2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Oklahoma City Thunder
July 22nd, 2009
– DeAngelo Alexander: Last year, DeAngelo Alexander averaged 6.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in the German league, shooting 16% from three. Before that, he was in Romania. If he does something significant from an NBA stand point one day, we’ll come back to it. – Marcus Dove: Dove is a former four-year player at Oklahoma State, who went undrafted in 2008 and went off to Belgium. There, he averaged 10.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shooting 7.7% from three-point range and 56% from the foul line. Dove is an unashamed defensive specialist, but you can’t be a non-factor from the perimeter and still make it as a small forward in the NBA. Not unless you’re RyBo. – Tony Durant: The “relations of stars who got summer league spots because their star cousin/brother/uncle asked the team to bring them along” list gets a new addition. It’s a great list, that over the years has featured William Pippen (Scottie’s nephew), Joel Bosh (Chris’s brother), John Millsap (Paul’s brother), Zach Marbury (Stephon’s brother), Daniel Artest (Ron’s brother), Romeo Travis (LeBron James’s high school mate) and Rodney Billups (Chauncey’s brother). The common theme with these players is that they have no NBA calibre resumé outside of that, and Tony Durant is no different. Last year for Towson, he averaged 3.4 points and 2.0 rebounds. Towson is not a big school, in a not big conference, and those are not big numbers. At all. But the bloodline is enough. Speaking of Joel Bosh, here’s Joel Bosh being awkward. – Moses Ehambe: Ehambe was in the D-League last year, functioning as a three point specialist for the Tulsa 66ers. He averaged 10.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 18 minutes per game, shooting 41% from both the field and the three-point line. Here’s […]
Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 31
February 10th, 2009
– Anthony Lever-Pedroza is playing for a team called Soles de Mexicali, in a country that you can probably guess. About two hours ago, I watched a FIBA basketball magazine show that bizarrely and unexpectedly featured clips from a Soles de Mexicali game. I didn’t spot Anthony James Norwood Lever Pedroza Durazo, though. Anthony James Norwood Lever Pedroza Durazo averages 20.3 points in three Liga Americas games; also on his team are former Timberwolves guard Dejaun Wheat (who barely plays) and former Suns centre Horacio Llamas (who averages 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds). That unlikely duo are both 35, seeing out their professional lives at Soles de Mexicali – where fringe NBA careers wind down. – Ron Lewis is in Israel, averaging 16.3 points per game for Ironi Nahariya. Impressively, Lewis has shot 94 free throws to 140 field goals, for a 1.51 PPS average. Less impressive is the 72% that Lewis is shooting from the line, and the 25% that he’s shooting from three-point range. But he’s scoring at a very high efficiency anyway. – Nick Lewis had a try-out in the Spanish LEB Gold to begin the year, but didn’t sign, and went back to the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League. Building on his decent season of last year, Lewis is averaging 16.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, averaging 1.45 points per shot. I stand by that metric, even if I stand alone. – Sergei Lishouk is still with Azovmash Mariupol in his native Ukraine. Lishouk/Lischuk averages 7.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 3.0 fouls per game in the EuroCup, alongside 10.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 fouls and 1.2 blocks per game in the Ukrainian league. Since his rights were traded away by the Grizzlies last year, Lishouk can’t even get to the […]
30 teams in 36 or so days: L.A. Clippers
September 9th, 2007
This is the first of 30 instalments that will serve the dual purpose of being both offseason recaps and poorly thought-out predictions for next season, for all 30 NBA teams. These will be done in an order: that order is the order that I choose to do them in. There won’t be an alphabetical approach, nor one based on standings. They’ll be truly random. Randomness is the future. ___________________________________________ Players acquired via free agency or trade: Brevin Knight (two years, $3.3 million) Ruben Patterson (one year minimum) Josh Powell (three years, $2.6 million) Guillermo Diaz (three year minimum) Players acquired via draft: First round: Al Thornton (14th overall) Second round: Jared Jordan (45th overall, unsigned) Players retained: Quinton Ross (exercised team option) Players departed: James Singleton (declined team option, signed in Spain), Jason Hart (signed with Utah), Yaroslav Korolev (initially agreed to re-sign with the team right back at the start of free agency, but hasn’t done it yet, and now reports are flying about him signing in Europe instead), Daniel Ewing (waived, signed in Russia), Will Conroy (waived, signed in Italy) Bobbins: In amongst all the weird and strange things that have gone on throughout the league during this offseason, it seems to have escaped the attention of most people that the Los Angeles Clippers had one of the most economical and shrewd offseasons out there. After not getting ridiculously lucky and moving up in the lottery, the Clippers ended up drafting a consensus good pick, and also managed to draft a player in the second round who seemingly has trade value before he has even taken the court. Not stopping there, the Clippers waited for a while as other teams overspent for players, before making their own free agency splashes. Somehow, in Knight and […]
