Of course you remember God Shammgod. He's a former Bullet benchwarmer and hero of the University of Providence (as well as the star of my favorite NBA t-shirt).

Shammgod's love of the game is strong. Nearly a decade after being cut from the NBA he's still playing and plotting his return. Shammgod's international tour has taken him as far afield as Poland, Saudi Arabia, and now the Chinese Basketball Association team in Taiyuan. The Wall Street Journal's Alan Paul (subscription) caught up with him:

It can be a lot to grapple with. The owner of Mr. Shammgod's team instructs the coach from the bench at home games and over the phone for away matches. The two foreign players can only play a combined five quarters per game, leading to bizarre substitution patterns. In the middle of the past season, the CBA took a 50-day break so the National Team could practice for the Asian Games. The rest of the players practiced daily for the entire period. Mr. Shammgod's team allowed him to return to New York for a 10-day visit with his wife and three kids. Other teams made their foreign players stick around.

Food is another constant concern. Mr. Shammgod tries to eat all of his meals at Pizza Hut or McDonald's, Taiyuan's only two Western establishments. We ate at McDonald's three times during my 24-hour visit, my first visits to a Chinese Mickey D's. When he can't make it to one of those places, he sticks with rice and fresh fruit. Even Mr. Dixon, who speaks some Chinese and is fairly well assimilated, tries to avoid local cuisine. "They eat too much weird stuff," he says, noting that he follows the lead of a Muslim teammate at team meals because he won't eat dog.

"Beijing and Shanghai are nice," said Mr. Shammgod. "Living there would be easy. They have [T.G.I.] Friday's, Outback Steakhouse and all kinds of American restaurants."

Paul also reports that Shammgod spends long hours online, chatting and instant messaging with friends like Chauncey Billups and Kevin Garnett. One of you, somebody, can you please FedEx this man a sandwich?