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Flame Acquire Stokes, Thomas

February 1, 2006 - NBA G League (G League)
Florida Flame News Release


FORT MYERS, Fla., February 1 - According to an announcement by Head Coach Jeff Malone, the Florida Flame has acquired swingman Lenny Stokes and forward Harvey Thomas from the NBA Development League available player pool. The Flame also announced it has released forward Hiram Fuller, who has left the team.

Stokes returns to the NBA D-League after appearing in 58 games with the Asheville Altitude during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. A member of Asheville's 2004 and 2005 championship teams, the 6-5, guard/forward has averaged 11.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 28.3 minutes per game in his D-League career.

Last season, Stokes earned 2004-05 All-D-League Honorable Mention recognition with the Altitude, averaging 13.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per game as Asheville earned its second consecutive D-League crown. Stokes finished the campaign 13th in the D-League in scoring, sixth in assists, and second in steals average.

Stokes played all four years of his college career at the University of Cincinnati, where he tallied 1,318 points, ranking 17th on the school's all-time scoring list. As a senior in 2002-03, Stokes was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team and the Bearcats Most Valuable Player, averaging 15.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per contest. As a junior in 2001-02, Stokes led Cincinnati to the Conference USA regular season championship and set a school record by starting all 35 games.

Originally the fourth overall pick in the 2005 D-League Draft by Arkansas, Thomas appeared in nine regular season games for the RimRockers to open the 2005-06 season. The 6-8, forward from Baylor University ('04) averaged 3.2 points and 1.0 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game for Arkansas.

An early entry candidate for the 2004 NBA Draft, Thomas went undrafted. The second-year pro split the 2004-05 season playing overseas in Poland and stateside with the Rome Gladiators of the WBA. With Rome, Thomas averaged 17.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 18 games.

As a collegian, Thomas rounded out his career at Baylor, after stints at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Georgetown University. As a junior in 2003-04 at Baylor, Thomas earned Third Team All-Big 12 honors by the Associated Press, averaging 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.4 blocked shots per game for the Bears. As a sophomore at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in 2002-03 Thomas averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, earning honorable mention All-Bi-State East Division honors. As a freshman at Georgetown in 2001-02, Thomas averaged 5.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per contest for the Hoyas.

Stokes and Thomas are expected to be in uniform when the Flame host the Fayetteville Patriots this Thursday at Germain Arena. Stokes will wear jersey #7 and Thomas will wear jersey #15.

Fuller appeared in 24 games with 20 starts for Florida this season. The 6-9, forward averaged 12.0 points and 9.1 rebounds in 29.6 minutes per game for the Flame.

The Flame open a five-game homestand this Thursday night, February 2 against Fayetteville (5-17). Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Germain Arena. Following Thursday's contest, Florida squares off against the Arkansas RimRockers on Sunday, February 5 at 3 p.m. and Tuesday, February 7 at 7 p.m. The Flame round out the homestand with back-to-back contests versus the Albuquerque Thunderbirds on Thursday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. and Friday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Germain Arena box office, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-4-NBA-TIX, or by logging onto ticketmaster.com.

Florida (16-10) currently sits in first place in the NBA Development League standings with a one-half game lead over Fort Worth (16-11) for the top spot. The Flame will look to return to the win column after dropping three of four games on a recently completed road trip to Fort Worth and Tulsa. Thursday's game can be heard live on Sportsradio 770 ESPN with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. ET.

The Florida Flame is the official D-League affiliate of the NBA's Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Orlando Magic. Showcasing the best young talent in professional basketball outside of the NBA, the Flame play a 48-game schedule during the 2005-06 season with 23 home games at Germain Arena. Led by a group of local investors, the Flame is entering its second season of providing affordable, family entertainment to sports fans throughout Southwest Florida.

For additional information, please visit floridaflame.com or contact Florida Flame Director of Media Relations, Tim Becwar at (239) 561-8130 and tbecwar@floridaflame.com. For additional information on the NBA Development League please visit NBADLEAGUE.com.

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