What's up ya'll.
Time to kick this thing off.
I can't wait to chat, debate and dissect all things basketbal with you.
I'll be primarily talking about the Erie BayHawks, our D-League expansion franchise, but we'll spend time discussing the NBA and college basketball as well. We're going to come out with some cool stuff for you all to dig your thoughts into so stay tuned.
The Erie BayHawks will open training camp Saturday at Family First Sports Park. They're going at 10 in the morning so I'll have to get up a little earlier than normal, but it's all good.
Be back in time to check out some early college football before going back out there at 6 in the evening for the second session. Here's my Day 1 checklist.
With four players moving down from NBA teams to play in the D-League, don't be surprised if Cleveland Cavaliers rookie forward Darnell Jackson doesn't make his way to Erie to suit up for the Erie BayHawks once he gets over his left wrist fracture injury.
Continue reading "Just a matter of time before Jackson ends up in Erie..." »
The Erie BayHawks are about three hours away from its second practice on the opening day of their training camp Saturday at Family First Sports Complex.
Let's recap from the Rise and Shine blog posting about three things I was looking for.
Former Ohio State guard/forward Ivan Harris is in training camp with the Erie BayHawks looking to make the team, but that may already be a done deal.
After the second session of Saturday's opening practice in training camp, I took a minute to talk with Ivan Harris about an article about him from his hometown paper, Springfield News-Sun.
Earlier this week, the newspaper reported that the former Ohio State guard said he was assured a spot on the squad. Harris competed in the free-agent tryouts in Akron last month and was invited back to training camp at Family First Sports Complex in Erie.
This is another element of the D-League to look out for this year.
The San Antonio Spurs signed 2008 D-League rookie of the year Blake Ahearn, who is with the Dakota Wizards of the D-League.
See, an NBA team can call up anyone from any D-League team. They don't have to be affiliated with the D-League team to get a guy from a D-League team.
The D-League provided a short description of its head coaches. See what the league had to say about BayHawks coach John Treloar and others.
This is the first of many blog posting to cure your NBA fix and mine. Sometimes I'll just rant. Other times, just post some stories from around the league that interest me.
Today, just going to hit you with a little bit of both.
Here's an notebook from Saturday's training camp.
http://geedit.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/oversikt?NoCache=1&Dato=20081116&Kategori=BASKETBALL05
On Monday, we'll have another training camp notebook from the weekend online at http://goerie.com/basketball
BayHawks assistant Ben McDonald is one of the more active coaches I've ever seen in practice. He demonstrates the drills with great and enthusiastic energy.
Now part of this is he's the only assistant so he has to do quite a bit, but McDonald is very active. He worked up such a sweat the first day of training camp Saturday that his shirt was soaked from sweating.
When the Erie BayHawks had their free-agent tryouts here a month ago at Family First Sports Complex, most guys left right after practice.
That's not the case at their training camp. After practice, the majority of the guys are putting up extra shots.
During the BayHawks' morning practice on Sunday, Ivan Harris pulled off a hat trick.
The BayHawks were doing a fast-break drill in which guys were going from offense to defense. Harris did the following during one of the segments.
1. He finished a lay up on the fast break.
2. On the next possession, Harris got the defensive rebound while lying on his back.
3. Got the ball to a guard and on the ensuing possession, Harris made a 3-pointer.
When asked how many times that's happened in his career, Harris said smiling, "A bunch of times. Naugh. I've never had that, but it just comes from working hard. Never give up."
After sleeping on this Sunday night, I got up thinking about who has stood out in the BayHawks training camp.
Here's few players that have caught my attention. This is in no particular order.
BayHawks first-round pick Erik Daniels is still working himself into shape. In a conditioning drills to end the morning practice session on Sunday, he trailed most of the other guys, but Daniels pushed through the drill and finished it.
Let's get our NBA fix people.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have the league's longest winning streak going right now at seven victories in a row. Now five of those seven wins came against teams that don't have winning records right now, but the Cavaliers' last two victories against Denver and Utah were respectable ones.
