Donald Sloan

Erie BayHawks point guard Donald Sloan had three points on 1-of-6 shooting for the Atlanta Hawks in their 79-77 loss at Charlotte tonight.

Sloan, who was invited to Atlanta’s training camp, had three assists and two rebounds in 16 minutes, 53 seconds.

Former BayHawk power forward Ivan Johnson is also in Atlanta’s training camp. He had four points on 2-of-6 shooting and seven rebounds in 17 minutes, 18 seconds.

If Johnson is waived by the Hawks and returns to the D-League, he’ll join the BayHawks.

BayHawks center Chris Daniels is playing in tonight’s preseason game for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Erie has four players in NBA training camps in Sloan, Daniels, combo guard Cory Higgins (Denver) and forward Mychel Thompson (Cleveland).

The NBA season starts Christmas Day.

Kyle Spain averaged 8.1 points for Erie in 44 games last season./Photo by Jack Hanrahan/Erie Times-News

Shooters. Rebounders.

That’s how Erie BayHawks general manager of basketball operations, Allan Houston, summarized what Erie will look for in the 2011 D-League Draft, which starts Thursday at 7 p.m.

The BayHawks have the seventh and ninth pick in the first round and have two more picks in the second round. Before figuring out what they need, you got know what they got coming back.

Returning players:

PG – Blake Ahearn (27 years old, 6-2, 190, Missouri State) – Shooter. Scorer (Avg. 16.9 points in 31 games for  Erie last season, 96.2 FT%). Not a great defender, but is scrappy.

PF – Kyle Goldcamp (25 years old, 6-10, 230, Gannon) – Tough. Plays hard. Has a lefty hook, but gets garbage points. Aggressive.

SF – Kyle Spain (6-5, 210, San Diego State) – Plays on the perimeter. Has unlimited range on the jump shot. Struggles defending on perimeter.

SF Chaz McCrommon (6-6, 200, Robert Morris) – Joined Erie late last season. Only played one game for the BayHawks. Considered a solid defender and capable scorer.

Here are the free-agent invites:

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In 2008-09, Taj McCullough (with the ball) injured his knee as a rook. Then the BayHawks released him./ETN file photo.

Recognize some of them.

PG Jamaal Tinsley – old school NBA vet. PF Chris Taft – big fella had much potential at Pitt.

SF Taj McCullough – once wore a BayHawks uniform before then Erie coach John Treloar released him. Highly skilled on offense.

PG Tristan Thompson (North Texas) – Lit up Kansas State for 28 points in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. SF Alando Tucker – was all world at Wisconsin (all-time leading scorer with 2,147 points).

There are a few others sprinkled here and there, but for the most part, there are more unknowns than known guys on this list of 30 players to watch in the 2011 D-League Draft, which begins Thursday at 7 p.m.

Why?

Well, you could say because the NBA is still in lockout and guys either went overseas or aren’t confident the lockout is going to end anytime soon.

You could say guys just don’t want to play for less than $30,000.

Whatever the reason, there are enough guy the pool to have an 8-round draft. It won’t take long to see if it’s watered down or possesses the same level of talent it has in previous years.

For example, is there an Ivan Johnson in the draft. A guy who can come in and average 22 and 8 for an entire season like he did for Erie last season.

Have to wait and see, but as always, the best players will surface. The question is, who are those guys?

Allan Houston will run the basketball end of the Erie BayHawks./Submitted photo by the New York Knicks.

When the Erie BayHawks established a hybrid affiliation partnership with the New York Knicks, they got more than just one of the most recognizable NBA franchises taking over their basketball operations.

They got one of the best shooters to ever play the game – Allan Houston.

An assistant general manager with the Knicks, Houston, 40, became the general manager of basketball operations for the BayHawks. A 12-year NBA shooting guard, Houston will make his first visit to Erie on Monday.

Earlier this week, BayHawks beat writer Duane Rankin of the Erie Times-News caught up with Houston on the phone to talk about the BayHawks, his role with the team and the D-League.

