USBL DRAFT player listing

[bectond]

This link http://www.oursportscentral.com/boards/showthread.php?t=5508 provides a list of players that most likely will make up the bulk draftees for the April 10th, 2007 USBL draft.

[bectond]

Boy was the first round full of blatant homer picks.
Roundtree was the fifth best player on his small college team,
Justin Marshall was a part-time starter on a 2-28 team.

In the Second Round, Albany took Jamar Wilson. He had a horrible camp at Portsmouth, which will likely keep him out of Orlando. However, he is a well-regarded player that might end up being a steal for the Patroons. He scored 25 of Albany’s 57 while going head to head with JR Reynolds(A borderline 1st rounder) in the NCAA tournament. He Avg. 19 ppg, 4 ast. and 6 reb this past season. He can play out of control, he is a turnover machine.

In the Third round, Brooklyn took Bashir Mason. He had some good games during the non-conference schedule. 26 vs. Rider, 21 vs. Villanova and 19 vs. VCU and that high pressure defense they play. But he failed to reach double figures in scoring or assist the second half of the season. It will be interesting to see if he steps up in the USBL. Delaware took Christian Burns, the Division II player of the year, he like Wilson was outplayed in Portsmouth.

In the fourth Round, Brooklyn took Clayton Morgan. Morgan is not a pro prospect. He put up good numbers vs inferior talent when he played the better PF this is what he did:
7 pts on 2/9 shooting vs. Norfolk State
9 pts on 3/11 shooting vs. USC
4 pts. on 1/7 shooting vs. Providence
2 pts. on 1/4 shooting vs. Oklahoma State
Keston Roberts of the Bronx is a nice sleeper pick by Long Island. Shot 39% from 3point range and avg. 19 ppg at Youngstown State, however there are height concerns.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Here are a few photos from the Gary Steelheads' first USBL draft party. There are also a few youtube videos from the draft party on the fan website below:

You can clearly see the Boston Freedom have become the New Jersey Freedom in this photo (at least the people in Gary think the name is still Freedom).
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t181/kennethap/draft4.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t181/kennethap/draft1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t181/kennethap/draft2.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t181/kennethap/draft3.jpg

[HAC]

Who's the old lady you drafted? Can she play?

[HAC]

[QUOTE=bectond;42627]Boy was the first round full of blatant homer picks.
[QUOTE]

Very few of the draft picks even show up and fewer make the teams.

For the most part, teams are just picking names to be picking names.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Who's the old lady you drafted? Can she play?

Who Renee? She's not very old. It does look like she's happy to be chosen number one in that photo. However, the reality is that she is displaying yet another t-shirt that I didn't win in the draft party raffle. :rolleyes:

[HAC]

The mascot looks ready to bite her ear. Must be attracted to her earring/lure!

Looks like a nice turnout, very similar to what Salina had last night for the Cagerz. It was Salina's best crowd in about four years, must have been the Biddy Burgers. (The free beer was not advertised.)

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

The mascot looks ready to bite her ear. Must be attracted to her earring/lure!

Looks like a nice turnout, very similar to what Salina had last night for the Cagerz. It was Salina's best crowd in about four years, must have been the Biddy Burgers. (The free beer was not advertised.)

The food was free in Gary, but not the beer.

This is kinda homer talk, but Salina had the best crowd in four years because the Cagerz front office knew Gary was going to make a big deal out of their draft party. Kansas stepped-up their (front office) game to meet the challenge. Isn't competition wonderful? It makes everyone better.

[HAC]

The food was free in Gary, but not the beer.

This is kinda homer talk, but Salina had the best crowd in four years because the Cagerz front office knew Gary was going to make a big deal out of their draft party. Kansas stepped-up their (front office) game to meet the challenge. Isn't competition wonderful? It makes everyone better.

The only thing the Cagerz front offices knows about Gary is that it inked Rob Griffin and Marlowe Curry, a couple of Cagerz disappointments. (How's that for homer talk!)

The Cagerz drafted a Kansas Wesleyan player, who brought his coaching staff and buddies, and K-Stater Cartier Martin made an appearance as did ex-KU player Michael Lee.

(Actually, the crowd was larger because the weekly Biddy Burgers special was in effect, not sure how many people really knew there was a draft party!)

