The last player selected in the National Football League draft is dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant.”
So what to call the last two players chosen in the D-League draft Saturday night?
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Maine Red Claws.
At least that’s the hope of John Petrucelli and Raymond Cowels III, selected at the end of the eighth and final round with the 121st and 122nd picks.
Technically, Bakersfield drafted Petrucelli and Reno drafted Cowells, and subsequently traded them to Maine. In actuality, those teams traded up for two third-round picks under Maine’s control, with the understanding that Maine would receive the last and next-to-last picks along with a 2015 second-round selection from Reno and Bakersfield’s rights to Jake O’Brien, who opted to play in Germany this winter.
“We wanted those two guys,” said Red Claws Coach Scott Morrison. “They were on our board from the start. They both played well at our workout (at the parent Boston Celtics’ training facility in late September in Waltham, Massachusetts).”
Four other players, all undrafted, from that Celtics tryout are in camp with the Red Claws, who must pare their roster from 17 to 10 by the middle of next week.
The only locks to make the team are the three players assigned from the Celtics, Maine’s parent club.
Guards Tim Frazier and Rodney McGruder, and forward Christian Watford made it to the final cut in Boston’s training camp. They suited up for the Celtics in their Oct. 15 exhibition in Portland against the Toronto Raptors.
Three others – guards Chris Babb, Sherwood Brown and Jermaine Taylor – played for the Red Claws last winter, and Babb wound up playing 14 games with the Celtics. Another D-League veteran, center Ralph Sampson III, is in camp after spending last winter in Finland following one season with Reno.
Yes, he is the son of the 7-foot-4 former University of Virginia star chosen first overall in the 1983 NBA draft and named rookie of the year for the Houston Rockets.
“He’s the reason I started playing when I was younger,” said Sampson, who played at the University of Minnesota. “My mom, she’s the one who was the driving force behind me playing further.”
The Red Claws also drafted four other players – Auburn center Asauhn Dixon-Tatum, Oregon State forward Omari Johnson, Florida State guard Luke Loucks and Buffalo guard Joshua Freelove – ahead of Petrucelli and Cowels.
“At first I was a little discouraged,” Cowels said of being the last pick, “but now I think of it as kind of a selling point. Now I have a chance to prove myself. I got to where I wanted to be regardless of the pick number.”
Cowels played for Santa Clara University and spent last year with a pro team in the Netherlands. Petrucelli is the only player in camp who played for a Division II program, Molloy College on Long Island, New York.
“It all comes down to having the opportunities coming out of high school,” Petrucelli said. “I might not have had as many as they did but I’m confident that I can play with them.”
A 6-foot-4 slasher who led NCAA Division II with 3.6 steals per game last winter and averaged a school-record 23.1 points per game, Petrucelli received no offers to play overseas after graduating last spring with a degree in criminal justice.
He did, however, catch the eye of a Celtics scout who offered an invitation to the September tryout.
“He really impressed us there,” Morrison said. “He’s a great athlete who does a number of different things. He can shoot a little bit, can attack off the bounce a little bit. He and Chris Babb are probably leading the team in deflections on defense, so he’s very active.”
Morrison spent last year as a Red Claws volunteer assistant while on sabbatical from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Instead of returning, he accepted the Celtics’ offer to lead their D-League affiliate.
Based on his experience last year, Morrison said he didn’t expect much from his late-round draft picks. But Cowels and Petrucelli have made an impression.
“There’s going to be some tough cuts here next week,” Morrison said. “Everyone here could conceivably make the team. We had a really good draft with the picks that we had.”
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