Shooting guard Mike Gansey may be back with the BayHawks after playing overseas last season./ETN file photo.

The D-League has yet to announce when it will have its draft, but the Erie BayHawks have been up to quite a bit.

1. The BayHawks had their free-agent tryout in New York last month and will have one in Erie on Sunday at Family First Sports Park from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.. There is a $150 fee to try out.

An ESPN contributor – Jim Cavan – actually tried out in New York at Baruch College in Manhattan.

Check this out here. Good stuff.

2. Next week on Oct. 15-16, the BayHawks will have guard Mike Gansey, who played for Erie in the 2009-10 season and power forward Kyle Goldcamp, a former star at Gannon who has been with Erie since that season, work as coaches at their basketball clinic.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Gansey averaged 15.6 points in his last three games with the D-League Select team in NBA Summer League play in Las Vegas.

Erie BayHawks guard Mike Gansey reached double figures in his last three games with the D-League Select team in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, NV.

Playing 38 minutes, Gansey had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the D-League Select’s 79-78 win Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Mark Tyndale of the Iowa Energy hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The D-League Select team finished 1-4 in its games against NBA teams using their summer league rosters.

Gansey averaged 12.8 points and shot 55 percent (11-of-20) from 3-point range in the five games. He scored a summer-league high 17 points in a 101-85 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies after scoring a summer-league low two points against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Gansey is from the Cleveland area.

As for the Cavaliers, who are an NBA affiliate of the BayHawks along with the Toronto Raptors, their second-year forward, Danny Green, averaged 12.8 points in his four summer-league games with Cleveland. Green had a summer-league best 17 points against the Miami Heat.

Green is eligible to play for the BayHawks this season as NBA teams can send down their first or second-year players down to play for the D-League team they’re affiliated with.

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.

Erie BayHawks forward Jackie Manuel (center) will participate in the NBA D-League Elite Mini-Camp this weekend in Virginia.

Jackie Manuel hasn’t given up on his dream to play in the NBA yet.

Manuel is among the 30 players who will participate in this weekend’s NBA D-League Elite Mini-Camp in Chantilly, Va.

NBA scout will be in attendance to watch the players go through drills and play in scrimmages. The purpose of the camp is to help players earn spots on NBA summer league rosters and fall training camp rosters.

Last season, Manuel averaged a career-high 13.9 points for the BayHawks.

The small forward out of North Carolina has played four seasons in the D-League with the last two being for the BayHawks.

Former BayHawks Donell Taylor and Darian Townes are also on the list of 30 players.

Read the rest of this entry »

Averaging 27.1 points and 10.5 boards, Mike Harris was a man on the inside for Rio Grande Valley this season.

I’m sitting here looking at the All-NBA D-League teams and that first-team squad is nice, but then I checked out the honorable mention list.

Hmmmm.

I could pick five guys from that list and seriously challenge the first team.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Gansey averaged 18.4 poinst and 8.2 boards in 27 games with Erie this season.

4:45 a.m. Wednesday.

That’s what time Erie BayHawks guard Mike Gansey’s first of two plane fights exits the runway en route to China as he will play with fellow D-League players and former NBA stars Robert Horry and Chris Mullin, a member of the 1992 Dream Team that won gold in the 1992 Summer Olympics, in two charity basketball games.

Before he headed out,  Gansey did a lengthy phone interview with me about China, the BayHawks and if his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, were going to win an NBA title this season.

From nearby Olmsted Falls, Ohio, Gansey, as expected, picked the Cavaliers to win it all. Here’s what else he had to say Tuesday afternoon.

Read the rest of this entry »

 The Erie BayHawks have won four in a row with the latest win being a 116-102 victory at Idaho against the Stampede on Saturday night.

Former NBA first-round pick, Mike Sweetney, made his Erie debut and had 19 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes and 57 seconds. Guess the big fella didn’t slow down Erie’s offense as I figured he would.

 My bad.

Looks like Kyle Goldcamp is still starting for the BayHawks, but the key to this run is the play of Blake Ahearn and Mike Gansey. The two were at it again Saturday, scoring a combined 54 points.

Ahearn had 28 points. Gansey had 26. Add John Bryant’s 24 points and 16 rebounds and you got three guys who have been putting up huge numbers since Erie traded Alade Aminu to Bakersfield for Ahearn. 

The subplot to this game was Erie’s first-round pick, Donell Taylor, playinga against his former team. Taylor, who was traded to Idaho for Gansey, didn’t play Saturday night. He also didn’t play in Idaho’s previous game.

Too bad.

The BayHawks must contend with Albuquerque's Keith McLeod, who has averaged 31.1 points in his last six games.

Erie BayHawks (15-25) at Albuquerque Thunderbirds (18-22)

Saturday, 9 p.m., Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, N.M.

On the air: WJET-AM 1400, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream).

Players to watch, Erie:

SF Jackie Manuel (Expected to play tonight after missing Tuesday’s win against Sioux Falls with a stomach virus.). … SG Blake Ahearn (Averaging 21.6 points in his three games with Erie since being traded from Bakersfield for D-League All-Star rookie power forward Alade Aminu). … SF Ivan Harris (Scored 21 points Tuesday after not scoring in Erie’s previous game against Iowa).

Players to watch, Albuquerque:

G Keith McLeod (After not scoring in an Feb. 25 loss at Idaho, McLeod has averaged 31.1 points in his last six games. He went for 44 in a March 3 loss at Dakota). … G Antonio Agudio (Averaging 15.4 points and shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point range). … SF Trey Gilder (Traded to Albuquerque from Maine for center Kurt Looby on March 5, Gilder is averaging 13.9 points this season.

Fast facts: Erie — The BayHawks are without rookie point guard Cedric Jackson, who signed a 10-day contract with the San Antonio Spurs this week. … Shooting guard Mike Gansey has averaged 26 points and shot 13-of-23 from 3-point range in his last three games. … Erie has won its last two games.

Fast facts: Albuquerque — The Thunderbirds’ leading scorer, Carlos Powell, is now overseas playing in China. The top pick in the 2009 D-League Draft, Powell averaged 22.1 points in 33 games for them. … Albuquerque snapped a seven-game losing skid in Wednesday’s win against Fort Wayne.

 BayHawks up next: at Idaho (Saturday, 9 p.m.), at Utah (Monday, 9 p.m.).

— Duane Rankin

Rob Kurz (shooting) and Alade Aminu were traded for each other on draft day. Both played in the All-Star game.

Erie made its third trade this season in shipping D-League All-Star rookie power forward Alade Aminu to Bakersfield for shooting guard Blake Ahearn, a 2009 league All-Star.

Here’s a look at how players in the two previous trades have fared this season.

Read the rest of this entry »