“Some guys were like, ‘Man, he’s coming to take my minutes. I’ll be mean to him.’ They wouldn’t talk to you. If I said hello, they’d just look away. Just being rude.”
Nathan Jawai didn't have a pleasant D-League experience this past season.
Since Nathan Jawai will enter the 2009-10 NBA season as a second-year player, the Toronto Raptors have the option of sending him down to play in the D-League.
With Raptors replacing the Philadelphia 76ers as Erie’s NBA affiliate, the 6-foot, 10-inch, 280-pound Jawai may wind up spending signficant time with the BayHawks.
With the Erie BayHawks now affiliated with Toronto Raptors, not the Philadelphia 76ers, let’s look at who Raptors drafted this year.
They may play in Erie this season. Then again, they may not.
The Raptors used the ninth overall pick to take USC forward DeMar DeRozan. In talking with Erie coach John Treloar, DeRozan will most likely not play in Erie this season because guys drafted that high likely play quite a bit.
The Cavaliers drafted UNC forward Danny Green in the second round.
That’s better.
Late last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers provided statistical information on their first-round pick, forward Christian Eyenga out of the Republic of Congo.
He did average 13.3 points playing for a team out of Spain, which is much better than how he fared in Euroleague. The kid is young, too, at age 20.
“Christian is very athletic and shoots the ball very well. He has the potential to be a good NBA player,” Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry said. “We are excited to work with him, to see his development and help him grow as a player and a person.”
The Cavaliers also drafted forward Danny Green, who helped North Carolina win a national title this year, in the second round. If he makes the team, Green should see action in Erie, but since he’s a shooter, that makes him appealing to keep and develop.
Here’s an excerpt on both players. The full story can be found on Cleveland’s Web site.
Forward Christian Eyenga is going from the Congo to Cleveland.
The NBA affiliates of the Erie BayHawks - Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers - made some selections tonight’s NBA Draft, which means one thing.
They may wind up suiting up for the BayHawks this season.
With the 30th overall pick, the Cavaliers chose Christian Eyenga out of the Congo. He’s 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, can play either guard or forward, but check out his stats.
Interesting.
The Sixers used the 17th overall pick to take UCLA point guard Jrue Holiday.
With the D-League adding two teams in the eastern part of country in Portland, Maine and Springfield, Mass., Philadelphia become an affiliate of one of those two teams. Since the Sixers were so far away from Erie (6 hours), they didn’t develop the kind of the relationship with the BayHawks the Cavaliers did.
So talking about Philadelphia’s first-round pick playing in Erie may be irrelevant. If Philly and Erie remain connected, the chances of Holiday playing for the BayHawks are decent, but not great.
After missing out on getting him before the February trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers now have Shaquille O'Neal. Is the big fela the final piece for the Cavaliers to win a title? Well....
You’ve heard the deal.
The Big Shaq deal to Cleveland.
Just check his Twitter page: The_Real_Shaq.
By the way , he found out about the trade on Twitter.
Crazy.
The Cavaliers have acquired Shaquille O’Neal in a trade with the Phoenix Suns. The Cavs got the Diesel in exchange for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic and a second-round pick in 2010.
The Cavaliers got the better deal for now, but the Suns improved as well.
Former BayHawk forward, Taj McCullough (headband) has a multitude of offensive skills.
The D-League is having a pre-draft camp this weekend in Los Angeles that’s gathering up some news on the league web site.
The Erie BayHawks had two players invited to the 25-player elite camp in combo guard Maureece Rice and small forward Ivan Harris. In addition, former BayHawk forward Taj McCullough was also invited.
McCullough played most of the season for Fort Wayne last season after Erie released him.
Erie assistant Ben McDonald, who is from Long Beach, Calif., was scheduled to scout the three-day camp as well.
With NBA scouts in attendance, this should open up some doors for guys to get serious NBA looks in the upcoming summer league next month in Las Vegas.
Yao and LeBron? They did team up in an animated commericial heading into the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Since a group of Chinese investors signed an agreement last month with the Cleveland Cavaliers to become minority owners, talk about the Cavs acquiring Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has surfaced.
Now Yao is talking about it.
In an recent interview with his hometown Shanghai TV station, Ming said trade talks involving himself and the Cavs are an “unknown” to him.
Reports have come out of the Cleveland that the Cavs are in trade talks with the Phoenix Suns about acquiring Shaquille O’Neal.
The Cavs have a better chance of getting Shaq than Yao, but are either ideal for them?
Sure it would show LeBron James that Cleveland is serious about winning a championship, but can the Cavs win a title with either Yao or Shaq?
Former Mercyhurst assistant Bob MacKinnon coached the 14ers to a D-League title this season.
D-League president Dan Reed announced today that the 2009 D-League champion Colorado 14ers will relocate to Frisco, Texas and will begin play in the 2010-11 season.
The team will not play next season, though.
So the defending champs won’t be able to defend their title in 2009-10 season.
Hmmm.
The move isn’t a surprise considering Colorado wasn’t drawing flies in terms of fan support. The 14ers were last in the league in home attendance as they averaged 1,050 fans during the regular season.
Sad, but true.
Also when you have Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations, Donnie Nelson, becoming the principal owner and operator of the D-League team, that’s guaranteed money the league can’t pass up.
As a rookie last season, Mo Rice averaged 18.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and four assists.
Erie BayHawks’ combo guard Maureece Rice and small forward Ivan Harris were two of the best players in the D-League last year.
Now they’ll get a chance to show it before NBA scouts this weekend.
In conjunction with the D-League Pre-Draft camp in the Los Angeles area, the league is having a separate camp in which 25 of its top players have been invited to compete before representatives of every NBA team.
Harris and Rice have been invited. The Pre-Draft camp is from Friday to Sunday and this elite camp is scheduled for Sunday. Erie assistant Ben McDonald will be in Los Angeles scouting players at the pre-draft camp.
Along with BayHawks forward/center Jarvis Gunter, Harris will also participate in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ mini camp next week following the NBA Draft.
Rice has been invited to play for the Cavaliers’ summer league team next month in Las Vegas.
