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When we last left our scowly friend, he was having a rough go of it Down Under. Devo's team, the Melbourne Tigers, were "down under" every other team in the NBL (ugh). There was even talk that The Greatest Basketball Player In The History Of New Zealand could be shuttled out of town (and country).
Cooler heads prevailed and import TJ Campbell was let loose rather than Devo. The team also brought in someone called Corey "Homicide" Williams. Since then, the only homicides that have been committed are by Devendorf on the basketball floor (NOT LITERALLY).
Despite the pressure that was increased by the Tigers' poor start to the season, the former Syracuse University star has persevered with his game and has not scored fewer than 17 points in any of his past five games, three of which have been wins.
If you remove Devendorf's three lowest-scoring games, his season average of 14.8 ppg jumps to an excellent 17.3 ppg and places him among the NBL's scoring elite.
After an atrocious 1-7 start, the Tigers are now 4-9 and have a chance to save the season. They play defending league champion Perth tonight (Tomorrow? Yesterday? I don't know how that works) and the Tigers' head coach thinks Devo is going to go nuts (NOT LITERALLY) one of these nights...
"He seems a lot more settled with us now and I think one night he's going to go off and get 30 or 40," Westover said.
Devendorf will not stop until he is recognized as Australasia's Greatest-Living Basketball Player. Next year, look out New Guinea Basketball League.