Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 35
March 25th, 2010
– Bobby Jones Former University of Washington forward Bobby Jones was a second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2006, who was traded immediately to the Sixers. He signed a two-year deal with the team and played spot minutes of 44 games in his rookie year, before being traded again in the offseason to the Denver Nuggets as a part of the Steven Hunter/Reggie Evans swap. Denver played him in 25 more games but waived him before the contract guarantee date, at which point Jones signed two ten-day contracts with the Grizzlies. After the expiration of the second one came a fresh one with the Houston Rockets, quickly followed by two more with the Miami Heat, and one with the San Antonio Spurs, before Denver picked him back up for the last week of the season. Denver signed him to a contract that ran through the 2008-09 season with various guarantee dates along the way, and precisely because of that, Jones’s unguaranteed deal became a trade chip, one capitalised upon when he was traded along with Taurean Green to New York in exchange for Renaldo Balkman. The Knicks waived him a day later, which prompted the Heat to claim him off of waivers, yet he lasted only about a week there before Miami waived him prior to his contract guarantee date kicking in. A month later, Jones joined the Sacramento Kings for training camp, but did not make the team. And that was Bobby Jones’s NBA career. Jones has not signed an NBA contract since. However, given that he played for six teams in two years, and was a member of 11 franchises in that time (including two of them twice), the NBA had probably gotten him pegged by then. Jones currently plies his trade in Italy for Bancas […]
Second prize is a set of steak knives.
October 7th, 2009
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 […]
Third prize is you’re fired.
October 7th, 2009
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, […]
