Garth Joseph a Mav?

[madape]

Both Donnie and Don Nelson said after the draft that they were in the process of trying to sign a seven foot athletic center that nobody has heard of. This guy apparently is coming off some kind of knee problem. Later in the same day, Mark Cuban was quoted on ESPN as saying that the Mavs were in the process of signing a guy named Garth Joseph.

I can't say that I've ever heard of the guy, but here is some info I've found on him.



Position: C
Born: 08/08/73
Height: 7-2 / 2,18
Weight: 306 lbs. / 138,8 kg.
College - St. Rose College (NY) '97

A space eating defender and deadly short range shooter with a death touch for a big man. Joseph is a large man who wears a size XXXXXL uniform and a size 18 shoe. Growing up on Dominica (an island in the West Indies under British control, known by Americans mostly for its medical school), he originally played soccer as a youth and only began to play basketball at 16. He began to grow at the age of 12 and did not envision a college, let alone professional basketball career. Driven more by academics than sports, Joseph dreamed of attending college in the United States.

Career:
1994-1995: St.Rose (NCAA2): RebDivII-2(12.8), FGPDivII-3(.679), 14.2ppg
1995-1996: St.Rose (NCAA2): 15.8ppg, 11.8rpg, 3.3bpg
1996-1997: St.Rose (NCAA2): 13.8ppg, 11.5rpg: Ranks as the school’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,072; Ranks as the school’s all-time blocked shots leader with 300, just five shy of the NCAA Division II record; Ranks as the school’s seventh all-time scorer with 1,289 points; Recorded 58 career double-doubles over 89 games
1997: NBA Chicago Pre-Draft Camp
1997: Boston Celtics (NBA) summer camp
1997-1998: Peristeri Athens (GRE): 6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1.5 assists per game, while shooting 65% FG and 70% FT for one of the top teams in Greece
1998-1999: Mansfield Hawks (IBA): averaged 14 points, 13 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, and 3 assists, while shooting 62% FG and 67% FT
1999: Atlantic City Seagulls (USBL), in May'99 was placed on the inactive list
1999-2000: Nov. '99 Training Camp with Trenton Shooting Stars (IBL,1T), the signed with team for the season: 6.9ppg, 6.9rpg
2000-2001: Toronto Raptors (NBA): 2games: 1ppg, 1rpg, in Jan.'01 traded to Denver Nuggets (NBA): 2games: 0pts, but released the same month
2001: Shaw’s Pro Summer League in Boston (Washington Wizards)
2001-2002: At the end of Nov.'01 signed at Shanshi Dongshen (CHN): 28.5 points, 19.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks; Led the league in rebounds and dunks, ranked second in blocks, and ranked fourth in points
2002: Adirondack Wildcats (USBL): left in May due to lack of playing time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awards/Achievements:
IBA All-Star 2nd Team -99
IBA Champion -99
USBL’s All-Defensive team -99
Chinese League All-Star Team -02

[madape]

Interesting that he played last year in the Chinese basketball league

[Chicago JK]

he is a spare. He is not the person nellie mentioned yesterday.
Bring Joseph in to the summer leagues and give him a shot. If you are 7 foot, you will always get a chance. He is not better than Esch though.

[LonestarROB]

<< Interesting that he played last year in the Chinese basketball league >>



And he had a 40/20 game against Ming. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Bayliss]

7' 300 lbs? Yeah I'd say he'd definitely clog up the lane. The only think abot him is his age. But even so, if he could give us about 10-15 minutes a night muscling on Shaq then it would be worth the pickup.

[Dooby]

Can't be the same guy. Nellie said they might have drafted him on wednesday. This guy has already played in the NBA and thus would not have been in this year's draft. Plus they said this guy was a project. In my mind, 29 years old, does not a project make.

Finally, Nellie said noone knows about him. Near as I can tell, the following teams know about him: Boston Celtics; Toronto Raptors; Denver Nuggets; Washington Wizards.

[Murphy3]

yeah..i remember this guy..remember when we used to have the NBA player Scramble..where we'd scramble up their name and someone would try and figure out who it was...

