Vipers Complete Second Season In D-League
April 14, 2009 - NBA G League (G League)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers News Release
HIDALGO, TEXAS - The NBA D-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers completed their second season in the NBA Development League on Saturday, finishing with a record of 21-29 for the second-straight year while continuing to develop players for the NBA.
Jawad Williams became the Vipers' second GATORADE Call-Up after signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 9. Williams came to the Vipers after spending much of the season with the Cavaliers. He had only played ten minutes over the course of nine games. Williams showed no rust, however, scoring a Vipers' season-high 43 points in 44 minutes of action in his debut on February 18 at Anaheim. It was the third-highest single-game points total in franchise history.
That performance cemented Williams in the Vipers' record books:
Statistic Number Franchise Rank Season Rank
Field Goals Made 15 2 1
Field Goals Attempted 30 1 1
3PT Field Goals Attempted 12 2 1
Williams played in 19 games (18 starts) for the Vipers, averaging 25.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He was named NBA D- League Player of the Month for March after scoring 20 or more points in ten of the Vipers' 11 games and leading the team to a 7-4 record. Williams became the third Viper to receive that honor and the first this season.
Kurt Looby put an exclamation point on the season on April 5 in a 113-101 win over Iowa, recording a triple-double with 14 points, 22 rebounds (ten offensive) and 11 blocked shots.
The 11 blocks were not only a franchise record, but tied an NBA D- League record, accomplished only twice before. Ten of the blocks came in the second half, including two in the final seven seconds of the game.
The 22 rebounds were the most by any Viper this season and the second highest total in franchise history. The top total of 24 was also accomplished against Iowa at Dodge Arena (Jesse Smith, 2/14/08). Looby was actually out-rebounding the Energy 16-14 at halftime and 19-17 with 6:24 remaining in the third quarter.
Through the first 21 games of the season, Looby was averaging 3.3 points, 3.9 rebounds (1.5 offensive), 1.4 blocks and 0.3 steals per game. He was shooting 50% (27-54) from the field and 48.5% (16-33) from the foul line.
On January 16, Looby moved into the starting lineup for the final 29 games, averaging 8.6 points, 11.1 rebounds (4.7 offensive) 3.3 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. He reached double-figures in scoring 13 times and double-digits in rebounds 17 times, while recording ten double- doubles and one triple-double. He shot 58.4% (101-173) from the field and 64.8% (35-54) from the foul line.
Over the final 17 games of the season (March and April), Looby averaged 9.4 points, 13.2 rebounds (5.6 offensive), 3.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. His free throw shooting also improved, as he hit 36 of his final 50 attempts (72%).
Looby finished the season at 6.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He led the league in every blocking category, including total blocks (127), blocks per game (2.54), blocks per 48 minutes (4.78) and blocks per personal foul (0.96).
Trent Strickland was the only Viper to start in all 50 games, averaging 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He scored in double- figures in each of the first 12 games of the season and 43 times over all, including a career-high 31 points on March 1 in Fort Wayne.
Both he and Looby received All-Development League Honorable Mention. That gave the Vipers twice as many mentions as they had last year, when only Demon Farmer received the honor.
Jared Jordan joined the team on their first road trip of the season, and after backing up Smush Parker through the NBA D-League showcase, he took over as the starting point guard before suffering an ankle injury. Jordan returned to the lineup on February 18 in Anaheim, and went on to become one of the best floor generals in the league.
Jordan led the league in assists per 48 minutes (13.7) while ranking second in assists per game (8.8) and assists to turnover ratio (3.29). He set the franchise record for assists in a game by recording 21 in a 122-116 win over Fort Wayne on February 26. As a team, the Vipers set a franchise record with 35 assists in that game.
Jordan also became an offensive threat, averaging 10.6 points per game. He also led the team with 1.9 steals per game.
The Vipers added some backup for Jordan with Cliff Clinkscales for the final six games of the season. Clinkscales was first in the league in assist to turnover ratio (3.85), sixth in assists per 48 minutes (9.2) and eleventh in assists per game (5.3).
The Vipers were represented during All-Star weekend for the first time, as Ernest Scott was the runner up in the Dream Factor Friday night Three-Point Shootout. Scott had 20 points in the first round and 19 in the second round, which would have been enough to win the NBA competition the next night, but was not enough to defeat Dakota's Blake Ahearn that night. The Vipers were supposed to have a player in the All-Star game during their first season, but C.J. Watson received a GATORADE Call-Up to the Golden State Warriors and was therefore ineligible to participate.
The Vipers won their first two games, but ended up at 4-4 during an eight-game homestand to open the season. They went 1-3 on the following road trip and stood at 7-8 after a 108-96 win over the Albuquerque Thunderbirds at Dodge Arena. The next night, however, the Thunderbirds beat the Vipers 116-105, sending the Vipers to a six-game losing streak. After winning three of their four games after the streak, the Vipers again lost six-straight. The Vipers stood at 10-21 on February 21, but then proceeded to win 11 of their next 16 games before losing three-straight to Austin to close out the season.
The Vipers went 12-12 at Dodge Arena this year and also set a new franchise-record for road wins with nine.
The Vipers will return to Dodge Arena under head coach Clay Moser for the 2009-10 NBA Development League season. They will be looking to continue the late-season rush that saw the Vipers break their attendance record twice in the final four home games, including a pair of sell-outs.
The Vipers drew 5,903 fans in the season finale on April 11. That broke the previous record of 5,679, set on March 27. The Vipers averaged 5,543 fans per game over the last four home games.
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NBA G League Stories from April 14, 2009
- 14ers Top Erie in Playoff Opener - Colorado 14ers
- Fort Wayne's Chris Hunter Signs With New York Knicks - G League
- Vipers Complete Second Season In D-League - Rio Grande Valley Vipers
- NBA D-League Daily Developments - G League
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