Erie BayHawks rookie guard D.J. Kennedy scored 12 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers in his first NBA action Wednesday night.
The Cavs lost to the Washington Wizards, 96-85, in their home finale. They’re closing out the 2011-12 season tonight at Chicago against the Bulls.
The New York Knicks fans have been chanting MVP…. and it’s not for Amare Stoudemire or Carmelo Anthony.
Second-year player Jeremy Lin has been showered those chants.
Now don’t get me wrong. He’s not an MVP candidate, but Lin had another standout performance in tonight’s 107-93 win at Washington against the lowly 5-21 Wizards.
Only the 3-22 Charlotte Bobcats and the 4-22 New Orleans Hornets are worse.
Come on, M.J. Your Bobcats have lost 12 straight. Fix that.
Now back to Lin.
He had 23 points and 10 assists in tonight’s win. In his last three games, which have all ended in wins for the Knicks, Lin is averaging 25.3 points and 8.3 assists.
Lin is on fire.
The Chicago Bulls called up NBA veteran point guard Mike James on Wednesday after he had played just three games with the Erie BayHawks.
It’s the quickest call up for any player the BayHawks have had. Guard Quincy Douby was with Erie for five games in the 2008-09 season. It was Erie’s expansion season.
Here’s James, who played 40 seconds in Chicago’s 14-point win against Washington on Wednesday.
Point guard Cedric Jackson is looking to once again make his way to the NBA through the Erie BayHawks.
The following eight players have been invited to the Erie BayHawks’ training camp that begins Saturday, Nov. 6 at the LECOM Medical Fitness & Wellness Center in Erie.
The BayHawks can have up to 17 players in training camp. Erie opens the 2010-11 season Nov. 19 against Springfield at Tullio Arena.
▀ PG Cedric Jackson – Averaged 16.4 points and 7.4 assists in 34 games for the BayHawks as a rookie last season, The 6-foot, 3-inch, Jackson, 24, received NBA call ups from the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards.
▀ PG Maureece Rice – Avg. 18.7 points to help Erie make the D-League playoffs in its expansion season in 2008-09. Erie tried to get the 6-1 combo guard last season, but Rice, 26, couldn’t get out of his contract with a team in the Ukraine. The Philadelphia native was an exciting player for Erie and was really the difference in the BayHawks making the playoffs.
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.
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.
No one was more fun to watch in college basketball last season than Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall.
Let’s take a look at the first five picks of Thursday’s 2010 NBA Draft and see what they bring to the table.
1. Washington Wizards – John Wall (6-4, PG, Kentucky).
Strengths: Gifted athete, playmaker and brings size to PG position. Weaknesses: Needs to improve FT (Shot 75.4 percent at Kentucky), inexperience.
Impact on Wizards: Not only will he bring fans to the arena, Wall gives Washington a player they can immediately build around and put past troubles with the franchise.
2. Philadelphia 76ers – Evan Turner (6-7, SG/SF, Ohio State).
Strengths: Clutch, seasoned (played three years in college) and shoots a high percentage (shot 51.9 percent from the field last season). Weaknesses: Turnover prone and not as explosive around the rim in terms of finishing in traffic.
Impact on 76ers: Will have to play small forward, but teaming up with Andre Iguodala will give the 76ers two very good perimeter defenders. Has a very competitive edge, which Philadelphia has lacked in recent years.
Like the first digit of his jersey number, Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall is the top player entering the NBA Draft.
Can five players from one school all wind up being lottery picks in the same year?
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe sure think so.
They each left the University of Kentucky this year for the NBA Draft, which is next month.
All five are NBA talents and many experts say all five will go in the first round.
The question I have is will Wall, Cousins, Patterson, Orton and Bledsoe be lottery picks. A lottery pick is someone taken in the first 14 picks of the draft.
We all know the 6-foot-4 Wall, who is blessed with tremendous talent, will be the first overall pick. Unless he gets hurt or the Washington Wizards know something the rest of us don’t, they will take Wall with the first overall pick.
Unless you got Kobe Bryant, point guard play is paramount in the NBA. Just see how Rajon Rondo has made Boston a legit title contender.
Didn’t Rondo go to UK too?
So let’s assume the Wizards draft Wall, where would the other four guys fit in the remaining 13 picks in the draft. Let’s take a look.
Erie BayHawks rookie point guard Cedric Jackson left his mark with the Washington Wizards.
In Washington’s final game of the season, Jackson hit the eventual game-winning shot to beat the Indiana Pacers, 98-97, Wednesday night.
Called up by three different NBA teams – Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Wizards – Jackson should earn a spot on an NBA roster next season.
While looking for highlights of Wednesday’s game, I came across this video of Jackson doing an interview while with the Wizards about the NCAA Tournament.
Erie BayHawks rookie point guard Cedric Jackson is headed to the nation's capital to join the Washington Wizards.
About a hour ago, I got confirmation from Washington Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld that Erie BayHawks rookine point guard Cedric Jackson was going to sign with the Wizards.
A hour later, the D-League released the news.
I know I’ve been doing this for a long time, but it’s still cool to have some of high importance like a team president tell you what’s going on before it’s officially announced. Even if it’s just 60 minutes earlier, it’s cool for us sports writers.
After the Erie Times-News and Ridiculous Upside, a basketball blog, reported the news last night, the Washington Post posted it early this morning. On situations like this, all three publications probably got the news within two to three hours of each other, but the manner in which they reach released the news was different.
