Lightning Bring Back Lawrence Nelson
December 14, 2005 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
Rockford Lightning News Release
The Rockford Lightning announced that they have signed forward/center Lawrence
Nelson, pending league approval. Terms and conditions of the contracts were not
disclosed. He is a former Lightning player from the 2003-2004 season and played his
college career at Tulane University.
As a 6-foot-10, 245-pound CBA veteran that can play both the forward and center
positions, Nelson brings a powerful inside presence to the Lightning roster. He
averaged 11.1 points and 5.1 rebounds for the Lightning and helped bring them to the
CBA Semi-Finals in the 2003-2004 playoffs where they fell to the Dakota Wizards in 4
games. He was ranked fourth in the CBA in field goal percentage hitting 61.9% from
the field and second in the league in blocked shots with 1.3 per game that year.
Nelson went undrafted after graduating from Tulane in 1999, but played his rookie
season with the Saskatchewan Hawks formerly of the CBA. He was picked up by Sioux
Falls in 2002-2003 and then by the Lightning as a free agent in 2003. He spent last
season splitting time between Sioux Falls and Gary and joins the Lightning after
playing in Mexico during the off-season.
To make room for Nelson on the roster, the Lightning waived 6-10 forward Mark
Strickland. Strickland averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 11 games for the
Lightning this season. He had his best performance of the season last Saturday with
26 points and 9 rebounds in 40 minutes of play as the Lightning were left with just
8 active players for the game. Cordell Henry and Sidney Holmes were in Chicago for
a family emergency and were not able to attend for the loss to Yakama.
"We're familiar with Nelson here in Rockford. He called us up saying he wanted to
come back," said Lightning Head Coach Chris Daleo. "He played well here and we
expect another great year out of him."
The Lightning's next home game is this Thursday at 7:05 P.M. (CST) against the Albany Patroons. The Lightning took the first two meetings against the Patroons back in November at Albany, and they will look to improve on their 6-5 record this season in front of the CBA's greatest fans at the MetroCentre. For group and season ticket information, contact the Lightning office at 815-874-4232. For individual game tickets, contact the MetroCentre Box Office at 815-968-5222.
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