NBA Lockout: Undrafted Free Agents Going To Europe Before NBA Players Take The Jobs

There really isn't much to talk about these days with the NBA lockout underway. There isn't an NBA Summer League in Orlando or Vegas, the free agent workouts have been put in hold and Kurt Rambis still hasn't been fired so that I can suggest Eric Musselman, Bryan Gates, Scott Roth or Dave Joerger as his replacement.

In order to keep Ridiculous Upside busy, and fill some time while working on a few other projects, it seemed to make sense to take a quick look at what's going on with the group of players that would normally be dominating the site's content around this time of year: undrafted free agents.

I gave my brief rundown right after the 2011 NBA Draft, saying that Michael Dunigan, Malcolm Thomas, Julyan Stone, Greg Smith, Rick Jackson, Matt Howard, Jamie Skeen, Scotty Hopson, Jacob Pullen, Greedy Peterson, Diante Garrett, David Lighty, Demetri McCamey and Ben Hansbrough were probably the best players left on the draft board following the sixty players already selected.

Not surprisingly, a decent number of these players have already decided to take their talents to Europe.

The first player to sign a European contract was Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough. Hansbrough took a job in Germany with Bayern Muenchen, joining former Georgetown -- and D-League -- point guard Jonathan Wallace.

Jamie Skeen also made the decision to head to Europe rather than looking to an NBA contract with the lockout looming. Skeen signed with ASVEL in France. The former VCU big man shouldn't feel too homesick playing his first professional season overseas, however, as both Hilton Armstrong and Kim Tillie are also under contract with the team next season.

Rick Jackson will join Chorale de Roanne in France after spending the last four seasons as a pretty solid cog in the Syracuse system. Jackson won't be the only rookie on Ricky Davis's last team, however, as Boston University's John Holland was also added to Chorale's roster.

The majority of the other top undrafted players listed above all participated in at least one of the free agent camps we reported on and are likely hoping for a quick end to the lockout, though it'd be foolish if they waited in lieu of guaranteed money over Europe -- especially since some less talented undrafted players are scooping up the good jobs overseas before NBA players decide that's their best option as well.

Alex Tyus has decided to play for Maccabi Ashdod in Israel, joining fellow young Americans Josh Carter, Josh Duncan and Ramel Bradley as he begins his professional career away from the Florida Gators.

Pittsburgh's Gilbert Brown signed in Germany with s.Oliver Baskets Wuerzburg, a lower-level team that is playing its first season in the top division. It's been reported that he has an NBA-out clause just in case, but that more than likely came with a lesser salary to help compensate Wuerzberg in the event he actually leaves.

Malcolm Delaney will begin his professional career in France as the Virginia Tech point guard has signed with Chalon. One of Delaney's frontcourt options will be former D-Leaguer Alade Aminu, brother of Al-Farouq Aminu.

Washington State's DeAngelo Casto has signed in Turkey with Antalya, according to Sportando. Texas point guard Dogus Balbay will also join Casto in Turkey, but not with Antalya, as the Turkish national has signed with Efes Pilsen.

Last, but not least, Randy Culpepper has signed in the Ukraine with Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye. I have no idea if that's a step up from the competition he played against at UTEP, but it's certainly more difficult to type (and probably more fun to say).

And that, my friends, is how we're going to have to spend our time during the lockout!