The 6-foot-11, 240-pound Hunter was a force in the paint for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants last season.

Fort Wayne has one of the D-League’s best players in Chris Hunter.

Well, the Mad Ants used to before the Golden State Warriors called up the 6-foot-11, 240-pound center today. So the Erie BayHawks don’t have to concern themselves with stopping him in tonight’s preseason game at Meadville Area High School.

This guy Hunter should be in the NBA anyway. He’s one of the few guys I saw last year who dominated every time I saw him play be live against Erie or on NBA.com against other D-League teams.

In 47 games with Fort Wayne last season, Hunter averaged 19.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 32.8 minutes.

Good luck, Chris. Do your thing.

PG - Donell Taylor (6-6, 185, Alabama-Birmingham)
SG - Oliver Lafayette (6-2, 190, Houston)
SF - Jackie Manuel (6-5, 189, North Carolina)
PF - Ivan Harris (6-7, 215, Ohio State)
C - Jarvis Gunter (6-10, 210, Arkansas-Pine Bluff)

Now Lafayette, Manuel, Harris and Gunter all played for Erie in its expansion year last season. Taylor is the only new starter. The Bayhawks picked him with the second overall pick in this year’s draft Nov. 5.

When looking at this starting line up, two things jump out.

One, Taylor playing point guard. This may be his best route to get back in the NBA because he’s not really a true two-guard in the sense that he’s not a great shooter. He can defend, rebound, is a pretty good passer so if he can run a team and still knock down shots, that’s a tough handle at 6-6 for any opposing point guard.

Two, Harris playing small forward. He’s a natural small forward, but since he played the four spot last season for Erie, it’s good to start him off there to start the season. As the year goes on, expect him to work at small forward. If he’s going to make it in the NBA, it’s going to be at small forward, not power forward.

Former BayHawk guard Cliff Clinkscales was waived by the Rio Grande today.

Former Erie BayHawk guard Cliff Clinkscales was cut by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers earlier today.

He played 42 games as a rookie for the BayHawks before they released him last season. The 6-foot-1 point guard out of DePaul averaged 7.5 points and had 227 assists for the BayHawks.

He played five games for the Vipers were he averaged 7.2 points and 5.2 assists.

Cliff was one of my favorite players last season because he played hard, had a flair for making the pass and really played to the crowd with his energy.

I’m sure he’ll land on his feet soon.

John Bryant is slimming down.

He came into camp weighing at least 300 pounds, but the former Santa Clara center is running better, dunking the ball and even had a follow up dunk.

This is good sign for the Erie BayHawks. At 6-foot-11, he has the size to be a factor in the paint.

Jarvis Gunter can't run like Usain Bolt, but he may be the fastest D-League big man.

With his arms pumping and legs extending out to eat up space, Jarvis Gunter looks like a sprinter.

Since Gunter is 6-foot-10, he’s also reminds Erie BayHawks forward Jackie Manuel of the fastest man in the world today.

“That’s Bolt,” Manuel shouts out at practice earlier this week. “Usain Bolt.”

The world record holder in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, Bolt is 6-foot-5. When Gunter runs, he has a sprinter form, but there’s a reason for that.

Gunter said he conditioned with the track and field team and cross country team while in high school.

That explains everything.

Jones’ downfall was his lack of strength. At 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds, Jones just didn’t match up physically with the bigger guards in camp.

I talked to Erie coach John Treloar today and he simply said Jones, who starred at Edinboro and Cathedral Prep,  needs to get in the weight room.

Now Jones doesn’t have to become this big ol’ brut. That would take away his quickness. With those broad shoulders, Jones could put on at least 15 to 20 more pounds.

As for Goldcamp, what’s surprised me about him is that he’s knocking down the 15 to 18-foot jump shot. Didn’t show that at Gannon, but Goldcamp told me he’s been shooting up to 200 jump shots a day since the Knights ended their 2008-09 season in March.

In looking further down the road with Goldcamp, Erie has three other big men in camp in Georgia Tech’s Alade Aminu, Santa Clara’s John Bryant and Jarvis Gunter, who played for the BayHawks as a rookie last year.

Now Treloar likes big men so he may keep all three, but here’s the wild card.

Treloar has been playing returning BayHawks Ivan Harris as a power forward in practice. At 6-foot-7, Harris is a natural small forward, but he’s being used as a power forward.

If Harris remains a power forward, Goldcamp’s chances of making the team will diminish.

If Treloar just has Harris in that spot to help him become a better rebounder, but is planning to play him at small forward, Goldcamp will more than likely make the team.

If Alade Aminu (44) can finish at the rim with force like this for the Erie BayHawks, now they have a legit inside presence in the paint.

After watching Tuesday night’s practice at East High, this is what I’ve noticed about some of the new guys in training camp for the Erie BayHawks.

