Tasheed Carr headed overseas.

After being waived by the Erie BayHawks two weeks ago, Tasheed Carr will play overseas in Germany for Saar-Pfalz Braves, eurobasket.com reported Tuesday. The Braves have nine games left.

The 6-foot, 3-inch, 205-pound guard out of St. Joseph’s started in Erie’s first five games of the season, but saw his playing time drop considerably after that. In 25 games (6 starts), Carr averaged five points and two rebounds.

Carr, 25, who has played in China and Israel, started his college career at Iowa State. The Philadelphia native ended his college career in 2009 with St. Joe’s.

Looking back at it now, Carr was let go in part to make room for Erie to reacquire Garrett Temple, who rejoined the day after Carr was waived after his second 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks expired.

The BayHawks released Carr when they added big man Alton Ford. Erie coach Jay Larranaga said they needed size, but having Temple back made it easier for him to cut Carr.

Thought Carr was a solid offensive player, but it just seemed there was a division between him and Larranaga.

Carr said he didn’t understand why he wasn’t getting playing time and Larranaga never really gave a clear cut reason as to why Carr wasn’t playing.

Tasheed Carr, front, and Blake Ahearn combined for a key play in Erie's 120-115 win Sunday against New Mexico.

It was looking bleak for the Erie BayHawks on Sunday afternoon against the New Mexico Thunderbirds

Their best player, Ivan Johnson, was on the bench with five fouls for most of the third quarter and the BayHawks watched their 15-point lead evaporate.

Erie  led 70-55 when its first-year coach, Jay Larranaga, took Johnson out after Johnson picked up his fifth foul with 9 minutes, 52 seconds left in the third.

From that point, the Thunderbirds outscored the BayHawks, 31-11, to take a 86-81 lead with 57 seconds left in the quarter. Shane Edwards had finally showed up for the Thunderbirds as the 2011 D-League All-Star forward had 14 points in the quarter.

In New Mexico’s previous two games at Erie in this three-game series, Edwards had 13 points total.

So the Thunderbirds (14-21) had a five-point lead with the ball when Erie (23-9) turned the tables on them.

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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.

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In beginning his second stint in the D-League, Miami Heat rookie center Dexter Pittman scored 15 points in the Sioux Falls Skyforce's 97-91 loss at Erie against the BayHawks on Friday night.

“YOU PLAY FOR THE HEAT?”

“YOU PLAY FOR THE HEAT?”

Yes, Ivan, Dexter Pittman is a rookie center with the Miami Heat.

While Pittman was on the bench for the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Friday night at Tullio Arena, Erie BayHawks power forward Ivan Johnson was barking at him while waiting for one of his teammates to attempt a free throw.

Pittman said stuff like that happened to him during his first run with the Skyforce this season.

“I expect it,” he said. “When you come down to this level, you’ve got a big target on your back. It’s nothing.”

Pittman is where Johnson wants to be – the NBA.  So Johnson was taking this game even more personal since he was matched up against the 6-foot, 11-inch, 300-plus pound rookie out of Texas.

“That just shows me that I can play in the league (NBA),” Johnson said. “Playing against dudes like him. I’m not saying he’s a trash player, but I can hang with some of the best of them.”

They went at each other in Erie’s 97-91 win. Johnson had a game-high 25 points and five rebounds while Pittman had 15 points and just three boards.

It was fun to watch.

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The Erie BayHawks have dropped to 3-3 on the season after losing back-to-back games at New Mexico (4-1) against the Thunderbirds, who have won four straight games. Erie resumes play Tuesday at Utah (4-3).

Erie picked up a technical foul in each of its two losses to New Mexico to up its total to nine on the season.

Power forward Ivan Johnson was called for his third technical of the season in Friday’s game and first-year BayHawks coach Jay Larranaga got called for his first technical foul of the season in Saturday’s game.

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Tasheed Carr is certain he's going to make Erie's final 10-man roster.

Tasheed Carr says he’s focused on just getting better every day in training camp.

Making the Erie BayHawks’ final 10-man roster is a given for him.

“I think I’ve worked hard and I think I’ve earned a spot,” Carr said after Tuesdays’ morning practice. “So right now I’m focused on every day getting better and helping out my team anyway possible and get ready for Friday.”

Now Carr was considered a leader while at St. Joe’s, but the BayHawks are using him as a 2-guard instead of a point guard. Since he can do both and shoot the ball, that makes Carr more attractive to keep on the team.

Erie must get its roster down to 10 by 5 p.m. Thursday. The BayHawks open the season Friday against Springfield at Tullio Arena.

Hard to say who the BayHawks will cut, but their new coach, Jay Larranaga, plans to make the final cuts by the end of the night and inform the players Wednesday morning who’s staying and who’s leaving.

Erie currently has 13 players now. Larranaga hasn’t made a cut since early on in training camp so you know he likes the remaining players.

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First-round pick Ivan Johnson gives the Erie BayHawks an inside scoring presence.

The Erie BayHawks enter their third training camp with a new coach in Jay Larranaga, who approached the 2010 D-League Draft with three main objectives:

1. Get bigs.

2. Get guards who can shoot and exude toughness

3. Get guys who aren’t coming straight out of college.

After Monday’s draft, Larranaga feels as if he accomplished those goals in the eight-round draft. That remains to be seen, but for now, let’s take a look at who he picked.

1. Ivan Johnson (6-8, 230, PF, Ca. St.-San Bernadino). He played 45 games in the D-League and averaged 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds in 2007-08. Big guy. Inside presence, but while playing overseas in Korea this past season, he got kicked out of a pro league for swearing and delivering an obscene gesture to a referee. Now apparently it was the final game of a championship series his team lost, but you can look at this two ways. One, that’s poor sportsmanship, but two, his team was in the championship series and I’m sure he had something to do with that, too. What Erie is getting is a guy who at age 26 is likely making his last push to get in the NBA. So he should be driven.

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