You ever been to Erie before? No. (Laughs) No. I’ve heard so many good things and I actually enjoyed spending time with (BayHawks majority owner Steve Demetriou and lead local investor Owen McCormick) and a couple of the owners and meeting the staff in Cleveland. Everybody was excited about our partnership and I’m looking forward to really seeing the foundation of the team, the franchise and Erie. We just really got a good feeling about the people that are running the team.”

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Point guard Blake Ahearn shot just 5-of-13 from the field in Erie's 106-101 loss in Game 1 Sunday at Tullio Arena.

Up 12 early in the fourth quarter, the Erie BayHawks wound up losing Game 1, 106-101, to the Reno Bighorns in the first round of the D-League playoffs Sunday at Tullio Arena.

Game 2 is Tuesday in Reno, Nev. at 10 p.m.  Game 3, if necessary, will be Thursday in Reno at 10 p.m.

Erie led 85-73 with 10 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game Sunday. Here’s how Erie got the lead.

1. Made shots: The BayHawks shot 51.1 percent in the first half to go up, 55-50, at the break. Ivan Johnson had 18 first-half points on 8-of-12 shooting. Erie had 26 points in the paint.

2. Strong bench play: Erik Daniels had nine points and five rebounds in the first half. Jermaine Beal hit a pair of 3-point shots. Erie had a 17-12 edge in bench points.

3. Energy: Playing off the crowd, the fifth-seeded BayHawks were quicker to the ball, had Reno frustrated and kept the second-seeded Bighorns off balance. Reno had eight turnovers in the first half.

Now here’s how Reno erased Erie’s lead.

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Guard Mike Gansey doesn't see his former team getting out the first round of the 2011 D-League playoffs.

Mike Gansey is picking against his former team.

On the website, Ridiculous Upside, Gansey picked the second-seeded Reno Bighorns (34-16) to beat the fifth-seeded Erie BayHawks (32-16) in the D-League’s best-of-three playoff series beginning Sunday at 5 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

Reno won its lone game against Erie this season, 100-89, at home March 16. Gansey is playing overseas in Spain. While with Erie last season, Gansey averaged 18.4 points.

This one is a bit of a head scratcher as my buddy Scott pointed out the Bighorns were 6-1 vs. Bakersfield this season but chose the Bayhawks instead.  Now I know Erie has been up and down the last couple weeks of the season but with Blake Ahearn and Ivan Johnson they have one of the best 1-2 combinations in the D-League.  Reno has been LOADED all season with an NBA roster it seems the entire year but Coach Eric Musselman has been able to put it together and have to give him some credit.

Pick: I really had a tough time picking a winner in this one but I have to go with Reno in three games here.  They just have too many athletic bodies to throw at and slow down Ivan Johnson. Despite the outstanding job Erie Coach Jay Larranaga has done this past year, the Bighorns will advance.

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“Tried to help in his development as much as we could, but I also see the Raptors’ perspective of it and maybe it not be worth it for him to be down here and only playing 15 minutes a game.” – Erie coach Jay Larranaga on Solomon Alabi, who the Toronto Raptors recalled Monday.

Toronto Raptors rookie center Solomon Alabi never seemed to find his groove with the Erie BayHawks this season.

Third time was not a charm for Solomon Alabi.

In his third and final stint with the the Erie BayHawks, the 7-foot-1 center of the Toronto Raptors only played an average of 15.1 minutes in 11 games. NBA teams can send down their first and second-year players to NBA affiliates up to three times in a single season.

Now Alabi shot 11-of-16 from the field in his final run with Erie, but averaged just 5.5 points those 11 games.

So Erie coach Jay Larranaga wasn’t surprised the Raptors called Alabi, 23, back up Monday. In 22 games, Alabi averaged 7.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.82 blocks.

“Difficult situation for everybody,” Larranaga said after Tuesday’s practice. “First of all, Solomon is a great kid. He’s a hard worker. A very good basketball player, but he’s young. The reason he was down here was to get playing experience. Our situation was difficult because we added more veteran guys. We added Erik Daniels. With how well Kyle (Goldcamp) and Ivan (Johnson) and Tas(min Mitchell) had been playing, it was a lot of good players for not enough minutes.

