by Stop Mike Lupica on December 3 at 12:15AM
This is Jelani McCoy:
Jelani McCoy is a 6'10, 245 lb power forward for the Denver Nuggets.
You Know You're In Trouble When Marcus Camby Looks Like Cal Ripken:
He was signed by the Nuggets last week (they waived SML favorite Mike Wilks to create a roster spot), because they were short on healthy big men, due to injuries to Kenyon Martin (bruised knee), Nene (thumb) and Steve Hunter (knee).
Bill Walton Ain't Sh*t:
Jelani McCoy went to school at UCLA. He played there for only two seasons (and a portion of the third), but he still managed to leave as UCLA's career leader in block shots (188) and field goal percentage (.694).
The Sonics drafted him in the 2nd round in 1998, 33rd overall.
His rookie year he hit 56 of 76 FGAs (73.7%). That's pretty impressive. Also impressive: His FG% of .538 is higher than his FT% of. 490. In other words, it's better to foul him than to let him shoot.
"If there is a worse free throw shooter than Shaq, it's definitely Jelani." - internet scout on McCoy at UCLA.
The Sonics drafted him even though "he didn't test well", in the words of their own chief scout at the time, Billy McKinney. In his defense, McKinney picked Rashard Lewis with the Sonics other 2nd round pick, #32.
He played on the Sonics for three years, culminating in getting 44 starts (and 70 games played) in 2000-2001. Both are career highs.
He ended up on the Lakers for 21 games in 2001-2002. He did not make the playoff roster, but did win a title. He was then waived.
The next season he played 67 games for the Raptors, and averaged a career high 6.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg. He was again waived.
From the ABA to the CBA:
He played two games in 2003-2004 with LeBron James and the Cavs. After getting cut, he signed with the Long Beach Jam of the ABA, then the Jiangsu Nangang Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association:
McCoy played 10 games for the Hawks in 2004-2005. The Hawks waived Anthony "Pig" Miller to make room for McCoy. They soon waived Jelani, too.
In January 2006 McCoy signed with Viola Reggio Calabria, an Italy club. VRC is famous, as it was the club that future NBA players Manu Ginobili (98-00) and Carlos Delfino (00-02) played for in Italy. Perhaps if McCoy was Argentine instead of Irish, he might have made the NBA sooner.
Jelani signed with Azovmash Mariupol in the Ukraine, and was waived.
In February of this year, he signed with Spanish club Menorca Basquet. He played there for only two weeks. He was replaced by Paul Shirley, seen here. According to his profile:
"Consideradocomo
That first sentence: "Considered one of America's most intelligent players in the NBA, Paul Shirley is a player all coaches want on their team". Word?
McCoy played in the Las Vegas summer league for the Nuggets, and averaged 9 points and 9 rebounds. He ended up getting assigned to the D-League, where he played two games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders. If you think that's a dumb name for a team, it was sort of chosen by the fans. Well, people voted on 64 candidates in an NCAA tourney-style bracket. "D-Fenders" lost to "Breakers" in the finals, but it turns out that there is a local dwarf basketball team that had that very same name already in LA, so they had to go with the runner-up D-Fenders.
Wait... dwarf basketball team? There might be an idea for a Carlos Mencia skit in there somewhere.
Hakeem's Worst Dream:
Jelani McCoy wore #34 in Seattle. Because he did, Desmond Mason had to pick a new number after being drafted by the Sonics: "I was #34 in college, and when I got drafted by the Sonics I wanted to be #34, but when I got to Seattle, Jelani McCoy was 34. He said if I wanted it, I had to give him $10,000, so I just chose the next one down, which was #24."
McCoy picked the number in honor of Hakeem Olajuwon. In fact, he seems to like a few Olajuwon moves. Some might even say he plays like Olajuwon, if he was Hakeem the Crack Feen:
"In between the summer of his freshman and sophomore years he did try to add a version of Hakeem's dream shake move, only he TRAVELED every time. He travels anytime he tries any move. As a matter of fact he can only dunk, and that's it. He is a decent defender and did control his tendency to swat the ball into the stands.
Another critic described his game as such:
"Jelani is a tremendous athlete with a poor attitude and a worse work ethic
That may explain why he's been waived from 10 different teams, six different leagues, and four different countries, over the last 10 years.