Take a listen to a Q&A I did with the lead local investor of the Erie BayHawks, Owen McCormick. Pretty interesting stuff, particularly about how he got involved with the BayHawks.
The injury bug has taken a chunk out of the Erie BayHawks during training camp. Jackie Manuel and Brian Robinson didn’t practice Monday. Mike Cook couldn’t finish practice and Oliver Lafayette battled through foot pain in practice.
The injures are sure to factor into who gets cut when the BayHawks have to trim their roster from 17 to 12 on Thursday by 5 p.m. EST.
“It’s tough because you’re only allowed to carry 10 (players) and you don’t have an injured reserve list,” BayHawks coach John Treloar said. “You hate it for the guys, but for some of these guys, it could wind up being a factor in the process.”
Here's a look at a preview of the Erie BayHawks from the D-League web site. In their expansions season, the BayHawks will play in the Central Division.
www.nba.com/dleague/news/central_preview_081118.html
The BayHawks will play Central Division foe Fort Wayne in an exhibition game Friday at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. They also open the season against the Mad Ants in Fort Wayne on Nov. 28.
On Tuesday, the Erie BayHawks played a 5-on-5 scrimmage for the first time in training camp.
Towards the end of the morning practice, the BayHawks were split into two teams of seven and played two 10-minute quarters. I tried to keep up with the scoring so this is an unofficial score, but the Black team won by a sizable margin.
Playing for the Black team, shooting guard Oliver Lafayette lead all scorers with 12 points, making a pair of 3-pointers. We'll have a story on him in Wednesday's Erie Times-News at www.goerie.com/eriebayhawks
Point guard Vernon Hamilton led the White team with nine points. Forwards Taj McCullough and Geary Claxton each had eight.
Who knows how he'll play at the next level, but right now, Stephen Curry is the best player in the country in my opinion.
A year after leading mid-major Davidson to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before barely losing to eventual national champion Kansas, he comes out this year and puts up a career-high 44 points in a 4-point loss at No. 14-ranked Oklahoma.
Here's a recap of recent coverage of the Erie BayHawks from the Erie Times-News.
BayHawks' Robinson waits, and hopes, for good news
Cook, Claxton overcome knee injuries to vie for spots with the BayHawks
BayHawks' Daniels looking to shake rust
Brian Robinson still has hope he'll get a shot to compete in training camp. Robinson hasn't practiced yet after trainers found an abnormality with his heart the day before camp began. He's taken a couple of medical examinations and still no luck.
Here's a recent column from John Dudley about Robinson's situation.
BayHawks' Robinson waits, and hopes, for good news
So the BayHawks decided to release him, but there's a catch here. Under D-League rules, a team can release a player due to medical reasons, but later bring him back to training camp.
So Robinson is going home to Bayonne, N.J., to see a heart specialist. If the doctors in his hometown clear him, then the BayHawks, under league rules, can bring him back to camp. It's like getting a second opinion.
The Erie BayHawks had a 5-on-5 scrimmage at Gannon University on Wednesday night. They played two 10-minute quarters. The coaches kept score by how many defensive stops each team could get. The team with the most defensive stops won and the losing team had to run from the baseline to the half-court line and then run the length of the court and back.
The White team won both times. I kept track of the offensive numbers and the White team won in both instances as well. Again, what I have is unofficial, but guard Oliver Lafayette of the White team lead all scorers with eight points as he made two 3-pointers. Guard Mike Cook led the Black team with five points.
Had to take a minute to really think about this.
A day after the Erie BayHawks cut their training camp roster from 17 players to 11, let’s take a look at why coach John Treloar may have decided to cut the players he did.
Now after he made the cuts Thursday morning, I was beginning to ask him after practice why he cut each particular player. He didn’t really address it.
Treloar just chalked it up by saying they basically picked guys they thought could help them win and players that they had the best chance of developing for the NBA.
When Treloar gets his roster down to 10, we’ll take a look at each player and see how close they are to becoming NBA players. For now, let’s take a stab as to why the BayHawks released forward Wesley Fluellen, guards Vernon Hamilton, Xavier Whipple, Mike Cook, Quinton Day and power forward Brian Robinson.
