http://dleaguedigest.com/2016/12/18/sant...Santa Cruz Warriors trade for Cleanthony Early in three-team deal
The Santa Cruz Warriors have traded for former New York Knicks guard Cleanthony Early as part of a three-team deal involving the Westchester Knicks and the Texas Legends, league sources tell D-League Digest.
Along with Early, Santa Cruz will receive the returning player rights to Nick Covington from Westchester, and Ronnie Aguilar from Texas.
Westchester will receive Courtney Fells from Texas as well as the returning rights to Justin Martin from Texas. Fells, who has fallen out of the rotation after the recent acquisitions of Pierre Jackson, Tony Wroten and Quincy Acy, is averaging 7.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 27 minutes per contest this season for Texas.
The Legends will receive Santa Cruz’s second and third round picks in the 2017 D-League Draft as well as the returning rights to Verdell Jones III (Santa Cruz) and Joe Alexander (Santa Cruz).
The Wichita State alum has not appeared in a game for Westchester this season as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury.
The 34th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, Early appeared in 56 games with New York over two seasons, averaging 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
In late Dec. 2015, Early was shot in the right knee during a robbery outside of a strip club. Early would make his return to the court for New York on Mar. 20, 2016.
I'm not familiar with the players in this trade but it is a head scratcher. Early looked to be the type of player that would excel in an uptempo offense getting out on the break and would fit perfectly on the 2nd unit with the speedsters. Not sure why we gave up on him so soon, I thought he was just a late bloomer.
Rookie wrote:I'm not familiar with the players in this trade but it is a head scratcher. Early looked to be the type of player that would excel in an uptempo offense getting out on the break and would fit perfectly on the 2nd unit with the speedsters. Not sure why we gave up on him so soon, I thought he was just a late bloomer.
we've got plenty of dollars tied up in the wing. that's probably why he got dealt. that said, I also have no idea why they gave up on Early if the guy who is headlining the trade from our end is 30 year old D League PG
Its the Dleague, its likely giving Early an opportunity to play and resume his career.
There is no strategic logic. Early is not going to get playing time with knicks or Westchester so its a good thing for HIM.
Nalod wrote:Its the Dleague, its likely giving Early an opportunity to play and resume his career.
There is no strategic logic. Early is not going to get playing time with knicks or Westchester so its a good thing for HIM.
There 100s of Cleanthony Earlys playing ball across the globe who haven't sniffed the opportunities that he's had. He's had enough chances, now it's time to move on. I know he's had some bad luck, but he didn't really show much improvement before strip club incident. I wish him luck, but it wasn't working out here.
SupremeCommander wrote:Rookie wrote:I'm not familiar with the players in this trade but it is a head scratcher. Early looked to be the type of player that would excel in an uptempo offense getting out on the break and would fit perfectly on the 2nd unit with the speedsters. Not sure why we gave up on him so soon, I thought he was just a late bloomer.
we've got plenty of dollars tied up in the wing. that's probably why he got dealt. that said, I also have no idea why they gave up on Early if the guy who is headlining the trade from our end is 30 year old D League PG
I was thinking the same thing.
CrushAlot wrote:SupremeCommander wrote:Rookie wrote:I'm not familiar with the players in this trade but it is a head scratcher. Early looked to be the type of player that would excel in an uptempo offense getting out on the break and would fit perfectly on the 2nd unit with the speedsters. Not sure why we gave up on him so soon, I thought he was just a late bloomer.
we've got plenty of dollars tied up in the wing. that's probably why he got dealt. that said, I also have no idea why they gave up on Early if the guy who is headlining the trade from our end is 30 year old D League PG
I was thinking the same thing.
Early showed very little to me in almost two full seasons. He didn't seem to have a definable skill he was great at. In the NBA, if you're a role player, I think you need to have at least one plus skill. Early was an average defender, average shooter, average passer, average scorer... didn't do anything terribly bad... but he didn't do anything terribly well, either.
Given his age and the fact that he hasn't proven to be an nba player, i think it's safe to say that ship has sailed. It's too bad because he definitely had the potential too.
Early didn't have much of a dribble. Couldn't make the most of his athleticism. Would have given him the time to improve in other areas of his game. Glad he made a full recovery from the shooting. Early is still young enough to make a living overseas if things dont work out in the NBA, and work on his game. Wouldn't be the first to go that route.
If we acquired a PG maybe that means that Chasson Randle will be called up sometime soon?
reub wrote:If we acquired a PG maybe that means that Chasson Randle will be called up sometime soon?
We still need to cut someone on the 15-man roster to call up Randle, Early wasn't on the Knicks roster. N'Dour or Sasha would have to go... I'm beginning to think that Baker can give the same thing Sasha can..
