Basketball writing, scouting reports and salary cap analysis from the archive.
Michael Bethea Jr SG/SF - 6'6, 185lbs - Born 22nd January 1995 Grand Rapids Drive Bethea's circuitous route to the pros included a year at Grambling State, who had gone winless over Division 1 competition in two of the three previous seasons. On a team needing any help…
Johnny Hamilton C - 7'0, 230lbs - Born 3rd February 1994 Grand Rapids Drive Hamilton joined the Drive after summer league and training camp stints with the parent Detroit Pistons, who recognised the potential in the late-blooming big man. With a very solid first professional season behind him,…
Shep Garner PG/SG - 6'2, 196lbs - Born 6th December 1996 Grand Rapids Drive Garner made the Drive's roster via the local tryout route, and survived for the entire season. He joined them in his first professional campaign after a senior year in which he was almost completely…
Zach Lofton SG - 6'4, 180lbs - Born 18th November 1992 Grand Rapids Drive After enrolling at five colleges in six seasons, Lofton began his professional career this summer with a summer league contract with the Pistons, one which subsequently turned into a training camp offer and then…
Jon Horford C - 6'10, 245lbs - Born 16th October 1991 Grand Rapids Drive For some reason, as soon as he turned professional, Al's brother became an exceptional rebounder. Over the 93 regular season games of G-League experience he has had over pieces of the last four seasons,…
Kenneth "Speedy" Smith PG - 6'3, 180lbs - Born 28th January 1993 Grand Rapids Drive With the exception of the very first few months of his professional career, in which he made an unsuccessful attempt to sign in Latvia, Smith has played the entirety of his professional career…
Todd Withers PF - 6'8, 216lbs - Born 6th May 1996 Grand Rapids Drive I have no idea how Synergy Sports manage to go as deep as they do. But somehow, they were able to cover and analyse every game of Division II’s South Atlantic Conference in 2017-18.…
Marcus Thornton SG - 6'4, 205lbs - Born 5th June 1987 Grand Rapids Drive There are three Marcus Thorntons in high level professional basketball today. There is the one out of LSU who played many years in the NBA. There is the one drafted by the Celtics in…
Adam Woodbury C - 7'1, 245lbs - Born 13th January 1994 Grand Rapids Drive Three years into his professional career out of Iowa, Woodbury has spent his entire time in the G-League, and has now been with six different franchises. Indeed, he managed four this season alone. Woodbury…
Elijah Brown SG - 6'4, 200lbs - Born 19th February 1995 Grand Rapids Drive In his first professional season out of Oregon (via Butler and New Mexico), Brown began with a summer league spot on the Golden State Warriors, followed by being drafted in the third round of…
Randy Haynes SG - 6'4, 215lbs - Born 23rd April 1995 Grand Rapids Drive Despite having the name of a truck-driving minor character in an 80’s coming-of age movie, Haynes is also in fact a 2018 Old Dominion graduate who averaged 12.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and…
Joe Kilgore SG - 6'4, 200lbs - Born 25th April 1996 Grand Rapids Drive Kilgore was the Windy City Bulls’ first-round pick in the past G-League draft, selected 12th overall in his first professional season out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. He played in 18 games for the…
Dakarai Allen SG - 6'5, 193lbs - Born 4th February 1995 Grand Rapids Drive Grand Rapids have been Allen's third G-League team in his two G-League seasons, as they traded the returning player rights to Nnanna Egwu to Agua Caliente for him back in January. In those two…