Just made official... release just came out. <HR> HOUSTON – Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed free agent forward Jeff Adrien. Per team policy, financial terms were not released. Adrien (6-7, 243, Connecticut), who had been playing with Benetton Treviso in Italy, appeared in 23 games over two stints with Golden State in 2010-11. His second stint with the Warriors was as a GATORADE Call-Up from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA D-League. Overall, Adrien appeared in 27 D-League games last season between the Erie BayHawks and Rio Grande Valley, averaging 18.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.03 steals and 1.44 blocks in 32.7 minutes per contest. He was named the 2010-11 NBA D-League Impact Player of the Year (as voted by the league’s head coaches) after helping the Vipers to an 18-4 record in his 22 games with the team following a trade from Erie. The D-League Player of the Month for Jan. 2011 was also a D-League All-Star in 2010-11. As a collegian, Adrien finished his career at the University of Connecticut with 1,603 points and 1,126 rebounds, becoming only the second Husky with over 1,600 points and 1,100 rebounds in a career since Jim Calhoun became coach in 1986. He was also just the fifth player in school history to amass over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. Adrien ranked 12th on the career points list and finished with the third-highest rebounding total ever by a Husky. As team captain in 2008-09, Adrien helped lead UConn to the NCAA Final Four.
So what is he, a guy who can back up Budinger in case Twill doesn't perform on a consistent basis or just in case of injury ?
Uh, he's a 4/5 utility man. He won't even practice on the wing let alone get any real gametime there.
Dude's pretty good. Tore up the D-League last year. Like Chuck, he's one of those "big butt" (but not fat) guys with a low center of gravity who can box out bigger players and won't easily give up position on the low block. And for the league minimum (presumably)??? What are you complaining about?
With only Hill and Thabeet able to contribute THIS YEAR at center, and with their collective professional playing experience being pretty slim, the Rockets cannot afford another project at center taking up space on the 15-man roster. Adrien knows how to play professional basketball. He's making this team. I'm fairly certain of it. Smith will most likely be signed to the Vipers and could be called up at a later date. Sure, he'd be subject to being called up by another NBA team, but them's the breaks.
With such a condensed schedule, couldn't they just keep him on the roster. In this type of situation he would still get decent playing time. Smith that is. He could possibly get 8-10 minutes of play a game.
