After playing a total of 8 games last season between the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, Bryce Cotton will join the Atlanta Hawks for NBA Summer League to be held July 8th through the 18th in Las Vegas. Cotton also played 6 games in the NBA D-League for the Austin Toros and 9 games in the CBA for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers last season.
Continue reading Bryce Cotton to Play Summer League with the Atlanta Hawks
At the suggestion of Twitter follower Chip Scutari, I’ll be profiling each returning Friar player, as well as, the new faces in Friartown for the 2016-17 season. Providence currently has 11 scholarship players rostered for next season.
Continue reading Providence Player Evaluations: Kyron Cartwright Will Be Looked At To Lead
With the 51st pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select…
Bentil is heading to Boston after the Celtic’s selected him 51st overall. Bentil becomes the 43rd player from Providence to be selected in the NBA Draft and his selection marks the 10th time Providence has had more than 1 player drafted in the same year. The last time Providence had two players taken in the same draft was 1997 when Austin Croshere went 12th overall and God Shammgod went 45th overall.
Continue reading Providence’s Ben Bentil Selected 51st Overall by the Boston Celtics
“With the 5th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select…
Dunn is heading to Minnesota after the Timberwolves selected him 5th overall. Dunn becomes the 42nd player from Providence to be selected in the NBA Draft and he joins the elite company of Otis Thorpe, Marvin Barnes, Ernie DiGregorio, Jimmy Walker and Lenny Wilkens as the only Providence players taken in the Top 10 of the NBA Draft. Dunn is also just the 3rd Providence player ever to be taken in the NBA Draft’s Lottery — a system that began in 1985 — joining Austin Croshere and Eric Williams.
Continue reading Providence’s Kris Dunn Selected 5th Overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves
At the suggestion of Twitter follower Chip Scutari, I’ll be profiling each returning Friar player, as well as, the new faces in Friartown for the 2016-17 season. Providence currently has 11 scholarship players rostered for next season.
In his third year on Providence’s campus, Rodney Bullock finally got to play his first year of basketball for the Friars. Bullock missed the 2013-14 season due to suspension and the 2014-15 season due to a torn ACL suffered in October of 2014. Bullock certainly got off to a fast start with 20 points and 6 rebounds on 8/14 shooting in the season opener against Harvard. Bullock scored in double-figures in his first four games and averaged 18.8 points/game in that 4-game stretch. Then Bullock had four straight games where he failed to reach double figures. Next four games? Back to double figures. After that he was much more up and down on a game-by-game basis.
Bullock’s first season on the floor for Providence was positive, overall. However, he had some of the inconsistent play you would expect from a rookie. He scored in double figures in half of Providence’s 18-game Big East slate but also scored 8 or less point in 8 Big East contests. Bullock’s biggest highlight will be his backdoor layup from a Drew Edwards in-bounds pass to beat USC late in Providence’s first round NCAA Tournament game, but the larger picture is that he showed flashes of real scoring ability, while lacking consistency.
The best way to sum up what I believe Bullock needs to work on is the phrase “killer instinct”. Bullock seemed to have his best games when he was involved early on and playing with a confidence and swagger. In games where he didn’t score or perform well, he often appeared physically overmatched at the 4 spot and never seemed to be able to get going. Bullock will be relied on heavily next season as the team’s leading returning scorer so, he will need to find that confidence and swagger more consistently.
Bullock will be looked to as a team leader next season despite only having one full season of college basketball under his belt. With Ben Bentil staying in the NBA Draft, Bullock will become a larger part of Ed Cooley’s offense. Bullock will hope to do his best Bentil impersonation as the scoring load will fall squarely on his shoulders, at least early in the 2016-17 season.
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