The jury is still out on the Detroit Pistons trading away Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. The Pistons will be up and down early on with Iverson.
They showed it in their loss to the defending world champions last night.
The Boston Celtics have put it on the Pistons twice since the trade with the latest coming in a 98-80 victory at Boston. In those games against the Celtics, Iverson has shot a combined 9-of-24 from the field, going 1-of-4 from 3-point range, in scoring 26 total points.
Losing to Boston doesn’t mean this is a failed experiment.
Remember when Michigan and Duke used to go at it back in the 1990s. Michigan had Fab Five with the bald heads, baggy shorts, black socks and all kinds of attitude going up against the perfect model of college basketball, Duke.
Coach K. Clean cut. Confident. Passionate. The Blue Devils were the nation's best team and had they had some great games against Michigan. In the 1991-92 season, the Fab Five were freshmen and took Duke, the defending national champions, to the wire in an overtime loss.
Months later, they met again in the national title game. Duke won by 20 points, but the Wolverines became the first school to make to the title game with five freshmen starting.
Almost 20 years later, the two teams are going to meet tonight in Madison Square Garden for a tournament championship.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have sent down 7-foot center Steven Hill to their D-League affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers and the Boston Celtics have sent down forward Bill Walker to their D-League affiliate, the Utah Flash.
The question is when will the Cleveland Cavaliers send down power forward Darnell Jackson to their D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks.
See, when the Cavaliers put small forward Wally Szczerbiak on the inactive for a personal matter before they played at Detroit a couple of days ago, they activated Jackson, who was out with a wrist injury.
The Erie BayHawks lost their preseason game Friday night to Fort Wayne, 94-75 at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind.
The Mad Ants, who were an expansion D-League franchise last year, led 42-36 at halftime. Both teams are in the Central Division and will face each other in the season opener for both teams Nov. 28 at Fort Wayne.
First-round pick Erik Daniels, who was questionable for the game with thigh strains, led the BayHawks in scoring with 14 points.
Raheem Moss added 13 points while Geary Claxton and Taj McCullough each had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Good morning,
Sitting here getting ready to eat breakfast. What ya'll grub on in the mornings?
For me, it's bacon and waffles. Got to have it. So don't even look at my Eggo, let alone try to grab it. ;-)
Anyway, I talked to Brian Robinson for a minute last night. He's back home in New Jersey still on the waiting list to get checked out to receive medical clearance to participate in training camp for the Erie BayHawks.
For those who don't know his story, Robinson was diagnosed with a heart abnormality the day before training camp began last week and hasn't practiced yet. He never got medical clearance in Erie so he went back home and is looking to see a heart specialist.
So I ask this of you out there. If you were him, would you continue pursuing this knowing the dangers surrounding this?
WPTA-TV out Fort Wayne, Ind., did a report on the BayHawks' preseason game against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. The BayHawks lost, 94-75, Friday night in Winona Lake, Ind.
When looking at the highlights, notice the Mad Ants have two big men, Chris Hunter, who played at Michigan, and Coleman Collins, who played at Virginia Tech, doing work. They will be a handful once again when Erie faces them in the season opener Nov. 28 at Fort Wayne.
Here's the link to the report.
The News-Sentinel out of Fort Wayne covered the game as well. Here's the story.
Here's some other interesting stuff posted on the BayHawks earlier this month.
Then there is this Web site called Ridiculous Upside. Here's their analysis of the D-League draft.
I'm checking out the box score from the Erie BayHawks' preseason loss against Fort Wayne at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind., and trying to figure something out.
1. The game recap has Erik Daniels scoring a team-high 14 points. The box score has him scoring 16 points.
2. The game recap has Geary Claxton's first name spelled wrong. It's Geary, not Gary.
3. BayHawks coach John Treloar said he was unable to get a box score after the game and hadn't seen one yet until we talked today. The box wasn't available after the game.
4. They had Maureece Rice listed as a small forward and Jackie Manuel as a guard. Rice is certainly not a small forward. The guy is 6-foot-1.
