More Assignments

Just our luck, a couple of future opponents have just gained assigned players from their NBA clubs. First, the Springfield Armor got Craig Brackins from the 76ers. Brackins is a 3/4 man from Iowa State who looked to be a very good scorer in summer league, but he has not received much run this season.

The second is the aforementioned Dominique Jones, who may be with the Texans when they come to Fort Wayne to play next week.

We won't see this team for sometime, but New Mexico got Kentucky big man Daniel Orton today from the Orlando Magic.

I can't remember this many assignments this early in the season.

Texas Legends Home Opener

The Texas Legends had a great opening night tonight down in Frisco as they whooped up on the Austin Toros. They have a ton of talent, and I thought Rashad McCants looked like a man among boys in his time down there. He must really have some issues for teams to have completely given up on that stud.

Another stud for the Legends tonight -- Joe Alexander. We had Joe here last year and let's be honest -- he was not very good. I think we were winless with him down here before he was traded to the Bulls, and it looked sometimes like he had never played the game before. Tonight, I thought he looked much improved and far more in rhythm than he ever was in Fort Wayne. I am really happy to see his success, because I thought he was a great kid.

The Legends had a great night, and if they are able to keep moving players like Dominique Jones up and down all year long, they will continue to be one of the better teams in the league. The question will be how long studs like McCants and Joe last before being called up.

Congrats to everyone in Frisco on what looked to be a great night!

Interesting Moves Today

The Idaho Stampede were very active today on the trade market as they traded Lance Allred and a number one pick in next year's draft for Dontell Jefferson and Carlos Wheeler. On top of that, they have picked up Antoine Walker, which is probably the most historic signing in DLeague history. This is a former max player and world champion, and I think it is a coup for Bill Ilett, Randy Livingston, and the entire Stampede organization to sign him. Great for the Stampede and great for the league. To finalize the day, they shipped former Mad Ant Walter Sharpe to the Dakota Wizards for a future draft pick.

How They Did Abroad

Here is the update of our guys overseas:

• Oliver Lafayette has been released, but he did play this weekend and scored 9 points in a loss. That loss was probably the final straw for Oliver, and he will now be looking for a new job.
• Ryan Ayers scored his usual 17 and pulled down his usual 8 boards as his Namika team lost to my old high school teammate, head coach Ray Ailus and Kotka.
• Sammy Mejia is becoming one of the best players overseas, as he continued his fine play with 28 points in Cholet's win over Le Havre. Sammy is second in the French League in scoring and his team is playing very well in the Euroleague. When I was in Cholet practicing with them as I was trying to rehab and get in shape after an injury, I could not have imagined that they could be so successful or have the budget to compete in the Euroleague. Kudos to Cholet and Sammy.
• Ulm lost to Trier this weekend, and Sean Sonderleiter scored 6 points and had 6 boards in 16 minutes. I guess he must not be playing very well, because I thought he would be playing more.
• In the same game, Coleman Collins looks to be playing very well with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists and may be the reason for Sean's decreased minutes. He has really been playing well in the last few games.
• Jared Reiner had a monster game for Bayreuth with 26 points and 10 boards in a close loss. Great job by Jared and let's hope that fine play continues.
• Rob Kurz had 13 points and 8 boards as his team lost again. I think it is tough for Rob right now because he doesn't look to have a lot of help right now. Another solid game, but another loss for Rob and Granada.
• Jamelle Cornley had 21 points and 4 boards in a nice win for Cader.
• Taj McCullough scored 10 points and 5 boards in a Sydney Kings loss in Australia.

Oliver Lafayette Released from Partizan

Bad news for Oliver in Serbia -- he was released today from Partizan Belgrade. Not sure where he goes from here, but I suspect he will have another big money job in the waiting. I sense he is going to be a Earl Calloway type the rest of his career -- he will stay in Europe because the money that will be offered will be far too much to turn down. Sorry it didn't work out in Partizan for him, but I am sure his next stop will be much more successful.

Way Late!

Okay, I have a lot of excuses for my poor blogging lately, like I have been sick, I have had to do some single parenting while my wife has been away, we have been in the holiday season, and, by the way, we have been playing games!

Let's get to my thoughts on the last two games:

• I thought we did not play especially well the past two games, but before I break down some of the things we did or did not do, let me say a quick word about Erie to keep things a bit in perspective. They are a very good team, and I think they are extremely well coached. You never know how new coaches will do in this league, but it is clear that Jay Larranaga is well on his way to being a top flight head coach. As for their team, I think they are a good team without their NBA additions, but they are a top two or three team in the league with them. What ultimately hurt us against them was the tremendous length and athleticism Solomon Alabi, Ed Davis, and Christain Eyenga added to that team. They made it very difficult for our bigs to do much around the hoop, and they all but eliminated any type of penetration by our guards. They are a great team right now, and I thought it a good measuring stick of where we need to be if we want to contend for a championship.
• With that said, I thought we made some very correctable mistakes that would have given us a split and pushed us up to the upper echelon of teams in this league. In that first game, we win that game if our guys are not so careless with the ball and show some urgency with it. We were throwing the ball all over the place, and no team can win against great teams like Erie with that sort of carelessness with the ball.
• What I did like about the team demonstrated in each game is the grit these guys have. They will not give up at any point, and they gave themselves a chance to win each game, especially the first one.
• I think Rod Wilmont has demonstrated that he is one of the better wings in this league. He still has a long way to go, but it is clear he is much improved from previous seasons and on his way to a career year.
• Marvin Phillips and Chris Kramer have given us the toughness I imagined from them, and I am impressed with how Marv is shooting the ball right now.
• Everyone else I think is playing fine, and I think they will only get better as the team gets more and more comfortable with the system.
• I am heartened by the team's ability to fight back, but I am equally disheartened in how slow our team gets out of the gates. First, again, we just can't be that careless with the ball to start games off. In each game, we had multiple unforced turnovers that put us in big holes. Second, we have to come out with some focus and desire to take the fight to the other team rather than just wait and feel things out. Our guys can dictate what happens early, but they seem tentative right now and not completely comfortable in what they are doing. That comfort factor will come with time, but they can come out in the next game and play with greater desire in the first quarter.

