thetorch

I like Collins too but I've heard so many good things about Thatch coming into this next year. I predict Thatch's career will mirror Jett's. He may not be quite as good but he may get really good quicker than Jett did. At the very least Thatch is our 3rd best player next season and maybe 1st or 2nd by the end of the year.

I hate the D-II games as well even though they make sense on paper. As a fan I hate the idea of playing a game that doesn't count. Now does it make any difference to a team whether player A gets hurt in action against Rockhurst or Miss Valley St? No. To me it is way worse though. The idea that you are risking your health against a team with nothing to lose is a poor idea. It is hard enough to get up for teams that you know you should beat. How do you get up for a DII squad, in the middle of the season no less. The game is almost certain to be a letdown, and not just for athletes. Are the coaches preparing as hard as they normally would? Are you even running all your sets in practice leading up to it or in game? No again. It devalues the whole season. A team only plays 30 some odd games. Why waste even 1? We can't play a high profile opponent every night but I don't think you can afford to play an opponent that can't compete with you at all on any night either.

Only returning players can go on the trip so we would have been really shorthanded if we went this year.

Wrapped up way too nice. Another 6 episodes to flesh this out and it would have been fine. I liked how it ended up, decent end to the story. Just didn't like how they got there.

It's not an easy lifestyle but if you can do it, it can pay off. Especially since English speaking countries are starting to get together more high profile leagues. McCall would be out of pro ball if he had to play in a foreign speaking league. Kwamain had a very hard time at first, but skill won over his peers. Most of the players aren't getting rich but they might be making more than they could being a teacher or policeman or working in an office at an entry level. A friend of mine played at Mo Bap in the late 90s, early 2000s. He was decent, was all conference but its D-2. He played in a couple USBL teams in the states and then got hooked up with a connection in the UAE. Played two seasons there and ended up playing in the Middle East for 10 years. Some teams robbed him but for the most part he made between 50-65k for 9 months. Hang out in the States for 3 months then go back. Teams paid for most of his everyday expenses and no taxes meant he banked probably 75% of his earnings. He's a personal trainer now, works 30 hours a week maybe, invests wisely but for the most part lives off that income he banked. Not bad for a kid from Pagedale. Its sad if you look at Willie Reed. If he would just suck it up and go overseas he could play till he was 35, get a financial advisor and retire. He's one of the 400 best basketball players in the world and I make twice as much as he does running a grocery store.

The most any player gets overseas is 1-3 million and most of those are in China. There are a few former NBA caliber players who can command 1 million per in some leagues but that is few and far between, less than 50 players. Years back it was different, not as many guys were willing to overseas. Pay was better. When AB was playing he was a top ten player in Europe and played in the top Russian and Italian leagues which at that time, fall of communism were flush with cash. Salaries and what guys actually get paid are two different things as well. Heinrich was playing in the top German league and he did get German citizenship at one point so he may have gotten paid 6 figures for a while, but he wasn't getting room and board, or no taxes either. I may be slightly conservative on some figures but I'd say Lisch makes the most of our former players, then Mitchell, than probably Evans. I'd say only those 3 have a chance of playing for 1 team and making close to 6 figures. Conklin plays for sometimes 3 teams a year to make that much. Guys in the b leagues like Ash, Roby and Remuken are making typically much less, but it is tax free and beats working at a desk.

I'm almost 100% Lewis starts. Most experienced guy we have and he's a solid player who fills a role on the team. I don't think these freshman bigs are getting minutes just because they are big. We'll start 3 or 4 guards and play that many all game. Goodwin and Thatch will have huge roles and Lewis will be right behind them. If Jimmerson or Collins is getting minutes in front of Lewis they are very good freshman.

So Roby was playing for this team by August in the Copia tourney. Euro teams have a regular season and then a tournament season. Regular season can run from December to May or June, Tournament season from May to September. It isn't very intensive, at most they play games twice a week, sometimes once every two weeks. So Roby is playing in the Copia Tourney now, and he played in last season, so this is technically the start of his 2nd season. Regular season consist of 24 games, plus playoffs, Copia is maybe 14 games, so a season may be 40 weeks or so with a couple weeks overlap.

