I sat down with NBA Development League President Dan Reed for an interview before the Erie BayHawks played the Iowa Energy on Friday night at Erie Insurance Arena.
In Part 2, I asked Reed about the BayHawks, who have reached the playoffs in three of their first four D-League seasons. Erie is 3-4 so far this season.
Two seasons. Two playoff bids. One coach.
Jay Larranaga has led the Erie BayHawks to a second D-League playoff berth in as many seasons. The BayHawks (27-21) will close out the regular season Friday night against expansion Canton (26-22) at home and Saturday night at Canton.
The BayHawks have made the playoffs in three of their four seasons in the D-League. John Treloar was the head coach when Erie reached the playoffs as an expansion franchise in 2008-09.
The common link to all three teams is Ben McDonald has been an assistant. McDonald has been with Erie all four seasons.
The Erie BayHawks are in the playoffs – again.
With New York Knicks senior vice president Glen Grunwald in attendance, the BayHawks clinched a playoff berth with an 110-108 victory Tuesday night at Tullio Arena.
The Knicks are Erie’s NBA hybrid affiliate.
Erie (27-21) has made the D-League playoffs in three of its four D-League seasons, doing so last season and this season under Jay Larranaga. In 2009 as expansion franchise, Erie made it under John Treloar.
The BayHawks still have a shot at winning the East Conference, which would give then the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and the opportunity to pick their first-round playoff opponent. The BayHawks are a game behind conference leader Dakota (28-20).
Erie needs to win its last two games against Canton (26-21) on Friday at home and Saturday at Canton and have Dakota lose its last two games at Fort Wayne on Friday and Saturday.
At 12-35, the Mad Ants have the D-League’s worst record. Since the Wizards own the tiebreaker against Erie, the BayHawks must finish a game ahead of them to win the conference.
Booker Woodfox scored 43 points in two games against the Erie BayHawks, a team that waived him in 2009-10.
It may have been a blessing for Booker Woodfox.
When the Erie BayHawks released him after only two games in 2009-10 and didn’t play him, the point guard got more serious about his game.
“I think when I came to Erie, I was a little bit out of shape,” Woodfox said. “So when you come in and you don’t look like you’re in shape, they have to make a decision on whether they want to keep you or take a chance or let you go. So mostly that was my fault.”
John Treloar was Erie’s coach at the time.
“Nothing against Erie,” Woodfox continued. ” I wasn’t ready to play. Once I got released, I figured I needed to do something and get in the gym and work harder and that’s what I decided to do.”
This weekend, he showed Erie how hard he’s worked.
Woodfox, 25, scored 43 points in two games against the BayHawks. He had 20 in Friday’s 118-115 loss and went for a game-high 23 in tonight’s 96-90 win.
Woodfox was 7-of-11 from 3-point range in two games.
Nothing personal.
Allan Houston is running Erie's b-ball show./NYK.
The 2011-12 D-League season hasn’t started yet and the Erie BayHawks have already made three roster moves.
Fortunately for the BayHawks, the D-League increased roster moves from 10 to 12 this season.
Let’s take a look at the latest one, which may give a good indication of how things are going to be for the BayHawks being in a hybrid partnership with the New York Knicks, who led by Allan Houston is running their basketball operations.
A former star guard with the Knicks, Houston is their assistant general manager.
A day after the draft, Erie traded veteran point guard Blake Ahearn and second-round pick Taj McCullough, a small forward, to Reno for point guard Donald Sloan and its seventh-round pick, veteran forward/center Joe Kennerly III.
Let’s start with the appetizer part of the trade.
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?
Erie's first-year coach, Jay Larranaga, has the BayHawks in playoff contention.
So far, so good for the Erie BayHawks.
With a new head coach, the Erie BayHawks are 17-9 heading into Friday’s game at Maine against the Red Claws (11-16).
Last season, Erie only won 21 games.
This season’s record is a bit skewed because the BayHawks are playing in the East Conference, which has only two teams with winning records, but they win at conference leader Iowa (19-7) on Christmas Day, 114-110 after losing to the Energy on a last-second shot on the road.
Jay Larranaga had never been a head coach in the states and his only head coaching experience was with the Irish National Team, but so far, he’s shown why Erie hired him to replace John Treloar, who left to become the Director of Player Personnel for the Phoenix Suns.
Does the name ring a bell? It should.
The Erie BayHawks drafted the former Indiana University sharpshooter in the 2009 D-League Draft. Wilmont had a team-high 23 points in a preseason win against Fort Wayne, but the BayHawks, coached by John Treloar at the time, waived him and guard Oliver Lafayette on the last day of camp.
Treloar and Erie assistant Ben McDonald were an assistants at Indiana when Wilmont, 27, was there. While Lafayette, who played for Erie in its expansion season in 2008-09, had big scoring games against the BayHawks, Wilmont contributed as well to Fort Wayne getting the best of Erie last season.
Now do you remember?
Well, Treloar is the director of player personnel in Phoenix, Lafeyette is playing overseas, but Wilmont is back in Fort Wayne and is simply on fire right now heading into today’s game against Erie.
Former Erie BayHawks point guard Cedric Jackson is one of five training camp invites for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who open training camp today at Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence, Ohio. Jackson played college ball at Cleveland State.
This is a step up for Cedric Jackson.
A year ago, he was a rookie point guard in training camp with the Erie BayHawks in the D-League. Now he’s a camp invite for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who open training camp Monday.
Then again, Jackson has NBA talent and should on an NBA roster already. Last season, he got NBA call ups from three different teams including the Cavs, who are an NBA affiliate of the BayHawks.
Now the last team to call Jackson up was the Washington Wizards, who signed him for the rest of the season in the spring of last year. So you might wonder, well, why isn’t he starting camp with the Wizards.
Well, my man Michael Lee of the Washington Post, let us know what happened earlier this summer on his blog.
The team rescinded a qualifying offer for Cedric Jackson last week, making him an unrestricted free agency.
The question is why did this happen.
When you're standing next to NBA commissioner David Stern (center), you're going to smile no matter what.
The Erie BayHawks made history this week.
They became the second D-League team to have the logo of a sponsor on its jerseys. The WNBA has had teams do so before Erie and Rio Grande Valley did so heading into this upcoming season.
LECOM has been the major sponsor of the BayHawks since they came to Erie before the 2008-09 season. LECOM provides the team quite a bit like a state-of-the-art training facility.
Now I’m from the old school of not having that kind of stuff on jerseys or uniforms. Remember in Rocky when Rocky Balboa sported the rob from the meat packing plant?