With all that said, I guess I am an optimist, because I just think the things that caused us to lose those two games are easy fixes. Some of the defensive lapses we had are easy fixes. The silly turnovers can be remedied easily. So, no, I am not displeased or discouraged with where we are right now at all. In fact, I am quite eager to see what we do once we get everything all on the same page. I think we will do nothing but get better.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is a little sweet Thanksgiving treat for you:

Mad Ants Abroad Updates

Here is what the Mad Ants across the pond (or wherever they are) fared this past weekend:

• Sean Sonderleiter scored 14 points and grabbed 6 boards in just 21 minutes as his Ulm team beat Hagen for their 4th win of the year. Again, what would those numbers have looked like with 33 minutes?
• Coleman Collins chipped in another 14 pints and 9 boards for Ulm in 34 minutes. Coleman is having a nice year for Ulm this year, and I bet his athleticism is a real advantage against many of those other teams.
• Oliver Lafayette had probably his best game of the year for Partizan as he scored 18 points, grabbed 5 boards, and dished out 5 assists in a 99-68 romp for Partizan.
• Rob Kurz had probably his worst game of the year with 10 points and 10 boards (which isn't bad at all, by the way) in a 2 point loss for his team Granada. Granada just traded their second best player, Joe Ingles, the other day, so they probably are making life difficult for him.
• Former Mad Ant Jeremy Richardson looks like he will be cut from Valencia. He played 9 minutes and as 1-4 for 3 points in their last game. Not a good game for him, and not a good sign for his career.
• Jamelle Cornley had 26 points in 27 shots the other day in Uruguay, as his team fell once again in the Uruguayan league. Jamelle added on 15 boards for Cader to go along with his offensive output.

2-0

A nice sweep for the Mad Ants last night as we took two from the Skyforce. Here are my quick hit thoughts of the game:

• Wilmont was good again for the Mad Ants. His work this summer is really showing, as he looks in great shape and far more comfortable on the court than he ever has. His scoring is becoming much more efficient, and I thought he left some points on the court by missing some of his mid range jumpers, which I consider his money maker. As good as he was on the offensive side, I thought he was even better on the defensive side. I don't think I have seen a player play the passing lanes as well has he does. His denial of the wings should be in every coach's training tape. A very good, all around performance for Wilmont last night.
• Our point guard play was very good last night. Walker Russell, Jr. looked like he is rounding into fine shape, as he weaved in and out of traffic all night long and found teammates for open jumpers. Carlos English came in the game and there was no let down, as he pushed the tempo, played great D, and added a bit of scoring on top of all that. We are as deep at point right now as we have ever been.
• Marvin Phillips and Chris Kramer are two tough dudes. They just keep working and working on defense, and they have set a tone for us because they challenge every dunk or lay up, and they sacrifice their bodies as often as possible to take game altering charges. I love watching them play and how they add to the team in so many different ways.
• Our team defense is as far along as I remember it. The rotations are improved, the communication is getting better, and they are all depending on each other like never before to help stop the other team.
• One area that still is not totally clicking is the offense. I think they are still at the point -- like many teams -- that they are trying to get completely comfortable and in tune with the offensive sets. The good news is that we have a couple of wins under our belts while we get that fine tuned.
• Darnell Lazare is playing good basketball right now, but looks to be struggling a bit on the offensive end. I do believe in his game, however, and I think it will come along shortly.
• AK continues to be a nice warm blanket when he comes on the court. He is an outstanding defender/rebounder, and he never shorts us on effort. I thought he fought through a rough first half to have another good all around game.
• Corey Allmond and Obi Muonelo are still working through getting used to the offense and, I think, the speed of the game, but I am very encouraged by them. Both are shooting the ball well, and I think they will only get better for us as the year goes on.

All in all, a nice performance for the Ants last night, but it does not get any easier as a incredibly talented Erie team comes to Fort Wayne on Friday and Sunday. The Bayhawks already had two assigned players in Solomon Alabi (Raptors) and Christian Eyenga (Cavs), and they have now added a third in Ed Davis (Raptors), the big man drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. Add Tasmin Mitchell, Ivan Johnson, and multiple NBA call up Cedric Jackson to that mix, and they have a very tough team. So, undoubtedly, we have our work cut out for us.

Great Opening Night!

Folks, so sorry for the lack of posts the past few days, but it has been crazy around here getting everything ready for the opening game, but it has slowed down a bit, so I am back on the blog!

