Billy Thomas Earns Gatorade Call-Up to Cleveland
April 17, 2008 - NBA G League (G League)
Colorado 14ers News Release
NEW YORK, April 16, 2008 - Colorado 14ers guard Billy Thomas today earned his third GATORADE Call-Up of the season by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thomas, who was previously called up by Cleveland on Feb. 22, has been signed for the remainder of the season and the playoffs, as well as for the 2008-09 season.
The 29th GATORADE Call-Up of the season, Thomas has played in six games for the Cavaliers heading into tonight's game against the Detroit Pistons. During his first stint with Cleveland, he averaged 2.0 points in 4.3 minutes. Thomas also appeared in four games for the New Jersey Nets this season.
In 36 games (all starts) for the 14ers this season, including a 20-point performance in Colorado's first-round playoff loss last night to the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Thomas averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 37.2 minutes.
Prior to the 2007-08 season, Thomas played 25 games with New Jersey during the 2004-05 season, when he averaged 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. During the 2005-06 season, Thomas appeared in 17 games with the Washington Wizards. In total, Thomas holds NBA career averages of 2.8 points and 1.1 rebounds in 46 games.
The NBA Development League is the NBA's official minor league, and the first-ever basketball league with direct affiliations to NBA teams. Now in its seventh season the D-League's goals are to provide affordable, NBA-caliber entertainment to fans of its 16 teams, as well as continue to develop players, coaches, referees and front-office personnel for the NBA. As the single source for in-season player "call-ups" to the NBA, fans of the D-League enjoy the highest caliber of basketball played outside the NBA. In fact, former D-League players represented 10 percent of NBA players on 2007-08 opening day rosters, numbering 44 in total. In addition, the D-League has produced 25 percent of current NBA referees and 17 current NBA coaches, including head coach Sam Vincent with the Charlotte Bobcats. The D-League is an innovative and rapidly growing sports property that also serves as an experimental testing ground for new initiatives like NBA Futurecast, which is the live web-streaming of all games available free to fans at d-league.com. The League also provides continuing education and professional development resources for its players, and is committed to serving its local communities through D-LEAGUE CARES and grassroots efforts.
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