Last season, the Baylor Bears made the biggest run in their program's history, making it to the Elite 8 only to fall to the eventual champion D*ke Bl*e Dev*ls (cough). After losing Ekpe Udoh, Tweety Carter, and Josh Lomers to the draft, you would think the upstart program would be primed for a fall. 

You would be incorrect.

The return of 2-guard LaceDarius Dunn will pay off big time, as will another year of Quincy Acy and A.J. Walton, along with the transfer of underperforming UCLA big man J'Mison Morgan. But who is everybody wetting their pants over, leading off their cryogenically early mock drafts with, and busting out the Tootsie Roll even fifteen years removed from popularity?

Perry Jones. WHO?!

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The Atlanta Hawks have announced their roster for training camp, which tips off today with media day activities at 3 p.m. on the Philips Arena practice court. With the additions of Evan Brock, Richard Delk and Ricardo Marsh, the team's 17-man camp roster is complete.

Since we (me) here at Ridiculous Upside focus mostly on players not quite in the NBA, I've got everything you need to know regarding Evan Brock, Richard Delk and Ricardo Marsh after the jump.  For the rest of the players, remember to check out Peachtree Hoops.

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Greg Stiemsma, the 6-foot-11 center who finished up last season with a call-up with the Minnesota Timberwolves, has decided to make his NBA training camp debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After being released by the Timberwolves earlier in the month so they wouldn't have to guarantee his contract, Stiemsma had worked out for both the San Antonio Spurs and Cavaliers before deciding to take his talents to Cleveland Friday.

While Stiemsma's offensive presence isn't terrible, his defensive prowess is what makes him NBA worthy.  As I wrote last May when discussing D-League Defensive Player of the Year candidates:

My first place vote went to Stiemsma based on just one factor: his physical presence inside. Who wants to drive the lane to meet a behemoth like him when they could instead hang out on the perimeter? It wasn't solely the shot blocking presence, but just the formidable inside presence that he gave the Skyforce earned him my vote for D-League Defensive Player of the Year. It also didn't hurt that the Skyforce felt the need to keep him on the court despite his low point and rebounding totals.

The 6-foot-11 Sioux Falls Skyforce center averaged 8.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.6 blocks during the D-League's regular season while averaging a little over 30 minutes of playing time.  Stiemsma came up with a much more impressive playoff performance, though, by averaging 15 points, 10.7 rebounds and and 4.3 blocks while shooting 58% from the field in three games for Sioux Falls before his team ultimately lost their first round series to the Tulsa 66ers.

The San Antonio Spurs have added three new players to their training camp roster this week, bringing in former second round pick James Gist, veteran sharpshooter Kirk Penney along with Marcus Cousin, a 6-foot-11 center out of the University of Houston, according to a source close to the situation.

The Spurs currently have 11 players with guaranteed contracts already on the roster along with their three NBA Development League call-ups from last season -- Garrett Temple, Alonzo Gee and Curtis Jerrells -- also attending camp on non-guaranteed contracts.  Suffice to say camp will feature some interesting battles as there are currently slated to be six players fighting for a maximum of four open roster spots - though the Spurs are only mandated by the NBA to sign two of the six players.

Gist, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Maryland, was the 57th overall pick for the Spurs during the 2008 NBA Draft.  Since being drafted, Gist has played for the Spurs in the past three Vegas Summer League, but never signed a training camp contract with them which allowed the Spurs to keep his rights - until now.  Once Gist is put on the training camp roster, the Spurs will lose his rights whenever he's released, even if it's prior to the regular season.

The 23-year-old Gist has spent his first two professional seasons playing in Europe, first in Italy with Angelico Biella where he'd average 13 points and six boards 34 games during his rookie season and then with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia last season.  Playing in the Russian Superleague, Gist averaged 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and led the league in blocks before returning to the USA this offseason to do his third tour of duty with the Spurs' Summer League team.

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The Sacramento Kings already have 12 players with guaranteed contracts going into next week's training camp, but that hasn't stopped them from seemingly trying to find out just how many players they're able to wrangle up to compete for - at most - the last three available spots on the roster.

Having already secured the services of Darnell Jackson, Donald Sloan, Joe Crawford, Marcus Landry, Luther Head and J.R. Giddens, I've learned that Kings' Summer Leaguer Connor Atchley will also be in attendance for the Kings training camp when it begins next Tuesday.

Atchley, a 6-foot-10 stretch four, had a rather underwhelming performance for the Kings in Vegas by averaging just 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from the field in just over 10 minutes per game.  Before heading to Vegas, however, he played for the New Jersey Nets in the Orlando Pro Summer League where he averaged a bit more impressive 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.2 minutes of playing time.

The 25-year-old Atchley looked to be well on his way to being drafted after his junior season at Texas after averaging 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and leading the Big 12 in blocks while shooting better than 41 percent from three-point territory, but had a down senior year and thus is still struggling to get his first taste of NBA action.

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Trey Johnson during his call-up to the Cleveland Cavaliers

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The Los Angeles Lakers have signed former NBA Development League guards Trey Johnson and Anthony Roberson for their training camp roster which opens next week according to multiple sources.  The Lakers also signed center Russell Hicks to a training camp contract earlier this month.

