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G League Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Asumnu, Gladness and Terrel Harris Returning to Vipers

October 30, 2010 - NBA G League (G League)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers News Release


MCALLEN, TEXAS - The NBA Development League Champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced today that forward Stanley Asumnu (6-5, 220, Tennessee), center Mickell Gladness (6-11, 230, Alabama A&M) and guard Terrel Harris (6-5, 190, Oklahoma State) will return to the team.

They are joined by center Jordan Eglseder (7-0, 280, Northern Iowa), guard Jerel McNeal (6-3, 200, Marquette), and forward Patrick Sullivan (6-9, 215, S.E. Louisiana), who were allocated to the Vipers by the Houston Rockets after being cut out of training camp, as well as center James Cripe (6-11, 255, Dayton), guard/forward Ramon Harris (6-7, 218, Kentucky) and guard Derrick Roland (6-4, 190, Texas A&M), who were invited to training camp out of the Vipers' open tryouts.

The Vipers will add an additional eight players to the 17-man training camp roster on Monday at 6:00 p.m. during the NBA Development League Draft. The Vipers have the seventh pick in all odd numbered rounds and the tenth pick in all even numbered rounds.

Asumnu enters his fourth season with the Vipers after spending the summer interning in the Vipers front office. Last season, Asumnu averaged 7.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 39 games (10 starts). In a team-record 124 games (33 starts), Asumnu has averaged 9.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He scored six points in the Vipers Championship-clinching victory over the Tulsa 66ers at State Farm Arena on April 27, including two baskets that gave the Vipers the lead at 82-80 and 84-82 in the final minutes of play.

Gladness, who played for the Miami Heat during both NBA Training Camp and NBA Summer League, averaged 4.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 41 games (six starts). With the Heat, Gladness played four minutes of one game during the NBA pre-season, recording one block and one rebounds. During NBA Summer League, Gladness scored eight points with five rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot over the course of two games.

In two regular season games after joining the Vipers, Terrel Harris scored four points with four rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes. Including 22 games with the Maine Red Claws, Harris averaged 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds. He was waived due to injury following game one of the NBA Development League Quarterfinals due to a torn right calf muscle.

"We're excited about our returning players. They're all guys we're hoping will have break-through seasons. We feel this is a great opportunity for them to try to do that," Vipers head coach Chris Finch said.

Eglseder finished his four-year career at Northern Iowa with averages of 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.02 blocks in 118 games (75 starts). The first 7-footer to ever hit the hardwood with UNI, Eglseder was one of just 13 Panthers to reach 1,000 points (1,066) and 500 rebounds (656) in a career. He also became the 32nd UNI player to reach 1,000 career points. Eglseder started all 32 games in 2009-10, averaging 11.9 points and 7.2 rebounds en route to the Panthers upset of number-one ranked Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a school-record 30 wins. As a senior, Eglseder was a NABC District-16 First Team selection, a USBWA All-District pick and earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

McNeal, who participated with the Chicago Bulls in the Orlando Pro Summer League in 2010, played in 14 games with Dexia Mons-Hainaut (Belgium) in 2009-10. He posted averages of 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.57 steals in 28.5 minutes per game, shooting .479 from the field and .348 from beyond the arc. McNeal also appeared in six games with Dexia Mons-Hainaut in the 2009-10 EuroChallenge, where he averaged 15.5 points, 3.5 assists, 3.2 boards and 1.17 steals in 31.5 minutes per outing, hitting .578 from the floor and .321 from 3-point range. Undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft, McNeal was invited to play for the Sacramento Kings in the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. McNeal then went on to play with the L.A. Clippers during the 2009 NBA preseason. As a collegian, McNeal played four years at Marquette University and left as the school's all-time leader in points (1,985), steals (287) and games played (starting all 130 outings). Selected the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2006-07, McNeal also earned First-Team All Big-East accolades his senior season, and was named Second-Team All Big-East as a sophomore and junior.

Sullivan finished his four-year career at Southeastern Louisiana eighth in school history in points and fourth in rebounds. He was named Second-Team All-Southland Conference as a senior after helping Southeastern to an 18-11 regular season mark and its seventh consecutive appearance in the postseason. Overall, Sullivan topped Southeastern in scoring (15.7), rebounds (8.7), blocked shots (102) and field goal percentage (.534). The four-year letter-winner also averaged 16.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in Southland Conference games. He also recorded 25 games in double figures in scoring during regular season action, including nine games with 20 or more points. In guiding Southeastern to its sixth winning season in the past seven years, Sullivan recorded eight double-doubles and twice earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors.

Cripe graduated from the University of Dayton in 2007 after a career-year as a senior, during which time he averaged 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 33 games. He played in the Pepsi Pro Summer League in Orlando for the New Jersey Nets in 2007 and has since played for the Cimbria Randers (Denmark-Basketliga), Thunder (KBDL) and Link Tochigi Brex (Japan-JBL, starting five).

Ramon Harris graduated from Kentucky this past spring after averaging 3.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 106 games (55 starts). He had a career year as a junior, averaging 5.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 31 games (28 starts).

Roland finished this past season second on the Aggies in scoring (10.5 points per game), despite playing in only 12 games before breaking two bones in his leg (tibia and fibula).

"We are looking to build on what we achieved last year and this is the first step in developing our roster for the upcoming season. As a result of the hard work of our personnel staff and coaches, we brought in some intriguing prospects through our allocation and tryout processes. =46rom our Houston Rockets training camp, we acquired some size and talent with Patrick Sullivan and Jordan Eglseder. In addition, Jerel McNeal who also took part in training camp is a veteran guard prospect who has been a Rockets target since college. The tryouts in the Rio Grande Valley and in Houston allowed us to select a couple of experienced rookies in Ramon Harris and Derrick Roland. In addition, James Cripe, a veteran center, has really improved his game this summer and is coming in motivated. We are looking forward to the next personnel step with the draft, so we may provide our coaching staff with the best talent available to develop this team. We also look forward to developing these players into future Houston Rockets," Vipers General Manager Gersson Rosas said.

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