“So I totally understand the Raptors’ point of view. Did my best to get Solomon as much playing time as I felt I could while still being fair to the other players and still put in the best position for the playoffs. Felt very fortunate to have much as much as we did this year. Tried to help in his development as much as we could, but I also see the Raptors’ perspective of it and maybe it not be worth it for him to be down here and only playing 15 minutes a game.”

Alabi struggling to find playing time in D-League for the Erie BayHawks.

The Toronto Raptors sent Solomon Alabi down for a third time to play because he wasn’t doing that with them, but he isn’t seeing much action in Erie, either.

Since returning to the BayHawks, the 7-foot, 1-inch rookie center out of Florida State has played fewer than 14 minutes in five of Erie’s last nine games. The BayHawks are 4-5 in those games and that includes the win they got today against Iowa, 138-118, in Tullio Arena.

Alabi had a point, two rebounds, two personal and attempted just one shot from the field in 5 minutes, three seconds of play today.

Erie is 11-9 with Alabi, 19-9 without him. He’s averaging seven points and five rebounds.

Alabi has started 15 games for Erie, but has been coming off the bench recently. Having 6-8 Erik Daniels gives the BayHawks more flexibility up front because he can score from all over and pass so Alabi is kind of the odd man out in terms of starting.

As for when he does get in the game, it’s tough for Alabi to blend in. Erie doesn’t really guards who get into the thick the defense and dish to big men.

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Iowa Energy point guard Curtis Stinson applauded what Ivan Johnson has done for Erie this season.

After the Iowa Energy battered the Erie BayHawks, 124-101, Friday night at Tullio Arena, two D-League All-Stars meet at half court – Curtis Stinson and Ivan Johnson.

Stinson, the floor general for the league’s top team in the Energy (35-12), whispered words of encouragement in the ear of  Erie’s inside force, Johnson, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game against Fort Wayne for disciplinary reasons in large part to him picking up 23 technical fouls this season.

Stinson said he told Johnson to “let his game do the talking.” Johnson had 33 points in Friday’s loss for Erie (29-18).

“He’s an emotional guy. He’s a great player. You see it. Night in and night out, he’s killing it. He’s doing his thing. You have to respect him. I just told him to keep holding his head up. Let his game do the talking. That’s something I learned, too. I’m an emotional player, but it’s something I learned. Let the game do the talking. I got a lot of respect for him. He knows that. He’s an All-Star. Scoring 30 every night. That’s not easy.”

Johnson appreciated Stinson’s comments.

“It’s something that every player wants,”  Johnson said. “I appreciate him looking at me like that. I look at him the same way. It’s like, you know you got game when somebody else is saying it.”

In his time with Erie, power forward Jarvis Gunter was a crowd favorite.

He felt right at home.

Jarvis Gunter was more of the most well-liked players to suit up for the Erie BayHawks and even though he returned to Tullio Arena on Tuesday wearing a Springfield Armor uniform, he still got love from the Erie fans after the game.

Gunter, who had been with the team since its 2008-09 expansion season, was waived by the BayHawks this season.

In his first game in Erie against his former team, Gunter had nine points on 4-of-4 shooting. For the season, Gunter is averaging 4.6 points a game in 29 games.

After the game that ended with Erie winning 101-92, I talked with Gunter about how it’s been for him since joining Springfield, jabbering with his former teammates and being back in Erie.

How did it feel to be back here for a game? – “It felt good. Good feeling. I was a little nervous, but overall it was a good feeling. We didn’t come out with the win, like I wanted, but it felt good to be back. The crowd really appreciated me.”

At the end of the game, one of the fans gave you a hug. What was that like to know that you left a good impression on them? – It was a great feeling. Good they still appreciated what I had done the past two years. I felt good. I was nervous, but it was a good feeling.”

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