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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Erie BayHawks point guard Blake Ahearn made the final 12-man roster for the USA Pan American Games Team.

Team USA made the announcement late Wednesday night. The squad will continue practicing in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the men’s tournament, which will run Oct. 26-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. USA’s first game is against Dominican Republic.

The team consists of several D-League players that include three guys I predicted would make the team – point guard Jerome Dyson of the Tulsa 66ers, small forward Renaldo Major of the Dakota Wizards and forward Lance Thomas of the Austin Toros.

Ahearn will give USA that outside shooting threat and is money from the free throw line, as you can see below.

Blake Ahearn doesn't know what to make of how Reno selected the BayHawks.

Erie BayHawks forward Tasmin Mitchell buys it, but his teammate, Blake Ahearn, doesn’t know what to make of how the Reno Bighorns chose them as their first-round opponent in the D-League playoffs.

The D-League has the top three seeds pick their playoff opponnent. After top-seeded Iowa chose seventh-seeded Utah, Reno had the second pick.

The Bighorns chose Erie, a fifth-seed, but head coach Eric Musselman said the team had their player personnel assistant, Sammy Gelfand, pick a team out of a hat. He picked between Erie, Bakersfield and Texas.

“He’s our money-ball guy,” said Musselman, whose Bighorns are 1-0 against Erie this season, winning 100-89 in Reno on March 16.

Musselman said the team struggled to pick a team because Reno respects all the teams, but to go with drawing a name out of hat seems odd.

Mitchell buys it.

“You have no choice but to give us respect,” he said. “Our record shows for itself. Our record and how many games we put together. Yeah. I buy it. I buy it all the way.”

Ahearn isn’t so sure.

“I guess we got to take his word for it,” he said. “I can’t imagine if a head coach doesn’t feel comfortable with a team, he’s not going to chose us. I don’t think you can leave it up to picking out of a hat or a coin flip. I just find that very hard to believe, but do we take it personally and this and that? It’s gonna happen. Three teams have to pick somebody and the other two get paired up. It is what it is, but all that stuff goes out the window. It comes down to players making plays in the game. That’s what it will be.”

“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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Against Tulsa on Saturday at Tullio Arena, Erie rookie forward Tasmin Mitchell hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to beat the 66ers, 98-96, but the ball never actually went through the basket.

Tulsa was called for goaltending because two of its players grabbed the rim after the ball hit it.

Tomorrow, Maine comes to Erie after losing its last game on a buzzer beater, 100-97, when Springfield guard JamesOn Curry hit a straight on bank shot from 3-point range. However, they have a player who knows a little bit about hitting game-winning shots.

Newly acquired Maine guard Craig Winder hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Rio Grande Valley Vipers the 2010 D-League title. Check it out below.

Friday, 7 p.m. at Tullio Arena

ON THE AIR: WFNN-AM/1330; www.nba.com/dleague
PLAYERS TO WATCH
▀   Erie — PF Ivan Johnson (A 2011 D-League All-Star, Johnson leads the BayHawks in scoring at 20.7 ppg. Was named D-League co-player of the month for averaging 24.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists, shooting 61.2 percent from the field.) … SF Tasmin Mitchell (Avg. 25.4 points, seven rebounds and shot 60 percent in eight games in February). PF Kyle Goldcamp (Avg. 6.8 points and five rebounds, but in his last three games, the former Gannon standout is avg. 11 points and 9.6 rebounds.

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Garrett Temple (41) has been with Milwaukee since late last month.

In what may be his last game with the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, Garrett Temple didn’t score, but that may not matter in terms of him sticking with them.

Temple, 24, remembered last year when he didn’t play as well as he thought and still stuck with an NBA team.

“Sometimes you play well and they just don’t need you,” Temple said. ” They just try to save money or sometimes you play as well as you think you could have, but they still want you.”

This season, Temple went from the Erie BayHawks to the Milwaukee Bucks and has signed two 10-day contracts. In nine games with the Bucks, Temple averaged just 1.8 points.

If Milwaukee wants to keep him, it must sign him for the remainder of the season.

Before Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, I talked with Temple about his time in Milwaukee, his experience with 10-day contracts and how the Erie BayHawks have fared without him.

How has your experience been with Milwaukee? “It’s been a great experience. Anytime you get a chance live your dream to be in the NBA, it’s always much appreciated. I just feel very blessed to have this opportunity. I got a lot of great veteran guys here that I’ve actually gotten close to.  Keyon Dooling. Corey Maggette. Earl Boykins. They got a good mix of young guys and old guys. Brandon (Jennings). CDR (Chris Douglas-Roberts), Larry Sanders, (Andrew) Bogut, guys that I can really relate to. I like the group. I like the coaching staff. Wish we could get some more wins and hopefully turn this thing around.”

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The Erie BayHawks continue to roll with a 111-106 win at Texas against the Legends (16-15) on Sunday afternoon.

Winners of its last five games, Erie (20-9) became the fifth team in the D-League this season to reach 20 wins. Blake Ahearn lead the BayHawks with 31 points Sunday, but a key guy in this stretch has been Tasmin Mitchell.

In Erie’s last three wins, Mitchell has averaged 26.3 points. He matched his career high of 28 points in Sunday’s win. Because Ivan Johnson  has gotten into his share of foul trouble in recent games, Mitchell has gotten more minutes and taken advantage of that.

Erie returns to action Thursday with a three-game home stint against the New Mexico Thunderbirds, a team that beat the BayHawks twice at their place earlier this season. The Thunderbirds (14-18) aren’t the same team they were earlier in the season as they’ve lost three straight.

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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