Advertisement - scroll for more content
Armando Sanchez: Chicago Bulls guard and former Illini basketball player Ayo Dosunmu attends a retiring ceremony for his jersey during half time between Illinois and the Maryland Terrapins at the State Farm Center Thursday in Champaign. His parents and Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan attended.
Though many teams can self-correct after players-only meetings, former NBA player and coach Doug Collins is one of the few contrarians who questions their usefulness. He says he doesn't like how coaches are often the last to know, which happened in September when Maryland football coach Randy Edsall learned from reporters on a conference call that his team had held a players-only meeting that morning. Coincidentally or not, Edsall was fired days later. "Too often the coaches end up being blindsided and hung out in public," Collins says. "What I always felt was when you're a coach and you have your players and your team, you want all the things done within the group. The hardest thing to do is build that trust where everyone can get in the room together, everyone can say anything to each other, everyone puts agendas aside and says, 'Let's talk about what we can do. Together.'"
Former Knicks and Nets guard Ray Williams passed away today at the age of just 58 years old. The Mount Vernon, NY native had been battling colon cancer at Manhattan’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. After an impressive career with the Maryland Terrapins, Williams was selected by the Knicks with the 10th overall pick of the 1977 NBA Draft ahead of Forrest Hills native and one-time Knicks general manager Ernie Grunfeld, Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell, Hawks center Tree Rollins and Lakers guard Norm Nixon.
The amount of quality undrafted prospects isn't enough to make up a whole third round -- something your's truly has thought about in the past -- but there were quite a few players that should get looks at next month's Summer Leagues in Vegas and Orlando. Among them? West Virginia Mountaineers forward Kevin Jones, New Mexico Lobos forward Drew Gordon, Iona Gaels point guard Scott Machado, Maryland Terrapins guard Terrell Stoglin, Georgetown Hoyas bigs Hollis Thompson and Henry Sims, Tu Holloway of Xavier, Northwestern's John Shurna and Mississippi State big man Renardo Sidney.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement