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He was once called the "best foreign player ever" in a Chinese online sports poll for his scoring ability in the Chinese Basketball Association.
He now very easily could become the saving grace for a team once destined to drop down a complete professional division in Spain.
Quincy Douby just happens to be that guy.
Yes, that Quincy Douby -- the Brooklyn native out of Rutgers University who barely sniffed the floor in three NBA seasons with the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors before finding fame and a following overseas.
On Wednesday, UCAM Murcia in Spain's famed ACB League announced they signed the 6-foot-3 guard for the remainder of the season after Douby started the season in the CBA with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers. But after helping lead the Flying Tigers to the CBA finals last season and inking a one-year contract (worth $2 million USD, at the time the richest contract in CBA history) over the summer, the unthinkable happened.
During a preseason game against the Shanghai Dongfang Sharks, Douby fell and broke his wrist during the first quarter.
A return trip to the States and surgery soon followed.
Now Douby is healthy and ready to pick up where he left off in 2010 averaging 32 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in 43 games for the Flying Tigers. Those numbers featured Douby dropping 53-points at one point during the season, certainly a much-welcomed chance to turn around UCAM's fortunes this season. And man, do they need it.
Gun for hire -- that's the role Douby fills with UCAM and it couldn't come at a better time.
With the second worst record in ACB at 7-17, signing Douby just might be enough for the organization to save themselves from relegation and dropping down to Spain's second division after this season. He is scheduled to make his debut this weekend against Blancos de Rueda Valladolid (6-18), who just happens to be the worst team in the league (the two bottom teams drop down to the second league).
The 27-year-old Douby joins a roster that includes former NBA veteran (and fellow Sacramento Kings alum) Ime Udoka and James Augustine (Orlando Magic) and interesting enough happens to be the fall back plan for UCAM after they were unable to sign Portland Trail Blazers free-agent guard, Patty Mills, last week.
They are better off with Douby.
Although Douby -- who was drafted 19th overall by the Kings in 2006 -- and his talent level didn't translate at all to the NBA, he easily fulfilled his potential by jumping overseas in 2009 with Darussafaka Cooper Tires in the Turkish League. All he did there was finish the season as the top scorer in the league in 2009-2010 and blaze a trail to China.
In an era that saw NBA vets Steve Francis, Ricky Davis, Rafer Alston and Mike James last only a month playing in the CBA, Douby became a scoring machine mainstay and cultural hero as Xinjiang finished atop of the league thanks to Douby who was simply determined to get better playing abroad.
Consider that goal accomplished.
Next up: saving UCAM Murcia's season from a further pitfall.
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