Vipers ready to begin 2011-12 season

Well, there’s nothing left to do, but to start playing some games.

That’s the way Nick Nurse, the first-year coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, feels after conducting what he considers a successful training camp.

Nurse trots out his new-look Vipers beginning tonight when they open the season at home against Erie at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo.

“We’ve made a lot of progress, and I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen,” Nurse said. “I thought the camp went extremely well. We worked hard, and there was certainly no shortage of effort. We’ve maxed out our time and done a good job.”

Although Nurse is new to the Vipers, he certainly is a familiar face. Nurse led Iowa to last year’s NBA Development League championship over the Vipers. Nurse is also a close associate to previous Vipers coach Chris Finch, who left after two seasons to become an assistant to Kevin McHale in Houston. Nurse serves as Finch’s assistant with the Great Britain’s national team, and they are expected to coach the team in the 2012 London Olympics.

There are other familiar faces too. The venerable Stanley Asumnu, a 6-5 forward, returns for a fifth season with the Vipers. Asumnu left the Vipers at mid-season last year to play professionally in Australia. Asumnu is the only member on the current squad that played on the Vipers’ D-League championship team two years ago.

“It’s great to be back at Rio Grande,” Asumnu said. “It was great to win a championship here. We’ll see if we can do it again.”

The Vipers will give themselves a fighting chance with the return of 6-5 guard/forward Terrell Harris, whose intensity on defensive end will be an asset for Nurse’s defense-first philosophy. Harris averaged 10.8 points and 4.6 rebounds during the regular season a year ago. He and Asumnu have the most D-League experience on the team. They, along with 6-4 guard Kelvin Lewis, whom the Vipers traded for with the Texas Legends late last season. Lewis, however, didn’t get much playing time. That isn’t expected to be the case this season.

“They’re the veterans,” Nurse said. “They’ve got to be able to cement a lot of the cracks. All three are two-way players. All three can set a tone on the defense end. Terrell is a playmaker at that end. He makes defensive plays. Stan’s a high-energy guy. He’s an around the basket guy, and he’s a guy that oozes that he wants to play.”
Harris is expected to be one of the focal players for the Vipers, a role that will be different from last season in which he was the sixth man.

“We have a different type of team,” Harris said. “We are not as experienced as last year. My role last year was more of an X-factor. Now, I’m the guy that they are going to rely on to lead the way. I love that role. I was willing to take it last year, if we needed it.”

Nurse will meld that experience with the rest of the roster that has six rookies and one player with one season of D-League experience. Most of the newcomers have come out of tryouts. Only one of the eight players the Vipers drafted earlier this month made the team – first-rounder 6-8 forward Tyren Johnson of Louisiana-Lafayette. However, so far, he has fallen short of expectations.

“Some of our more highly-touted picks have been slight disappointments to be honest,” Nurse said. “Tyren Johnson has been well below what we expected him to be. He’s one of those guys that you describe as a guy who can really play, but he’s not playing anywhere near his capabilities.”

The Vipers traded away one of their draft picks to get 7-0 center Charles Okwandu (Connecticut) from Maine.

“He’s got a lot of work to do, but he’s refreshing to have around,” Nurse said. “You can see his growth by the day. Sometimes, it’s up and down, but it’s growing by the day. … He has a great competitive edge to him. He’s a fighter.”

The most pleasant surprise has been 6-2 guard Lee Humphrey, who was part of Florida’s back-to-back national championship teams in 2006 and 2007.

“He’s been excellent,” Nurse said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Nurse said the team’s best qualities are its depth and versatility. Nurse said feels comfortable going nine-deep on the 10-man roster.

“What we do need is everybody to make an impact on the game,” Nurse said. “We want to play at a pace and style that lends itself to play a lot of people – 10 guy on any given night. Nine for sure. That might be a stretch for this weekend, but we’ll see.”

David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via email at dhinojosa@themonitor.com