There and Back: Dajuan Wagner's Return Bought Out


It was just a few months ago that Ben Osborne, then Senior Editor of King magazine, told me that my pitch was in fact too late and that he had a writer tracking Wagner for a larger feature for a few months. The piece, published in this their DEC’06/JAN’07 issue of King, is a three page spread about the Wagner’s career, illness and recovery, and his return to the NBA with the Golden State Warrior.

A good deal has changed since then, both for the better and for the worse. On the good side of things, Ben Osborne, a longtime member of the SLAM family, has return to that magazine as it’s editor-in-chief. If you know his work and his ideas, you know that SLAM is going to be a little different this time out. Ryan Jones brought a great deal of NBA coverage to the magazine that was unlike any other outlets viewpoint. That says a lot, considering, coming from my hip-hop journalism background, I feel like NBA basketball players are so much more protected than any other people in the public eye. Mr.Osborne is sure to lay down some really compelling stories of the basketball world at-large, which I think is his specialty. But I’m dragging….

The bad has to be Wagner’s release from the Warriors less than a month into the season. The team chose to buyout the remained of the Camden High School legends contract and move on. Wagner, unlike Jay Williams from Duke who didn’t make the Nets roster after returning from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident, did play in one game for the Warriors and racked 4 points and an assist in seven minutes. However it was uncertain how his body would hold up throughout the year. Rumors around the web said that the Sonics were interested, but it’s hard to tell what a guy who has returned to the league after overcoming injury and surgery will do in the long run.

It’s clear though, that the NBA likes him and that will make him stick somewhere if he ever returns to normal. ESPN.com noted that he fell out with Don Nelson, but it was a bad enough situation. The Warriors didn’t exactly have room for him anyway. He was competing for time with Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Monta Ellis and Anthony Roberson, none of whom had missed any time, definitely not most of the last two seasons recovering from getting their colon removed.

It would be in the league’s best interest if he spent a year in the D-League and work it all out. It would keep him close to home and maybe afford the league a big name to help attract fans. He played well in the limited time he was given to play. Two-year-contract aside it was unclear how long Wagner was really going to stay with Golden State. Even if he doesn’t make it back to the NBA this season or next, I think if his goal was to prove he could still play pro ball, then he certainly did.

Wagner is the same kid who grew up the son of a former pro ball player. Wagner is, colon or no colon, the same kid who scored 100 points in a high school game. He is the same Dajuan Wager who kids in the park huddling around his feature spread in SLAM would claim to be related to. The same kid who played one year at the University of Memphis and was then snatched-up early by the lowly Cavs with the 6th pick in the draft. He’s still the same Dajuan Wagner who averaged a solid 13.4 points in his first and only year in the league. He got sick and now he’s better, in fact, he made it back to the NBA. Don’t be surprised if he shows up again.

R.I.P. CHRIS SANDY



The death of Chris Sandy came as a total shock to me. While writing the piece on the Brooklyn Kings, which appears at the very beginning of this blog, I observed Chris and his teammates rather closely. As one of maybe three members of the press who regularly attended home games you couldn’t help but get up close. One of my fondest memories of Chris, besides his almost effortless ability from three-point-land, is of him coming out to sign autographs, shoot-around with and chat with kids after the North East Pennsylvania Breakers failed to show for yet another road game.

It’s painful to write about the death of someone who was so full of life. As a sucker for a good undersized scoring guard, especially ones from New York City, it’s hard for me to believe a guy like Chris could die. His USBL opponents sometimes seemed unworthy. I can say, from watching him play, basketball made him very happy. The world has lost a really good ball player.

It’s too early to tell very detail of his life, I’m going to push his to get his story out on a larger scale. As for what the Associated Press said:

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Chris Sandy, a former Fresno State and Harlem Globetrotters players, died Thursday in a car accident in southeastern Finland, police said. He was 27.

Sandy, from New York, lost control of his car and collided with another vehicle going in the opposite direction, police said.
Sandy, in his first season in Europe, played for one of the top Finnish teams, Kouvot of Kouvola. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 18 points and was third in the league with 3.9 assists per game



I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to his family and teammates. He is in my prayers now and for always.

"X Was It - Stomped by the Bulls, Imortalized by Crowe"


At one time, Xavier McDaniel was one of the NBA's most popular and explosive players. He had a bit apperance in the Cameron Crowe film "Singles" and had his face on t-shirts. A 6'7 small-forward from Wichita State, McDaniel was named to the NBA ALL ROOKIE Team, as well as the Co-Rookie of The Year (along w/Patrick Ewing) by Basketball Digest, as a member of the Seattle Supersonices in 1985-86. He was an All Star and regularly averaged double figures, his best season being 1987 when he averaged 23 points and 8 boards over 82 games Eventually, the Sonics ushered in a new era by drafting and building around both Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. McDaniel was traded to The Suns in 1991.

McDaniels signed as a free agent to the Knicks in '92. Before a contract dispute would end his career in New York, "X-Man" averaged 13-plus and 5-plus rebounds and intimidated the shit out of Scottie Pippen in the eastern conference playoffs. However, as history goes, Pat Riley's Knicks would lose to the Bulls in seven games. This, effectivly, marked the begining of the end for McDaniels career.
He spent three seasons with the Celtics and them pursued a pro career in Europe. After a pair of lackluster seasons with the New Jersey Nets, X-Man hung'em up for good in 1998.