Penn forward Larry Loughery was all smiles during the Delco Pro-Am Tip-Off Tournament. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Delco Pro-Am released their large majority of their rosters on Tuesday, five days before the month-long summer league kicks off on Sunday, July 8. 20 of the 24 teams had rosters on the league’s official site, including players from five of the City 6 as well as a number of professionals.
The league will take place over the next four weeks at Haverford College, with sessions on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday nights. The league kicked off last Sunday, June 24, with an all-day tournament whose winning team–The Dragons–received an automatic bid to the league’s eight-team playoffs that begin July 30.
Highlighting the rosters are several NBA players, including Philadelphia 76er Lavoy Allen, plus Hakim Warrick, Cuttino Mobley, John Salmons and more.
Full rosters can be found on the league’s site; hit the jump for roster highlights and analysis on several of the squads.
(Note: NCAA regulations permit only two scholarship players per school per summer league team; incoming freshmen are exempt from this rule)
Team 1: Omega Medical
Key Players: Antonio Pena (Villanova alum), Corey Fisher (Villanova alum), Allan Ray (Villanova alum), Maalik Wayns (Villanova alum), James Bell (Villanova), Achraf Yacoubou (Villanova), Markus Kennedy (Transfer)
Analysis: The league’s defending champions, Omega Medical will be tough to stop again this year with a Villanova-dominated roster. Strong in both the backcourt (Wayns, Ray, Fisher) and frontcourt (Kennedy, Pena), Wildcat fans should have quite the fun time watching this mix of current and former players developing their chemistry over the course of the summer. Pena is the league’s defending MVP, he and Kennedy make up a frontcourt duo that no other team in the league can match.
Team 4: Haverford College
Key Players: Keelan Cairns (Pennsylvania), Patrick Lucas-Perry (Pennsylvania)
Analysis: Cairns and Lucas-Perry both spent the vast majority of the 2011-12 season on the Quakers bench, but with so many minutes up for grabs this season they both have a chance to earn some time with strong summers. Cairns is a 6-foot-10 forward with a decent shot; Lucas-Perry is a speedy 5-11 point guard who could end up starting alongside Miles Cartwright. They’ll be playing with the entire Haverford College squad.
Team 8: Team Blue
Key Players: T.J. DiLeo (Temple), Larry Loughery (Penn), Simeon Espirit (Penn), Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova), Mouphtaou Yarou (Villanova), Tony Chennault (Villanova).
Analysis: The first team (numerically) with a nice mix of Big 5 talent, Team Blue consists of these six players and nobody else currently listed on the roster. Chennault joins new teammate Mouphtaou Yarou and the incoming freshman Arcidiacono to form a very interesting Nova-centric trio, but they’ll get plenty of help from Temple’s senior guard. Espirit, a 6-6 guard, scored just five points in 45 minutes total last season for the Quakers but should see a major jump in playing time his sophomore year.
Team 9: Radano & Associates
Key Players: Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph’s), C.J. Aiken (SJU), Garrett Williamson (SJU alum), Ryan Brooks (Temple alum)
Analysis: This is another one of the teams that could struggle with depth; the four named players + Arcadia’s 6-3 G Josh Etheridge are the only five players listed on the roster. Galloway and Aiken both had stellar debuts in the Tip-Off Tournament, and it’s obviously their development we’re most interested in this summer. Galloway has a shot at A-10 Player of the Year in his junior season; Aiken might be the most likely NBA player on the city’s collegiate scene.
Team 15: The Champs
Key Players: Kyle Lowry (Villanova alum), Alvin Williams (Villanova alum), Malik Rose (Drexel alum), Cuttino Mobley (Rhode Island alum)
Analysis: Four current and former NBA ballplayers–and Philadelphia legends–highlight this squad, though whether or not they’ll be able to keep up with some of the younger legs around the gym is still to be determined. Mobley, Rose and Williams are all pushing 40, but with a combined 39 NBA seasons between those four players there’s more experience on that court than any other team can bring to the table.
Team 18: The Dragons
Key Players: Samme Givens (Drexel alum), Damion Lee (Drexel), Chris Fouch (Drexel)
Analysis: The champions of the Tip-Off Tournament, The Dragons are so obviously named for their Drexel core. Of note is Samme’s younger brother Shannon Givens, a 5-11 guard from West Chester, who starts with Fouch in the backcourt; along with Hampton grad Chaz Franklin, they’re also the only five players on the team. Damion Lee could have a monster summer.
Team 19: Trad Jazz
Key Players: Fran Dougherty (Pennsylvania), Greg Louis (Pennsylvania), Jamal Lewis (Pennsylvania), Tony Hick (Pennsylvania), Darien Nelson-Henry (Pennsylvania), Casey Carroll (Drexel), Steven Manojlovic (Drexel)
Analysis: If it seems like too many Penn players on one roster, see the note at the top of this section–aside from Doughtery (a junior) and Louis (a redshirt freshmen), the other three Quakers are all entering their first season at the Ivy institution. Hicks, a shooting guard from Illinois, was the jewel of the class and could challenge for playing time immediately. Drexel fans will want to keep a close eye on Carroll, who should emerge as the third forward behind Daryl McCoy and Dartaye Ruffin.
Team 20: Team White
Key Players: Dau Jok (Pennsylvania), Jimmy McDonnell (Temple), Scootie Randall (Temple), Ty Johnson (Villanova)
Analysis: This team will likely go as far as Randall can take them–the fifth-year senior had an impressive start to the summer with 41 points combined in Team White’s two Tip-Off Tournament games, and with another five-person roster (Villanova walk-on Nick McMahon) it’s going to be on Randall and Johnson to provide most of the scoring. This would, however, be a good opportunity for McDonnell to work on his post game and for Jok to learn some assertiveness.
Team 22: Under Armour Owls
Key Players: Khalif Wyatt (Temple), Dalton Pepper (Temple), Lavoy Allen (Temple alum), Aquil Younger (Drexel), Marin Kukoc (Pennsylvania)
Analysis: Unlike some of the other teams filled with City 6 talent, this group does actually have a bench behind them–though it’s unlikely they’ll be used too often. Younger running the point for Wyatt should be a nice fill-in for Temple’s Will Cummings, getting Kukoc to play alongside Allen will only help Penn in the fall. Pepper’s playing alongside Wyatt is also interesting, as the two will combine with Randall to form a trio similar to Wyatt’s experience last season with Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez. The WVU transfer never really got a chance to play major minutes in the Big East, but Pepper could be in for a big year in his first of two seasons in an Owl uniform.
Team 23: Take Your Game to Another Level (TYGTAL)
Key Players: Mardy Collins (Temple alum), Dionte Christmas (Temple alum), Maureece Rice (George Washington alum), Jerai Grant (Clemson alum), Charles Okwandu (Connecticut alum)
Analysis: A very interesting mix of players, TYGTAL played very well in their first three games in the Tip-Off tournament before some of the older legs on the team let them down in the finals loss to The Dragons. Christmas, who graduated from Temple in 2009, has played abroad the last three seasons before signing with the Houston Rockets this April, and is still hoping to reach his NBA dream. Collins, who left TU three years before Christmas, spent four years in the NBA before spending last season in D-League. Then there’s Rice, the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia Public League history who was last seen in the NBDL in 2010-11; Grant and Okwandu will provide size but not too much else in the frontcourt.
For CoBL’s coverage of the 2012 Delco Pro-Am, make sure you check out our league page