Rodney Elliott Signs in Spain

Rodney Elliott (1994-98) has been signed to a deal for the rest of the season with Tenerife Rural in Spain's LEB 1, which is Spain's 2nd tier league (ACB is the 1st tier league). The team is based in the Canary Islands.

Here's a translation of what the above article in Spanish says (I cleaned up the Google Translation):

Rural Tenerife has reached an agreement with player Rodney Elliott for the rest of the season. Elliott is a North American wing/pivot, 30 years old (4-3-76), and 2.02m tall, who has played professionally in Spain twice before: Ricoh Manresa in ACB and Fuenlabrada in LEB 1 during the 2004-05 season. The player, who had been playing for the Sidney Kings in Australia, is expected to arrive on the island soon to report to coach Rafa Sanz.

Elliott's Career History:

• 94/98: University of Maryland (NCAA). In his last season he averaged 15 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.


• 98/99: Ieper (Belgium)


• 99/00: Baltimore Bay Runners (IBL). 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds.


• 00/01: Kansas City Knights (ABA). 15.8 points and 6.4 rebounds.


• 01/02: Mabo Livorno (ITA-Series A). 36 games, 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.


• 02/03: Mabo Livorno (ITA-Series A). 34 games, 16 points and 6.1 rebounds.


• 03/04: Scavolini de Pesaro (ITA-Series A). 40 games, 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds.


• 04/05: Ricoh Manresa (ACB). 4 games, 9.5 points and 4 rebounds; Soaps Brown Fuenlabrada (LEB 1): 12 parties, 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds.


• 05/06: Besiktas (TUR-D1): 27 games, 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds; Glass ULEB. 10 games, 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds.


• 06/07: Sidney Kings (AUS-NBL): 23 games, 14.5 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Sarunas Jasikevicius Traded to Golden State

Yesterday, Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) was traded in an eight-player deal from Indiana to the Golden State Warriors. The Contra Costa Times says:

Head basketball honcho Chris Mullin, who was under pressure to provide a boost to the Warriors offense, upgraded the roster for Nelson, shipping forwards Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Ike Diogu -- all players who failed to flourish under Nelson -- and guard Keith McLeod to the Indiana Pacers for forward Al Harrington, swingman Stephen Jackson, point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and forward Josh Powell. [...]

Jasikevicius: He's not a headliner in this deal, but he may turn out to be a vital addition. Jasikevicius fills two of the Warriors' needs -- a steady backup for point guard Baron Davis and a consistent outside shooter.

The Warriors' press release says:

Jasikevicius, 30, has appeared in 37 games this season with the Pacers, averaging 7.4 points and 3.0 assists in 17.9 minutes. He scored a season-high 20 points on opening night (November 1) at Charlotte and has handed out a season-best seven assists on two occasions, including his last appearance with the Pacers on Monday at New Jersey. During his rookie NBA campaign with the Pacers last season, the 6'4" guard averaged 7.3 points and 3.0 assists in 35 games. He established a Pacers' rookie record in three-point field goals made (86) last season and was a member of the rookie squad during the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge during All-Star Weekend in Houston. Additionally, his free throw percentage (.910, 121-of-133) would have ranked third overall in the NBA, but he fell four free throws made shy of qualifying for league leaders. Jasikevicius, who signed with the Pacers as a free agent prior to last season after spending the previous seven years playing professionally overseas, also appeared as a starter in 15 games with Indiana last season, averaging 8.7 points and 4.3 assists. A native of Lithuania, he was a member of the bronze medal winning Lithuanian team at the 2000 Olympics.

Kurtis Shultz Career Profile

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a good profile of Kurtis Shultz (1991-95), including his career history:

• 1995-98…Loyola College, Strength and Conditioning Coach
• 1999-2002…Johns Hopkins, Strength and Conditioning Coach
• 2000-03…Maryland, Strength Coach – Men’s Basketball
• 2003…Cincinnati Bengals, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
• 2004-05…Minnesota Vikings, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
• 2006…Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach

Steve Blake Traded to Denver Nuggets

Yesterday, Steve Blake (1999-2003) was traded from Milwaukee to the Denver Nuggets, in exchange for Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge.

From the Nuggets' Press Release:

“Steve is a true point guard who we think will really help our club,” said [Nuggets Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark] Warkentien. “He’s an outstanding shooter and a solid floor leader. The toughest part of trades is giving up players for whom you have great fondness. Earl and Julius have been great pros for us and we wish them the best of luck.”

