– Brian Butch After going undrafted despite working out for basically every NBA team at some point (and going to summer league with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he barely played), Butch split his first professional season between Spain, China and Germany. He spent most of it in Germany, averaging 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for Noerdlingen, and this summer he signed in Greece for Ilysiakos. In three games, Butch put up 42 points and 16 rebounds in only 49 minutes, with 10 three-pointers, and led the team in points and rebounds despite not playing half the game. But Ilysiakos released him anyway for reasons I’m unable to Google, and Butch has returned to America and joined the D-League. For the Bakersfield Jam – a team who announced they were folding after last season yet who seem to have found a stay of execution from somewhere – Butch averages 17.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 blocks in 31 minutes per game. He’d play more if it wasn’t for the four fouls per game. Here is Brian Butch scantily clad in scanty cladding. – Geno Carlisle Despite being far older than the age of player that the league was really designed for, ex-NBA player Carlisle spent last year in the D-League playing for the Anaheim Arsenal. He played only a month for the team, averaging 8.9 ppg in 18 games, before being waived last January due to injury, and has been unsigned ever since. It’s not entirely unprecedented for Carlisle to be out of the game for a year, as he did the same between early 2007 and early 2008 as well. But since he turns 34 this year and was last heard of being waived due to injury, it doesn’t bode well. – Alejandro Carmona Carmona […]
– Corey Brewer: Brewer was poor his rookie year, which was essentially a nothing year for him. His offence was enthusiastic, but it was also several kinds of inefficient, and undeserving of a #7 pick. Brewer started to make some strides, though, with a good summer league last year and a fine opening five games to last season. Unfortunately, he then popped his knee badly, which has undone all the good work. Minnesota’s forward spots are crowded, but the shooting guard spot is wide open, and if Brewer can show something then he might win the spot as a very tall two. But if he doesn’t, he’ll be fighting Ryan Gomes for small forward time. – Bobby Brown: Bobby Brown is a testament to the point of summer league. Most players turn up to summer league to win spots in other leagues, but Brown beat the odds and played so well in summer league in 2008 that he earned himself a two-year guaranteed contract with the Kings. He was traded to the Timberwolves at mid-season, seemingly only as a money-saving venture (the three other players in the deal are all now UFAs), and now he finds himself as the second of two incumbent points guard on a team that just drafted 12 more of them. So that’s a bugger. Nevertheless, his contract is guaranteed, and if Minnesota decide they don’t want him, some other NBA team should do. – Pat Carroll: When talking about Pat Carroll, I always feel compelled to compare him to Matt Carroll. Maybe I’m just not that imaginative. Either way, Matt Carroll has four years left to run on his guaranteed deal with the Mavericks, and Pat Carroll just spent a year in the Spanish second division. So you tell me who has the […]
– Zarko Cabarkapa has not been signed since being let go by the Golden State Warriors about 18 months ago, at the end of the 2006/07 season. Zarko had not played that whole season, either, meaning that his last professional basketball game came nearly three years ago in April 2006. The reason for this is injury, as Cabarkapa has battled chronic back complaints for all this time, if not from before then. However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel – Cabarkapa has recently begun workouts with his former team, Budućnost, hoping to get back into the game. He has not signed a contract with anyone, but it’s a start. – Justin Cage is playing for Belgacom Liege, a team that unsurprisingly play in Belgium. Belgacom Liege employ a very strict eight-man rotation (the roster outside of those eight players have a total of 30 minutes played in 13 games), and only one of those eight players is a Belgian. As an Arsenal fan, I kind of know how this feels. Cage averages 16.2 points and 4.2 rebounds a game, making him the team’s second-leading scorer behind the man, the legend, Christopher Hill. – Pat Calathes was not drafted, played on the summer league roster of all 30 teams (nearly), still didn’t make it to training camp, and so he went off to Greece, the country of his heritage. For Marousi in Greece, Calathes is averaging 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds, while shooting three-pointers at a scintillating 22%. – After being one of the best players in the D-League last year, Earl Calloway went in search of some slightly better money. Finding it with Cibona Zagreb, Calloway averages 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.9 steals a game, but his court time might be […]
