On November 2, 2012, the city of Santa Cruz made basketball history. The Santa Cruz Warriors, the official D-League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors, made eight selections during the 2012 NBA D-League Draft, marking the first D-League draft in Santa Cruz history.
The first-ever selection by the Santa Cruz Warriors was awarded to 6’4’’ guard Travis Leslie from Georgia. In the 2011 NBA Draft, Leslie was picked 47th in the second round by the Los Angeles Clippers. During the 2011 season, Leslie played 10 games for the clippers and four preseason games this year. The Georgia native averaged 14.4 points 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists shooting 49.2% from the field in his last year at the University of Georgia. With his prior NBA experience and outstanding athletic qualities, Leslie will be a great asset to the Santa Cruz Golden State Warriors and will benefit from time in the D-League.
In addition to the likings of Leslie, the Santa Cruz Warriors chose T.J. Robinson, a 6’8’’ forward from Long Beach State, as the first pick of the third round and the second oveall draft pick. Robinson averaged 12 points and 10.2 rebounds in 34 games his senior year.
In the following rounds, the Santa Cruz Warriors picked Faisal Aden from Washington State, Durrell Summers from Michigan State, Steve Tchiengang from Vanderbilt, and Darren Moore from UC Irvine. In addition to the draft picks, two players from local open tryouts were chosen for the D-League team. Japeth Aguilar, a 6’10” center from Western Kentucky who has played professionally in the Philippines, participated in open tryouts in Oakland. Arron Mollet, a 6’3” guard from Notre Dame de Namur who played basketball at Gavilan College and Del Mar High in San Jose, participated in open tryouts at Aptos High School.
The 2012-13 season will begin on Sunday, December 2nd at Reno, NV. The Santa cruz Warriors will hold their first home game on Sunday, December 23rd against Bakersfield.
For more information on the Santa Cruz Warriors, visit http://www.nba.com/dleague/santacruz/