It was a quiet night for the Atlantic 10 during this year’s NBA Draft until UMass’ Cady Lalanne was chosen by the San Antonio Spurs with the 55th overall pick.
Lalanne become the Spurs second big drafted on the evening after the perennial NBA power drafted 7′ Serbian, Nikola Multinov. The 6’9 Lalanne averaged 11.6 points and 9.5 rebounds his senior season with the Minutemen and measured an impressive 7’5 wingspan prior to this year’s draft. He becomes the first Minuteman drafted to the NBA since 2007.
Lalanne hopes to play more of a stretch 4 role at the next level whereas he was used a traditional big at UMass. “I’ve always been able to shoot the ball, but it didn’t fit our offense (at UMass) for me to shoot the ball,” Lalanne said in an interview following a pre-draft workout with the Los Angeles Lakers. ” My freshman year, I shot the ball a little bit more. As I got more into the system, shooting the ball wasn’t really the best thing for the team. So I just stuck in the post and worked in the post.”
Lalanne may have been the only A-10 draftee but he’ll be joined by a number of Atlantic 10 standouts in this year’s NBA Summer League set to get underway next week, tipping up in Orlando July 4-10, Salt Lake City July 6-9 then finishing up in Las Vegas July 10-20.
VCU’s Treveon Graham, Dayton’s Jordan Sibert and Davidson’s Tyler Kalinoski — all A-10 First Team selections this past season — will look make roster through a side door that way. They’ll hope to join Lalanne in the league who will also be competing for a roster spot despite being drafted (NBA second round draftees aren’t guaranteed roster spots).
Former Saint Joseph’s standout, Langston Galloway, went undrafted in 2014 but worked his way into the league after spending time with the New York Knicks in Summer League action, eventually landing a permanent roster spot after being called up from the Westchester Knicks, New York’s Developmental League affiliate, shooting his way to an NBA Second Team All-Rookie selection after averaging 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
The previous season VCU’s Troy Daniels did just the same, playing his way through Summer League and the D-League before eventually winning a playoff game for the Houston Rockets later that year. He is now with the Charlotte Hornets.