Let's go over my quick hit thoughts on last night's game:

• First, thanks to all the fans who made last night probably our best opening night in our existence. The crowd was into all night -- especially hard after an awful first quarter -- and were rewarded when the team came back to win the game. Frankly, the team probably doesn't win without our fantastic crowd, so thank you for a wonderful night!
• Well, the team really struggled out of the gates last night, and they seemed really tentative and nervous in that first quarter. Not sure I have an explanation for that, but I hope that whatever nerves they had are now settled as we head into the rest of the season.
• I thought the bench kept us in the game and helped put us on some solid ground when we desperately needed it. Carlos English and Anthony Kent came in and made some nice plays on offense and defense to keep the game from getting too far away from us, and I really liked how Obi Muonelo came in and aggressively made some moves to the whole to keep us within spitting distance.
• In the second half, I loved how Rod Wilmont shook off a very tough first half (2 points) and kept grinding away until he found his groove. He didn't rely on his jumper either. What got him in his groove were two great drives to the left that he finished with his left -- something that he could not have done a year ago. From there, he hit a three and continued to attack the rim for and one opportunities. I love how much he has matured this year.
• I thought Chris Kramer showed what a clutch player he was last night. He hit the key free throws that give us the game, and he made two HUGE steals late in the fourth quarter to give us a chance to win. He has brought a toughness and intensity that I think permeates all the others.
• Speaking of clutch defensive plays, we have to go back to Wilmont. The two best plays he made last night came on the defensive end. First, the Skyforce were coming down on a 3-2 break when Wilmont moved into position and took a charge that wiped a bucket off the board for Sioux Falls. Next, when we were up two with 5 seconds left in the game, Wilmont was guarding Chris McCray one on one when Wilmont locked him up and blocked his game tying shot attempt. In the scrum for the ball, he attacked the ball and came up with it as time expired. Monster plays by Wilmont.
• Walker Russell, Jr. had a tough night in terms of assists to turnovers, but I thought he played well for a guy who has not played a game in a long time.

All in all, a gritty, gutty win for a team that was not -- in any regards -- playing its best basketball. While that was great win, this next game tomorrow is just as important. We have a chance to get off to a great start by winning tomorrow night. Sioux Falls is a tough, well coached team, and we need to match their performance from the beginning, because I don't think the Skyforce will allow us to come back like that again.

Final Roster

Today we made our final cuts to get down to ten players, and I must admit it was very hard. We had to a cut a very deserving player, and it hurts to have to do that. The moves we made today were release Chris Hunter due to injury, and we also released Anthony Goods. With Chris, he was just not physically ready for the start of a grueling campaign due to some sore knees that just won't allow him to stay on the court for any length of time. The best thing for him to do is rest, calm that irritation in his legs, and start a comprehensive program so we can see the great Chris Hunter that we know and love.

As for Anthony Goods, he played well in camp, but we were deep with guards this year, and we just thought that there were other players that fit better with the make up of the team. The sad thing is that Anthony would have certainly been on our roster last season and maybe even a starter. I would not be surprised to see Anthony don a Mad Ants uniform some time in the future if another team does not scoop him up.

Well, that is it for the night. Remember -- we are three days from the start of the season -- get your tickets today!

Another Good Practice

Today was another good practice day over at the Sem for the Mad Ants. Their is a lot of enthusiasm and the guys seem to be having a great time as they get prepared for a tough opening week with Sioux Falls and Erie coming to town.

As I watched the practice and scrimmage, the one thought that kept flashing to me was just how competitive the white jersey team and the black jersey team is. Indeed, it looks like this is a very deep team, and it is going to make it very difficult for us to whittle our numbers down to 10.

With that said, it is time to get down to 10, and we will have to submit our final roster today. This will undoubtedly be the toughest cut of all, because everyone left would have not only been on our roster in years past, they would have had significant minutes. I will announce our moves later today here on the blog.

Only two more days of practice before we tip it off. Hope to see you all there at opening night this Sunday at the Coliseum at 5 pm!

More Tid Bits From the Basketball World

Here are few stories that caught my eye today:

• Oliver Lafayette was back in action for Partizan last night, and he had a nice game as they beat Caja Laboral 74-71. It seems he is settling into some consistent minutes with the team and is putting together some nice all around games. He scored 8 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 4 assists in the win, and I think his role is more as distributor rather than the scorer he was with us.
• Jared Carter made our team out of the open tryouts last year and lasted about a month with us before being cut. He tried out with the Erie Bayhawks this year and made it to their camp, but was recently cut.
• Speaking of Erie, they got another assigned player in Christian Eyenga from the Cavs. He is a really athletic player, but is pretty raw right now. The D-League should be a good spot for him to work on his game.
• Ryan Ayers continues to play well in Finland although his team has hit a rough patch. Another 17 points and 6 boards for Ryan, but I am sure he wishes his team could get back on the winning track.
• Skip Mills joined our team for the last couple of games last season, and he is back in Europe and playing well in Holland. He is averaging 15 points per game and his team is 8-1. I am sorry we could not see more of Skip last year, because I think he could have helped us.
• Jamelle Cornley had a ho-hum 18 points in his last game as his team Cader suffered another loss.

Other D-League Related News

Lots of things going on as we get closer to the start of the season. Here are some tid bits that interested me:

• Former Mad Ant Joe Alexander made the New Orleans Hornets out of training camp, but the former 8th pick in the NBA Draft is now completely out of the league. He was cut about a week ago, and he is now looking at jobs in China. You may remember that Joe spent a chunk of his time in his youth growing up in China, so this could be a good fit. UPDATE: Scott Schroeder is reporting on twitter that Joe Alexander is headed to the D-League draft pool.
• The Toronto Raptors have assigned Solomon Alabi to the Erie Bayhawks. Alabi was a second round draft pick and is a defensive specialist. He will add a great deal of size and athleticism to the Bayhawks.
• Gana Lawai was assigned by the Phoenix Suns to the Iowa Energy. I am not totally familiar with the former Georgia Tech player, but I assume the rich just got richer.
• Armon Bassett -- a former IU Hoosier and thought to be a top talent coming into this year's D-League draft -- was cut by the Maine Red Claws.
• Alonzo Gee was recently cut by the Spurs. He played for their D-League team the Toros last season, and I assume he will go back to play for them again this year. He will really bolster that line up, because I think he is a top talent.
• Blake Ahearn was cut in Italy. This is the second or third time Blake has gone overseas and been sent back, and I am curious if he will come back to the D-League. At this point, I'm not sure why he would (a la my discussion on Ron Howard), but if he did, he would go back to Erie.

