Woods leads cast of FIBA-Asia beanpoles

MANILA, Philippines - In the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup cast of characters, there are five players standing at least seven feet tall and two are NBA veterans, making them the most eye-catching centers of the nine-day, 10-team tournament that started at the Philsports Arena last Saturday.

Heading the list is 7-2 Loren Woods who played for Minnesota, Miami, Toronto and Houston in the NBA from 2001-02 to 2007-08. Woods, 32, is one of only two players in Pac-10 Conference history to post at least two triple doubles in his NCAA career (the other is Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd). He’s suiting up for Al Riyadi of Lebanon.

The other NBA cager in the “standout” group is 7-1 Cheik Samb of Senegal. He was the Los Angeles Lakers second round pick in the 2006 NBA draft and played for Detroit, Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers and New York in 22 total games in two seasons. He now stars for Mahram of Iran. In his Champions Cup debut last Saturday, Samb picked up 12 points, eight rebounds, six blocked shots and four fouls in 24 minutes as Mahram easily disposed of Al Jala’a, 86-59.

Also in the high-ceiling roster are 7-4 Jaber Rouzbahani of Mahram and 7-0 Eder Arjo Gorges and 7-0 Wissam Yakoub, both of Al Jala’a of Syria.

Nearly making the seven-foot cut were 6-11 C. J. Giles of Duhok of Iraq, 6-11 Christopher Ayer of the Westsports Kuala Lumpur Dragons of Malaysia, 6-10 Jameel Watkins of ASU of Jordan, 6-10 Vladislav Dragajlovic of Al Ittihad Jeddah of Saudi Arabia and 6-10 Marcus Douthit of Smart Gilas of the Philippines.

Scratched out at the last minute was Jamaica’s 6-11 center Kimany Ffriend who was replaced by 6-5 Michael Cuffee of Middle Tennessee State in the Al Rayyan of Qatar lineup.

Woods was a high school teammate of former Alaska import Chris Carrawell and enrolled at Wake Forest University in 1996 to step into Tim Duncan’s shoes. After two years with the Deacons, Woods moved to the University of Arizona where he averaged 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in two seasons. He led Arizona to the NCAA title game against Duke in 2001 with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks but the varsity lost an 82-72 decision. Woods wound up his collegiate career as one of only five players in NCAA history to compile at least 14 blocked shots in a game – the others are Mickell Gladness, Shawn Bradley, David Robinson and Roy Rogers.

In the 2001 NBA draft, Woods was picked on the second round by Minnesota. He saw action for the Timberwolves, Miami, Toronto and Houston before embarking on a globetrotting odyssey with stops in Lithuania, Turkey, Spain, Iran and finally, Lebanon.

Last year, Woods and another NBA veteran Jackson Vroman powered Mahram to the Champions Cup title. Now, the Iranian club has a new set of imports Samb and 6-7 Chris Williams of Virginia. Williams played for San Miguel Beer as an import in the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference.

Woods, nicknamed “Lo Lo” and “L Train,” is an elongated 245-pounder with the length to be an intimidating factor in the middle. At Al Riyadi, his import partner is 6-9 Egyptian national cager Ahmed Moneim.

  Samb, 26, is Mahram’s driving force. Only last Monday, he collected 35 points and 23 rebounds to lead Mahram to a 105-96 overtime win over Zob Ahan Esfahan in Game 5 of the best-of-five Iranian league finals. His reliever is the 7-4 Rouzbahani who scored two points in six minutes for Mahram against Al Jala’a last Saturday.

Gorges and Yakoub are a pair of towers for Syria coach Mensur Bajramovic of Bosnia. Gorges, 30, is from Brazil supposedly with Syrian roots and averaged 3.1 points for Al Jala’a in the Champions Cup last year. He played three years for Walsh University of Ohio, a National Intercollegiate Athletic Association school and a season in the Mexican league before moving to Syria. Gorges is classified as a Syrian-Brazilian like a Fil-Am and not considered an import. Yakoub, 29, suited up for Syria in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

Neither seven-footer played a key role in Al Jala’a’s loss to Mahram last Saturday. Yakoub had two points and two rebounds in eight minutes while Gorges, four points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.

Syria’s imports are 6-9 NBA veteran Samaki Walker and 6-2 sharpshooter Jamaal Miller of Green River Community College of Auburn, Washington. 

What makes the Champions Cup more intriguing is the presence of Duhok import C. J. Giles who played for Gilas in the 2009 Champions Cup and the 2009-10 PBA Philippine Cup. Giles, 25, played 11 games for the Lakers in 2008-09 and is known as a drifter in basketball, moving from team to team. After he was sacked as a naturalization candidate for Gilas, he signed up with Al Riyadi of Lebanon, Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia, Petrochimi Bandar of Iran and lately, Duhok. His Iraq import partner is 6-2 Chudney Gray of St. John’s University. Gray is also a hoop traveller with stops in the Dominican Republic, South Korea, Russia, Poland, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, Syria and Jordan.

Gilas will meet Giles in the Philippines’ game against Iraq tomorrow. 

The foreign coaches in the Champions Cup include former NBA player Brian Rowsom who calls the shots for Al Rayyan of Qatar. Rowsom, 45, stands 6-9 and played for Indiana and Charlotte in three NBA seasons. He was the Pacers’ second round pick in the 1987 NBA draft. Rowsom has coached in Canada and Japan. Other foreign mentors are Serbia’s Nenad Krdzic of Al Ittihad, Nigeria’s Frederick Oniga of ASU, the Philippines’ Ariel Vanguardia of the KL Dragons, Bosnia’s Bajramovic of Al Jalaa’a and Serbia’s Rajko Toroman of Smart Gilas.