Well, i used Garth Joseph as one of my guys and no one could figure it out

[Base Line Guy]

Cuban was talking about GJ joining the summer league. This is NOT the guy Nellie was talking about.

BLG

[mick]

Jay posted this on the board at db.com. His guess at the mystery man is Saulus Kuzminskas.

&gt;&gt; From telebasket.com (sounds like a Nelson to me):

Grew up with Vilnius Basket School (Lithuania) junior, made his senior debut in the 1999-00 season playing with BC Sakalai Vilnius. In 2000-01 played college ball at the University of California at Berkeley. For the 2001-02 season was signed by AB Siauliai(Lithuania).
.
Selected for the 1999 Nike EuroCamp in Barcelona. Played with the Lithuanian Junior National team at the 2000 European Championship.

Interest
Local, NBA, NCAA, Foreign

Notes
Tall, Saulius has a tailor made frame, long limbed and with huge wingspan.........Mobile and athletic, he’s pretty explosive and runs the court with excellent coordination.........A great offensive talent, plays the four spot.........Has some back to the basket skills, can quickly spin on the pivot foot to slide along the baseline.........Shows hook and jump hook shots with either hand.........Always ready to beat help and slam the ball.........Strong on penetration, has a quick first step and drives on either side with consistency; can finish with good body control even when getting bumped.........Has a good shooting form and a soft touch, he likes to take jumpers with his feet set.........Deadly from the top of the key, needs to catch and shoot a bit.........Hits the board hard thanks to his athleticism.........Very cool in the clutch.........On defense he’s pretty good too.........Can slide against opponents on the perimeter, but is a bit light against heavier big men down low.........Relies mainly on his athleticism and size, and shows timing to swat shots.........Should be a better defensive rebounder.........A superb talent, he showed substantial improvements since he has started playing at senior level.........Will play the next season in the NCAA........Euroleague and NBA potential.&lt;&lt;&lt;

[mick]

Here is another candidate that Jay posted at dallasbasketball.com

&gt;&gt;And if ain't him, it's this guy
Giedrus Rinkevcius

I asked you to ask Donnie about him yesterday, fish. But you didn't.

Here's a story. It sounds mysterious . . .

Sabonis claims &THORN;algiris' rights for NBA draft early entrant


On the eve of the 2002 NBA Drafts, Arvydas Sabonis wants the basketball world to know more about one of the candidates, Giedrius Rinkevi&egrave;ius, in a letter he sent to the NBA Commissioner Mr. David Stern, FIBA, and NCAA authorities.

KAUNAS (June 24) - Among those who have applied for participation in the 2002 NBA Drafts, there are five Lithuanian players – Darius Songaila (Wake Forest), Arvydas Macijauskas (Lietuvos Rytas), Gintaras Kad&thorn;iulis (Alita), Saulius Kuzminskas (BC Ðiauliai), and Giedrius Rinkevi&egrave;ius (Bridgton Academy). Even though the basketball experts in their previews claim Darius Songaila to be the only Lithuanian that might be drafted this year, at the &THORN;algiris front office the predictions are somewhat different.

“To our knowledge, the Dallas Mavericks are rather seriously considering to use their only call, the 55th, on the Lithuanian early entrant Giedrius Rinkevi&egrave;ius,” says Mindaugas Plukas, President of the Kaunas team. “It won’t be any problem for us, if not the circumstances under which Giedrius has ended up overseas. Recently we have exchanged letters with the NBA Commissioner Mr.David Stern concerning the clearance issue for this player. The authorities in the NCAA have also been informed about the Rinkevi&egrave;ius case.”