I bet Ian despite being a bench guy makes 80-100k easy, maybe more, maybe much more. Cory, Roby, Ash, might only 3k-4k a month, maybe less. Its tax free and room and board is taken care of so. Their teams can almost play year round or have 3-4 months off. So they are making a middle class salary. Again that is if they get paid, which sometimes it is hard. Evans and Mitchell probably make much more. I bet Evans makes 60k a season in Bundesliga and they usually pay all your money. Mitchell plays for a rich owner and the Russian usually pay well. He has an international star rep so he should be upwards of 80k, possibly more. Conklin hustles real hard playing multiple leagues. He may get 80-120k in Australia, another 30 in Puerto Rico and then may make slightly more when he plays in Europe. Jett and Loe make less than Conklin I would imagine. NBL has strange cap rules. 1.1 million soft cap, natives can make a great deal if you are a star and only count 150k against the cap, but your cap numbers cannot be more in salary than 400k for any 5 players on the team. Loe could be 45-60k and more in the NZ league. Jett makes more than that probably 60 and another 20 in NZ. Lisch is an Australian citizen so he can make more than most players. He's a top guy, all star, former MVP. With perks he could pull in 250k, maybe not that much. Reed makes 35k. McCall in the British league probably pulls in 40-50k, maybe less. No idea on Ellis. Can't be that much 2-4k a month but I think his family owns the team so he may get paid more and do other jobs.

Liddell didn't even make it one year abroad. He bounced out of the Argentinian league after a few weeks. Thomas Crone had a writeup on him last year or the year before in the RFT. He's finishing up his degree and rapping while working in the parking garage last I heard. We have a decent amount coaching locally. Tatum, Frazier, Love, I think Luke Meyer is still out in Borgia.

Goodwin, Thatch, Lewis, Perkins, & French. Hargrove & Jimmerson first off the bench then Hankton. Collins will get more minutes as the season progresses but will start off at 8-10 minutes a game. The two bigs will get 3 minutes a half between them. If Hargrove can handle guarding the 4 with Perkins, or maybe even one of them manning the 5 spot for a time we will be good and be able to spread out our guard rotation. It helps that we have Thatch and Goodwin who can guard much bigger players.

Long seasons. Their end of season tourney goes into the fall and then regular season starts at the beginning of the year. He was playing against Ash last season.

