Thursday, February 7, 2008

Someone Sign Viktor Khryapa

Only vaguely Blazer related at this point, but I just heard Viktor Khryapa got cut from the Bulls. He has been a fan favorite in Chicago much like he was in Portland, but the Bulls decided they just don't need his 3 points and 2 rebounds per game anymore. Cheer up, he wasn't getting burn anyways. Free Khryapa movement no longer needed.

He can play. He was first-team all Eurobasket tournament last summer when he and his comrades took the gold. He's 6'9, a good athlete, only 25, has some all-around skills, and hustles. It would be really nice to see him sign with an NBA team that will actually use him. Of course, this probably means signing with a terrible team, which means lots of losing. The alternative is to return to Russia, where he's famous and would get paid, and be the man.

I don't know much about the guy (does anyone? His wikipedia entry has 76 words-let us in Viktor!), but unless he has the burning desire to still play in the NBA the Russia homecoming seems pretty likely. That would be unfortunate. While I don't exactly go out of my way to watch him play, for some reason I like knowing that I could.

UPDATE: Pretty amazing discussion of Viktor going on in this thread over at Blogabull. I'm trying to join, but having log-in issues. Send my love.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There will always be a warm spot in my heart for Viktor, I enjoyed his enthusiasim for the game and his energy off the bench. A side note...one little side bar in the Shaq to the Suns trade was the loss of a job for one of Oregon's own, Luke Jackson. Someone should sign Luke also.

Jack Brown said...

Lots of heartbreak:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=426


It might be tough for Luke, he didn't exactly make the most of his time in Miami. I vote for Europe while he can, better than another stint as a D-League star. But who knows.

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