Ayo, Technology:
Jelani McCoy was on the cutting edge of technology back in 2002, when he went shopping for an iPod:
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Jelani McCoy is a 6'10, 245 lb power forward for the Denver Nuggets.You Know You're In Trouble When Marcus Camby Looks Like Cal Ripken:
He was signed by the Nuggets last week (they waived SML favorite Mike Wilks to create a roster spot), because they were short on healthy big men, due to injuries to Kenyon Martin (bruised knee), Nene (thumb) and Steve Hunter (knee).
Bill Walton Ain't Sh*t:
Jelani McCoy went to school at UCLA. He played there for only two seasons (and a portion of the third), but he still managed to leave as UCLA's career leader in block shots (188) and field goal percentage (.694).
The Sonics drafted him in the 2nd round in 1998, 33rd overall.
His rookie year he hit 56 of 76 FGAs (73.7%). That's pretty impressive. Also impressive: His FG% of .538 is higher than his FT% of. 490. In other words, it's better to foul him than to let him shoot.
"If there is a worse free throw shooter than Shaq, it's definitely Jelani." - internet scout on McCoy at UCLA.
The Sonics drafted him even though "he didn't test well", in the words of their own chief scout at the time, Billy McKinney. In his defense, McKinney picked Rashard Lewis with the Sonics other 2nd round pick, #32.
He played on the Sonics for three years, culminating in getting 44 starts (and 70 games played) in 2000-2001. Both are career highs.
He ended up on the Lakers for 21 games in 2001-2002. He did not make the playoff roster, but did win a title. He was then waived.
The next season he played 67 games for the Raptors, and averaged a career high 6.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg. He was again waived.
From the ABA to the CBA:
He played two games in 2003-2004 with LeBron James and the Cavs. After getting cut, he signed with the Long Beach Jam of the ABA, then the Jiangsu Nangang Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association:
McCoy played 10 games for the Hawks in 2004-2005. The Hawks waived Anthony "Pig" Miller to make room for McCoy. They soon waived Jelani, too. In January 2006 McCoy signed with Viola Reggio Calabria, an Italy club. VRC is famous, as it was the club that future NBA players Manu Ginobili (98-00) and Carlos Delfino (00-02) played for in Italy. Perhaps if McCoy was Argentine instead of Irish, he might have made the NBA sooner.
Jelani signed with Azovmash Mariupol in the Ukraine, and was waived.
In February of this year, he signed with Spanish club Menorca Basquet. He played there for only two weeks. He was replaced by Paul Shirley, seen here. According to his profile:
"Considerado
That first sentence: "Considered one of America's most intelligent players in the NBA, Paul Shirley is a player all coaches want on their team". Word?
McCoy played in the Las Vegas summer league for the Nuggets, and averaged 9 points and 9 rebounds. He ended up getting assigned to the D-League, where he played two games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders. If you think that's a dumb name for a team, it was sort of chosen by the fans. Well, people voted on 64 candidates in an NCAA tourney-style bracket. "D-Fenders" lost to "Breakers" in the finals, but it turns out that there is a local dwarf basketball team that had that very same name already in LA, so they had to go with the runner-up D-Fenders.
Wait... dwarf basketball team? There might be an idea for a Carlos Mencia skit in there somewhere.
Hakeem's Worst Dream:
Jelani McCoy wore #34 in Seattle. Because he did, Desmond Mason had to pick a new number after being drafted by the Sonics: "I was #34 in college, and when I got drafted by the Sonics I wanted to be #34, but when I got to Seattle, Jelani McCoy was 34. He said if I wanted it, I had to give him $10,000, so I just chose the next one down, which was #24."
McCoy picked the number in honor of Hakeem Olajuwon. In fact, he seems to like a few Olajuwon moves. Some might even say he plays like Olajuwon, if he was Hakeem the Crack Feen:
"In between the summer of his freshman and sophomore years he did try to add a version of Hakeem's dream shake move, only he TRAVELED every time. He travels anytime he tries any move. As a matter of fact he can only dunk, and that's it. He is a decent defender and did control his tendency to swat the ball into the stands.
Another critic described his game as such:
"Jelani is a tremendous athlete with a poor attitude and a worse work ethic
That may explain why he's been waived from 10 different teams, six different leagues, and four different countries, over the last 10 years.
Ayo, Technology:
Jelani McCoy was on the cutting edge of technology back in 2002, when he went shopping for an iPod:
Bonus: McCoy once tried to dunk in an NBA game:
Leave a comment
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