Tough Break - Literally

Our former point guard Earl Calloway will be out for at least 2 months with a broken toe. Sorry to hear that for Earl, and I hope he gets well soon!

Today's Practice

Today Coach Meyer kept things busy with a lot of five on five. This kind of practice always helped me because it allowed me to get more and more comfortable with running an offense in distress, and that is what we will be in when the Skyforce come to town on Sunday. Make no mistake about it, they are a very good team, and we are going to have to be able to adapt quickly in game like situations, and practices like today will really help them in that.

I think the level of play has increased a great deal in the last couple of days, and that may be because Walker Russell has returned back to the line up. He is such a charismatic leader, and he elevates everyone's play. I love the fact that we have a lot of guys on the roster who make those around them better. I have always thought that is what gets wins because it tells me they are playing the game the right way. It is not a finished product yet here in Fort Wayne, by any means, but we are getting better every day, the guys challenge themselves everyday, and I think that bodes well for the future.

Remember, our season starts on Sunday! Call us at 260-469-4667 to get your tickets! This is going to be a fun year, and I don't want anyone to miss it!

Stunning

I've been keeping it basketball heavy lately, but I thought I would share a live performance from one of my favorite singers named Adele. If you haven't heard of her, check her out -- she is fantastic.

Overseas Updates

Former Mad Ants in action overseas -- here are the updates:

• Coleman Collins and Sean Sonderleiter -- Ulm: Coleman and Sean's team put up a stinker after getting a huge win against perennial German powerhouse Alba Berlin. Neither player played particularly well -- Sean had 2 points and 7 boards in just 19 minutes, and Coleman had 6 points and 5 boards in 24 minutes. As I look at that roster, I think their coach has to shorten his rotation and get his best players more minutes. For Sondy to get 7 board (and only 4 shots) in 19 minutes tells me that you have to let him get a rhythm and more minutes. The same goes for Coleman. There is 80 minutes that can be split between the 4 and 5 spots, and the only three who should play those minutes, in my opinion are Sondy, Coleman, and big John Bryant (from Erie last year). That is as good a three man rotation as there is in that league. That would average about 26 minutes per player (although that can be altered up or down depending on who is playing well). The three of them combined for 72 minutes last night, and I would be curious what Sondy could have done with 8 more minutes on the court.
• Jared Reiner -- Bayreuth: Jared had a fantastic game this weekend as his team got yet another win. Jared had 17 points and 13 boards in 34 minutes in what looks to have been one of his better games of the year.
• Ryan Ayers -- Namika Lahti: Ryan's team lost the game, but he had a very nice game with 18 points and 9 boards.
• Kyle McAlarney -- Ikaros: Kyle had another nice game against one of the best team's in Greece (and Europe), Olympiakos. He had 11 points on 5-7 shooting, and he continues to demonstrate he can play at the top levels of Europe. Good for Kyle!
• Oliver Lafayette -- Partizan: O played a bit better in this game, but he still looks to be struggling to find his shot. He had 7 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists in 30 minutes in a loss to Nymburk. The good news is that is ranking was much improved, so let's hope this is the start of good things for O.
• Rob Kurz -- Granada; Earl Calloway -- Cajasol: These two former Mad Ants went head to head this past weekend in Spain, and Rob squeaked out the 73-72 victory. Rob continues to be one of the great stories in Spanish basketball this season, and he put together another good one -- 12 points, 15 boards, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Earl had a solid game in the loss with 8 points.
• Larry Turner -- BC Odessa: Larry did not play much in his game this past weekend. He played two minutes and missed both of his free throws in that short time span. It will be tough for Larry to stay on the team with so few minutes at this point.
• Taj McCullough -- Sydney Kings: Taj was back in the starting line up and had a solid game with 10 points and 5 boards in a loss.

Media Day

Today was media today for the Mad Ants over at the Coliseum. The guys got their first chance to play at the coliseum and to get used to the background over there. All in all, I thought it was a very good practice. I thought Chris Kramer had a really good practice yet again. He reminds me of Walker Russell in his savvy for the game and his ability to make other players better. Honestly, if you don't love playing with a guy like that, something must be wrong with you. The key for him to move up to the next level is to become a better shooter. He has a nice stroke, and he can become a much better shooter if he works at it.

Other standouts today were the entire black jersey team (Carlos English, Obi Muonelo, AK, Kramer, and Darnell Lazare). They moved the ball really well, and they started to show some cohesion to the offense that we did not see against Erie. Fun to see when guys start to react on the court as they become more and more familiar with the offense rather than have to think it through piece by piece. Good to see such improvement so quickly.

Last Night's Practice Game

Last night we held our preseason game against the Erie Bayhawks, and I thought it was a very fun event. Thank you to everyone over at the Concordia Theological Seminary for being such gracious hosts, and thank you to all the fans that came out and brought a fantastic amount of canned foods at a time when so many families in this community need it.

Turning to the game, I thought it was about what I expected from our side. We were really sloppy on offense, but I thought that would be the case after only four days of practice prior to the game. I also thought our defense was a bit sloppy as well. The rotations were spotty at best, and it is something the coaches are going to have to work on before we take on the always good Sioux Falls Skyforce.