The team must cut one more to get its roster down to 12 by 5 p.m. Wednesday. The BayHawks have a noon practice at LECOM Health and Wellness Center.

Joe Jones - Physically, he’s frail compared to the other players, but what Jones has is another gear he can go to overcome that. The Erie native is one of those guy who can turn it up and if he could ever play at that high volume level for long stretches of time, then he’d really be something at this level.

Kyle Goldcamp - He just continues to work and work and work. Doesnt mind getting physical at all. On Tuesday, the Gannon graduate set a back screen on returning guard Oliver Lafayette that had Lafayette glaring back at him and saying, “That’s not a pick Kyle” and suggesting Goldcamp shoved his arms out on the pick instead of standing firm. Goldcamp just kept playing.

Rod Wilmont - The guy wasn’t lying. He can just flat out knock down shots. Before training camp, he told me the coaches know he can put it in the hole since John Treloar and Ben McDonald were assistants at Indiana when he was there. During an intense four-on-four drill in which defense is rewarded, he must have knocked down four contested long-range shots. Pretty impressive to watch. I should have known. Against Northwestern in 2007, he hit nine 3s. Yes. Nine.

Alade Aminu - He’s 6-foot-10, but he’s got a nice little short baseline jumper on either side of the rim. When he’s jogging, you wouldn’t think he can get the puppies up and down, but the big fellas can motor. Nice little jump hook, but I didn’t see him block any shots. For a guy with 7-foot-3 wing span, need to see some shots swatted out of the air.

John Bryant - He’s carrying around 310 pounds or so, but he’s really working hard. I like his effort. Not in the  best of shape, but the 6-foot-11 Bryant is getting after it and you can see once he does get in shape, Bryant will be a factor because hes’ got some nice touch around the basket and has some moves. Just not really able to execute them because of the weight right now.

Cedric Jackson will get back after it Wednesday after missing some of Tuesday's practice with an injury at East High.

Cedric Jackson sat on idle Tuesday night at East High School.

The trainers kept the former Cleveland State standout out of practice with a left hip flexor injury. For a guy who’s known for being tough, Jackson wasn’t comfortable watching the action from afar.

“I was alright to go, but they sat me out,” Jackson said. “Back in school, Coach Gary Waters always taught us to fight through the pain because sitting out is like a sign of softness. That’s not what I’m about.”

Jackson doesn’t think it will affect whether he makes the team or not. The BayHawks must cut one more by 5 p.m. Wednesday to get their roster down to 12 players.

“I’ll be back to go at it hard again tomorrow,” Jackson said. “I know what I need to do so I’m not going to let that affect me tomorrow.”

The irony of this is another guy from Cleveland State, guard Raheem Moss, suffered an ankle injury early in camp last Saturday night and eventually got cut Monday after not practicing in either of the two practices Sunday.

“I was going to come back Monday morning and he wasn’t making cuts until Tuesday,” said Moss about Erie coach John Treloar. “But he ended up pushing it up a day. That’s what happened.”

The interesting thing about Jackson is he’s known for not being a great shooter, but he did knock down some jump shots in Tuesday’s practice before sitting a segment of it.

“I’ve been working on it a lot, but I’ve been focused on getting other guys the ball,” Jackson said. “I was just open. I wasn’t being bashful tonight. I just wanted to step into it and knock the shots down.”

Brennan has the BayHawks ranked fourth in his preseason power rankings. The BayHawks went to the playoffs in their expansion year last season before losing to eventual league champion Colorado in the first round.

Ivan Harris is safe from getting cut Wednesday. Who else in Erie's training camp is secure as a blanket?

The Erie BayHawks must make one more cut to get their roster down to 12 before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The way I see it, six spots are already secure, I think.

You’ve got the four returning players in Ivan Harris, Jackie Manuel, Oliver Lafayette and Jarvis Gunter. Then guard Donell Taylor and center Alade Aminu will make the team. The BayHawks drafted Taylor in the first round and acquired Aminu, the 10th overall pick in the draft, in a trade.

So that leaves seven guys - perimeter players Joe Jones, Rod Wilmont, Zach Sowers, Cedric Jackson, Martin Zeno and big men John Bryant, Kyle Goldcamp - vying for four spots when you consider the BayHawks can only have 10 players on their final roster.

One of those seven guys will get cut Wednesday.

Who is most likely to go?

Just based on numbers, I’d say one of the perimeter guys. In looking at those guys, Wilmont and Sowers can make shots, Zeno is very athletic, Jackson is just grit tough and Jones is rangy and can defend.

If you think this decision will be tough, wait until the BayHawks have to nail it down to 10 players by 5 p.m. next Wednesday.

Martin Zeno in action at Texas Tech