Since returning to Erie from their preseason loss against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the BayHawks have begun implementing their offense and defensive philosophies.
If it looks familiar to Cleveland Cavalier fans, it should.
It's been well publicized that BayHawks coach John Treloar was going to run similar offensive and defensive sets the Cavaliers use. So if they were to call up a player from the BayHawks to play for them, the Cavaliers know he would be familiar with their system.
I talked with Treloar last night after practice and he said they have put in some offensive sets the Cavaliers use.
As far as defense goes, we know Cleveland coach Mike Brown is one of the best at it. If the BayHawks can even come close to defending like Cleveland does, then that would be huge.
BayHawks coach John Treloar said he's been pleasantly surprised by the play of point guard Cliff Clinkscales in training camp.
Clinkscales came to the free agent tryout in Erie last month and did everything right, but didn't shoot the ball well against average competition in terms of comparing them to NBA players.
However, he was put in the D-League draft pool, got picked by the BayHawks and has put himself in a great position to make the team.
He's not a great shooter, but Clinkscales knows how to run a team and players seem to like playing with him. He just finished his college career at DePaul this past season.
The Erie BayHawks team shoe is Adidas Rapid Bounce. Adidas is the official outfitter of the NBA.
What ya'll think of them?
Rookie power forward Darnell Jackson saw his first action for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the regular season in their 119-101 win at New York against the Knicks tonight.
He had been out with a wrist injury, but was activated last week. Don't know how much he'll play in the immediate future for the Cavaliers, but he's healthy now, which is good news for the Erie BayHawks.
Cleveland has the option to send Jackson down to play for the BayHawks so he can get more playing time.
The Erie BayHawks have until 5 p.m., EST, today to make one final cut from 11 players to 10 of their training camp roster.
Head coach John Treloar said it won't be easy as he plans to make the final release after today's morning practice.
Some guys are locks to make it like Erik Daniels. He has experience, can play and is versatile in terms going inside or outside. Ivan Harris will likely make it as well along with Cliff Clinkscales. Harris is big 3 man who can knock down the 3 while Clinkscales' ability to run a team and set up teammates makes him valuable.
After making their final roster cut Wednesday, the Erie BayHawks only have a day off before playing their opener Friday at Fort Wayne.
Kind of weird huh?
The D-League itself is kind of weird, but we'll save that conversation for another day.
For now, I'm looking at this roster and three things jump out at me.
Here's a couple of articles out of Fort Wayne about the Mad Ants heading into their season opener against the Erie BayHawks tonight.
Fort Wayne's head coach, Jaren Jackson, played in the NBA, but also played in the World Basketball League and remembered playing games in Erie.
The D-League is providing free, streaming game coverage through its Webcast. Here's how it works.
Once you get on the Web site, click on any of the live Webcast icons. From there, you'll get a screen that enables you to sign up. I just did it. It's fairly easy.
Now I'm going see if it works tonight. For those who may be skeptical like myself, check out the following disclaimer the D-League posted on its Web site.
These live streaming D-League games are still in the beta-testing phase. Please bear with us as we optimize the viewing experience for you. Feel free to provide us with feedback, suggestions and other comments via email here throughout the season.
So it may not work right away so patience will likely be necessary.
The Erie BayHawks lead 49-40 at the half in their season opener at Fort Wayne. This is the first game for the BayHawks in the D-League.
Shooting guard Oliver Lafayette led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, going 4-of-9 from the field. He made Erie's only 3-pointer. He didn't play in the Erie's preseason loss to Fort Wayne last week due to a foot infection.
The game was delayed at least a half hour. Oh yeah, the D-League Webcast that's supposed to show all the D-League games live isn't working.
At least not for me.
The Erie BayHawks had a 15-point lead in the second half, but were unable to hold it as they lost their first ever game in the D-League at Fort Wayne by a 95-90 score Friday night.
Oliver Lafayette finished with a game-high 31 points for the BayHawks, who will resume action Monday at Austin. .
This page contains all entries posted to Give and Go in November 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.
December 2008 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.