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G League Grand Rapids Drive

Drive Selects Five Players in 2015 NBA D-League Draft

October 31, 2015 - NBA G League (G League)
Grand Rapids Drive News Release


GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - OCT 31, 2015 - The Grand Rapids Drive, the official NBA Development League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, selected five players in the 2015 NBA D-League draft to round out their 17-man training camp roster.

The Drive selected Sam Thompson a 6-foot-7, 200-pound, forward out of Ohio State with the 7th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Development League draft. In the 2014-15 season, Thompson averaged, 10.3 points, 3.86 rebounds, and 1.06 assists in 35 contests with the Buckeyes and received All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2015. The Ohio State alum was with the Charlotte Hornets during the 2015 NBA pre-season.

Below is the list of players selected by the Drive in the 2015 NBA D-League Draft:

2015 NBA Development League Draft Picks

2015 NBA Development League Draft Picks

ROUND # PICK NAME POS HT WT D.O.B SCHOOL

1 7 Sam Thompson F 6'7 200 11/11/1992 Ohio St

2 7 Michael Stockton G 6'1 180 7/7/1989 Westminster

3 7 Brett Comer G 6'3 190 5/9/1992 Florida Gulf Coast

4 7 Ismael Romero F 6'8 220 6/23/1991 Cuba

5 7 Paul Williams G 6'4 212 2/14/1989 University of Dayton

Following the draft, the Drive completed a trade with the Canton Charge acquiring the 34th overall pick Adrian Forbes and Canton's 2016 2nd round pick in exchange for Michael Stockton, the Drive's 26th overall pick. Forbes is a 6-foot-11, 255-pound center out of Auburn University. While at Auburn, Forbes averaged 3.02 points, 2.84 rebounds, and 0.14 assists in 57 contests. He returns to the states after playing two consecutive seasons oversees.

In addition to the 2015 NBADL draft picks, the Grand Rapids Drive announced today eight returning, one affiliate and three open tryout players to complete the 2015 training camp roster. Stefhon Hannah, Kelsey Barlow, Kammeon Holsey, Renaldo Woolridge, Larry Anderson, Asauhn Dixon-Tatum, Adonis Thomas, and Devin Ebanks as returning players. Ryan Boatright as the affiliate player followed by Ashton Pitts, Xavier Ford, and John Hawkins as the local tryout players.

Returning Players

Hannah played 22 games with the Drive last season, starting two and averaged 5.9 points, 2.1 assists, and 1 steal per game. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard, from Missouri went undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft, where he played back and forth oversees and with the NBA D-League for several years before signing with the Grand Rapids Drive in 2015.

Barlow spent the entirety of the 2014-15 season with the Drive. He was the 77thst overall draft pick in the 2014 NBDL draft out of University of Illinois - Chicago. He started in 22 games and averaged, 7.2 points, 1.6 assists, and 2.73 rebounds in 45 contests.

Holsey is a returning rights player joining the 2015 training camp roster. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward from Georgia Tech was the 47th overall pick in the 2014 NBDL draft pick by the Grand Rapids Drive. Holsey spent the entirety with the Drive, playing 47 games and averaging 5.4 points, 3.68 rebounds per game.

Woolridge joins the other seven returning players to the Grand Rapids Drive for the 2015 training camp roster. He played in 28 games during the 2014-15 season with the Drive and averaged 2.8 points, 3.55 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Woolridge joined the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2013 NBA Summer League. For the 2013-14 season, Woolridge played oversees and in July 2014, Woolridge re-joined the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2014 NBA Summer League. On November 1, 2014, he was selected by the Grand Rapids Drive in the fourth round of the 2014 NBA Development League Draft.

Anderson joins the drive as a returning rights player from the 2013-14 season with the Springfield Armor. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard from Long Beach State had four-year career averages of 12.09 points, 4.69 rebounds, and 2.83 assists in 127 games played. Anderson received All-Big West First Team in years 2009, 2011 and 2012 and Big West All-Tournament Team in 2010 and in 2011. For the 2013-14 season, Anderson played with the Springfield Armor where he averaged 14.17 points, 5.56 rebounds, and 2.33 assists in 36 games played.

Dixon-Tatum, is a returning rights player and 7-foot, 225-pound, center from Auburn University who played his 2014-15 season with the Maine Red Claws averaging 5.0 points, 1.2 blocks, and 3.4 total rebounds in 31 games played. The Maine Red Claws selected Dixon-Tatum in Round 2 with Pick 4 in the 2014 Annual NBA Development League Draft.