Practice starts Saturday. It will be interesting to see how many players roll in. The practices are open, so that's pretty cool.

[gunnar1073]

So HAC, is Cartier gonna suit up for the Cagerz this year?

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Robert Griffin and Marlowe Curry played well for the Steelheads back in 2005-2006. They played well tonight too. There was a scrimmage, autograph session, and free food thing for Steelheads season ticket holders at the Genesis Center. If you look at the photo closely, then you will see that the referees are wearing IBL shirts. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I remembered that the Steelheads were briefly in the IBL during their first season. The shirts must be throwbacks. Either way, the zebra shirts look nice. I want one.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t181/kennethap/season1.jpg

There must have been about 100 season ticket holders present. Add two more fans and you could have a CBA Alley Cats game. Add ten more to that total and you would have an Xplosions home game. :D

[HAC]

So HAC, is Cartier gonna suit up for the Cagerz this year?

Hard to tell.

I talked with Francis after the draft and he sounded pretty confident. He said Cartier didn't have the "I'm too good for the league" attitude and that he was very receptive to playing for the Cagerz, unlike some picks of the past.

Cartier had a decent Portsmouth showing and he does have an agent, so maybe he'll have some NBA camp opportunities.

He's going back to finish up with school and will not be at the preseason camp, so you have to be concerned that once the Cagerz are out of sight that they're out of mind.

If I had to give a "yes or no" answer, I'd go with a somewhat confident "no."
But in this league I tend to lean negative.

They need Oliver Lafayette to show up because this team needs a PG. I don't want them digging up Tes Whitlock or Tim Pledger out of retirement.

[HAC]

There must have been about 100 season ticket holders present. Add two more fans and you could have a CBA Alley Cats game. Add ten more to that total and you would have an Xplosions home game. :D


What is the season ticket count there?

Haven't heard the Cagerz yet, but it was about 475 to 500 a year ago. Can't remember exactly.

[TEN]

Oklahoma draft party went well....the room was pretty much filled up and we hooked everybody up with free food (sorry, no free beer...I did get a free ice tea!).

Looks like we will have three of our four draft choices in camp this weekend, including number one pick Nate Carter from OU.

[bectond]

Very few of the draft picks even show up and fewer make the teams.

For the most part, teams are just picking names to be picking names.

I noticed that the draft occurs well after training camp begins. Draftees would be at a huge disadvantage (playing time wise) if they decided to play anyway. (coaches have already signed the players they want).

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

I noticed that the draft occurs well after training camp begins. Draftees would be at a huge disadvantage (playing time wise) if they decided to play anyway. (coaches have already signed the players they want).

I wondered about that too since the USBL is new to me. This is how the rookie thing works as I understand it. Each USBL team must start the season with at least one rookie on the roster. Each team must carry at least two rookies on their roster by May 15th. Therefore, a draftee has until that date to report to the team. If no draftees make the team, then the team has to sign a rookie free agent by May 15th to make their quota of rookies.

[HAC]

Depends on the team and the schedule.

Cagerz don't start camp until Saturday, but their first game comes after most other teams.

[bectond]

I have three items i'd like to discuss all in this one post.

First, back to your comment about the Alley cats. How can a team sell season tickets if the gym they play in does not have individual seating. Don't most high school gyms have bleecher style General admission seating? Why buy a season ticket when all the seats are general admission, if the Alley cats ever have a big game season ticket holders would be seated first come first serve just like everybody else. There is no incentive to buy a season ticket, the best seats go to the guy that gets to the game first and tickets only cost $5 anyway. I can't make out what the Alley Cats are doing on the business side (the basketball side however, is doing a wonderful job)

second, OK I understand, they wait until after Portsmouth to hold the draft and give players until the 15th to see who gets into the pre-draft camp, then they finalize the roster.

lastly I hope the Steelheads are not changing their uniforms. Those Sonics style jerseys were nice looking. If so, who was behind that move, what were they thinking?

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

I have three items i'd like to discuss all in this one post.

