A couple weeks back, the Springfield Armor’s Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown told us there are many ways that you can fill your D-League roster. These methods included an expansion draft, local try-outs, and a D-League draft.
Well, a few weeks ago the Armor had their expansion draft in hopes to add a few players to their roster. The player pool for the expansion draft consisted of players from the two teams that folded after last season (Anaheim Arsenal and Colorado 14ers). At first glance, that isn’t the best starting point, but when you realize that the 14ers won the D-League title last year, you see that the Armor have a terrific starting pool of talent.
With the first pick in the expansion draft, the Armor took 7-foot center Marcus Campbell. Campbell is a D-League vet (4 years) and he is an intimidating force in the middle. Campbell’s 171 blocks are sixth in D-League history. Last season Campbell averaged 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds a game for the Arsenal.
According to Dee Brown and the Armor’s strategy was to draft height, and with the selection of Campbell and Kirk Walters (the player pool’s second tallest player). As Dee Brown told reporters:
“We definitely targeted big men in the expansion draft,” Armor Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown said. “Size is a quality you can’t teach. We also wanted to gain as much NBA D-League experience as possible and felt that the selection of Campbell certainly fulfilled both goals.”
Springfield also got a player with some NBA experience, Cedric Bozeman (23 games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2006-07). Bozeman started all 48 games for the Arsenal last season, averaging 19.4 points per game to rank 21st in the NBA D-League.
The Armor have obtained the rights to each of the 10 players they drafted and will submit their list – in order of preference – to the NBA D-League Office to pursue contracts. The next step for the Springfield Armor is to hold their local try-outs. They are scheduled for October 17th and October 18th.
For the complete list of Armor players drafted, click here.
