Vipers have 12th pick in Friday's D-League draft

McALLEN - All the Rio Grande Valley Vipers knew Thursday about Friday night's 10-round NBA Development League draft is that they hold the No. 12 pick in the first round. That's because the D-League was still waiting to finalize the draft pool of available players to its 16 teams on the eve of the selection process.

That might make it more difficult to find a gem such as last year's No. 1 pick, point guard C.J. Watson, but the Vipers weren't necessarily expecting to find an NBA-ready player at No. 12 anyway.

"We're excited, but based on what I just (said) we can't be ready right now," Vipers coach Clay Moser said. "There's too much information to come our way. We won't get that until late (Thursday night)."

What Moser knows for sure is the identity of seven players who are signed for training camp, which begins Nov. 16 at the Summit Sports Club in Pharr. Four are returners from last season: forwards Stanley Asumnu and Trent Strickland; and guards Quin Humphrey and Craig Winder.

The Vipers also received two regional allocation players: power forward Kendall Dartez and power forward/center Alton Ford.

In addition, free agent find Damone Morris, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard out of Eckerd College in Florida who is also NBA star Tracy McGrady's cousin, is also on the training camp invite list. The final 10 training camp players will be drafted tonight.

Moser was especially excited about the additions of Dartez (6-10, Louisville) and Ford (6-9, Houston), who will give the Vipers some much-needed size and allow the first-year coach to steer from drafting for need, at least immediately.  

"At this point, after we got Dartez and Ford, that kind of gives you the flexibility to go for best player available," Moser said. "If we wouldn't have gotten Alton we'd have had to go find a big early on. Now we just go best player available."

Last year the Vipers selected fifth overall and landed Watson. Approximately two months later Watson was signed by the Golden State Warriors.

While the Vipers have no one resembling Watson on their roster, Moser says he isn't too concerned about not having a true point guard. He believes Winder, Humphrey and Morris can handle playmaking duties. That being said, expect the Vipers to target a playmaker early in the proceedings. The Vipers' war room for the 6 p.m. draft will be at Rodz Grill & Bar in Edinburg.

"It's important for us," Vipers President/General Manager Brian Michael Cooper said. "Certainly Clay and (assistant coach) Robert (Pack)  have been working very hard, doing the heavy lifting preparing for the draft.

"This is probably one of the most important days on our calendar. You saw what happened last year. Our No. 1 pick is playing for the Warriors right now. Hopefully we can emulate that success. That's what we want. We want another C.J."

IN THE BONUS: The draft party runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Rodz. NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin will be on hand as will the Vipers' dance team, the Snake Charmers. ... The draft will be televised live by NBA TV.

Todd Mavreles covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.