NYKBocker wrote:Troy Daniels was released by Houston. If we didn't have so many guards right he would be a sharp shooter we can really use.

I would pick him up regardless. Let him take Ellington's place.

Jordan Henriquez

Henriquez intrigues simply because of his height, fluid athleticism, and excellet shot blocking instincts. However, everything else has always needed significant improvement, and it hasn't happened. Henriquez is something of an offensive liability, with terrible free throw shooting, no handle, scant little post-up game, and a jumpshot which he keeps trying to use but which isn't very effective. He rebounds through size alone, and, for all the impressive shot blocking numbers, he is easily moved off the spot and fouls too much. Henriquez has a couple of innate skills that cannot be taught. But the ones that can, he hasn't learnt.

Jacobs: NC State's Jordan Vandenberg emerges on the court

By Barry Jacobs

Contributing CorrespondentDecember 11, 2013

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N.C. State's Jordan Vandenberg (14) pulls in a rebound during the first half of N.C. State's game against Florida Gulf Coast at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, November 26, 2013. ETHAN HYMAN — ehyman@newsobserver.com |Buy Photo
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NEXT GAME

Detroit at N.C. State

Reynolds Coliseum

Saturday, 6 p.m.

There he sat, more or less hidden in plain sight on the N.C. State bench. It’s not easy for a 7-foot-1 player to blend into his surroundings, but Jordan Vandenberg managed.

Since arriving from Australia in 2009, injuries, a weight problem, a logjam of talent in the frontcourt and what coaches considered a lack of urgency relegated Vandenberg to a role primarily modeling red and white warm-ups on the sideline.

This season, though, the long-term investment is paying dividends. A redshirt senior, Vandenberg has emerged as a key component on an unusually inexperienced Wolfpack squad, starting the four games for which he’s been healthy after an early ankle injury. In four previous seasons, he likewise had four starts.

“I had a bunch of good, quality players playing ahead of me; it wasn’t like I came in and I was terrible,” Vandenberg said with a modest Australian twang. “Now everyone’s out (of) the way. The freshmen aren’t going to play over me. It’s my time to do what I can do.”

Comparably late bloomers popped up elsewhere in the ACC in recent years, from oft-injured 7-footer Brian Zoubek, a stalwart senior on Duke’s 2010 NCAA championship squad, to David Neal, a gritty career backup who became a 2009 starter in his final season at Maryland. Now Vandenberg, a strikingly mobile big man, has a chance to make a similarly unanticipated impact.

“I think he helps us in a lot of ways because he takes the pressure off (the other frontcourt) guys a little bit,” coach Mark Gottfried said last week. “I think he’s protected the rim pretty well so far. He’s altering shots, he’s blocking a few. I think our guys are gaining confidence in him as well. I think we’re a much different team when he plays well for us.”

Vandenberg has shown plenty of complementary skills. He has a nifty hook shot and ranks fourth on the team in scoring average (8.8 points) entering Saturday’s home game against Detroit.

Disruptive presence

Vandenberg, a business management major with a concentration in human resources, takes pleasure in serving as “a facilitator” on the court, as he called it. So far he has five assists against two turnovers.

“I love threading passes. I can hit anybody on the hands, that’s what I like to do,” he said.

Only freshman forward Lennard Freeman rebounds at a faster per-minute rate. The current team struggled with rebounding, particularly at the defensive end, until Vanderberg joined the starting lineup. Since then N.C. State has held the edge on the boards and won four straight, improving to 6-2.

Vandenberg is an unusually disruptive presence on defense, an area where Gottfried’s first two Wolfpack squads were undistinguished at best.

Northwestern came to the RBC Center this month for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and was routed 69-48. The Wildcats’ 25percent field goal accuracy was the worst by an opponent during Gottfried’s tenure and lowest against N.C. State since 2008.

After the game, Chris Collins, Northwestern’s first-year coach, saluted Vandenberg’s contributions, including five blocks.

“He’s a real presence for them defensively,” said Collins, a former Duke assistant. “It made it hard for us to score inside.”

Unlike many young shot blockers, Vandenberg’s rejections are made under control; he doesn’t revel in drawing attention by seeing how far into the stands he can swat the ball.

“I’m not trying to play for my own personal glory,” he said repeatedly during an interview this week. “I’m trying to get my team somewhere.”

The lefty already has a dozen blocks even as he smooths rusty timing. His average of three blocked shots per outing would lead the ACC if he’d played in 75 percent of N.C. State’s games, the standard to qualify officially. Project that propensity across at least two dozen more games, and Vandenberg could finish among the school’s top 10 single-season leaders in blocked shots.

Comfortable in Raleigh

Vandenberg began playing basketball 20 years ago. By the time he was ready for college, his size, athleticism and basketball intelligence drew the attention of recruiters from Southern California, Boise State, St. Mary’s, Nevada and N.C. State, among others.

He wanted to play in a power conference and felt comfortable when he visited Raleigh. Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city (after Sydney) with 4.25 million residents, “is kind of like Raleigh because the weather is a little unpredictable,” Vandenberg said. “Raleigh feels very similar.”

Melbourne also has a strong basketball tradition. Among its contributions to the sport are former Seton Hall star Andrew Gaze; native son Kyrie Irving, who grew up in New Jersey and played for Duke in 2011; and Vandenberg’s sister, 6-6 Jacinta Vandenberg, the starting center at Fresno State.

