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 […]
Where Are They Now, 2009; Part 28
February 4th, 2009
– You did it! You did it! You waited for your Alexander Johnson news! Be proud of yourself, and then proceed to hate me, as I tell you that there isn’t any. Johnson started the year in Germany with Brose Baskets Bonn, averaged 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.4 fouls in 11 German league games, before leaving last month and being replaced (sort of) by Dan Dickau. Johnson is now unsigned, but, in better news, Dickau has scored 37 points combined in the two games that he’s been there. – Jumaine Jones was reportedly suspended from European basketball for a year in September by FIBA, for the weird yet wonderful crime of signing contracts with two different teams at the same time; one with Alyssa Milano, and one with Ural Great Perm in Russia. However, he’s been playing for the greatly-named Great Perm anyway, averaging 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in Russian league play. How that is possible, I don’t know – Russia is in kind of both Europe and Asia, depending on which you want to count it as at any given moment. However, Great Perm have played in both the EuroCup and EuroChallenge this season, and, as the names would suggest, those are European competitions. Yet Jumaine has been playing in them, averaging 9.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in the EuroChallenge. Presumably some sort of settlement was worked out; any answers as to how specifically this is possible? – Eddie Jones was bought out by the Pacers in preseason after being traded from the Mavericks, and hasn’t been heard from since. – Dwayne Jones went to training camp with the Magic, didn’t make it, went to Turkey with Efes, played two games, scored one point, grabbed one rebound, came back to America, signed with the […]
Third Prize Is You’re Fired (2008 NBA Training Camp)
October 6th, 2008
“Anybody wanna see second prize?” “Second prize is a set of steak knives.” – Milwaukee signed Ron Howard, T.J. Cummings, Matt Freije and Kevin Kruger for camp. If you’re wondering who Ron Howard and T.J. Cummings are…well, you have yourself a valid question, but both are represented by Elfus-Siegel Management, an agency quite adept at landing their players places on training camp rosters. (If you were wondering, this is how Garth Joseph rolled up on the Bulls training camp back in 2003, for one beautiful week.) Be very careful when you Google-search T.J. Cummings’s name. Freije gives the Bucks a weak-defending jump-shooting power forward, as they only have two right now, which just isn’t enough. And Kruger gets to spend a couple of weeks in the NBA, even though he has little chance of making a roster that sees Luke Ridnour, Ramon Sessions and Tyronn Lue ahead of him, whether he likes it or not. Sham’s prediction: The Bucks told Damon Jones not to report, and they’ll try to trade him, but he will probably be waived if that can’t be done. That would open up a roster spot for someone, but what would be the value of any of those four filling it? – Minnesota made me a happy man this summer. Their camp signings were Kevin Ollie, Blake Ahearn and Rafael Araujo, while Chris Richard accepted his qualifying offer. Blake Ahearn is a nice player. Kevin Ollie is a moustachioed legend with something of a Brunson complex. But….Araujo? There’s so much right about that move. Part of it is the way that Rob Babcock won’t let go, part of it is the fact that it’s Rafael Araujo, but also because his signing allows for the existence of this picture. Only Rafael Araujo could use training camp media day […]
