2010 Summer League Rosters: Charlotte Bobcats
July 8th, 2010
Alexis Ajinca After giving up a pick with very lax protection to get him – in the end, it became the one used on Luke Babbitt – Charlotte have spent two years not playing Ajinca. Jinx played 182 minutes only on his rookie season, and topped that in his sophomore season with only 30 minutes played all year. He spent a lot of the year on assignment in the D-League, averaging 14.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, 3.0 turnovers and 3.9 fouls in 26 minutes per game, showing some signs of scoring and shot-blocking ability while committing far too many mistakes and not defensive rebounding much. However, entering his third year, the D-League is now no longer an option. If Ajinca is going to do anything Theo Ratliff-ish, he’s going to have to do some of it in his third year. If he doesn’t, there might not be a fourth. Alade Aminu Despite doing little in four years at Georgia Tech, Aminu was drafted 10th overall in the D-League draft. And despite doing little in the D-League, Aminu managed to get a 10 day call-up from the Heat last year. The oft-banded about comparison for Aminu is Chris Andersen, and however raw he is right now, he’s got more offensive talent than Andersen had when his raw untattooed self stumbled into the Nuggets rotation once upon a time. But whatever Aminu is going to be, he’s a long way from it yet. He’s too inconsistent, and just not especially productive as a shot-blocker or rebounder right now. Antonio Anderson Anderson signed with the Bobcats in training camp last year, but did not make the team. At the time, with Ronald Murray and Raja Bell at shooting guard alongside D.J. Augustin and the recently drafted Gerald Henderson, and with Raymond Felton […]
Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 62
April 26th, 2010
– Tommy Smith The last newsworthy thing that former Bulls forward Tommy Smith did was get arrested for kidnapping. Smith signed with Liaoning in China in November 2008, but played in only two games (totalling 2 points and 12 rebounds) before being released. A couple of months after he came back to America, Smith was arrested on multiple charges after allegedly punching his girlfriend when leaving a party, breaking her nose, driving her away, taking her phone off her and abandoning her at the roadside by a lake. He later came back for her and took her to hospital, but she pressed charges anyway. Smith’s basketball career has not existed since that time. In December, he pleaded guilty to the charge of aggravated assault and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, credited with 173 days of time already served. – Tyler Smith Former Penn State forward Tyler Smith spent his second season with the Hitachi Sunrockers of Japan’s JBL. He averaged 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, shooting 37% from three-point range. It is still not immediately obvious as to how he signed with the Jazz in 2006, although this is meant with endearment. – Tyler Smith Tennessee’s Tyler Smith – the other Tyler Smith – was kicked off the team in January. His professional career thus begun earlier than was intended. It’s off to a good start, though; playing for Bornova in Turkey, Smith averages 18.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, shooting 54% from the field and 45% from three-point range. Had he played enough games to qualify, those numbers would rank him third in the country in scoring, sixth in rebounding and fifth in assists. He remains a viable draft candidate, despite his acrimonious departure from the Vols. […]
The only bits of the 2009 Summer Signings post series worth saving
August 1st, 2009
– Darius Rice has left the immortally named Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants from the Phillipines, and is about to sign with Montegranaro in Italy. I think that translates as “Bread Mountain”. I hope it does, anyway. – A previous blog post talked about how Ivan Radenovic had had his contract with Akasvayu Girona extended. That news is now bunkum, for Girona have gone bankrupt, and are not playing this upcoming season. This leaves Radenovic now unsigned, unattached and undervalued. – The “points per shot” fans amongst us were extremely happy to hear that the Philadelphia 76ers have signed shooting guard Kareem Rush to form an incisive and efficient off-guard partnership with the incumbent Willie Green. These two players have a role to play for the Sixers, in that they are the only two guards currently under contract who can actually hit a three-point shot. This is a positive. But the negative side-effect is that both of these players are otherwise lacking, and for score-first players, they are not efficient. The pair are both deemed “one-dimensional scorers”, but neither is doing it optimally. Green last season scored 921 points on 870 shots, for a bad 1.06 points per shot, a number that still somehow managed to raise his career average to a heady 1.02. Rush was worse, though, scoring 588 points on 569 shots last year for a 1.03 PPS average, against a far below par career average of 1.01. For the sake of a point of reference, free agent Sixers backup point guard Kevin Ollie has a career points per shot average of a modest 1.21. That from a man who has nine made career three-pointers. Technically, on paper alone, if you need someone to hit a shot, you are better served going to Kevin Ollie than Kareem […]
Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 47
March 5th, 2009
– Chester “Tre” Simmons is signed with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but is not in the rotation, averaging only 9.7 minutes and 4 points per game in the Israeli league with several DNP’s thrown in. Simmons was also this week reportedly involved in a fight in (and outside) a nightclub that saw teammate D’Or Fischer have his face slashed by unknown assailants, resulting in micro-surgery needed to correct nerve damage. Allegedly, this group of unknowns had gone to the club to seek vengeance on Fischer’s father, who was visiting Fischer at the time and with whom they had had a “run-in” earlier on. However, Fischer’s father, who was at the club, had already left, and that’s when it all kicked off. Simmons was unhurt, and it was him who took Fischer to the hospital, but by being out at the club in the first place, the two were violating a team rule, and so will probably be punished. In Simmons’s case, give how little they seem to need him (or like him), he might get released. – Courtney Sims is back in the D-League after his second ten-day contract with the Suns expired anonymously last month. He has totalled 53 points in the two games since his return to the Iowa Energy, and averages 23.0 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. The blocks per game numbers are coming way down, however, as Sims found it a tad tricky to keep up the average of 8 blocks per game that he held during the first two contests. (He had a 22-point, 17-rebound, 11-block triple-double on his debut for the Energy. That’s Olumide Oyedeji-esque.) – Ha Seung-Jin’s mate Nedzad Sinanovic is on loan from Real Madrid to Burgos in the LEB Gold (Spanish second division), where he frankly still underwhelms. […]
