[Before you ask: no, that was not a whale joke.]Via BallHype, that menacing Michigan product Robert 'Tractor' Traylor has been thrust back into our world, as he'll compete with Cleveland's squad in the Vegas Summer League. Cavs.com reports Traylor played in that hotbed of basketball fame San Juan, Puerto Rico, last season after a European stint and some time in, er, prison.
Famously, Traylor's girth forced him out of NBA competition. What had been a boon in 1998 when he was drafted sixth overall and traded for Dirk Nowitzki [!!!] became an albatross when Tractor couldn't control his horizontal depth. Traylor always rebounded well in his limited minutes with the Cavs, Hornets, and Bucks, and he blocked some shots, too. But scoring -- or any sort of offensive potency, really -- never materialized, and Traylor probably didn't belong in an NBA uniform by 2004.
It wasn't all cheeseburgers that got Tractor here, as Michael David Smith outlined in this 2007 FanHouse post. Prison is bad for the career, no matter what line of business you're in. Let's hope Summer League is a sign Traylor's getting himself cleaned up.
