Sebastian Telfair who turns 31 Thursday couldn't have come much closer to home this week when he tried out for his hometown team at the HSS Training Center in Brooklyn. A couple of subway stops and he'd be in Coney Island where he starred before declaring for the draft as high school senior at Lincoln High. No Brooklyn player has been signed to a Nets contract.
Telfair headlined a group of mostly American players who showed their stuff to Sean Marks, Kenny Atkinson, et al. Telfair, a 6'1" pass-first point guard, hasn't played in a year since leaving Xinyiang in China, but claims to be in the best shape of his life, tweeting over the weekend.
Best shape of my life. Taking a lot of time money prayer etc but I'm here #99moves
— Sebastian Telfair (@BassyS31T) June 4, 2016
Mike Scotto first reported Telfair's participation.
Telfair has been working with community groups in the city since returning. Telfair has played for nine NBA teams after being drafted at the end of the lottery by the Blazers in 2004. In his last year in China, he averaged 19.9 points and 4.5 assists in 22 games, shooting 37.8 percent from three. In his nine year NBA career, he never averaged better than 9.8 points or 4.6 assists.
Other players who were reportedly in camp this week include...
--J.P. Tokoto, a hyper athletic 6'6" forward out of North Carolina who spent last season in the D-League with the OKC Blue, averaging 11.2 points and 4.1 rebounds. A solid defender, Tokoto was a second round pick of the 76ers but was cut and later acquired in a D-League trade by the Thunder's D-League affiliate.
--Scott Wood, a 6'6" shooting guard who played at North Carolina State went undrafted and went to Spain where he's played the last three years at Murcia, shooting 40 percent from three while averaging 10 points a game. He tweeted out the view from the training center...
Solid workout in Brooklyn. Now headed to the burgh! pic.twitter.com/8NeVrbVC1i
— Scott Wood (@ScottWood15) June 7, 2016
--Peyton Siva, 25, is a 6'1" combo guard from Seattle who played at Louisville. Drafted at No. 56 in the 2013 NBA Draft, Siva played 22 games for Detroit in 2013-14, then was released the next season. Tried out for Magic but released again. Since then, he has played in the D-League and in Italy, where last season he averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists. He shot 30 percent from three. Known as a tough defender despite his size.
--McKenzie Moore, 24, is a 6'6" California-bred SG who played at UTEP in Texas, then moved to New Zealand after a tryout with the Bucks. Moore played for two NZ NBL teams last two seasons sandwiched around a tour in Belgium. He averaged better than 20 points for both Nelson and Canterbury and shot 40.4 percent from deep this season. He was MVP of the New Zealand NBL.
--Rigoberto Mendoza, 23 ,a 6'3" shooting guard who has played in the D.R., Spain and Puerto Rico. Known for his explosive scoring, Mendoza has played with the Dominican Republic national team the past three years. Just last week, Mendoza scored 50 points in a Puerto Rican league game. He was 12-for-12 from two point range and 6-of-12 from three. He was MVP of the Puerto Rican league. He has played for Kenny Atkinson as a member of the D.R. national team.
--Juan Jose Garcia, 27, a 6'7" power forward has played the last six years in Spain, most recently for CAI Zaragoza and Basquet Manresa. More of a rebounder than a scorer, Garcia has been mostly a bench player the last several years in Spain, but a contributor to Atkinson's D.R. national team that has featured Al Horford and Charlie Villanueva, among others.
--Kwame Vaughn, a 6'3" Fullerton State product, can play both guard positions. Like many of those who participated in this week's mini-camp, he's an American who has played significant time overseas. He's done well in Israel, Belgium and Italy, averaging 16.5 points in Belgium and 17.8 points in Israel this season. He's known as a three point shooter and has had previous summer league stints with the Warriors and Wizards.
---- Aaron Thomas, a 6'6" shooting guard who played for Florida State before going undrafted and heading overseas to Germany, where he played eight games. He worked out for the Nets after his senior year at FSU. He can shoot the three, averaging 40 percent from deep in Germany.
Obviously, that's a small sample but Is there a pattern based on this small sample and the similarly sized sample from the first mini-camp? Most of the players are undrafted with a heavy dose of stretch 4's and point guards. The two former lottery picks known to have attended the camps are Telfair and Anthony Bennett, who played well in his two days at the first camp and is now touring other teams' camps.