Mad Ants: Trevelin Queen signed to two-way contract

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/10/11/mad-ants-trevelin-queen-signed-to-two-way-contract/

Mad Ants: Trevelin Queen signed to two-way contract

Today, the Indiana Pacers announced they had signed Trevelin Queen to a two-way contract to see Queen split time between the Pacers and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Tom Hankins Biography – Fort Wayne Mad Ants Head Coach

Tom Hankins is an up-and-coming head coach for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA G-League. He came through the ranks and got an opportunity to coach in the G-League after a series of successes in the NCAA tournaments.

Hankins was appointed based on his youth developing potential with Indiana Pacers, which was considered significant for someone who had not played basketball professionally. Having worked under more than five NCAA teams, Tom had not expected to get the opportunity but grabbed it as soon as he got it.

Many don’t know anything about the rising and skilled coach of the G-League. So, let’s learn more about his career, family, and net worth in this article. Read More

Okay, by far one of my all time new favorite pictures! SHEEEEEEESH! Fort Wayne Mad Ants @jusanderson1 slams one down against the Cleveland Charge on 2/23/22 en route to a 133-110 victory. . . . . . #basketball #basketballphotography #basketballphotographer #shotoncanon #canonphotography #canonphotographer #sportsphotography #sportsphotographer #sports #cleveland #clevelandcavaliers #clevelandbasketball #cavsbasketball #nba #nbagleague #nbaphotography #nbaphotographer #slamdunk (at Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaXePJTrSd2/?utm_medium=tumblr

GBO VS FWN NBA G LEAGUE BASKETBALL  PREVIEW

GBO VS FWN NBA G LEAGUE BASKETBALL PREVIEW

GBO VS FWN NBA G LEAGUE BASKETBALL  PREVIEW Match Details : GBO VS FWN NBA G LEAGUE BASKETBALL Date: March 5th, 2021 Time: 9:30 P.M. In the NBA G LEAGUE BASKETBALL  , we have Greensboro Swarm squaring off against Fort Wayne Mad Ants . Preview: Greensboro Swarm : Played : 13 matches Won : 4 matches Lost : 9 matches League standing : 16 th Fort Wayne Mad Ants : Played : 14 matches Won : 5…

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Indiana Pacers Make Handful Of Waivers And Finalize Roster For Season

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/indiana-pacers-make-handful-of-waivers-and-finalize-roster-for-season/

Indiana Pacers Make Handful Of Waivers And Finalize Roster For Season

Naz Mitrou-Long of the Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers announced a group of transactions that finalized the team’s roster for the beginning of the regular season.

NBA rosters become officially set for the regular season today, so each club made a frenzy of waivers over the weekend. Training camp units are permitted to have 20 players, but regular season rosters have a maximum of 17 (15 standard two two-way contracts). Since the waiver process takes 48 hours to complete, teams had to cut down rosters by 5 p.m. on Saturday.

The Pacers did just that, but they made the cuts in groups. On Friday, the team first parted ways with center Amida Brimah and forward Rayshaun Hammonds. Brimah and Hammonds each had an exhibit 10 clause in their contract, meaning that both players will receive a bonus if they play with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the G League this season.

Brimah missed all three of Indiana’s preseason games. He was not with the team, and Head Coach Nate Bjorkgren did not provide a comment when asked about why. Brimah played for the blue and gold in the 2019-20 preseason before tearing his ACL.

Hammonds made his Pacer debut in the team’s first preseason game against the Cavaliers. He played in the final 49 seconds of the game, though he was unable to accrue any stats.

These two waivers brought the teams roster down to 18, but both cuts were made on Friday. That meant the team had another day to get the roster to 17. So, on top of the roster cuts, the Pacers actually signed two more players to obtain their G League rights: Josh Gray and Devin Robinson.

Gray played in two games for the Pelicans last season and averaged one point and one assist per game. Robinson spent two seasons with the Wizards from 2017-2019, where he appeared in eight games and averaged 6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game.

Both players were waived the very next day, though, as the team just needed to ink them to a deal to acquire their G League rights. On Saturday, the Pacers parted ways with Gray, Robinson, and guard Naz Mitrou-Long.