Blake, 6-3, 172, has averaged 3.6 ppg and 2.5 apg in 33 games for the Bucks this season. The fourth-year pro has averaged 6.0 ppg and 3.0 apg in 220 career games with Milwaukee, Portland and Washington, while shooting .377 (206-547) from three-point range. Blake had his best all-around game of the season against the Nuggets on Jan. 8, scoring 11 points while tying season highs with seven assists and five rebounds. He enjoyed his best season a year ago with Portland, playing in 68 games (57 starts) and averaging career highs of 8.2 ppg and 4.5 apg. Blake was originally selected in the second round (38th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Wizards.

ESPN.com says:

"We're getting a classic point guard," Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien told The Associated Press. "He's an outstanding shooter and solid floor leader." [...]

Blake, meanwhile, will get an opportunity to win some back-up minutes in Denver's backcourt, with the Nuggets admittedly looking for pass-first facilitators who can play with Iverson, Anthony and swingman J.R. Smith.

The Washington Post's Wizard Insider blog says that Steve Blake is worth more than Steve Nash:

Blake got traded today -- for the second time in less than a year - from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge. [...] Boykins is making $2.95 million and Hodge, $1.2 million, this season. In August, Blake was shipped from Portland to Milwaukee in exchange for Jamaal Magloire, who earns $8.3 million. Add up these deals and the players Blake essentially has been traded for in the past five months will earn $12.45 million. That's almost $2 million more than Nash will earn for the Phoenix Suns this season.

I guess that's one way to look at it...

Chris McCray Waived by Bucks

On January 4, Chris McCray (2002-06) was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks. He hasn't been picked up by any other teams yet.

Travis Garrison Playing for CBA Team in Montana

Travis Garrison (2002-06) has been very difficult to keep track of. Apparently, his stay with the ABA's Maryland Nighthawks was very short, and back on December 11, he signed with the Great Falls Explorers (in Great Falls, Montana) of the CBA. He's on the roster on the Explorers' web site, but no other information. Apparently, Garrison led his team in scoring in his first CBA game (there's a picture of Travis with the article).

I learned about Garrison's move to Montana from this article in the Washington Post about the conclusion of his legal troubles from last year.

Terence Morris Signs in Israel

Two days after Christmas, Terence Morris (1997-2001) signed with Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel for the rest of the season. Here's his new team player profile.

Morris, who was drafted by Atlanta in the 34th pick in 2001, played 2 seasons for Houston Rockets before spending one season in the NBDL and another in Apollon Patras of Greece, where he averaged 11.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.

Last year he returned to the NBA, and played 22 games for Orlando Magic in which he had 1.6 points and 1.7 boards per game.

2007 Site Update

Happy New Year!

I've made some format changes to the site in the past week, including upgrading to the latest version of Blogger code. The best new feature is the labels at the bottom of every post and in the Quick Topic Lookup in the sidebar. Click on a name in the list to see all the articles about that player. Also, the Archive section is now set up as a heirarchy menu. Click on the arrow next to a month or year to expand it.

The only shortcoming is that the site feed is a little screwy for now. It's a known issue, and Blogger says it should sort itself out eventually. Please bear with it! The site feed link is now at the top of the sidebar, easier to find if you haven't subscribed already.

Sarunas Jasikevicius Career & Highlight Videos

Today's video offering from YouTube.com is a mini-bio from around 2003 of Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98), describing his successes on the court in European leagues and international play from 1998-2003, before coming back to the NBA.



I've never posted anything before about Sarunas's pro career, other than that he's currently in his second season playing for the Indiana Pacers (player page). Allow me to paraphrase his Wikipedia entry. As it mentions in the video above, after leaving Maryland, Sarunas returned to Lithuania, where he played for Lietuvos Rytas in 1998-99. Next, he went to Slovenia to play for Olimpija Ljubljana in 1999-2000. Sarunas won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics playing for Lithuania's national team.

He continued moving up to higher profile teams, playing with Spain's FC Barcelona for 3 seasons from 2000-2003. In 2003, Sarunas helped lead Barcelona to the Euroleague Championship. Then, that same year, Sarunas led his Lithuanian national team to the European Basketball Championship and was named tournament MVP. The following season, he moved to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, where he picked up where he left off, winning two more consecutive Euroleague titles in 2003-05.

Sarunas caught the eye of NBA scouts and American TV viewers in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he led Lithuania to an opening round win over the USA, but narrowly lost to USA when they met again in the Bronze Medal game. The following year, he was signed by the Pacers to a 3 year contract.

Sarunas has almost as many videos on YouTube as Steve Francis did. Plus, he has two competing fan sites at Jasikevicius.com and Jasikevicius.net.

Steve Francis Highlight Videos

Continuing on the recent theme of mining YouTube.com for my blog content, today I present Steve Francis's (1998-99) Top Ten Plays from his days with the Houston Rockets:



There are tons of Steve Francis videos on YouTube if you search for them. Lots of highlight reels set to music... too many to post here!