Dallas Lauderdale wasn't the best player in college basketball this past season, but his skillset did make him one of my favorites to watch over the past few seasons. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to watch the former Ohio State Buckeyes big man during the upcoming season because "Fort" has decided to take his talents to the Euroleague.

Lauderdale, a 6-foot-8 forward, has signed with PGE Turow in Poland for their upcoming Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, according the league's website.

It isn't a surprise move that Lauderdale has decided to take a job in the second best league in the world rather than wait out the NBA lockout for a possible training camp invite, but it is a bit disappointing that nearly every rookie will begin next season overseas rather than in an America.

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Matt Howard seemed like he had just enough grit and determination to sneak onto an NBA roster next season despite his not being selected in the 2011 NBA Draft. That won't be the case, however, as the Butler big man has decided to begin career playing in the Euroleague next season.

Howard has signed to play with Olympiacos in Greece, it was announced on the Euroleague website Thursday, and will be joined by another undrafted rookie in Michigan State point guard Kalin Lucas.

The Butler forward averaged 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds while leading the Bulldogs on yet another Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament, but the media darlings fell short against Connecticut in the NCAA Championship game. 

Howard had previously worked out for the Phoenix Suns following the draft, but obviously decided that Europe was a safer option with the NBA lockout looming for the foreseeable future.

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E'Twaun Moore was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 55th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, but the former Purdue guard has apparently decided to start his career in Europe after signing in Italy.

Moore has flirted with multiple teams in Europe over the last couple of weeks, but Benetton in Treviso is the team that finally netted him. There's no mention of an NBA out clause in the team's official release, but sources have indicated to Ridiculous Upside that he will be able to return to the NBA following the lockout. 

Reports said an NBA-out was important to Moore's camp if he took his talents to Europe so that he can compete for a roster spot whenever the lockout is complete.

Moore averaged 18.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists with the Boilermakers as a senior while earning First Team All-Big Ten honors for his heady play and all-around game.

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The NBA lockout is on Day Too Long To Not Even Be Having Any Sort Of Discussions With The Important People, as those following this mess are well aware.

With this current labor impasse, however, we're left without a lot of news when we should instead of be talking about how the San Antonio Spurs signed the next Gary Neal (remember the good ol' days?).

One of the topics that are currently available to talk about, however, is how the new Collective Bargaining Agreement could help the NBA's Development League. I've already looked at the situation briefly in a post for SBNation.com, and even went into a bit here at Ridiculous Upside, but SB Nation Philly's Kevin Owens raised a point I'd suggested before that didn't make it into either of the preceding links: Should the NBA expand its draft?

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Malcolm Thomas was one of the best players to go undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft, but that hasn't stopped the San Diego State forward from earning good money to play basketball for the upcoming season.

Thomas has signed with Mobis Phoebus in South Korea, according to asiabasket.com, for nice salary of $350,000 in United States currency. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express opined on Twitter that Thomas, lockout-pending, might be the highest paid rookie in the world this year.

"He is a fast and athletic guy. He keeps the ball and can pass well with his size. That's why we want him," Mobis Phoebus staff said in a press release.

It's a bit surprising that Thomas decided to take the money and run considering he was invited to the Atlanta Hawks free agent camp last month and probably had a few NBA training camp offers as well after averaging 11.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks for the Aztecs alongside Kawhi Leonard this season.

Update: Pullen may instead play in France?

Jacob Pullen was not selected in the 2011 NBA Draft. That wasn't exactly surprising to anyone but Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin, however, who was shocked that his undersized scoring guard went undrafted.

Pullen, if you don't remember, averaged 20.0 points as a senior for the Wildcats while earning a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team as well as All-Defensive team. Unfortunately, those honors came as he shot an inefficient 43 percent from the field --adding 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals to counteract the 3.1 turnovers he committed per game. 

The numbers certainly indicate that Martin was justified in assuming that Pullen put together a resume that justified a professional career for his four-year contributor, but it's doubtful that either the coach or player planned on that career beginning in Turkey. That's where Pullen is headed, however, signing with Antalya according to Salsabasket.

Pullen will join fellow rookie DeAngelo Casto with Antalya, the same team both Devan Downey and Wayne Chism were linked to last season before the Turkish team eventually ended up with Patrick Christopher and J.P. Prince as its mainstay rookie imports.

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.

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Fran Fraschilla is an ESPN College Basketball Analyst and former coach at Manhattan, Saint John's and New Mexico, according to his Twitter biography. Not listed there, however, is that ESPN's European expert is not a fan of the D-League.

Fraschilla took to Twitter on Monday night to discuss that fact, writing that the Los Angeles Lakers selection of Chukwudiebere Maduabum's selection with the 56th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft was "disrespectful."

Didn't chime in draft night but disrespectful that good college players do 15 workouts for teams get passed up for guy averaging .7 in NDBL.

I'm not necessarily ready to defend Maduabum's skills on the court considering he simply hasn't played enough professional basketball stateside to judge him one way or the other, but considering he worked out for the Denver Nuggets, that should discount half of Fraschilla's argument right off the bat.

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