Mitrou-Long played for the Pacers last season on a two-way contract. He was a depth piece that helped guide Indiana to a win in Brooklyn when some other key guards were injured. He earned an opportunity to fight for a roster spot this season.

Mitrou-Long was unable to receive a two-way contract this season, so he signed a deal with an exhibit 10 clause. He played acceptably in eight minutes of preseason action, scoring three points and dishing out three assists, but he didn’t stand out enough to steal a roster spot from another player and was ultimately waived. Should he report to the Mad Ants, he will be one of the more talented players on the roster.

Earlier in the offseason, Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard indicated that there would a battle for the final roster spot(s) in training camp. Hammonds, Brimah, and Mitrou-Long were given a chance to earn a position on the regular season roster throughout the preseason. Pritchard and Bjorkgren wanted to generate some competition in camp.

Those three players were mainly competing with Kelan Martin and, to a lesser extent, Jalen Lecque for a spot on the Pacers roster. Lecque and Martin both have some guaranteed money in their contracts, so they had an advantage before training camp even opened.

“I’m just looking for those that compete,” Bjorkgren said of the guys vying for the final roster spots. “I’m looking for those that are the best team players for this team — who would fit a need or fit a role. How they handle themselves in the locker room, how they handle themselves on and off the court. All of those things factor in.”

Kelan Martin of the Indiana Pacers

Martin popped in preseason action and earned his role on the team. Lecque made some nice plays and cemented his already mostly-secure spot. Once those two beat out everyone else for the last pair of spots on the team, the competition was over and the other players were waived.

“When it does come time it will be tough to release them,” Bjorkgren said of the players prior to the transactions. He liked what he saw from most of his team throughout the preseason.

The Pacers roster stands at 17 players and is now set for opening night. Financially, the team currently projects to spend just enough money on player salaries to pay the luxury tax this season, which will likely be something the front office tries to avoid. Martin’s contract is only partially guaranteed, so he could be cut sometime in the middle of the season to save Indiana’s ownership some money. The front office could also make a trade to save some cash and get under the luxury tax.

But it’s premature to think about those decisions now. The Indiana Pacers have their roster for the 2020-21 season, and they are ready to show what continuity can do.

From SportsMoney in Perfectirishgifts

It’s NBA Draft Watch time for these 9 teams

Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.

Ricky O’Donnell did yeoman’s work in listing out eight college basketball players who NBA draftniks should absolutely pay attention to this season, lead by Cole Anthony and Anthony Edwards. There’s an outsized number of top prospects overseas this year, as well.

The other piece of looking ahead to the NBA Draft is looking ahead to which teams will actually be picking high in the NBA Draft.

The Warriors are 3-13 and in line to be among the worst teams in the league after a nightmare start to the season, but Stephen Curry has said he’s coming back, and Golden State will win games when he does. Probably not enough to climb out of the bottom five, but I would not consider the Warriors the favorites to claim the worst record in the league. In the West? Sure, though the Grizzlies should tail off as we move forward. The Thunder might, as well.

The real tank action is, once again, in the East, where the Knicks and Cavaliers are legitimately awful and the Pistons, Hawks, Wizards, and Bulls look quite worse than we assumed coming into the season. The Hornets are at real risk of succumbing to their talent deficit at some point.

The teams you don’t see in this conversation that you would have expected in the preseason: Wolves and Suns. The team with a bad record who you might include in the conversation where Gregg Popovich likely coming up on the end of his NBA career: the Spurs, obviously, why else would I mention Pop? The Blazers have Damian Lillard, and they will not stay this bad all year. The Pelicans have looked better lately and should get a boost when/if Zion Williamson returns.

So here’s a list of the teams in the mix for top picks as of now, from the most tanky to the least: Knicks, Cavaliers, Warriors, Grizzlies, Wizards, Hawks, Bulls, Pistons, Thunder. Of those teams, Memphis loses its pick to Boston if it’s outside the top six (an incentive to be worse) and Cleveland loses its pick to the Pelicans if it’s outside the top 10 (honestly that’s a low risk at this point).