Thomas spent the entirety of the 2014-15 season with Drive as a returning player from Springfield for the 2013-14 season. He was named to the Futures All-Star team for the 2015 D-League All-Star Game and All NBA D-League Third Team and received McDonald's All-American in 2011. In 51 games for the Drive in the 2014-15 season, he averaged 18.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. On July 23, 2015, Thomas signed with the Detroit Pistons after averaging 8.6 points and 4.0 rebounds in five summer league games. Thomas suffered a calf muscle injury in the team's public scrimmage to end the first week of training camp and subsequently missed 10 days. He made his only pre-season appearance against the Indiana Pacers on October 13, but he aggravated the injury after a 10-minute stint and wasn't able to return to action after that. He was later waived by the Pistons on October 23 and rejoins the Drive for the 2015-16 season.

Ebanks was selected as the 43rd overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 NBA draft where he was assigned to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League. On Jan 8, 2011, the Lakers recalled Ebanks from the Jam as a result of an injury by Matt Barnes where he played as small forward and in his first game had 8 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists against the Chicago Bulls. On Feb 15, 2012, he was assigned with the Los Angeles D-Fenders. He was later recalled on Feb 26, 2012 to the LA Lakers where he averaged 4 points in 16.5 minutes per game and also played 12 of 24 games as a starter. In 2013, the Texas Legends acquired after the Dallas Mavericks placed him on waivers. In 2014, Ebanks was named to the Prospects All-Star roster for the 2014 NBA D-League All-Star Game and was traded to the Springfield Armor. In July 2014, he joined the NBA D-League Select Team for the 2014 NBA Summer League before going over sees for the 2014-15 season. He returns to the Drive as a returning rights player from Springfield for the Drive's 2015 training camp.

Affiliate Player

Boatright went undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft but later signed with the Brooklyn Nets on July 2 and joined the team for the 2015 NBA Summer League. In nine Summer League games for the Nets, Boatright averaged 14.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. On October 20, 2015, the Nets waived him after appearing in four preseason games and on October 23, he signed with the Detroit Pistons, but was waived two days later. The Connecticut Alum and 5-foot-11, 175-pound guard joins the Drive as an affiliate player for the 2015 training camp.

Open Tryout Players

Pitts, Ford and Hawkins attended either or both Grand Rapids Drive's open tryout in October 2015 and have been selected to join the others for the 2015 Drive training camp. Pitts, the 6-foot-7, 195-pound guard attended Southern Polytechnic State University. Ford, the 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward attended University at Buffalo and in four consecutive seasons Ford averaged, 5.12 points, 3.54 rebounds, and 0.40 assists in 104 games. Hawkins, the 7-foot-0, 252-pound center attended Miami of Ohio where he played in 24 games and averaged 1.3 points, 0.9 rebounds in 5.5 minutes per game.

Training camp begins Monday, November 2, 2015.

Below is the complete 2015 Training Camp Roster for the Grand Rapids Drive.

2015 Training Camp Roster

PLAYER POS HT WT D.O.B SCHOOL STATUS

Sam Thompson F 6'7 200 11/11/1992 Ohio St Draft Pick

Adrian Forbes C 6'11 255 5/25/1988 Auburn University Draft Pick

Brett Comer G 6'3 190 5/9/1992 Florida Gulf Coast Draft Pick

Ismael Romero F 6'8 220 6/23/1991 Cuba Draft Pick

Paul Williams G 6'4 212 2/14/1989 University of Dayton Draft Pick

Adonis Thomas F 6'6 232 3/25/1993 Memphis Returning

Devin Ebanks F 6'9 215 10/28/1989 West Virginia University Returning

Kammeon Holsey F 6'8 230 9/4/1990 Georgia Tech Returning

Kelsey Barlow G 6'5 200 2/14/1991 University of Illinois-Chicago Returning

Renaldo Woolridge F 6'9 225 3/22/1990 University of Southern Calif. Returning

Ryan Boatright G 5'11 175 12/27/1992 University of Connecticut Affiliate

Larry Anderson G 6'5 210 11/6/1989 Long Beach State Returning

Stefhon Hannah G 6'1 175 6/14/1985 Missouri Returning

Asauhn Dixon-Tatum C 7'0 225 2/1/1991 Auburn University Returning

Xavier Ford F 6'7 210 1/20/1992 University at Buffalo Open Tryout

Ashton Pitts F 6'7 195 3/25/1988 Southern Polytechnic State Univ. Open Tryout

John Hawkins C 7'0 252 3/18/1992 Miami of Ohio Open Tryout

Check out the Grand Rapids Drive Statistics

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