With that said, I am very encouraged by what I saw. I thought the guys really played hard and competed, and we can't get any better if we did not have that. Moreover, I thought the things we struggled with were things that will improve dramatically with more practice over the next week. The younger guys got a great look at the type of speed and quality of competition they will face in the D-League, guys like Wilmont, English, and Lazare demonstrated that they are the savvy vets we thought they were, and this was all done without Walker Russell and Chris Hunter (for the most part).

A lot of work still to do, but I am certainly encouraged about where we are and where we can end up by the end of the season.

Follow Me!

For game updates tonight, be sure to follow me on twitter. My handle there is (do they call it a handle on twitter? What do they call it?) is @JeffPotterMA. I will try to give as many updates as possible over there, so check it out!

Exhibition Game Tonight!

Tonight at our practice facility, the Concordia Theological Seminary, we will be playing a practice game against the Erie Bayhawks at 7 pm. It should be a fun night, as our fans will get to see our new team debut against what will be one of the better teams in the league this year.

Erie is returning a great backcourt this year although they come from different years. Cedric Jackson was one of the best point guards in the league last year and received numerous call ups. In fact, he finished the season with the Washington Wizards and had some nice games for them. The next guy back is Maureece Rice, and I absolutely love his game. Maureece is heck of a scorer, and he absolutely gave us fits two years ago. We are going to have our hands full with these guys.

On the wings, they are a very different team. In years past, they have guys like Mike Gansey, Blake Ahearn, and defensive stalwart Jackie Manuel. This year the guy who looks to be the stud on the perimeter is Tasmin Mitchell. Tasmin is a rookie out of LSU who ended up on Erie through the new affiliation/allocation rules. He averaged 17 and 9 last year for LSU, so you know he is a quality player.

Down in the post, they have also seen a lot of turnover. Former Oregon Duck Ivan Johnson takes over the four position for the Bayhawks, and he is a good big man. Ivan had a nice year with Anaheim three years ago and has spent the last two years in Korea before returning to the D-League. Two guys who will likely fill the void left by players such as Mike Sweetney, John Bryant, and Ivan Harris are returning players Jarvis Gunter and Kyle Goldcamp. Both are big, active guys who play exceptionally hard. Should be fun to watch our new bigs battle against theirs.

The turnover continues even on the bench, as Erie is now coached by Jay Larranaga. John Treloar moved up to the NBA this summer with the Phoenix Suns, and it is a well deserved call up. I very much admired Treloar and his abilities -- his teams were always unbelievably prepared to play night in and night out. I believe I remember Larranaga's name from playing overseas, and I think he had a really nice career over there. From there he was an assistant with Cornell, and now takes his first head coaching job with the Bayhawks.

Well, should be a fun night. We will learn about our team and see where we are. It will certainly give us a nice measuring stick of where we need to be when we tip it up for real against Sioux Falls on the 21st. Hope to see you out tonight at the game!

Meet the Team!

What better way to spend a Friday evening than going to Crazy Pinz to meet this year's Mad Ants team! Get autographs from Chris Hunter, exchange elbows with Chris Kramer, stand back to back to see if you are taller than Carlos English, and see if you can sing better than Rod Wilmont! Answer questions about the players for great prizes! Come on down and enjoy a great evening with the guys -- hope to see you there!

The Big Three?

I was watching the Heat game last night, and I had one thought -- this is the Big Two. I think Chris Bosh is a nice player, but he is a soft player, and that team would have been far better if they had gone after Amare Stoudemire. He is a big man who has a presence inside, and I didn't see Bosh with any type of presence last night. Reggie Miller said it right in the third quarter when, after Boston was killing the Heat on the offensive boards, he questioned where Bosh was. Big Baby was killing him on the boards with the combination of strength and effort, and Bosh could just add nothing. He had a nice statistical game, but I am sure they had hoped he would be a better player than Udonis Haslem, and I don't think that is the case at this point.

The good news is that it is early, and I think they will be much better later on down the line, but they are clearly a notch below the Celtics and Lakers at this point. The fun thing now to watch is when will the Riley watch start. If the Heat are hovering at .500 or just over 30 games in, I suspect the rumblings will be loud.

Lafayette Continues to Struggle In Europe

Our great former Mad Ant Oliver Lafayette continues to struggle abroad. Oliver's Partizan team won their Euroleague game, but he is unable to find any type of rhythm with his new team. Oliver played 30 minutes in the last game, but shot 0-9 from the field. The good news is that the team won and he had a nice floor game with 6 assists, but he has got to get untracked from the field, because that is where he is dynamic.

Meet the Team Event

Loyal readers -- don't forget that we have a big event tomorrow at the funnest place in Fort Wayne -- Crazy Pinz! We have our big Meet The Team Event there and don't miss the opportunity to meet all the guys and get their autograph. We will have a lot of fun games and prizes for everyone, so I hope I see all 10 of you blog readers at the event!

Today's Practice

Okay, okay, so sorry for not posting yesterday, but I was on the road for much of the day to the Chicago area, and I didn't have any time to blog. Let me get right to the action with some quick hit thoughts on what I have seen the past two days:

• I think these have been the most intense practices that I have seen in our four years. I don't think that necessarily means that our team is going to be great, but it does mean that they will not be outworked, and it means that they compete, so it goes a long way to being a good team.
• The defense is way ahead of the offense. Probably not a surprise when you have defensive stalwarts like Marvin Phillips, Chris Kramer, Rod Wilmont, and Carlos English, but they are not the only ones. Every single player is selling out on D, and they are much further along than we were in years past in terms of understanding help D and simply getting a hand up on a shot.
• On offense, I think it is a bit up and down. I don't think that is a surprise, as guys are trying to remember the offense and that can sometimes hurt your offensive game when you are thinking rather than reacting. I think (and I hope!) the offense will start to catch up.
• Chris Hunter is out on the court, and I think his health seems to be progressing nicely.
• The one injury we have right now is Walker Russell, Jr. He strained his groin, and he has been sitting out the past few days, and I think he will continue to take it easy until he is completely recovered. The worst thing we can do is to push him to where it is something he feels all season long. He is rehabbing and should be ready for day one. Think Dwyane Wade and his hammy before the Heat season.
• Darnell Lazare is a nice addition to the club. He is really a smart and savvy player. He has played very well thus far, and I am very pleased he will playing with us rather than against us.
• The vets on the team are all playing well. AK, Los, and Wilmont are doing a great job on the court and a great job of making everyone feel acclimated.
• Finally, the one thing I do love about this team thus far is how they all love to work and cheer each other on. They are serious about their profession, and I am impressed with how they have responded to each other. Again, that doesn't mean we will be a great team, but it certainly helps.