Scores

Blazers 129, Bucks 137 Pelicans 124, Suns 121

Schedule

Here’s the limited national TV schedule for the weekend. All times Eastern. Check out the full schedule here.

Friday Spurs at Sixers, 8, ESPN Rockets at Clippers, 10:30, ESPN

Saturday Heat at Sixers, 7:30, NBA TV

Sunday Nada.

Links

Zach Lowe goes long on the Sixers’ new identity after all the years of abnormality.

I wrote about how Chris Paul is playing fine, but so are the two presumed Chris Paul trade suitors, which leaves the Thunder in the lurch.

Behind The Athletic’s paywall, but worth every penny: a sweet Sam Amick conversation with Monty Williams about loss, recovery and honoring who you love.

The Wizards have a shockingly good offense.

Arash Markazi on the set of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s show All the Smoke. Welcome to 2019. Barnes says the Warriors smoked with Snoop and Woody Allen in Don Nelson’s apartment after beating the Mavericks in 2007.

Tom Haberstroh on the remodeled Wolves and brand new Andrew Wiggins.

How should the Pacers run Malcolm Brogdon and Victor Oladipo? Caitlin Cooper points out a successful example from the G League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Haley O’Shaughnessy on the five plays that explain Trae Young’s unique skillset.

Anthony Davis on how the Lakers approach defense.

Good heavens this college volleyball player can jump! I always adore Olympic volleyball and vow to watch more of it and never find the time. What a sport, though.

Jonathan Tjarks writes that the Bucks screwed up by not paying Malcolm Brogdon, even though Milwaukee is as good or better than last season. I don’t understand the argument around the Kings needing to trade Bogdan Bogdanovic, though -- they don’t need to and would be foolish to do so for anything less than a critical piece. Not that I care about the Kings or anything.

How Frank Vogel is using his role players. “Role player roulette” is just great framing.

Dawn Staley’s freshmen are delivering at South Carolina.

Rest in peace to Wat Misaka, the first NBA player of color.

Have a spectacular weekend and be excellent to each other.

Coat Check | 12.27.18

Written by Matt Murphy

Each week, “Coat Check” will highlight the Delaware Blue Coats, the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers.

CHECKING IN

Last week’s record: 0-2

The Blue Coats (6-12) were in Las Vegas last week for the 2018 MGM Resorts NBA G League Winter Showcase.

The club first took the court December 20th, falling 127-100 to the Stockton Kings (Sacramento Kings). Cameron Oliver recorded a double-double for the Blue Coats with 23 points (8-12 fg, 1-4 3fg, 6-9 ft) and 12 rebounds in 28 minutes.

Jonah Bolden, on assignment from the 76ers, finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and six assists (33 minutes), en route to his fourth double-double the six games he’s played for the Blue Coats this season.

Bolden was recalled by the 76ers on Friday and made a big impact the next day against Toronto, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking four shots to go along with four points in 25 minutes.

All in a week’s work for the rookie.

The Blue Coats played their second and final game of the G League Showcase Saturday against Grayson Allen and the Salt Lake City Stars (Utah Jazz).

 In the Coats’ 99-93 loss, Oliver posted his third straight double-double (his fourth in the past five games) with 23 points (9-15 fg, 5-5 ft) and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes.

TWO-WAY TRACKER

Demetrius Jackson

Jackson scored his second NBA basket of the season last Wednesday in the 76ers’ 131-109 win over the New York Knicks. He also dressed against the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics.

Shake Milton

After scoring an NBA career-high 10 points Monday, December 17th against the San Antonio Spurs, Milton scored five points in each of the next two games for the 76ers. Milton did not see action against the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day, but averaged 6.7 points in 5.0 minutes per game over the previous three contests.

BLUE QUOTE

Demetrius Jackson on Shake Milton

“He’s killing it. [Against San Antonio] he had 10 points in eight minutes. He’s been shooting the ball well from three. He’s been super efficient and that’s big time, especially for a rookie. He’s on his way and I told him to just stay the course and he’s got a very bright future.”

