for the Orlando Magic. – Andre Owens is with Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda), averaging 11.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game in the Adriatic League, and 10.6/2.7/2.3 in the EuroCup. Owens was also recently the victim of an attack by a fan – or at least, a really bad attempt at one – and you can read about that here. – Olumide Oyedeji is in China, which is good news for us all. Playing for Shanxi Zhongyu, Oyedeji […]
Do NBA Players Ever Actually Accept Their Qualifying Offers?
April 16th, 2008
If your team didn’t agree to an extension with its starlet young player this past offseason – such as is the case with the Atlanta duo of Josh Childress and Josh Smith, the Chicago duo of Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, amongst others – then you’ve probably experienced a modicum of conversation as to whether that player will take the one-year qualifying offer this offseason rather than the security of a long-term deal, leaving the distinct possibility that your team will lose a key player and important asset, for nothing in return. Talk of this possibility happening is particularly widespread in the case of Gordon, who hasn’t done much to deny it. Let me try and set your mind at rest – it’s really not that likely. Or rather, it should be really unlikely. It might happen, but history suggests that it shouldn’t. This is a list of all the rookie scale players to have accepted the fifth-year qualifying offer in recent times, and how that went for them. Melvin Ely Season before free agency: 9.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 51% shooting Season spent on Qualifying Offer: 3.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, 36% shooting Season after that: 3.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 47% shooting Melvin Ely has had one year of average NBA production in seven attempts. That one season was, conveniently, the final one of his rookie contract. Never justifying his draft position, that one year gave Ely the chance to make a bit of money, especially given that it was probably his only other chance at a multi-year contract. (Ely was 28 at the time, after joining the league at age 24. Ely took Charlotte’s one year QO of $3,308,615 (which may or may not have been the only contract that they offered) in preference to taking Phoenix’s multi-year offer, […]