Okay, that is my thoughts on the last day or two of practice. I will try to have more for you in the next few days.

First Assignment

The Houston Rockets -- who run the basketball ops for the RGV Vipers through a hybrid arrangement -- sent down former Kentucky standout, Patrick Patterson. To be honest, I don't know a ton about Patterson other than he is pretty good. I thought he would play a bigger part for Houston at this point, but I guess not. He will certainly help RGV as they start towards their defense of their D-League title. My guess for who is next? Luke Harangody. I think Danny Ainge is going to get him down to help his son Austin and the Red Claws. After that, I read where Phil Jackson would be sending down Derek Caracter from the Lakers to the Bakersfield Jam. Now that guy is good!

Almost No Post Today...Almost

Okay, it was a busy day today, and it was tough to get a free second to blog, but here I go.

Today was our first day of practice, and I thought it went well. This early in the season, it is really tough to see too much from the players because they are all trying to learn the terms, sets, etc.

I can say that they played really hard, and we are much improved in our athleticism this year. The guys were flying all over the place, and I thought they picked up the D relatively quick. The rebounding was also really good, as Marvin Phillips, Anthony Kent, and Darnell Lazare were skying for boards. No doubt, it was very fun to watch, and I am looking forward to tomorrow's day.

Okay, a short one today, but I will try to post some blogs from practice tomorrow.

Weekend Results

Many former Mad Ants were in action this past weekend. Here are the results:

• Rob Kurz continues to play very good basketball over in Spain. He did not have his best numbers, but I sense the opportunities were not as great because it was a low scoring game. he scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting (2-3 from three) and had five boards. It looked like he was also hurt by foul trouble. That said, it looks like he played a pretty efficient game. You know who is not playing well -- Coby Karl. He has gone over to Spain twice and really seems to be inconsistent over there.
• Earl Calloway played Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona and had a nice game with 10 points in a 8 point loss. He went against the overhyped Ricky Rubio, who played one of his better games with 7 points and 5 assists. Guh.
• A monster win for ratiopharm Ulm, Sean Sonderleiter, and Coleman Collins this weekend. They beat German powerhouse Alba Berlin 77-73 and are now 3-4 for the season. I wrote a few weeks ago that they needed better guard play, and they are now getting it with Rocky Trice from South Carolina. They are 3-0 with him in the lineup, and I sense he is freeing things up for the great three man rotation of bigs Coach Mike Taylor has. It looks like Sondy started and was really efficient with 9 points (4-4 shooting) and 8 boards. Coleman came off the bench and 15 pionts and 2 boards for the win. Good for Ulm!
• Bayreuth and Jared Reiner get their second win of the season. Not a great night for Jared, but who cares? They needed a win and got it. He scored 8 points and had 4 boards in the win.
• Jamelle Cornley had another monster game in Uruguay. He scored another 32 points and the three imports for Cader combined for 77 of the team's 87 points. Jamelle is averaging 25.6 ppg and 7 rpg. I am most impressed with the range he is demonstrating. he is shooting 44% from three this year. It is international distance, but I am not sure he showed that type of range for us last year. No doubt, his game has really developed, and I am so happy for him. I know he was very frustrated last year with his injury, and I am sure he getting all that out of his system with this great season.
• Taj McCullough scored 6 points as his Sydney Kings lost to the Adelaide 36ers. Weird game -- Taj did not start and did not play much. Surprising for a guy who had been one of the leading scorers the first couple of games.

Okay, that is about all I can think of right now in terms of game action. If I find more later, I will definitely post it.

Mad Ants News (Of The Bad Variety)

Rough news, but former Mad Ants player Ron Howard was released from his team in Israel. Not sure what happened, but he did not play in the last weekends game, and he confirmed that he was working on a settlement with the team. This is tough news for Ron, especially with a new baby on the way. Hopefully his agent can get him somewhere a little more settled like a Germany, because Ron can be a good player in Europe, he just needs to find the right spot. I am not sure places like Greece, China, or Israel are the right spots for him.

Some way wonder about him coming back to the D-League or the Mad Ants. If comes back to the D-League, we will not have his rights, and he would likely be playing in some other market. I hope he doesn't come back to the D-League and not because he would not be playing for us. He needs to find a good country where he can start to have a career if he wants to continue to be a professional basketball player. The D-League isn't for someone who has a wife and kids. You need more financial stability than the D-League can offer, and Ron is only going to find that in Europe.

In the end, players make the mistake of choosing the most money over the best and most secure country, and I fear Ron did that with this Israeli job. Let's hope he gets something quickly in a far better spot.

Sondy's Beard!

