Sometimes you hear about guys playing overseas, especially young guys, and most reports involve limited minutes and much time on the pine. Their Euro-stats are weird, you have to adjust for them. Other fast-traveled messages more recently have informed us of the struggles of economic basketball defectors Deron Williams and Ty Lawson with their respective teams in Turkey and Lithuania. Overseas ball seems more like yard work than a day at the park for some of these NBA guys.

Kevin Seraphin seems to have ignored perceived tradition in not approaching his Euro assignment with a meek demeanor, surely making Wizards brass and fans alike proud that more toughness is in the future. Seraphin’s temporary Spanish team, Caja Laboral, opened their season this weekend with a 73-60 win over Cajasol; and Seraphin is making his presence felt, bloodying fools up.

Seraphin started the game, played 30 minutes, and finished with 11 points (5-6 FGs, 1-3 FTs), oddly enough only one rebound (on the offensive end, told you the stats can be weird), to go with one assist, one steal, three fouls and three blocks. His 11 points tied with three others for second most on his team. But proof is in the pictures. In the embedded game highlight video below (linked here if that doesn’t work; H/T: Ball In Europe) you will notice: Read more »

EuroBasket 2011 is going on and several current, ex, and loosely connected to the Wizards are involved. Let’s go…

Darius Songaila – Lithuania

[via EuroBasket 2011 profile]

Here’s the point: LOOK AT THAT BEARD!

Digest it, behold it, listen to it whisper to you.

In terms of D-Song, well, he’s doing D-Song things: He’s ranked second at EuroBasket in fouls with 4.2 per game. Otherwise, he’s shooting 48.7-percent from the field, surely on long pick-and-pop jumpers just inside the three point line. His 3.3 rebound average per 15.2 minutes a game would be 9.9 rebounds per 45.6 minutes. So typical of Darius.

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See that fella above? That’s “Dinner Bell” Mel Turpin, a member of the cursed Washington Bullets/Wizards draft history … sorta.

Turpin was taken by the Bullets with the 6th overall pick in the famed 1984 NBA Draft … the Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and of course, Sam Bowie draft. Bowie was a teammate of Turpin’s at Kentucky, and while both are known as busts, it’s Bowie’s name that most often gets mentioned amongst NBA basketball infamy.

With Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland already holding down the paint, Turpin was immediately traded by then GM Bob Ferry to a team currently generally managed by his son Danny, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In exchange, the Bullets received Cliff Robinson and Tim McCormick, who was promptly sent to the Seattle Sonics, along with Ricky Sobers, for Gus Williams.

Williams lead the ’84-85 Bullets in scoring (20.0) and assists (7.7), while Robinson was fourth on the team in scoring (16.7) and second in rebounding (9.1). That Bullets team improved by five wins over the previous season’s mark to finish 40-42, but still lost to Barkley, Julius Erving, and Moses Malone in the first round of the playoffs.

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