Finally got make some updates today on our pro players. Most of their seasons are over or close to it. Ian Vougioukas - Spent the year with Panathinaikos, coached by Rick Pitino and winners of the Greek Cup. Ian played in 20 regular season games and also 21 games in the Euroleague which Panathinaikos is currently in 9th place. Vougioukas averaged about 5 points a game with a couple rebounds in 10 minutes a game and had 2 starts over the course of the season. Ian is still going strong in his 11th season abroad going on 34 years old. Kevin Lisch - Helped lead his team to the best regular season record in the NBL playing alongside league MVP Andrew Bogut. Kings lost in the semis as they were swept by Melbourne. Lisch was 2nd in scoring on his team at 14 points game, 3rd in the league in steals at 1.3 a game and was among the league leaders in 3 points made and shooting pct at 39%. Rob Loe - Came off the bench for the last Cairns Taipans in the NBL. Rob averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds in 28 games with 14 starts. He is currently playing in the New Zealand Pro League in the offseason for the first place Wellington Saints averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds as their starting big man. Brian Conklin - Starred for the Illawara Hawks who went 12-16 in the NBL this past season. Conlin averaged a team high 15 points with 5 boards and 2 assists. In the offseason he is now playing Puerto Rico, which is typically a staging ground for a move back to Europe. He has played for two teams in the Puerto Rico league, he was leading the best team in the league and was traded to the worst, I think to help the league parity. So far he’s averaged nearly 16 points and over 8 rebounds through 30 games. Jordair Jett - Had a nice return to high level competition after experiencing some injury problems the past 2 years. Played alongside Conklin for the Hawks and was mainly their 6th man. 2nd on the team in scoring at nearly 12 a game and had the 2nd highest steals average in the league at 1.5 a game. In the offseason he is now playing in the New Zealand league for the Nelson Giants averaging 20 points a game and is 3rd in the league in assists at just over 5 a game. Kwamain Mitchell - Another successful season, this time in the Russian Superleague playing for Vostok. Mitchell was a top 20 scorer in the league with over 15 ppg, 3rd in assists with over 5, and 2nd in steals with over 2. Mitchell led Vostok to the regular season title but lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs ultimately finishing 4th in the league. Cody Ellis - Started the year in camp with a couple NBL teams but didn’t make a roster. Ellis is currently playing again in the State League, Australia’s vast network of about 50 minor league teams. His team the Warwick Senators are currently 8-2 and 2nd in their division. Cody is averaging 14 ppg, 5 boards, 3 steals, 3 assists, and shooting 37% from 3. Willie Reed - Played about half the season with the Salt Lake City Stars before suffering a major injury. Through 20 games he was averaging 20 and 11 and was one of the best big men in the G League. Reed still carries and 7 game NBA suspension which makes it hard for him to get a 10 day contract look from a team in the NBA. Cory Remuken - Playing in the ProB French league for Lille Metropole which has almost completed their season. They sit in the middle of the pack with a 13-19 record. Remuken is the starting center and averages 10 ppg, 4 boards, and almost 2 blocks. Mike McCall - Starred in the BBL for the Manchester Giants who finished 9th in the league. McCall was among the league leaders in ppg at just under 16, 7th in assists with over 5, and shot 39% from 3 for the season. Dwayne Evans - Playing still for Ratiopharm in the Bundesliga where he has been his whole pro career. This past season he led Ratiopharm in scoring at 15 a game and was 5th in the league in rebounding with over 6 boards. Ratiopharm will be starting the playoffs this week where they are 6th seed and are also currently participating the Eurocup where they are now 3-3 in their division. Ash Yacoubou - Plays for Skriljevo in the Croatian League. Ash started as PG for 10-14 skriljevo team averaging 11.5 points and 4 rebounds. Currently Skriljevo is playing in teh Alpe Adria Cup which is a champioship tournament for the Balkan leagues. They are atop their group in seed play at 4-2 and Ash has upped his averages across the board. Davell Roby - Finishing up his 2nd season with BRNO in the Czech Republic League. He averaged 12 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists for the 11-25 BRNO. His team was the last squad to make the playoffs, but lost in the play in game. League playoffs will end this week and play will begin again the Alpe Adria Cup. Roby’s team is once again the same group as Ash’s. BRNO is 2-4 in seed play which begins again shortly. Reggie Agbeko - Looks he did not play overseas this past year. A couple of our other guys who never really suited up for us are also playing overseas. Henriquez and Santos both play in the top Argentinian league are 6th men on their respective teams. Ingvi has gone back to Iceland and is playing pro again averaging 10 points a game for 9-13 Grindavik in the top Icelandic league. Grandy Glaze and believe it or not Darren Clarke both appear to play in some sort of minor league Canadian barnstorming league. I can't get any stats for it. This was the first time I'd seen Clarke's name ever come up.

Every season since the early 80s when I started following the team, Blues fans have the most ridiculous expectations for their team. Again, historically one of the worst run franchises in the NHL yet every year the expectations are the cup when they haven't gotten anywhere near it ever. Blues fans as a whole don't know hockey, in comparison to other longtime fan bases. WWE fans look down on Blues fans. This situation has everything to do with the fans. You've been supporting a franchise who has been an outcast in their league for decades. From Scott Stevens to this incident and everything in between. It's no coincidence. This is what happens when you support a cheating inept franchise in a corrupt league. You'll get screwed every year. Yet every year you are shocked when it happens again. The NBA is run 1000 times better than the NHL.

I used to be a season ticket holder until Laurie sold off the team after the lockout. Was a Huge hockey fan. After being away from hockey for a while I realized Blues fans are just the worst. Terribly run franchise for generations and the fans still pack it in. You realize the blues get screwed by the NHL because the franchise constantly breaks rules. They will forever be punished for it. The cup will never be won here. Give it up. NHL is a garage league. We should have an nba team instead of this joke of a franchise.