Three Celtic Cuts Land in Maine

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4707824/three-celtics-cuts-land-in-maine


Three Celtics cuts land in Maine
October, 31, 2013
OCT 31 10:05AM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com



The Maine Red Claws unveiled the first 11 players that will comprise their camp roster and it includes a trio of the Boston Celtics' camp cuts.

Chris Babb, Damen Bell-Holter, and Kammron Taylor will join the Red Claws as affiliated players after camping with the Celtics. The trio knew they were roster longshots to make a Boston roster that was up against the luxury tax line with 14 guaranteed contracts, but this keeps them in the family and allows them to develop in the D-League while learning parts of Boston's system.

Read on for the 11-player roster and bios from the Claws.

Corey Allmond: Allmond (6-2, 181, Sam Houston State) will spend training camp with the Red Claws for the second time in as many years. Allmond, who was selected by the Red Claws in the 2012 NBA D-League Draft (8th Round, 116th Overall), was invited to this year's camp after participating in an invite-only tryout at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, MA. Allmond spent last season in Morrocco with As De Sol where he averaged 23.8 points while shooting .480 percent from the field and .420 from three-point range, 4.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals. Allmond also has previous D-League Experience, playing with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons where he averaged 9.3 points and 2.1 rebounds.

Marcel Anderson: Anderson (6-0, 175, Harris-Stowe State) was invited to training camp after participating in an invite-only tryout at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, MA. Anderson has spent time playing in the Premiere Basketball League for both the Rochester (NY) Razorsharks and Chicago Muscle. While playing for Chicago, Anderson averaged 14.9 points, 4.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals while earning All-PBL Defensive Player of the Year and All-PBL 2nd Team honors.

Chris Babb: Babb (6-5, 225, Iowa State) joins the Red Claws as an affiliate player after participating in training camp with the Boston Celtics. The former Iowa State Cyclone comes off his senior season where he was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team while averaging 9.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.

Damen Bell-Holter: Bell-Holter (6-9, 245, Oral Roberts) joins the Red Claws as an affiliate player after participating in training camp with the Boston Celtics. The Oral Roberts product earned 2013 NABC 1st Team All District and 1st Team All-Southland Conference honors during his senior season. He holds career averages of 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.

J'Nathan Bullock: Bullock (6-5, 240, Cleveland State) was invited to training camp after participating in an invite-only tryout at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, MA. Most recently, Bullock played for Kauhajoki (Finland) posting averages of 16.9 points while shooting .532 from the field, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 28.0 minutes per game. During the 2011-12 season, while playing for Grindavik in Iceland, the Flint, MI native eared All Icelandic Player of the Year, Forward of the Year, Import Player of the Year, League 1st Team, All-Imports Team and All-Defensive Team honors while averaging 21.4 points and 9.6 rebounds. After a successful collegiate basketball career at Cleveland State that included All-Conference 1st team honors twice, Bullock signed with the New York Jets and was a member of the team's training camp roster in 2009.

Jonathan 'Todd' Hendley: Hendley (6-9, 235, UNC-Wilmington) was invited to training camp after participating in an invite-only tryout at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, MA. Most recently, Hendley played for PVSK Pannonpower Pecs (Hungary) with averages of 11.0 points while shooting .636 from the field and 5.2 rebounds.

Corey Stokes: Stokes (6-5, 220, Villanova) rejoins the Red Claws as a returning player. Stokes was a member of the Red Claws during the 2011-12 season, appearing in one game for the team. During the 2012-13 season, Stokes appeared in games for LF Basket (Sweden) and Kervanos Strovolou (Cyprus).

Jermaine Taylor: Taylor (6-5, 205, UCF) will be returning to the Red Claws after spending the summer and NBA preseason with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Taylor joined the Red Claws at the end of last season, appearing in eight regular season games, averaging 24.4 points and two postseason games, averaging 22.5 points. Taylor was the 32nd overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards and has appeared in a total 65 NBA games with the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings. Taylor holds career NBA averages of 5.4 points and 1.7 rebounds.

Kammron Taylor: Taylor (6-2, 175, Wisconsin) joins the Red Claws as an affiliate player after participating in training camp with the Boston Celtics. Most recently, Taylor played for Neckar RIESEN Ludwigsburg (Germany), appearing in 19 games while posting averages of 13.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Ty Walker: Walker (6-11, 230, Wake Forest) was invited to training camp after participating in an invite-only tryout at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, MA. Last season, Walker played for Limoges (France) where he averaged 3.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, and Kotwice (Poland) where he averaged 5.2 points while shooting .537 from the field, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. Walker graduated from Wake Forest as one of the most prolific shot blockers in Demon Deacons history. His 144 career blocks ranks him 5th all-time in program history and his average of 2.1 blocks a game is second to only Tim Duncan.

Chris Wright: A familiar face in Portland, Wright (6-8, 220, Dayton) will return to the Red Claws after spending the summer and NBA training camp with the Toronto Raptors. Wright was selected by the Red Claws with the third overall pick in the 2011 NBA D-League Draft and appeared in four games with the team before earning a GATORADE Call-Up from the Golden State Warriors, where he appeared in 24 games with the team, and 11 games for the Warriors' then D-League affiliate, the Dakota Wizards. Wright returned to the Red Claws for the 2012-13 season, where he appeared in 39 games, posting averages of 18.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists while being named to the 2013 NBA D-League All-Star Game and earning two NBA D-League Player of the Week awards, All-NBA D-League 3rd Team and All-NBA D-League Defensive 1st Team honors.


bob
MY NOTE: No DeShawn Sims. Hmmm. :-(

.

Sims was the first name I looked for.

Sam

At least they kept Babb.



KJ

An NBA team can assign three "camp cuts" to their NBA D-League roster, thus bypassing the DL draft.  That would be Chris Babb, Damen Bell-Holter and Kammron Taylor.

An NBA D-League team can sign anyone who has ever played for them in the past.  That could be DeShawn Sims.

The article (above) starts with, "The Maine Red Claws unveiled the first 11 players that will comprise their camp roster . . .".  Sims could be included in the second wave of invitees to the Red Claws' training camp. He may have been waiting for the NBA team rosters to fill out at the start of the regular season before committing to the DL.

gyso