How did UConn Alums Fare in the Pros This Year?

The NBA Playoffs begin this weekend. Eight teams from each conference will square off in seven game series until the Heat and Thunder inevitably meet in the Finals again this June.

With that in mind, let’s take a look back at how UConn’s professional representatives fared this season.

IN THE PLAYOFFS

Ray Allen – Miami Heat

The 37 year old Ray Allen is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, but is doing so on the best team in the league. Allen’s numbers have declined, along with his minutes, but he has remained a critical cog in Miami’s drive-and-kick offense, shooting over 40% from deep. Watching Allen this season, it certainly looks like he could fit into this Miami offensive scheme until he’s 75 years old.

Season Stats: 10.9 ppg | 2.7 rpg | 1.7 apg

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Richard Hamilton – Chicago Bulls

Hamilton’s season has been similar to Allen’s. Rip, now a seemingly impossible 35 years old, has accepted a smaller role on a Chicago Bulls team that hoped to compete for a ring. Derrick Rose’s slow return from injury has seemingly dimmed their chances, but they remain a dangerous spoiler in the Eastern Conference. Hamilton has seen his scoring average drop to the lowest total since his rookie season. He’s shot a dismal 31% from three-point range and his overall field goal percentage is his lowest in a decade. Still, Hamilton is on the team for an offensive lift and veteran leadership. He is no longer asked to dominate like he did in his glory days at UConn and later in Detroit.

Season Stats: 9.8 ppg | 1.7 rpg | 2.4 apg

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Hasheem Thabeet – Oklahoma City Thunder

Hasheem Thabeet has seemingly taken to his role as “guy with fouls to give off the bench,” while playing on an incredibly talented Oklahoma City team. He’s averaged almost twelve minutes per game this season and his stats have jumped accordingly. He has been downright useful this season – hilariously high praise for poor Hasheem.

Season Stats: 2.4 ppg | 3.0 rpg | 0.2 apg | 0.9 bpg

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Jeremy Lamb – Oklahoma City Thunder, kinda

Young Jeremy Lamb has had a rough season. Since fleeing Storrs, getting drafted 12^th overall by the Houston Rockets and being sent to Oklahoma City as a complimentary piece in the James Harden trade, Lamb has spent most of his year in the NBA’s D-League. The silver lining: Lamb has played well as part of the Tulsa 66ers. In their playoff game last night, he scored 29 points in a Game 1 loss.  While with the big league club, he’s averaged just over 6 minutes per game, in a true waste of his talents. Hopefully next year he can find a more permanent role.

Season Stats: NBA 3.1 ppg | 0.8 rpg | 0.2 apg

D-League 22.5 ppg | 6.3 rpg | 1.5 apg | 2.5 spg

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Caron Butler – Los Angeles Clippers

Caron Butler seems to enjoy Los Angeles. Despite his diminished role, he gets to run the court with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Although his minutes, and point total, have decreased this season, Butler has been more efficient from the floor. Always a leader and a good guy, he has a chance to make a run in this year’s playoffs.

Season stats: 10.4 ppg | 2.9 rbg | 1.0 apg

 

THE STARS:

Kemba Walker – Charlotte Bobcats

It’s a good thing Kemba Walker won the Ultimate UConn Challenge, because he hasn’t won many games in the NBA. The Bobcats are, well, terrible, and it can’t be a whole lot of fun for Walker to suffer so many defeats after securing so many victories at UConn. Although his team’s patheticism™ has dulled Walker’s national luster, his numbers in his sophomore year in the league are encouraging enough to predict stardom in Walker’s near future. With seven additional minutes of playing time per game, all of Walker’s stats have improved – as has his field goal percentage. I truly hope the Bobcats figure something out soon because I am sick and tired of them wasting the careers of my favorite UConn players.

Season Stats: 17.7 ppg | 3.5 rpg | 5.7 apg | 2.0 spg

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Rudy Gay – Toronto Raptors

Rudy Gay had an interesting season. He was traded from the playoff-bound Grizzlies to the frozen wasteland of Toronto to join a sad Raptors team that, for some reason, thought adding Gay (and his $50M contract) would turn them into a competitor. Meanwhile, Rudy is left on a depleted roster with little chance of competing in the tough Eastern Conference before Gay’s contract expires two seasons from now. Although Gay’s stats did improve since the trade, how’s this for a UConn flashback? Despite shooting just 34%, Gay still attempted over four three-pointers a game in Toronto.

Season Stats: 18.3 ppg | 6.2 rpg | 2.7 apg | 1.5 spg

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Andre Drummond – Detroit Pistons

Surprise! If not for a mid-season back injury, Andre Drummond would have a shot for the NBA Rookie of the Year. Despite playing on a horrible Pistons team (a consistent theme for UConn alums), Drummond has made a name for himself as a great up-and-coming prospect in the league that has few legitimate big men anymore. Now it will be up to Drummond to continue to improve this offseason, stay healthy, and take the next big step forward.

