A 2010 D-League All-Star, Aminu played both NBA summer leagues in Orlando and Vegas.

Here’s how players who was with the Erie BayHawks at some point last season fared in the two NBA summer leagues in Orlando and Las Vegas.

Players are listed in alphabetical order.

Combo guard Blake Ahearn (Finished with BayHawks after being traded from Bakersfield to Erie for Alade Aminu) played four games for the Houston Rockets in Las Vegas and scored 11 total points. Shot 14.3 percent from the field, was 2-of-11 from 3-point range and have seven assists to five turnovers.

Power forward Alade Aminu (Finished with Bakersfield after Erie traded him there for Blake Ahearn) played five games for the Atlanta Hawks in Las Vegas and four for the Charlotte Bobcats in Orlando. Aminu averaged 10 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Hawks, 5.5 points and four boards for the Bobcats. He had 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday in his last game in Las Vegas.

Center John Bryant (Started and finished season with BayHawks) played two games for the Milwaukee Bucks in Las Vegas and scored two total points in 12 minutes. He attempted two shots total, made one.

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The Erie BayHawks have four players from the 2009-10 season who will play in NBA Summer League games in Las Vegas starting today.

Shooting guard Mike Gansey (D-League Select team), point guard Blake Ahearn (Houston Rockets) and centers John Bryant (Milwaukee Bucks) and Mike Sweetney (Washington Wizards) will look to impress NBA teams to give them a chance to make an NBA team in training camp this fall.

Former BayHawk power forward  Alade Aminu will play for the Atlanta Hawks. Danny Green, who played two games for Erie last season, will see action this summer with his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Darnell Jackson, who has played for the BayHawks while with their NBA affiliate, the Cavaliers, is with the Bucks.

BayHawks coach John Treloar is expected to work as an assistant for the Cavaliers.

No one was more fun to watch in college basketball last season than Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall.

Let’s take a look at the first five picks of Thursday’s 2010 NBA Draft and see what they bring to the table.

1. Washington Wizards – John Wall (6-4, PG, Kentucky).
Strengths: Gifted athete, playmaker and brings size to PG position. Weaknesses: Needs to improve FT (Shot 75.4 percent at Kentucky), inexperience.
Impact on Wizards: Not only will he bring fans to the arena, Wall gives Washington a player they can immediately build around and put past troubles with the franchise.

2. Philadelphia 76ers – Evan Turner (6-7, SG/SF, Ohio State).
Strengths: Clutch, seasoned (played three years in college) and shoots a  high percentage  (shot 51.9 percent from the field last season). Weaknesses: Turnover prone and not as explosive around the rim in terms of finishing in traffic.
Impact on 76ers: Will have to play small forward, but teaming up with Andre Iguodala will give the 76ers two very good perimeter defenders. Has a very competitive edge, which Philadelphia has lacked in recent years.

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Rajon Rondo and Doc Rivers are on the same page for Boston, which is bad news for everyone else in the playoffs.

Come on David Stern.

We don’t need a break this long between playoff games. We really don’t, but then again, we’re not playing the games.

However, the time between these games is pretty ridiculous. Yo Dave, you’re better than that.

After playing Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday, the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics won’t play Game 3 until Saturday in Boston.

Game 3 of the Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns will be Sunday in Phoenix.

They played Game 2 Wednesday.

What amazing is after Game 3 of these two respective series, the remaining games will be played every other day as long as each series continues.

That’s even more puzzling, but I have a greater issue with the time in between Game 2 and Game 3. Each team should take advantage of the time off, though.

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In 22 games this season, Othyus Jeffers is averaging 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and shooting 51 percent from the field.

The LeBron Act didn’t stop the Utah Jazz from giving Othyus Jeffers a chance in the NBA.

A month ago, Jeffers told me NBA teams weren’t signing D-League players because they’re saving money to sign LeBron James and other top free agents this summer.

“There are a lot of things going on right now in 2010 with the ‘LeBron Act’ so they didn’t want to spend money this year,” Jeffers said.

On Wednesday, the Jazz signed the Iowa Energy shooting guard. Jeffers is the 20th NBA call-up from the D-League this season.

In fact, since Jeffers’ comments, seven D-League players have signed 10-day contracts with NBA teams.

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Harris was the D-League player of the week after averaging 34.3 points and 14 boards in three games.

This guy shouldn’t be in the D-League.

Sorry.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers forward Michael Harris should be in the NBA.

Now he’s a little undersized for a power player at 6-foot-6 and 236 pounds, but he’s diesel and was flexing his muscle all night in leading the Vipers (16-6) to a 110-88 victory against the Erie BayHawks (10-14) at Tullio Arena.

The Harris line: 34 points. 10 rebounds. Shot 10-of-11 from the line.

So I had to ask him after the game why is he in the D-League.

Had to.

“I can’t control that part,” Harris said. “I’ve been there once. Things are looking good. The only thing I can do is keep contributing and helping the team win. I think the rest should speak for itself.”

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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?

You tell me.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points in leading the L.A. Lakers to a Game 5 victory.

After losing Game 4 Thursday night to fall down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Orlando Magic were leaking and the Los Angeles Lakers smelled blood.

So when the L.A. Lakers went on a torrid 16-0 run in the second quarter of Game 5 Sunday, the end result was inevitable.

The Los Angeles Lakers are NBA world champions after beating the Magic, 99-86, in Orlando.

Few expected the Magic to upset the Lakers even though they had upset top-seeded Cleveland to make to the NBA Finals. When the Magic look back at this series against the Lakers, they let Game 2 and Game 4 slip away as they lost both in overtime.

It’s hard to win a  best-of-7 series when you give two games away.

As for the Lakers, this is the 10th NBA title for their Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson. It’s the first time Kobe Bryant has won a title without Shaquille O’Neal.

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Kobe Bryant is ready to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a world title.

1-for-2

That’s how I fared in predicting the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals.

Darn Cleveland.

Like most people, I figured NBA MVP LeBron James and the Cavaliers would face the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals, but Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic defeated Cleveland in six games to come out of the East.

Denver gave the Lakers a tough series, but L.A. has too much talent, skill and Kobe Bryant is just too good to let his team fall to the Nuggets.

So here we are.

Lakers vs. Magic. Superman vs. the Black Mamba.

Not Kobe vs. LeBron, but it’s not chump change either.

Orlando has versatile big men Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu that can shoot the 3 while L.A. has a Hall of Fame coach in Phil Jackson and the best closer in Bryant.

In the end, Kobe will finally win a title without Shaquille O’Neal against the franchise that drafted O’Neal when he came out of college in 1992.

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The league MVP is set to get it started against the Orlando Magic

4-for-4

That’s how I fared in predicting the Eastern Conference and Western Conference semifinal series.

Piece of cake.

I mean, Cleveland should have disposed of Atlanta, right. The Cavaliers could have broke out the brooms from the opening tip in Game 1.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a better team than Houston even with star center Yao Ming so without him, the Rockets had no chance even though they showed tremendous zeal in extending the series to seven games.

As for the Dallas Mavericks, the way they fold on a regular, anyone who thought they’d beat Denver must either be related to Dallas owner Mark Cuban or owe Cuban money.

Orlando needed a Game 7 to finally put away the Kevin Garnett-less Boston Celtics, but they did win the series.

So now, who’s going to wind up in the NBA Finals.

Did someone say Kobe and LeBron?

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