Monday, November 08, 2010

NEW YORK - Two former Atlantic Sun stars, Mercer's James Florence and Stetson's Garfield Blair heard their names called in the 2010 NBDL Draft. Florence went to the Reno Bighorns; the Springfield Armor picked Blair.

Florence was taken by Reno with the first pick of the third round – and the 33rd player selected overall – in the draft. The NBA D-League draft consists of eight rounds with 16 picks in each round.

Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman, who coached the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA D-League prior to coming to Mercer, thinks his former star will have the chance to shine for the Bighorns.

"We are very excited for Flo," Hoffman said. "He was a tremendous asset to our program for many years and I know he will make a great contribution to the Reno team. His daily work ethic is what will give him the chance to be successful.

Florence rolled up 2,286 points in his 119-game, four-year stint in the Orange & Black. He was a four-time All-Atlantic Sun Conference honoree, a member of the league's all-academic team as a senior and the only player in A-Sun history to score 500 points in each of their seasons in the league.

Garfield Blair was selected by the Springfield Armor as the 12th pick in the 4th round. He played four seasons with the Hatters from 2005 through 2009. He twice earned All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors and was one of the most athletic two-way players ever to wear a Stetson uniform. He is the 4th leading scorer all-time at Stetson with 1,582 points and holds the 11th spot in rebounding with 676 career boards.

"Gar is one of my favorite people that has played at Stetson", said Stetson head coach Derek Waugh. "Everything he achieves is a testament to hard work, maturity and being a winner as a person. If he is fortunate enough to get called up I will be at his first game with bells on!"

The NBA Development League, or NBA D-League, is the NBA's official minor league basketball organization. Known until summer 2005 as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), the NBA D-League started with eight teams in the fall of 2001. In March 2005, NBA commissioner David Stern announced a plan to expand the NBA D-League to fifteen teams and develop it into a true minor league farm system, with each NBA D-League team affiliated with one or more NBA teams. For the 2010-11 season, the league consists of 16 teams. At the conclusion of the 2008-09 NBA season, 20 percent of NBA players had spent time in the NBA D-League.