Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 68
May 18th, 2010
– Samo Udrih Beno’s brother started the year back in his native Slovenia, having not retained his place at Estudiantes Madrid. The one-time Maverick averaged 13.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists for Hopsi, while waiting for a better offer to come in. In January, one did, and Udrih moved to Croatia to play for Cibona Zagreb. For them he averaged 7.3 points down the stretch of their EuroLeague campaign, 9.0 ppg in the Adriatic League and 9.4 ppg in the Croatian league. – Ejike Ugboaja Cavaliers draft pick Ugboaja’s professional career before this season has read; Nigeria, Poland, Cyprus, D-League, and Iran. There’s not a whole lot of pedigree there, not helped by the fact that he averaged only 3/3 for the Cavaliers’ own D-League affiliate before being released. However, this year has seen Ejike bounce back a bit. He started the year with Azovmash in Ukraine, averaging 9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in only 15 minutes per game in the Ukrainian Superleague. He left in December and returned to Iran to play for Petrochimi, where statistics are unfortunately unavailable. Nevertheless, he produced quite a lot in a better quality of league than usual. It’s something to build from. Here are all the players drafted by the Cavaliers after the 2003 draft (the LeBron James draft): – Luke Jackson (10th, 2004) – Anderson Varejao (30th, 2004; technically drafted by Orlando, but done so for Cleveland) – Martynas Andriuscabbages (44th, 2005; technically drafted by Houston, but again done so for Cleveland) – Shannon Brown (25th, 2006) – Daniel Gibson (42nd, 2006) – Ejike Ugboaja (55th, 2006) – J.J. Hickson (19th, 2008) – Darnell Jackson (52nd, 2008; technically drafted by Miami, etc) – Christian Eyenga (30th, 2009) – Danny Green (46th, 2009) – Emir Preldzic (57th, 2009, Phoenix) It’s a largely-miss […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 53
March 10th, 2009
– Larry Turner is signed with the powerhouse Vermont Frost Heaves in the even more powerhouse Premier Basketball League. Averages don’t appear to an option, but here’s a recent boxscore. Would you be able to look at that box score and pick out Larry Turner, of all people, as a former signing of the L.A. Lakers? No. But it happened. How bizarre. – Samo Udrih averages 9.2 points and 3.4 fouls for Estudiantes Madrid. All things considered, he’s better than Beno. – Cory Underwood started the season with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the D-League, averaging 11.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 25 minutes per game. He then negotiated a release from his contract, whereby he promptly signed in China and tore his meniscus. After a 23-point, 12-rebound debut for the DongGuan New Century Leopards, Underwood then put up 8 points and 4 rebounds in his next game, followed by a 0/0 performance, then a 0/1 performance, culminating in a 32-minute, 7-point, 4-rebound outing in his final game before the team released him. If they were unhappy with his performance, then maybe they shouldn’t have made him play on a torn meniscus. Underwood has since returned to the D-League and the Thunderbirds, and has not played a game for them since returning. – Ramon Van de Hare is about to turn 27 years old, and currently averages 8.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in the incorrigible Cypriot league for AEK Larnacas. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – that whole “draft any seven-foot Euro that averages 1 point per game” trend of a few years ago was excessive. – The only Nick Van Exel sighting that I’ve got is an appearance at a Cincinnati Bearcats practice last month. No word on what he actually does […]