Former Mad Ants Recap

Here is the latest from our former Mad Ants overseas:

• Ryan Ayers had a decent game in what was a complete blowout for his team. Ryan scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his team's loss to Pyrinto in the Finnish League.
• Jared Reiner's team suffered another loss in the Bundesliga in Germany a couple of days ago. His Bayreuth team lost to Telekom Bonn (a pretty good team) 82-71, but Jared had easily his best game of the season with 24 points and 9 rebounds. His team has fallen to 1-6, and it is pretty clear that he needs some help.
• He did not play in the past few days, but I thought it important to note that Rob Kurz has moved up the statistical ladder after another great performance last weekend. He is now 4 in the ACB in scoring with 17.2 points per game and remains first in the ACB in rebounding with 9.6 per game. I wouldn't be surprised if a bigger (wealthier) team tried to buy make a transfer with Rob. In any case, it looks like Rob is well on his way to yet another all star team!
• Kyle McAlarney continues to play great basketball in Greece. He led his team to a victory with 16 points while shooting 2-4 from three. Kyle is currently averaging 17.5 points per game and shooting 55.6% from three. Great work!
• Although his team stinks, Jamelle Cornley continues to put up monster numbers in Uruguay. On my birthday -- November 2nd -- Jamelle put up 32 points on 12-20 shooting (5-7 from three -- his range has really improved!) and grabbed 6 boards. Congrats to Jamelle on an outstanding season!

That's it for today's report. Let's hope everyone playing this weekend has a great game!

Oliver and the Euroleague

Oliver Lafayette played another Euroleague game a couple of days ago against the powerhouse team from Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv. O had another tough game, as he only scored 11 points on 3-14 shooting. O is shooting just 22.5 percent during Euroleague games and only 16 percent from three point land. Needless to say, he can play a lot better than he is right now. More importantly, I wish he would have stayed in the States with us. There are jobs opening up in the NBA right now that he could have been in the hunt for. Let's hope this starts to head in the right direction for O as soon as possible.

The Training Camp Roster

Folks, being the dummy I am, I forgot to put up a complete roster for you to look at going into training camp. Sorry about the piece meal way I have revealed the roster, but here it is:

Returning Players:

Walker Russell, Jr.

Rod Wilmont

Carlow English

Anthony Kent

Chris Hunter

Affiliate Players:

Chris Kramer

Billy Rush

Tory Jackson

Drafted Players:

Obi Muonelo

Darnell Lazare (rights attained in a trade with Maine)

Corey Allmond

Anthony Goods

Adam Zahn

Shawn Hawkins

Aaron Nixon

Marvin Phillips (rights attained in a trade with Iowa)

That is 17 players headed into camp with us on the 9th. You may notice that Deandre Thomas from IU is no longer on the roster. With the trade for Phillips, that left me with 18 roster players, and I had to get down to 17, so I cut Thomas.

Another Trade: Marvin Phillips

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog today, but we were busy all day with meetings, press conferences, and all the other things that go with running a franchise. Yesterday, I ran down our draft, why we did some of the things we did, and tried to get everyone familiar with the guys being brought in for training camp. One name I did not mention was Marvin Phillips, who I traded for with Iowa and, in return, Iowa received our 4th round pick for next year.

Marvin Phillips is a 6-7 forward from Claflin that spent his last two years with Iowa. He is a high energy defensive player that has improved offensively. He is a really tough guy who just makes everyone better on the court. He really solidifies our front court, and I think he only helps our attempt to get guys who really compete on the floor. I am looking forward to seeing this group get started on the basketball court next week!

The Mad Ants Draft

Last night, the Mad Ants completed their training camp roster by participating in our fourth D-League draft. In past years, we have really had to build our team out of the draft, but we are lucky that we did not have to do that this year. We have a lot of good players through our returning player roster, affiliate roster, and our open tryout roster, so we were going into the draft with two things in mind -- find the best player available, but also be mindful of what fits our roster as currently comprised.

As we looked at the draft, we had three guys we hoped to get: Robert Vaden, Obi Muonelo, or Marqus Blakely. Vaden was our top guy, but we were not hopeful he would drop to 10, because he is really good and was one of the top talents in the pool. The only reason I thought he might drop was because his agent told everyone -- including us -- not to draft him because he would not report. His agent wanted him in Tulsa so he could be closer to Oklahoma City. With that said, I was definitely going to draft him and let the chips fall where they may. Instead, Tulsa traded a pretty darn good player in Mustafa Shakur for him. For my part, I tried to trade up, but just didn't have the pieces to get it done.

So, we ended up sitting at 10 with two of our top guys sitting there in Blakely and Muonelo. We liked Blakely a lot because of his athleticism, but I found him to be more of a 4 than the 3 shooter/scorer that we needed. We had made a couple moves prior to the draft that really solidified our front court in trading for Darnell Lazare and Marvin Phillips, so I didn't think adding another player more accustomed to the 4 was a fit. Beyond that, I think Joey and I felt really comfortable with Obi, so that is the direction we went.

Here is my take on how things went down round by round:

