Chris McCullough continues to develop but what’s next?

While his NBA club was playing in Milwaukee Saturday, Chris McCullough was playing his seventh D-League game with the Long Island Nets in Canton, Ohio. So far, so good.

The 6’10” Syracuse product has improved his game with virtually every outing.

In his best game thus far, McCullough scored 24 points on 10-of-16 (1-of-3 from deep) and grabbed 11 boards, all in 37 minutes. His minutes, points and rebounds were all D-League highs for McCullough. Long Island, however, lost again, 89-85, to the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers affiliate, wasting a big first half lead.

McCullough has been playing mostly center for the L.I. Nets and his numbers have gone up steadily. He’s now averaging 19.4 points per game, on 51 percent shooting overall and 35 percent from deep. He’s also hauling in 7.4 rebounds per game.

In the first half of Saturday’s game, he already had a double-double eight minutes in. He scored on drives, jumpers, dunks and putbacks.

What’s next? It could get interesting if the Nets succeed in the pursuit of Donatas Motiejunas. Minutes upfront will be at a premium.

In addition to McCullough, Boris Dallo, the French point guard, also played well for Long Island. He scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting (1-of-1 from deep), grabbed eight boards and handed out three assists. J.J. Moore and Trahson Burrell finished with 13 and 11. Burrell added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double. After a solid game in Thursday’s win, Beau Beech missed all of his nine three-pointers and was only 3-of-17 in 42 minutes.

Newcomer Waly Niang, the 6’9” center from Senegal, saw action for the second straight game, again playing four minutes. At 20 years old, Niang is the team’s youngest player.

Full game video can be found here.

• Box Score - Canton Charge 89, Long Island Nets 85 - D-League
• Highlights - Chris McCullough (Video) - D-League
• Highlights - Trahson Burrell (Video) - D-League