First, back to your comment about the Alley cats. How can a team sell season tickets if the gym they play in does not have individual seating. Don't most high school gyms have bleecher style General admission seating? Why buy a season ticket when all the seats are general admission, if the Alley cats ever have a big game season ticket holders would be seated first come first serve just like everybody else. There is no incentive to buy a season ticket, the best seats go to the guy that gets to the game first and tickets only cost $5 anyway. I can't make out what the Alley Cats are doing on the business side (the basketball side however, is doing a wonderful job)

second, OK I understand, they wait until after Portsmouth to hold the draft and give players until the 15th to see who gets into the pre-draft camp, then they finalize the roster.

lastly I hope the Steelheads are not changing their uniforms. Those Sonics style jerseys were nice looking. If so, who was behind that move, what were they thinking?

Geez! I find myself agreeing with you...except Gary usually changed its uniforms every season in the CBA. They are going to keep the same sonic style uniforms they had last season though...yuck! :p The old uniforms in the photo were worn for the scrimmage. The Steelheads should sell them. I'd buy one.

The Wigwam is not suitable for professional sports--plain and simple. I don't understand the Alley Cats either. Apparently, the Alley Cats ownership doesn't understand what the Alley Cats should be doing as well. The business of running a business seems to be an after-thought with them. Their business plan seems to be an exercise in throwing away money. It's kind of a sad situation, but at the same time uplifting. Whenever I'm feeling down, I just tell myself things could be worse. I could be involved with the Alley Cats organization.

Ahhhh, I feel better already.

[bectond]

The business of running a business seems to be an after-thought with them. Their business plan seems to be an exercise in throwing away money. It's kind of a sad situation, but at the same time uplifting. Whenever I'm feeling down, I just tell myself things could be worse. I could be involved with the Alley Cats organization.

Ahhhh, I feel better already.


Very Funny,

I guess the team is some kind of expensive toy or something.

[TEN]

Here's the deal with the draft....

Teams have to carry one rookie after May 15th...

The league decided to start the schedule earlier than it ever had...Some of the teams that have D-league coaches and players (Dodge City, Oklahoma) were able to work their schedules out so they don't have to open up until next week.

We drafted four guys...three of them will be at the opening of our training camp on Saturday morning....they will work out with us on Saturday and Sunday and will then be evaluated. If they are a factor to make the team, we will work around their school schedules and get them back in when school is out in May. I understand that our first round pick Nate Carter is a fifth year senior and can work out his class schedule so he can be here from day one.

The draft has always been the Tuesday after Portsmouth....the difference this year is that the season has never started on April 13...at least not in the past ten years....

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

I wondered about that too since the USBL is new to me. This is how the rookie thing works as I understand it. Each USBL team must start the season with at least one rookie on the roster. Each team must carry at least two rookies on their roster by May 15th. Therefore, a draftee has until that date to report to the team. If no draftees make the team, then the team has to sign a rookie free agent by May 15th to make their quota of rookies.

Yeah, like I said. Each team has to carry at least one rookie after May 15th. It's tough being Ken, know-it-all fan. :rolleyes:

...although I DO know why the season is starting April 13th this year.

[bectond]

Forget about the Krunk though. If they're counting on young African-Americans to keep their franchise afloat, then they're sunk already. Not enough disposable income for that demographic.

Forgive me for posting this in the USBL forum but what bills do youth pay?
All their income(if they have any) is disposable. The interesting thing about the Krunks plan is nobody knows how much money they are willing to spend on sports. Sponsors also love this demographic. Young people don't save any money, they spend every dime they get. In fact, young people will spend money on entertainment when they do have bills to payl. I'm just not sure if those guys can pull it off. If P Diddy owned the team yeah it could work.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Forgive me for posting this in the USBL forum but what bills do youth pay?
All their income(if they have any) is disposable. The interesting thing about the Krunks plan is nobody knows how much money they are willing to spend on sports. Sponsors also love this demographic. Young people don't save any money, they spend every dime they get. In fact, young people will spend money on entertainment when they do have bills to payl. I'm just not sure if those guys can pull it off. If P Diddy owned the team yeah it could work.

Generally speaking, African-American youth don't have incomes. It's the parent/guardians with incomes that aren't disposable.

