Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons – 15.5 Points, 9.7 Rebounds, 2.3 Assists and 0.7 Blocks per game.
Greg will unfortunately be watching the NBA postseason from his couch like the rest of us after Detroit ended their season 11 games out of the final seed in the Eastern Conference. However, that is not to say that the pride of Harvey, La., had a disappointing season by any means. All of Monroe’s numbers were up from his rookie year, in which he averaged 9.4 points, 7.5 boards, 1.3 assists, and 0.6 blocks per contest. Greg is going to be an All-Star next year—you heard it here first.
Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers – 12.8 Points, 8.8 Rebounds, and 2.0 Blocks per game.
Big Roy had a career year during the 2011-2012 campaign. The first-time All-Star in 2012 has seen his stats increase after each of his four seasons in the NBA. The 3rd-seeded Pacers have drawn the Superman-less Orlando Magic in the first round, and it would be very surprising to see them get upset. Awaiting the Pacers in the second round—barring the Knickerbockers suddenly catching fire—will be everyone’s favorite team to hate, the Miami Heat. Indiana went 1-3 against El Heat in the regular season with one of their losses coming in overtime. My prediction? The Pacers shock the world in the conference semis before falling to the Bulls in seven in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jeff Green, Boston Celtics
Green will be watching the 4th-seeded Celtics’ playoff run from the bench, as a heart condition has kept him sidelined all season long. Still did not travel against Vanderbilt.
Patrick Ewing Jr., Free Agent
Ewing was waived by the Iowa Energy in early April. While close, he has yet to maintain an extended stay in the league. Let’s hope he gets his shot in 2012-2013.
DaJuan Summers, Free Agent
Like Patrick, DaJuan will be looking to make an NBA roster in the fall. If he can’t, Summers may instead opt to return to Europe, having spent a three-month stint in Italy back in 2011.
Chris Wright, Olin Edirne (Turkey)
There remains no updates to report after Chris left his Turkish team about a month ago amongst reports that he might have MS. Nothing has been confirmed about his condition, however, so it is best not to speculate. From his Twitter account, this investigative reporter has discerned that Wright is back home in the DMV and no longer with his club in Turkey.
Austin Freeman, Marco Polo Shop (Italy) – 20.9 Points and 2.9 Assists per game.
Sug-A-Free remains sidelined with a hernia he suffered back in mid-March. Based on Austin’s impressive stats from when he was healthy, I imagine he will attract attention from some of Europe’s top teams in the offeseason, if not NBA squads.
Jonathan Wallace, Bayern Múnich (Germany) – 9.6 Points and 2.0 Assists per game.
Munich will play a heavily diminished Chelsea squad in the UEFA Champions League Final on May 19 after taking down Real in PKs on Wednesday…oh wait that’s the soccer team. The basketball version of Bayern Munich, meanwhile, is set to finish fifth in the Basketball Bundesliga, as there is only one game remaining. J-Wall seems to have found a home at Munich in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Brandon B-B-B-Bowman, Maccabi Rishon (Israel) – 15.7 Points and 8.2 Rebounds per game.
Bowman’s team has finished the season in third place and will look to prevent rivals Maccabi Tel-Aviv from winning their 50th championship in this year’s playoffs; all of the other Israeli Super-League teams have won a combined eight titles.
Julian Vaughn, Antwerp (Belgium) – 6.4 Points and 4.0 Rebounds per game.
With five games left in the regular season, Julian’s team is in second place by half a game. Vaughn had 7 points and 4 boards in Antwerp’s most recent game, a victory over Optima Gent.