NEW YORK — Former Cincinnati wing Jermaine Sanders spent last season playing professional basketball in Veracruz, Mexico, where he had to eat burritos and tacos instead of the fried chicken and “American food” he prefers. He waited for his family to send him care packages, which included cereal, oodles of noodles and other snacks.
“It was a little tiny town in a Third World country,” Sanders said. “There’s nothing really to do so you’re just playing ball and practicing and things like that.”
Former Rutgers big man Kadeem Jack bounced around last season between the Indiana Pacers and NBA D-League teams the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and the Reno Bighorns.
“I would say the hardest part is just getting acclimated with the team,” said Jack, Sanders’ former Rice High School teammate. “You go, you learn one set of plays and you learn the system, you learn how to play with guys and then you move on to the next team.”
And former Manhattan guard George Beamon split last season between the Texas Legends of the D-League and time in the Dominican Republic, where he said adjusting to the language was the biggest obstacle.
“I studied Spanish but it’s just hard to speak it fluently and really communicate with people, but it was definitely a good experience,” Beamon said.
All three New York natives were among the players on hand Tuesday afternoon at a workout set up by agent B.J. Bass at Basketball City in lower Manhattan. Recent former college players like UConn’s Omar Calhoun and UMass’ Jabarie Hinds were also there playing in front of several D-League decision-makers, including Billy Campbell of the D-League, Joel Abelson of the Westchester Knicks and Julian Applebome of the Reno Bighorns.
“I’m just hoping to get an NBA workout, get on with a D-League team, training camp and things like that,” said Sanders, who hired Bass as his agent after firing his previous agent, Paige Hurley, because Sanders said things weren’t working out.
Ironically, the workout at Basketball City occurred the same day that Excel held a Pro Day at Baruch College that featured likely lottery picks Brandon Ingram, Jamal Murray and Thon Maker, all of whom are virtually assured of hearing Adam Silver call their name at the NBA Draft on June 23rd.
For players like Jack, Sanders and Beamon, it’s a different story.
“If you’re not a lottery pick, this is how you have to get in,” Bass said. “You gotta play in front of guys like Billy Campbell from the D-League and different NBA guys that may be looking at a D-League situation. But I think the [D-] league is a lot further along than these kids give credit for. You got NBA competition every night, you got NBA coaching, you’re getting to a 30-for-30 system so you’ll be playing in an NBA system and learning from it.”
Still, the max salary in the D-League is only about $22,000 so some players prefer to play overseas instead.
“I think the money in the D-League will come up,” said Bass, who said he’s sent 50 players to the D-League. “They know they have to raise it.”
Bass said some of the college players at his workout “maybe don’t have a college resume that’s going to command a huge European salary.”
“But maybe if they went to the D-League and averaged 8 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds, all of a sudden now they’re commanding a much different situation overseas,” he added. “So it’s about leveraging that blueprint.”
Former St. John’s forward Orlando Sanchez left the Westchester Knicks to play in the Dominican Republic to make more money.
“The average salary for a guy like Orlando in the Dominican Republic, he’s probably getting anywhere from $14,000 – $16,000 a month,” said Edgar De La Rosa, who mentors Sanchez and has coached in the D.R.
Meantime, for guys like Jack, Sanders and Beamon, they are hoping to get the attention of an NBA team for summer league, or an NBA D-League team for next season.
It’s not how they envisioned things would work out coming out of college, but they are trying to make the most of it.
“I thought it would be a lot easier to get an NBA workout or [play] overseas [in] a top league but it didn’t work out like that,” Sanders said. “But things happen for a reason. You just gotta grind and appreciate what you do have and the work you have to do to get where you wanna go.”
Added Jack, who hopes to catch on with a summer league team: “For me it’s always about the steady incline, being able to move up, and get to the goal. I think the goal is real close. I just gotta keep working to get to it.”
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