How ironic, because I can easily tie this post to the USBL and the Gary Steelheads! A few hours ago I was sitting in the Steelheads office (hanging around, I guess) when a thirty-something aged woman came in inquirying about free tickets. The Steelheads staffer told her they didn't do free tickets. After much concern about the price of tickets and after she grilled me on how much I paid for my tickets, she finally broke down and bought a $12 ticket. Moments later another thirtyish woman came into the office and bought a concert ticket (yes, the Steelheads are doing the Sportstainment thing)--no basketball ticket though, just money for the concert. She felt compelled to speak to me too...I guess I have that look or something.

What's my point? My point is that there isn't a whole heckava lot of money in the African-American community to support professional basketball. Sure, there will be a huge crowd for the Steelheads season opener and another huge crowd for the April 28th Omarion concert, but tickets are going to be a tough sell beyond that. People from the inner-city don't have dollars to constantly pump into entertainment when they have other priorities. The Krunk organization will find this out soon enough if they don't already know.

I only hope the Steelheads have found their niche with spring basketball. Some of their plans for enticing the outdoors bunch back indoors sound really good. Time will tell though.

[bectond]

I don't thing they are selling basketball tickets. I think they are selling concert tickets with a basketball games. They have 16 weekends to fit in as many concerts as possible. Remember they are in the Bible belt. They can do a rap show one week, an R&B show the next and a Gospel concert the next and target three different groups of ticket buyers. They are also doing fund raising for Morris Brown College, so during the week they can have fundraisers. I agree with you that half their games will look like Alley Cat games, but if they can fill the arena for 12-14 dates and find enough sponsors they could brake even. I'm just interested in the idea and the teenage market (it's new exciting territory), but you could be right.

In other news,
Moon was headed to P.R. two days ago :rolleyes: and now he has decided to join that CBA All-Star team being assembled n Gary (seems to me he knew he was going to Gary all along). I have not viewed all the other rosters but I can't see any team in that league competing with Gary. I remember a month or so back you were telling another poster that they were going to corner the talent market, you were right. I guess part of the new Steelheads business plan is to become the Yankees of the USBL.

[HAC]

Oh, poo. Don't go by early season rosters on who has all the talent.

Oklahoma, Dodge and Kansas are always good from the Midwest and Brooklyn typically is solid by the end of the season.

If grabbing Curlow and Griffin are cornering all the talent, the rest of the league can breath easy.

[bectond]

Oh, poo. Don't go by early season rosters on who has all the talent.

Oklahoma, Dodge and Kansas are always good from the Midwest and Brooklyn typically is solid by the end of the season.

If grabbing Curlow and Griffin are cornering all the talent, the rest of the league can breath easy.

It's not just the Griffin signing. They signed Blackburn, Moon, Alexander, Garnett, Cunningham and Barlow too. I've never paid much attention to spring ball so you may be right. Being i'm a novice how volatile are USBL rosters? Since the talent tide may change before the tournament, and no definitive championship conclusions can be drawn at this early date. In your opinion as of today which team is the most talented? I have only really reviewed a few rosters. There seems to be a huge talent difference between a team like Gary and Delaware. I just can't see that team competing. But i'm a spring league novice.

[HAC]

It's not just the Griffin signing. They signed Blackburn, Moon, Alexander, Garnett, Cunningham and Barlow too. I've never paid much attention to spring ball so you may be right. Being i'm a novice how volatile are USBL rosters? Since the talent tide may change before the tournament, and no definitive championship conclusions can be drawn at this early date. In your opinion as of today which team is the most talented? I have only really reviewed a few rosters. There seems to be a huge talent difference between a team like Gary and Delaware. I just can't see that team competing. But i'm a spring league novice.

I'm just messing with you. Griffin was a huge disappointment for the Cagerz. He got cut pretty quick.

Currie made some hustle plays, but that was about it. He was always on the verge of being cut and he barely played the last couple of games.

Both were guys Levingston brought in with his "connections" so we all assumed they'd be pretty good. Griffin had a nice camp, then floundered. He looked hurt to me, but he said he wasn't.

I haven't looked at any rosters yet, aside from Kansas. I'm unsure/unsold on it at this point.

Big man Darrell Johns led the league in shooting percentage, but pretty much stopped rebounding at the end.

Newcomer Larry House can score. Good addition.

Other than that, who knows. In the end, they'll wish they had brought back 2005 MVP Nate Johnson. And I wish Anthony Johnson had come back too.