Ridiculous Transactions: 9/7-9/13

Thank goodness some stuff happened this weekend, otherwise this write-up would've been the sparsest one yet.  If I had to guess, I'd say that fewer guys are signing European contracts these days because there are fewer to sign.  Most of the available roster spots have already been filled either by European players or D-Leaguers that we've already covered, so at this point we may be hearing more about tenuous NBA training camp invites rather than guys going to Greece or Belgium or Korea to get paid.

September 8: Idaho Stampede - hired Bob MacKinnon as head coach; Maine Red Claws - hired Randy Livingston and Mike Procopio as assistant coaches.

The Coach Mac and Coach Liv have each been discussed in some detail already, so let's talk Procopio.  Maine's newest assistant has a player development background having worked with Tim Grover, and he's also a former Celtics scout.  According to this DraftExpress interview, Procopio specializes in helping big men (and moderately big men) with their footwork.  The Red Claws have a strong set of assistants...remind me again what Austin Ainge is supposed to do?

September 12: New York Knicks - signed Warren Carter and Gabe Pruitt (oh, and SUN YUE)

Carter led the Knicks' Summer League team in per-minute rebounding, and while he didn't score a whole lot, he's shown some ability to do that the last few years in Europe.  It's his boardwork that will earn him playing time, though, and I think he'd be able to give the Knicks a decent fraction of David Lee's skillset off the bench.  Pruitt is late of the Boston Celtics, and he spent some time with the Utah Flash in 2007-2008.  There he averaged about four assists and three turnovers per 36 minutes, which is what you'd call "not very good for a point guard."  He did pretty well in getting steals and is a decent shooter, but he's just not much of a ballhandler at this point.  Sun had better start preparing for Massachusetts winters.  (I'm pretty sure he can still be assigned to the D-League since he didn't play for the Lakers the first year after they drafted him.)  His game as a point guard isn't much better than Pruitt's at this point, though with fewer turnovers and slightly worse shooting.  There's the non-basketball benefit of sparking interest in the new franchise (what with all the free Futurecast pub they'd get), and also with New York's Chinese community should he make it to the Garden, but otherwise some time backing up/learning from Eddie Gill in Springfield couldn't hurt.

The New York Times says all of these contract are partially guaranteed, and if both Lee and Nate Robinson re-sign with the team (which I'd say is likely) that puts the Knicks at 16 players.  It's certainly commendable that the Knicks are starting to pay increased attention to D-League players (remember, they already have Joe Crawford and Chris Hunter right now), but I doubt all of them will be around come the start of the season.