Obscure NBA Player of the Week: James Jones

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Obscure players tend to be on obscure teams, but with the playoffs going on, we tried to pick somebody out from one of the title contenders. Here's this week's edition:

Well, the NBA Finals have finally arrived, and with them, most of the obscure NBA players have departed off the national scene. Let's see, who is left here...Matt Bonner? Too mainstream. Patty Mills? Already done. Rashard Lewis? Formerly the second highest paid player in the league! He's out. Who else, who else...how about him:

Yes, it turns out the Heat do have obscure guys on their roster! That's James Jones. Know anything about him? Me neither. Let's try and see what his career has been like...

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Festus Ezeli

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Obscure players tend to be on obscure teams, but with the playoffs going on, we tried to pick somebody out from one of the title contenders. Here's this week's edition:

While watching the Spurs-Warriors game yesterday, I thought Mark Jackson's coaching Chi that he had built up over the course of the playoffs would finally come crashing down. In the first 4 minutes of the game, both of his starting post players (Andrew Bogut and Carl Landry) had picked up 2 fouls, which would ordinarily relegate both of them to the bench for the remainder of the quarter. Yet Jackson for some reason could only be bothered to retrieve Landry (replacing him with David Lee), leaving Bogut in...to defend the best power forward ever...without fouling? Sure enough, it took about 45 seconds for Bogut to pick up a bad foul, so Jackson was forced to bench him...for Landry? Sure enough again, Landry also picked up a quick third, leaving Jackson without any trusted options...save for one. As he has done all season, he called on a rookie to come in and play big minutes, and while he did not play spectacularly, he did just enough to keep the Warriors in the game until halftime. Who was this mysterious rookie (and no, it wasn't Kent Bazemore)?

In his much younger years...

Yep, it was none other than Festus Ezeli, an athletic big man in his first NBA season. So why did Jackson turn to him in this spot? ...well, probably because the only other option was Andris Biedrins. But keep reading anyway.

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Aron Baynes

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Obscure players tend to be on obscure teams, but with the playoffs upcoming, we tried to pick somebody out from one of the title contenders. Here's this week's edition:

It has been an interesting week here at Volume Shooters. On Tuesday, Grantland introduced a column they called "Who's That Guy," highlighting - you guessed it - an under-the-radar NBA player on a playoff team! Reading this column, we couldn't help but think it looked eerily similar to a number of pieces we had seen somewhere before...so we let them know about it. Hey Grantland: if you are reading our stuff, how about throwing a writing gig or two our way? Anyways, we really dug deep into the vault to come up with a player for this week:

He looks pretty surprised to be this high up

This week's player is San Antonio big man Aron Baynes! Here's what you need to know about him:

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Chris Copeland

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Obscure players tend to be on obscure teams, but with the playoffs upcoming, this week we tried to pick somebody out from one of the title contenders. Here's this week's edition:

With the playoffs starting this weekend, for this week's edition of this post, I (somewhat) eschewed the humorous elements to this post in order to identify a player that might actually be relevant in the title chase. Usually these players only step up due to injuries, so as much as I wanted to point out the recent excellent play of Evan "The French Mamba" Fournier, I decided to go in a bit of a different direction by looking at the injury-riddled team in the Big Apple. My search led me to this week's obscure player:

Sporting the typical rookie gym bag, that's Knicks player Chris Copeland! So what makes him so obscure? Read on...

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Gustavo Ayon

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Here's this week's edition:

In 1996, a 7'0" center by the name of Horacio Llamas (out of noted powerhouse program Grand Canyon University) became the first Mexican-born player ever to make the NBA. Four years later, Eduardo Najera was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, beginning a successful 12-year NBA career (on a humorous side note, Najera is the current coach of the Texas Legends and was recently suspended for receiving his 13th technical foul of the season - a full 6 more than the NBA coach with the most technicals! Really taking that coaching gig seriously). These guys would both make excellent obscure players in their own right, but they are both retired from the game. So who is carrying the torch for Mexican players in the NBA today? None other than this gentleman:

That's Gustavo Ayon, currently of the Milwaukee Bucks! Here's what you need to know about Gustavo.

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: April 1, 2013

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Here's this week's edition:

As you can probably tell if you have been following this blog, I am a completely rabid basketball fan. Whether its the NBA, college hoops, or even high school basketball, it is rare for me to feel behind when it comes to knowledge about players in any given game. (Quick aside about high school hoops: if Andrew Wiggins commits to UK in the next few months, you can go ahead and write them into your 2014 tournament bracket as the champions in pen, and I give them a 40% shot at going undefeated. Their recruiting class is In. Sane. For clips: this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy and possibly this guy. Be very afraid.) So you can imagine my surprise when I was watching the Timberwolves and a player checked in who I had literally never heard of before - not from high school, not from college, and not from anywhere else. Naturally, he became a prime candidate for this edition of Obscure NBA player of the week! Who is he?

No, that's not Lil' Wayne from the days before his tattoos, that's Mickael Gelabale! More on the Wolves' new starting 3-man after the jump.

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Butterbean Love

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Thanks to our readers for suggesting a (throwback) player to feature in this week's piece.

The NBA was a different league back in the '60's and '70's. Lower salaries, on-court brawling, and competition from the ABA made the environment far more hostile for players and lowered the quality of play for fans. Yet that didn't stop aspiring professionals from chasing their dreams, even if it meant playing in lesser leagues for several years before finally making the big time. One such player was this guy:

 

Eric "Butterbean" Esch

Just kidding...can you imagine that guy throwing down a monster jam in the lane? It is actually this guy:

 

Chicago Bulls forward Bob "Butterbean" Love. Here's what you need to know about Butterbean:

Obscure NBA Player of the Week: Marco Belinelli

Each week at Volume Shooters, we highlight an NBA player, past or present, who doesn't spend much time in the spotlight but is nonetheless a valuable cog in his team's quest for the championship. Thanks to our readers for the suggestion of this week's Obscure NBA Player.

Pop quiz: there are three current NBA players who were born in the beautiful country of Italy (not including Kobe Bryant, who spent a number of years there but was in fact born in Philadelphia). Two of these players, Danilo Gallinari and Andrea Bargnani, are fairly well known - the former for knocking down clutch shots this year and the latter for being lustily booed by his home fans for recent terrible play. But who is the third player? This guy:

No, not Sylvester Stallone, but Bulls shooting guard Marco Belinelli! Here's what you need to know about Marco.