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: CAMERON OLIVER (6-8, 225)

Weekly numbers: 2 GP | 23.0 PPG | 11.0 RPG | 1.5 BPG

Season numbers: 16 GP | 15.7 PPG | 8.4 RPG | 2.1 BPG

Basketball Fact: Named 2017 Mountain West Conference (MWC) Defensive Player of the Year

Fun Fact: Has “Space Cam” tattooed on his forearm in Space Jam movie font

CHECK THIS

Two windmills, 10 days for Cam Oliver.

UP NEXT

The Blue Coats begin the first of three-straight road games Friday with a visit to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Indiana Pacers) at 7:00 p.m.

The Coats will then head to Erie, Pennsylvania on Saturday to take on the BayHawks (Atlanta Hawks) at 7:00 p.m.

After that, the team will have a week off before traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina for a matchup with the Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets) on Saturday, January 5th.

Each of the three upcoming games will air on Facebook Live.

  Source: https://www.nba.com/sixers/news/coat-check-122718

Mad Ants acquire David Stockton's returning player rights

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/08/29/mad-ants-acquire-david-stocktons-returning-player-rights/

Mad Ants acquire David Stockton's returning player rights

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the NBA G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers, have acquired the returning players rights to David Stockton in a trade with the Memphis Hustle.

Hotshots let go of Farr, sign up ex-Indiana Pacer Christmas Magnolia will be the latest team to banner a former NBA player as an import as it makes a crucial change ahead of the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals. The Hotshots are set to bring in Rakeem Christmas, who saw action for the Indiana Pacers two seasons ago. He will replace James Farr after nine games with the team. Coach Chito Victolero confirmed this development to ESPN5. Christmas is targeting a debut against TNT on Wednesday once he passes the height measurement and submits his documents and permits on time. A former Syracuse recruit, Christmas was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with its 36th pick back in the 2015 NBA draft before his rights were later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He joined the Cavs' Summer League squad before being traded again to the Indiana Pacers for a second-round pick. In Indiana, Christmas was often assigned to the team's NBA Development League affiliate Fort Wayne Mad Ants. There, he was named to the East All-Star team for the 2016 D-League All-Star Game. Christmas was later able to make his debut in the big league in the Pacers' final regular season game in the 2015-16 season and played 29 more games with them the following season. Christmas normed averages of 2.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.2 blocks on 46.7 percent shooting for the Pacers. After getting waived by Indiana, Christmas played for Galatasaray in the Turkish Basketball Super League, the New Zealand Breakers in Australia's National Basketball League and the Henan Roaring Elephants in China's NBL. Christmas' entry will effectively end Farr's short stint with the team. Farr averaged 21.8 points, 18.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per game on 45 percent shooting from the field. Farr came in as a replacement for John Fields, who was given the boot after the Hotshots lost their opening game by 23 points to Alaska. Farr actually started out well for Magnolia, leading them to five straight wins after losing in his PBA debut against NorthPort. But the team has lost its last three games to drop to a tie for fifth at 5-5, prompting team management to make another change. Cto https://www.instagram.com/p/B0AGxc_gx3D/?igshid=10ysz7r0pqfpd

MAC <b>Gym</b> summer season wraps up

The MAC Gym summer season will end this week with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants basketball camp held each day this week from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.. from Google Alert - gym https://ift.tt/2M7rq3Z

NBA D-LEAGUE BASKETBALL 2017 - FEB 11 - Delaware 87ers defeats Fort Wayne Mad Ants 100-92

NBA D-LEAGUE BASKETBALL 2017 – FEB 11 – Delaware 87ers defeats Fort Wayne Mad Ants 100-92

NEWARK, DE – The Delaware 87ers (17-16) picked up a hard-fought, much-needed win over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (19-11) by the final score of 100-92. The win was Delaware’s first over the Mad Ants this season and featured 11 steals from the 87ers, as well as some of the best defense the Sevens have played all year long.

Delaware 87ers Center SHAWN LONG (21) drives to basket in second first half…

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College basketball still has benefits the G-League can never touch

The G-League just can’t compete with the perks of playing big-time college basketball yet.

College basketball is broken, a fact that even the NCAA now accepts. The model of amateurism the sport sells has been compromised for years, tainted by the black market the NCAA helped create and the billion dollar business basketball has become.