Players from overseas aren’t all that common in the ACC or at N.C. State, where during the 1990s xenophobic students chanted “USA! USA!” as soon as North Carolina’s Henrik Rodl, a native of Germany, took the court. Counting Vandenberg, the Wolfpack has listed seven foreign players on its rosters over the past dozen years.

He said he’s well-received in Raleigh. Asked the most common misconceptions he’s encountered about his country, he listed “everyone thinks we own kangaroos, and we don’t, and everyone thinks we lag behind in technology and we definitely are not behind in technology.”

‘I’m still here’

The Wolfpack program also has had few “footers,” as Vandenberg put it. The last was Bartosz Lewandowski, a 7-3 Pole who played one minute in 2007. The modern game has moved away from the primacy of big, low-post players, anyway. Yet, with new rule interpretations making it tougher to contain ball handlers as they attack the basket, having a player such as Vandenberg guarding the rim is a bonus.

A belated bonus, to be sure. “It’s been rough, but I’m still here,” said Vandenberg, 23, the squad’s sole senior.

Gottfried conceded that Vandenberg’s arrested development and his seeming contentment to wait his turn proved frustrating in the past. Before last season, Gottfried publicly urged the 264-pounder to lose weight, including the small pot belly he’d acquired.

“I told him if it’s ever as big as mine, he’s in trouble,” Gottfried joked.

Yet little changed.

“I’m not exactly sure what that was about,” Gottfried said.

Vandenberg’s playing time actually decreased in 2013 compared to his healthy 2010 and 2011 seasons.

This past offseason, saddened to see most of his long-time teammates depart, Vandenberg succumbed to binging on fast foods.

“I just ate a lot for like a month,” he said. “I didn’t care. We didn’t have a game anytime soon.”

After weighing himself, he worked back into the best shape of his career.

Basketball wisdom has it that big men tend to blossom later than other players. Gottfried ascribed Vandenberg’s belated emergence to a more basic process.

“He got tired of watching,” he said. “With C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell finally leaving, obviously (he had) an opportunity that was staring him in the face, a golden opportunity, and he took advantage of that.”

Much to N.C. State’s benefit.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/11/3453236/jacobs-nc-states-jordan-vandenberg.html#storylink=cpy
[/quote
Have to think that a couple of these guys are going to be protected from the dleague draft and groomed in Westchester.

WaltLongmire wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

2014 New York Knicks Summer League Roster

No   Player                     Pos   Ht   Wt    Born            College/Country                2013-14 Team                Yrs
45   Cole Aldrich               C   6-11   245   Oct. 31, 1988   Kansas/USA                     New York/NBA                4
43   Thanasis Antetokounmpo     F    6-7   215   Jul. 17, 1992   Greece                         Delaware/D-League           R
26   Shannon Brown              G    6-4   205   Nov. 29, 1985   Michigan State/USA             New York/NBA                8
17   Cleanthony Early           F    6-8   219   Apr. 17, 1991   Wichita State/USA              Wichita State/NCAA          R
14   Langston Galloway          G    6-2   202   Dec. 9, 1991    Saint Joseph’s/USA             Saint Joseph’s/NCAA         R
5    Tim Hardaway Jr.           G    6-6   205   Mar. 16, 1992   Michigan/USA                   New York/NBA                1
40   Jordan Henriquez           C   6-11   250   Aug. 29, 1989   Kansas State/USA               Rio Grande/D-League         R
25   Zane Johnson               G    6-6   210   Aug. 1, 1989    Hawaii/USA                     Canton/D-League             R
0    Shane Larkin               G   5-11   176   Oct. 2, 1992    Miami (FL)/USA                 Dallas/NBA                  1
50   Cameron Moore              F   6-10   230   Nov. 12, 1990   Alabama-Birmingham/USA         Casserta/Italy              R
35   Will Sheehey               F    6-7   200   Jan. 16, 1992   Indiana/USA                    Indiana/NCAA                R
6    Brandon Triche             G    6-4   210   Feb. 1, 1991    Syracuse/USA                   Trento/Italy                R
4    Jeremy Tyler               F    6-9   250   Jun. 12, 1991   San Diego HS (CA)/USA          New York/NBA                3
55   Jordan Vandenberg          C    7-1   245   Mar. 25, 1990   North Carolina State/USA       North Carolina State/NCAA   R

Interesting that no one on the pre-draft workout list other than Thanasis is on the summer league squad.

http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2014/6/1/5769332/the-updated-knicks-pre-draft-workout-tracker

According to Ian Begley, Sheehey was worked out by the Knicks and supposedly had good workouts with about 3 teams. Don't know who he got his info from, but he seemed to believe what he heard since he predicted that Sheehey might be considered at #51:

Pick No. 51:

1. Will Sheehey: He has impressed several teams in workouts. The former Indiana standout is a cerebral player, which would probably appeal to Jackson, and has worked out for the Knicks. He’s also known as a highly competitive player who can handle the spotlight, a must for playing in New York.

Knicksfan wrote:The NBDL is so complicated...

How exactly does the NBDL draft and the protection of three guys work?

Knicksfan wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:The NBDL is so complicated...

How exactly does the NBDL draft and the protection of three guys work?

I saw a note on it but I am not positive. I think an nba team can assign three players that they take to camp to their d league affiliate and because they are assigned they are not a part of the d league draft pool.

Thats for unsigned players only invited to camp?

Interesting