Jam Add Eight In Draft
Published on November 6, 2009 under NBA G League (G League)
Bakersfield Jam News Release
(Bakersfield, Calif., November 6, 2009) - The Bakersfield Jam are proud to welcome an exciting new group of players to the franchise, as they added eight players to the training camp roster in Thursday's 2009 NBA D-League Draft.
The Jam's deep and athletically talented draft class includes fourth overall pick Amara Sy -- last season's MVP in France's Pro-A league -- former NBA first-round pick Reece Gaines, and 2008-09 Stanford Cardinal leading scorer Anthony Goods.
"We were really trying to target athletes and great defenders across the board," said Jam head coach Will Voigt. "We think we're extremely versatile, and that's the thing we're most excited about with this group."
Sy (6-7, 220) is an athletic, skilled small forward coming off a championship season in the Pro-A league with ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne. He averaged 12.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 2.3 apg in France last season, and stepped up his game in six Euroleague games as he shot 58.6% for 16 ppg and also grabbed two steals per contest.
"He's a great athlete, a really good all-around player and a proven winner," Voigt said of Sy. "He can put it on the floor, he's got good range on his shot and he's long, so he can score out of the post if need be.
"Offensively he will probably be a three for us, but defensively we think he can guard one through four pretty easily."
Gaines (6-6, 205) was a standout at Louisville during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, averaging 18.2 ppg, 4.9 apg and 1.8 spg during a senior season in which he earned AP All-America 3rd team honors. After four seasons in the NBA with the Magic, Rockets and Bucks, Gaines has played the last several seasons in Europe, where last year he scored 10.1 ppg for Italian team Pallacanestro Biella.
"Reece is a former [15th overall] NBA draft pick, so obviously he has great talent and we're expecting him to do a lot of stuff for us," Voigt said. "He's a great ballhandler for his size and he's gonna have the ball in his hands a lot, but he's another guy who can slide over and play multiple positions."
Goods (6-3, 195) is coming off a very successful career at Stanford, where he led the team in scoring during his senior year (2008-09) with 16.2 ppg. He was a three-year starter for the Cardinal and earned All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention honors in his junior and senior seasons.
"Anthony is a great shooter, but the biggest thing for us is that he's an extroardinary character guy," Voigt said of the Stanford grad. "We got a lot of reports about leadership ability and locker room presence, and in the conversations I've had with him it's clear that he is really hungry to get better."
Fourth-round selection Jared Newson (6-5, 215) starred for Tennessee-Martin as a senior in 2005-06 with 18.8 ppg and 6.6 rpg. He has played the last three years overseas, where he has developed a reputation as one of the most exciting athletes in the game.
"He is an absolute freak athlete," said Voigt. "He can definitely be an NBA defender because of his length and athleticism, and he plays with a ton of energy."
In the fifth round, the Bakersfield added guard Lance Hurdle (6-2, 183), who averaged 7.3 ppg and 2.9 apg as a senior for the Miami Hurricanes last season. He is a talented on-ball defender with NBA range on his jump shot and great athleticism.
The Jam picked up Chris Ayer (6-10, 230), a center who graduated from Loyola Marymount in 2006 with their sixth-round selection. Last season he averaged 13.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg and 1.3 bpg as a starter for the Ryukyu Golden Kings of the Japan-BJ League.
Seventh-round pick Ramon Dyer (6-7, 180) was named Second-Team All-Conference USA in his 2005-06 senior season for Houston as he scored 12.1 ppg and led the team with 6.1 rpg. He played with the D-League's Albuquerque Thunderbirds during the 2007-08 season and finished with 6.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg and a team-high 41 blocked shots in 50 games.
The eighth and final member of the Jam's 2009 draft class is Stephen McDowell (6-1, 190), who joins the squad on the heels of a fantastic college career with Chattanooga. McDowell scored 18.1 ppg as a senior and was honored as the Southern Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player after averaging 21.3 ppg (including 5 three-pointers made per contest), 5.0 rpg and 3.3 apg.
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