• Obi Muonelo, G, Oklahoma State: Obi is a player that Joey mentioned early on in his research, and it is someone I liked a lot as well. I think what I liked about him best was how hard he competed. I think anyone can go through the players in the pool and find faults with all of them (it seems a favorite past time of scouts), but I liked him because of the way he played. I think Obi will play hard and push himself to become a great basketball player. And, by the way, he is a heck of a player already. He is a good shooter who has a solid mid range game and averaged 13.3 on a good Oklahoma State team. Every coach I talked to who coached against him in the Big 12 thought very highly of him, and I have no doubt that he is going to help us greatly. The idea of two, big, strong guards in Obi, Kramer, and Wilmont on the perimeter making life difficult for the other team excites me.
• Darnell Lazare, PF, LSU: We traded our second round pick for Darnell Lazare. Some of you may remember him from when he played against us with Maine. I thought he was a really good big man in our league because he can shoot, rebound, and defend. I thought Darnell was better than any other player we would have got at 23, and I like the idea of adding more D-League veterans to the roster.
• Corey Allmond, G, Sam Houston St.: Corey is a big time scorer/shooter from Sam Houston. I thought he was really explosive on film, and I liked the way he was able to get his shot off against anyone with a shake and quick release. He is another guy who I think really competes on the floor, and we are definitely going to need his shooting with Walker running the team and finding guys for open shots and certainly with Hunter drawing double teams.
• Anthony Goods, G, Stanford: Anthony was in the league last year as a point guard with Bakersfield, but that was not really his position, and I thought he struggled in the league due to that. I think Anthony could be a very good 2 in this league with his shooting ability and ability to defend. I got to see him workout this summer here in Fort Wayne, as his mother lives here. I liked what I saw, and I am hoping a little home cooking from mom will take his game to the next level!
• Adam Zahn, PF, Oregon: Adam is a big, athletic power forward who I watched a lot at Oregon while I was in law school. This guy was always the most impressive player in warmups -- dunking nasty, post moves, jumper. He was never able to get on the floor, however, and it wasn't like Oregon was putting out a bunch of stud post players at the time, so I was always vexed at what this guy was not doing in practice to warrant any time. He has gone overseas and had some decent success, and I wanted to bring him in and see what he could do. Physically, he is really gifted. Now we have to see what he can do on the court.
• Shawn Hawkins, SF, Long Beach St.: Shawn played for us two years ago and played well before clashing with the coaching staff. Ultimately, I let him go. He has since wanted to come back here and, after working out for the coaches prior to the draft, Joey was impressed enough that he wanted to see what he could do in camp. Here is what Shawn does well -- defends and shoots spot up threes. He could be a nice match for our team.
• Aaron Nixon, SF, Long Beach St.: A former teammate of Shawn Hawkins at Long Beach St., Aaron is a heck of a scorer as a powerfully built small forward He has the ability to hit spot up threes and score on anyone as he goes to the hole with his strength.
• DeAndre Thomas, C, Indiana: DeAndre is a big body who showed potential at our open tryout, but is still limited by weight and conditioning issues. He is losing weight it is reported by the day, but we will be able to see that at training camp.

I think this is going to be a very competitive camp, because there are not as many open positions as in years past. Guys are going to have come in shape and play hard. If they can do that, they have a good shot of playing with our team. If not, they will be gone. The season is close, and I am excited!

Former Mad Ants Weekend Roundup

Alright, here is the post that all of you have been waiting for -- what our former players did this past weekend! Here is a quick recap of all that I could find:

• Oliver Lafayette continues to have an up and down time over in Serbia. His team lost to Union Olympija from Slovenia, and O had an awful game. He did not start, played just 20 minutes, scored 7 points and dished out 3 assists to 5 turnovers. This is what I feared for Oliver. Had he stayed here, he be gearing up for a season where he would be a bona fide call up candidate. Now he is is languishing on the bench in Europe. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
• Jamelle Cornley had a monster game in Uruguay and led his team to just its third win. Jamelle scored 32 points and looked like he completely dominated. It looks like he is healthy and playing at a high level again.
• Ryan Ayers is still struggling with his shot a bit right now, but his team beat ToPo this past week, a team that Jeff Potter played and beat many moons ago in the quarterfinals of the Eurocup. Ryan had 15 points, but shot just 4-11 getting there.
• Earl Calloway's Cajasol team lost this past weekend, but Earl had a pretty solid game. He had 11 points in just 25 minutes, and he did get the start again.
• Rob Kurz continued to dominate the Spanish league this weekend with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Seriously, Rob is going to be printing money overseas after the working he is doing right now. His team pulled out just their first win, but that isn't Rob's issue. He is making a great name for himself over there, and I could not be happier for him.
• Ron Howard's team lost, but he had a very solid game. He came off the bench for 22 minutes of game time and scored 10 points and grabbed 3 boards. Nice work for Ron, and I think it looks like he is probably starting to get his groove overseas.
• Coleman Collins is really playing some good basketball as Ulm has won two in a row after a very rocky start. Coleman had 15 and 8 in the victory.
• As you know, when we talk Ulm basketball, we must talk about two players. Sean Sonderleiter had a solid game as well. He had 6 and 4 in just 18 minutes. Sean looks to be the odd man out of a very solid rotation. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
• Jared Reiner had a solid game this past weekend with 10 and 6, but his team lost another one. To his credit, I don't think he has much around him, and I am sure that defenses are making life miserable for him.
• Taj McCullough had 17 points as his team, the Sydney Kings, lost a tough one to Townsville. Taj is 16 ppg on the season.

That is wrap up for today. Stay tuned and I will post up more if I can find it.

Draft Day!

Hard to believe that today is draft day. That means we are very close to the start of the season, and I can't wait. I think we are going to have a strong team this year, and I am excited to see what our team will do with more continuity this year with Coach Meyer heading into his second year. Should be fun!

On to more important topics. Last night, I was out trick or treating with my two adorable kids, and I think I deserve some props for being a most awesome dad (Bill and Ted, I can't wait for your remake). Sydney, my 3 year old daughter, planned out all our costumes this year, and they all revolved around Toy Story 2. My wife Julie was Buzz Lightyear (no idea why Syd gave her that assignment), my studly 1 year old son Alex was Woody (another person who looks like Woody -- Jared Reiner, according to Steve Gansey), and I was the one and only Stinky Pete, the Prospector. I will have photos for you later.

I am really happy the draft will be coming so close after the halloween, because I will need the sugar high!