Season Stats: 7.9 ppg | 7.6 rpg | 0.5 apg

 

THE ROLE PLAYERS

Ben Gordon – Charlotte Bobcats

Ben Gordon has been remarkably consistent since leaving the Chicago Bulls to sign a gigantic contract with Detroit in 2009. This past season with the Bobcats resembled the three that preceded it: good offensive stats on a bad, bad team. Gordon’s perfect role is a bench scorer on a playoff team. Looking at this year’s field, you could argue that 11 or 12 of the 16 teams would see an improvement on their bench with the addition of Gordon. Gordon will almost certainly exercise his $13M player option for next season, but then hopefully he can close out his career on a winning roster.

Season Stats: 11.2 ppg | 1.7 rpg | 1.9 apg

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Emeka Okafor – Washington Wizards

Another similar tale, a UConn great trapped on a terrible team. Despite the circumstances, Emeka Okafor has remained a model of consistency throughout his plagued career. He never turned into the star some expected, but is good for a double-double most nights – no small feat in the NBA. Okafor has one year left on the $72M contract he signed in 2008, but may be an attractive trade target now that most of the money has already been paid out. Barring injury, it would be surprising if he is still in Washington come next year’s trade deadline.

Season Stats: 9.7 ppg | 8.8 rpg | 1.2 apg | 1.0 bpg

 

BENCH GUYS

AJ Price – Washington Wizards

AJ Price has been a revelation this season. He was brought into Washington to backup star point guard John Wall, but was bumped into the starting lineup when Wall spent much of the season injured. Price saw his minutes improve by ten minutes per game over his last season in Indianapolis, and made the most of it, improving his shooting and bumping up his assist total. A free agent this offseason, it will be interesting to see if Price has proved himself enough to earn a prime backup spot on a good team. Quality point guards are hard to find. Price may find himself in a good situation next winter.

Season Stats: 7.7 ppg | 2.0 rpg | 3.6 apg

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Charlie Villanueva – Detroit Pistons

Detroit has not been kind to Charlie Villanueva. Despite being healthy for the most part this season, there were 17 games in which Villanueva did not reach ten minutes of playing time. He has an $8M player option for this coming season – a total he will not match on the open market – but may be willing to forfeit to escape the toxic environment in Detroit.

Season Stats: 6.8 ppg | 3.5 rpg | 0.8 apg

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Jeff Adrien – Charlotte Bobcats

Jeff Adrien is a fun success story. After being relegated to the D-League to start the season, Adrien played his way onto the Bobcats’ roster and eventually into their starting lineup. He averaged over 13 minutes per game in the NBA this season. His stats averaged over 36 minutes: 10.6 points, 9.9 rebounds. That’s fun.  Adrien is free to sign with any team who wants him this offseason, but Charlotte has been a good landing spot for him.

Season Stats:  NBA  4.0 ppg | 2.5 rpg | 0.7 apg

D-League 17.6 ppg | 11.2 rpg | 1.8 apg | 1.8 bpg | * 5 games

 

IN THE MINORS

Hilton Armstrong – Santa Cruz Warriors

Hilton Armstrong, former lottery pick, had a nice year in the D-League. With the quality of NBA big men suffering, a return to the big leagues for a cameo certainly seems feasible for Armstrong next season, but he could make much more money heading overseas.

Season Stats: 13.4 ppg | 6.8 rpg | 0.8 apg | 2.2 bpg

 

OVERSEAS

It’s tough to find much information on the guys overseas – or deciphering statistics in foreign languages – so take these with a grain of salt. Big ups to twitter user @ScottBonz for pointing me towards this list.

Jerome Dyson – Israel

Season Stats: 19.5 ppg | 2.7 rpg | 3.7 apg

Josh Boone – China

Season Stats: 14.8 ppg | 13.5 rpg | 0.8 apg | 1.5 bpg | only 4 games

Denham Brown – Romania

Season Stats: 16.9 ppg | 5.9 rpg | 3.4 apg

Khalid El-Amin – France, Turkey

Season Stats: France 9.3 ppg | 1.2 rpg | 3.8 apg

Turkey 17.3 ppg | 2.6 rpg | 3.8 apg

Marcus Williams – Spain

Season Stats: 8.8 ppg | 2.4 rpg | 3.3 apg

Ed Nelson – Argentina

Season Stats: 17.9 ppg | 6.4 rpg | 1.0 apg

Taliek Brown – Canada

Season Stats: 2.8 ppg | 1.0 rpg | 1.8 apg | 4 games

Ben Eaves (remember him?) – UK

Season Stats: 12.3 ppg | 7.5 rpg | 1.0 apg

Gavin Edwards – Asia

Season Stats: 16.1 ppg | 10.3 rpg | 1.1 apg | 2.8 bpg

Curtis Kelly – Israel

Season Stats: 14.4 ppg | 5.2 rbg | 0.8 apg

Ater Majok – Russia

Season Stats: 4.2 ppg | 4.2 rpg | 0.6 apg | 1.1 bpg