The Lakers have 14 guaranteed salaries going into season already and thus it will be difficult for any of these players to actually make the regular season roster but, with a 15-player maximum, there is at least a small window of opportunity.

Johnson, a 6-foot-5 combo guard, has been a bit of a basketball nomad since being one of the NCAA's leading scorers during his time at Jackson State.  Since playing for the Miami Heat during the 2007 Summer League, Johnson's spent time in training camp with the New Orleans Hornets, earned D-League call-ups with the Cleveland Cavaliers via the Bakersfield Jam and spent time overseas in Serbia, France and Italy between Summer League stops with the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers and D-League Select team.

For some Trey Johnson in-game highlights, I suggest you check out this post from his first game back in the D-League last season.

Roberson, whose signing was first reported by HoopsHype's Jorge Sierra, has appeared in 65 NBA games split between the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls.  A 6-foot-2 point guard, Roberson was in camp with both the Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers last season before eventually playing for Strasbourg IG in France.  While in France, Roberson averaged 18.5 points and hit 41 percent (74-of-181) of his attempts from three-point territory.

The Portland Trail Blazers have signed former NBA Development League players Raymond Sykes and Dwayne Mitchell as well as Dwight Lewis, a rookie out of Southern Cal, for their training camp roster which opens next week.  Joe Freeman, from the Oregonian, also reports that the Blazers have signed Oregon State guard Seth Tarver.

Though the Blazers already have 16 players under contract going into the season, it makes sense that they'd like to be familiar with a few of the younger players on the free agent market just in case the injury big happens to bite again - as it did last year numerous times.

The Development League's new allocation system allows for each D-League team to acquire the rights to 3 players cut from their affiliate's training camp. With the Blazers bringing these guys into camp, assuming that they are cut and interested in playing in the D-League, they will be automatically be assigned to the Idaho Stampede instead of going through the draft/waiver process and potentially ending up on another D-League team.

As far as players invited, it's an eclectic mix and could include one more big man before all is said and done from what I've been able to gather.

Sykes, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Clemson, played for the D-League's Sioux Falls Skyforce last season where he averaged 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while as the team's primary backup at both the power forward and center spots behind future NBA call-ups Alexander Johnson and Greg Stiemsma.

The 24-year-old Sykes is primarily known as a finisher (see number four here as well as a decent array of Clemson highlights on youtube), an energy guy and a shot blocker, though his defense occasionally leaves a bit to be desired when he looks to help weakside.

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From the D-League's official press release:

Sept. 21, 2010 - New York - The Reno Bighorns won the 2010 NBA Development League's Draft lottery and will have the first overall selection in the 2010 NBA D-League draft. The lottery took place in Dallas today at the League's annual coaches meetings. The Draft will be held via teleconference Nov. 1, at the League's headquarters in New York.

The New Mexico Thunderbirds secured the second selection, while the Maine Red Claws, Texas Legends and Springfield Armor round out the top five.

The NBA D-League Draft utilizes a "serpentine" format, meaning the order will alternate in each of the eight rounds. For example, the team picking last in the first round will select first in the second round, giving them the 16th and 17th overall choices.

"The lottery is always an exciting time because it signals the tip-off a new NBA D-League season," said Chris Alpert, Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Personnel for the NBA D-League. "With the Draft order in place, teams are one step closer to determining their opening day rosters for the 2010-11 season."

Full draft order after the jump.

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I wrote last week that former D-League All-Star Pops Mensah-Bonsu would soon be making his return to the NBA and, according to Aol FanHouse's Sam Amick, Mensah-Bonsu will be going to training camp with the New Orleans Hornets along with former Fort Wayne Mad Ant (and lottery pick of the Milwaukee Bucks) Joe Alexander.

Amick notes that Dell Demps, former Austin Toros General Manager, was more familiar with Mensah-Bonsu than most:

A key new member of the Hornets, however, saw what Mensah-Bonsu could do before and is hoping he does it again. New Orleans general manager Dell Demps was hired in July after spending five years in various roles with San Antonio, where one of his titles was general manager of the Spurs' NBA D-League team, the Austin Toros.

Would you be interested in a fun story about this? A forum that linked to my original report somehow deduced that Mensah-Bonsu (I love typing that) was signing with the Hornets last week Tuesday.  Good job, TigerinATL.

The Hornets roster now stands at sixteen with the earlier additions of Mustafa Shakur, D.J. Strawberry and Darryl Watkins.

Michael Ruffin: coaching.

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About a year and a half ago, Michael Ruffin an NBA player expecting "big things" for his Portland Trail Blazers.

Now? Ruffin has been named coach for the ABA's Colorado Kings, an expansion team based in Denver, Colorado.

The 33-year-old Ruffin spent nine seasons in the NBA, most notably with the Chicago Bulls during the 2000-2001 season when he started 16 of the 45 games he played in and averaged 2.6 points and 5.8 rebounds while competing with Dragan Tarlac, Elton Brand, Steve Goodrich, Dalibor Bagaric, Jake Voskuhl, Marcus Fizer and the immortal Brad Miller for frontcourt minutes.

"This is a slam dunk for our organization and for Colorado," Durrell Middleton states in the team's press release announcing Ruffin's hiring. "His athletic experience, leadership ability, and keen acumen of the game will prove invaluable. We truly are blessed to have him and we are excited about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our local talent!"

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