Former NBA guard just joined the Montenegrin national team
June 19th, 2010

They’re coming thick and fast; yet another American in Europe has picked up a passport of a minor European team in order to further their career ambitions. But unlike some of those that have gone before him, this one has multiple years of NBA experience. And that’s because he was a first-rounder. The country is Montengro, and here’s a clue as to who the player is. Answer after the jump. Per Eurobasket.com, Montenegro have announced their latest national team squad. In it is the new guy. It would appear that unlike some of his predecessors, the new guy is going to actually play for the nation that sold him the passport. It’s the noble thing to do. The list is not a bad list. Montenegro aren’t factors in the world of sport generally, but they can play basketball. They can particularly produce big men. NBA draft picks Nikola Pekovic and Slavko Vranes are listed there, as are Peja Drobnjak (who churned in a few memorable seasons of NBA time) and Vladimir Dasic (who might be drafted this year). Former NBA draft picks no longer involved in the national team setup, but who once were, include Zarko Cabarkapa and Mladen Sekularac. There’s also Dante and Galante favourite Vladimir Golubovic, as well as Milko Bjelica, a quality player with a name like a pudding. And there’s always Sasha Pavlovic, which is cool. However, they’ve struggled to find as much guard quality. Montenegro have a couple of decent guards placed in strong European leagues – Vlado Scepanovic with Murcia in Spain, Goran Jeretin with Aliaga in Turkey – but their guard production does not have the pedigree of their big man production. To counter that, two years ago, the team recruited ex-St John’s point guard Omar Cook, who has played the position for […]

Posted by at 9:25 PM

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 17
January 28th, 2010

It’s days like yesterday that remind me of why I spent a good three weeks of my life making the anagram feature. Greg Oden’s anagram is “engorged,” and by Jove did that turn out to be fitting. In amongst the two hundred and seventy jillion jokes made about Oden’s goods the other day, none seemed more apt than that. The day Tayshaun Prince/Raunchy Panties comes out as a lingerie model is the day I start worrying if those things are actually premonitions.   – Dan Dickau Dickau signed with the Suns for preseason, instead of signing with the Celtics as was first thought. He played in five preseason games, totalling 14 points and 7 assists in 39 minutes, but did not make the team. He was never going to, really, because even though the Suns had open roster spots to play for, they’re the Suns. Since being waived by Phoenix, Dickau has not signed elsewhere, which seems strange for a 31-year-old man whose career will be on the downslope soon. Perhaps he’s injured.   – Kaniel Dickens Dickens is in France, averaging 9.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for Nancy. However, he has been unbelievably inconsistent with his scoring. In 12 games, he’s scored in double figures only four times, with three of those games being 22 points or more, and with with six other games of scoring 4 points or lower. His scoring totals on the season read 8, 6, 24, 4, 0, 28, 3, 1, 11, 2, 22, 2. Can’t get much more up and downy than that. That’s like a hummingbird’s heart monitor.   – Michael Dickerson Dickerson made a surprising return to basketball in training camp 2008 when he signed with the Cavaliers after five years out of the game. He did not make the […]

Posted by at 5:39 PM

2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Toronto Raptors
July 25th, 2009

– Paul Davis: Davis was waived by the Clippers to save some money, after being brought back for no obvious reason. Strangely, he didn’t sign anywhere after that, but he did appear on Millionaire Matchmaker, where it was determined that he showed an “immature” attitude towards sex. But he did win the heart of one spectacularly energetic pseudo-blonde: (video removed by uploader; try this instead) These. These are the things we must know.   – DeMar Derozan: The Raptors wings last season had all the athleticism of a grilled perch, so at least they addressed that. But I can’t say I’m overwhelmed with the pick. No word on what DeRozan’s attitudes towards sex are, or what he deems to be an “upscale” bowling alley.   – David Doblas: Doblas is a soon-to-be 28-year -old Spaniard with the usual Spanish problems with hair. (This is one thing I noticed when I holidayed there earlier this year; everyone has black hair, and they all bald at 30. Without exceptions. Good luck, David.) Last year for Bruesa-Gipuzcoa BC – the ACB team that you’ve totally heard of – Doblas averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds.   – Quincy Douby: I don’t know Quincy Douby’s amount of guaranteed salary, so stop asking. (Although I’m fairly sure it’s $0, that’s only an educated guess.) There’s not much reason for him to make the team, or even for him to be in the NBA; Douby may well be a versatile scorer with the ball in his hands, but he’s undersized, does not rebound or create for others, is not efficient, and is not a good-enough shooter to be ideal as a catch-and-shoot specialist. Go to Europe and start starring, Quincy. It’ll be easy for you.   – Carl English: Despite the name, English is Canadian, which […]

Posted by at 1:28 AM

Preview Sort Of Thing: Sacramento Kings
October 20th, 2008

As an aspiring GM with no qualifications or career prospects to speak of, and whose sole outreach into the world of the NBA is this distinctly amateur and unattractive site full of mild slander, I enjoy certain advantages. One of those is the ability to do what I want, to a half-baked standard, and then to abandon it prematurely. This explains what happened with last year’s “30 teams in 30 or so days” series of predictions, where I started well, fell behind early, and then gave up roughly half way through. Get in. This year, we’re going to do it again. There will be predictions, and by the power of Greyskull, they’re going to be woeful. Even better than that, it’s October 19th, and the season starts in just over a week, yet there are 30 teams to cover. So don’t be surprised if I only do about…oooh, five? ShamSports.com – run by an amateur. The few posts that will be made are to be undertaken in a completely random order, with no semblance of logic or reasoning. And with that in mind, we begin with the Sacramento Kings.   Sacramento Kings The Kings’ glory era ended a while ago. The days of the Adelman-era Kings, with Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Hedo Turkoglu, Peja Stojakovic, Doug Christie and friends, are over. Webber’s knee stopped working, Turkoglu surprised us all by actually getting good, Christie’s now the white Dame Dash, and Divac now works for the Serbian government. Other than the incumbent Brad Miller, the final player from those days – Mike Bibby – was pawned off to Atlanta earlier this year for a rather generous return. And that was that. With a end of an old era should come the start of a new one. “The King Is Dead”, and […]

Posted by at 12:02 AM