According to Mr. Plukas, in their letter to the NBA Commissioner, he and Arvydas Sabonis, who is a co-owner of the Kaunas team, presented the evidence showing that 19-yr-old 218-cm Rinkevi&egrave;ius is still under the labor agreement he entered into with BC &THORN;algiris in September, 2000, after being for years with the ‘Arvydas Sabonis Basketball School’ program in Kaunas. The team paid him regularly the agreed salary as a professional player and has covered the costs of a major surgery and ensuing rehabilitation until he left for the United States last summer, neglecting all his commitments and without giving the team any notice. Once in the United States, Mr.Rinkevi&egrave;ius avoided any contacts whatsoever with BC &THORN;algiris trying to set up a sort of communication firewall. Messrs. Plukas and Sabonis were shocked by such behavior of &THORN;algiris young player, as well as by the fact that he had concealed his professional player past while pretending for the student-athlete status with the University of Missouri men’s basketball program, as he signed a National Letter of Intent last November. In their letter, the writers also emphasized that some of the decisions made by Mr.Rinkevi&egrave;ius apparently had been imposed on him by interested persons from an NBA team and their partners in Lithuania.

In the reply Messrs. Plukas and Sabonis have received last week from the NBA Commissioner’s office, they have been assured on Mr. Stern’s behalf that, under the NBA/FIBA agreement, the NBA would make its teams respect the &THORN;algiris rights and would prohibit them from signing Mr. Rinkevi&egrave;ius should he be drafted.

As concerns the NCAA, there are scores of Lithuanian players overseas, and some of them have joined college basketball programs in a way similar to Mr. Rinkevi&egrave;ius’, but this is the first case when a Lithuanian team strongly protests against the campaign of smuggling ex professional players into the NCAA.&lt;&lt;

[Drbio]

I know nothing about this guy. But damn....he is big...and damn...that picture makes him look like he is made of clay.

[jacktruth]

Well, he was on the roster of a few NBA teams and rarely saw the floor, hardly impressive numbers. I can't see him surprising anyone now. He didn't play in the NBA last season. Are we the only team that noted the size of this guy? Geez, if he has a lick of talent, he would be at the end of someone's bench already.

[DirkNash1341]

Yeah, I have to think he must be pretty bad. He's an absolute monster and it seems like he has had his chances before. Worth a shot though...

[Drbio]

Big Ass 7 footers always seem to get a shot.

[Flashfunk]

I love this dude. ULTRA POWERFUL but laks in speed department.WILL not get knocked off the block.Its sad to see such a genetic wonder not suceed at the nba level. GARTH'S time is running out he must make a sincere effort( 100%) to improve his running game,and his speed.ONE suggestion to work on this area is to have him do running drills with a slingshot type of contrapment around his waist whilst another person holds onto slow him down. i hope that he is the hard worker that antonio davis says he is, because if he is not...GARTH WHO? if you would like another player who is similar try JAKE TSALKIS of the suns 8 years younger 287 pounds at 7'2 with 2years expirience

[Drbio]

You have to be intrigued. If you ever watch Bradley though, he is always the last one down the floor. I'd rather see some hulking dude like this than Bradley. Bradley is probably better in the footwork department though having played vs. NBA players his entire career.

[MavKikiNYC]

Visions of James Donaldson....

[Murphy3]

james donaldson was a decent player with the mavs..if garth joseph turned into that, i'd be happy

[MavKikiNYC]

Oh, yeah....Big James is my all-time favorite Mavs center. Not the most talented (cf Tarpley), but......no need to say more.

Favorite memory of Donaldson is him squaring off Maurice Lucas and staring him down in the playoffs.

Second favorite memory was the report that Darryl Dawkins nicknamed him 'American Tourister' because his head was as big as a suitcase.

[David]

I like the story about Motta and Aguirre getting into it in the locker room. Motta was giving Aguirre a dressing down. Aguirre acted like he was going to come after Motta and Donaldson let him know pretty quickly that THAT wasn't going to happen. Aguirre backed down.

[Drbio]

I'm guessing he won't, but if this guy even comes close to carrying Donaldsons jock I will be surprised.

[Murphy3]

doc, i'm guessing he won't as well..why else would he be available at this point?

[MavKikiNYC]

Late bloomer maybe?

[Murphy3]

possibly..but more likely, he's got very little to offer the mavs

[Drbio]

I agree. He will likely be a spare.