Recruits are commodities to agents, shoe companies and programs, but it is against the NCAA rules to pay them. There needs to be a better option for the players, but as long as the one-and-done rule exists, the NBA isn’t one of them. Perhaps the G-League can be.

Over at The Undefeated, Marc Spears wrote a thoughtful plea for top recruits to consider entering the G-League out of high school. The money is legal, the competition is superior, and there’s no need to worry about attending Math 102. All of it makes sense.

There’s only one thing holding it back: college basketball still matters so much more to so many people than the G-League ever will. For all of its flaws, college basketball still means something. The system needs to be fixed, not abandoned completely, for these reasons.

The marketing power of college basketball remains unrivaled

No one knew who LaVar Ball was when ESPN interviewed him in the stands during UCLA’s game against Portland in Dec. 2016. Ball looked into the camera and guaranteed the Bruins would win the national championship. He ended up being wrong, but it didn’t matter: this was the first time LaVar Ball entered the public consciousness, and he hasn’t left yet.

Ball quite literally spoke his dream into existence. He milked college basketball for all it was worth, and leveraged the sport’s appeal to help turn himself and his sons into international celebrities. This simply never would have happened if Lonzo was playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants instead.

There is still no substitute for the exposure that comes from college basketball. There are national television contracts, nightly updates on SportsCenter, major investments from the shoe companies and a season-ending tournament that annually captures the attention (and money) of the entire country.

If you want to build a brand before entering the NBA, you can do it in college a lot easier than in the G-League. The Greensboro Swarm will never be Duke.

Going to college is a lot more fun

College is described as the best four years of your life by people who are as unspectacular as me and you. Imagine how a DI athlete must feel.

There is simply no comparison in terms of quality of life between the G-League and high major college basketball for an 18-year-old. In college they are the kings of campus, surrounded only by their peers, traveling by private flights and often training in state of the art facilities. Those basketball dorms at Kansas are a lot nicer than anywhere you’re staying playing for the Erie BayHawks.

Going to college also always gives you a home to come back to. Will Denver Nuggets fans or New York Knicks fans always love Carmelo Anthony? Probably not, but Syracuse fans will.

With the obvious exception of Ben Simmons, one-and-done players largely seem to cherish the college experience even though they’re exactly the people who being taken advantage of by the system. Maybe that shouldn’t automatically be discounted.

You get paid more in college anyway

ha ha ha.

But seriously.

The going rate for a low-end five-star recruit like Brian Bowen appears to be $100K. The G-League has a maximum salary of $26K for players not on NBA contracts. You also have to use that money to, like, live. In college, the housing, the food, it’s all covered.

The sport will be cleaned up to an extent in the wake of the FBI investigation. It would also be naive to think it will ever be totally clean. There’s simply too much money in college basketball for it to be.

There is nothing like the atmosphere of college basketball

Millions of kids grow up wanting to play in the Final Four, to play at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, to play for Coach K. Look at how people live and die for Kentucky vs. Louisville every year. Watch how hard Iowa State fans go at Hilton Coliseum, even when they’re in last place in the Big 12.

In the G-League, you’re playing in half empty gyms in nondescript cities on a YouTube stream without anything really on the line. There’s nothing that even comes close to the experience of playing in the NCAA tournament. There’s no match for the fans, the television cameras, the feeling that this Indiana-Purdue game in the middle of January actually means something.

It’s awfully hard for the G-League to think it can compete with that.

So what can the NCAA realistically do?

Allow players to work with agents. The change has already been made in college hockey.

Allow players to make a profit off their likeness. If Miami is selling a Lonnie Walker IV jersey, Lonnie Walker IV should make some money off it. Same for selling autographs and some other endorsements. If a player can profit from his or her YouTube page, more power to them.

The current NCAA model is garbage, yes, but the G-League also needs massive change to its infrastructure before it’s an appealing farm system. Maybe one day, but given the type of investment it would require from NBA owners, it’s hard to see that happening in the near future.

It would be great if there was a viable alternative to playing college basketball for top recruits. But at the moment, the G-League still has a long way to go before it can match the perks of playing big-time college hoops.