Courtney Sims, Shane Edwards and Gary Forbes have all been invited to participate in training camp with the Denver Nuggets  according to league sources.

With just 12 players currently under contract with the Nuggets, chances are good at least one of the three players are able to make Denver's regular season roster provided nothing happens before the season with the Carmelo Anthony situation.

I wrote the above up for Aol FanHouse (go read the rest), but since I'm not sure everyone is aware that I moonlight over there I decided better post it over here as well - just in case.

Shane Edwards is probably the player I'm most excited about just because he's basically went from an unknown prospect fighting to make it into a D-League training camp via an open tryout to now fighting to be in an NBA training camp less than one year later.

Hard work apparently pays off.

The Los Angeles Lakers have invited former NBA Development League big man Russell Hicks to play for them in training camp according to TrueHoop's Henry Abbott.

If you don't remember Hicks' D-League career, it's probably because it lasted all of four games and 21 minutes of floor time with the Iowa Energy in early December before Cartier Martin returned to the team and left Hicks in the free agent bin before joining the Edmonton Energy of the IBL.

So how was he able to get a training camp invite to the defending world champions after not being able to stick on an NBA Development League roster for more than 21 minutes?

"The Lakers called to bring him for a workout before vet camp. He went in there and impressed them to some degree. He is a talented, athletic seven-footer who bounced around his first year out of college," Hicks' agent, Sam Porter, told Truehoop. "With Russ I just told him to go there and play like his career is on the line. Because in a way, it is. He is the type of player -- a big seven-footer -- where the European game isn't a great fit for him. So he is better off being the third center for an NBA team. He went to camp with the Heat last season, so he has been down this road before."

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The Boston Celtics have extended a few more training camp invitations for later this month, inviting former D-League Defensive Player of the Year Stephane Lasme along with former LSU Tiger Chris Johnson and Jamar Smith, a rookie guard out of Southern Indiana.

As ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg points out in his report, the Celtics had previously extended camp invites to Matt Janning,  DeShawn Sims and Jeff Adrien, but those players all opted for greener pastures - Janning in Phoenix, Sims in Greece and Adrien in Golden State.  The reason those players all opted for greener pastures, if you'll allow me to hypothesize for a second, is because Boston has 14 players with guaranteed contracts already along with four others already fighting for the 15th spot.

That said, the three players above probably don't have the greatest of opportunities with the Celtics either, though I'd handicap Lasme as the favorite if any of them are able to make the final roster.  

A second round pick of the Golden State Warriors in 2007, Lasme showed off his defensive prowess in the D-League by averaging 2.6 blocks and a steal which eventually earned him a call-up with the Miami Heat to end the season despite unoutstanding (it's a word) averages of 10.6 points and 7.5 boards.  For the past two seasons, Lasme's been putting up similar numbers in the Euroleague, playing both for Partizan in Serbia and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel.  He was originally slated to play with Spartak in Russia this season, but had to return home due to technical issues regarding his green card application in the United States.

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Former Notre Dame point guard Tory Jackson is expected to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks for training camp according to his agent, Chris Luchey.  During his senior season, Jackson averaged 9.6 points and 5.3 assists to post an impressive assist-to-turnover ration of 2.68 - among the best in the country.

The 5-foot-11 Jackson attended NBA Draft workouts with the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz, New Jersey Nets and the Indiana Pacers as well as the Portsmouth Invitational but ultimately went undrafted despite being a four-year starter for the Irish.  He then planned to play in the Vegas Summer League for the Chicago Bulls, but those plans went awry at some point.

Jackson, a pass-first point guard, has exceptional court awareness with strong ball-handling skill but may be known better for his defense and the ability to pressure opposing ball handlers.

Sadly, Jackson's mother, Sarah Jackson, passed of a sudden heart attack Saturday. She was the mother of 14 children, Tory being the second youngest.

A video of Jackson talking about how important his family is to him, along with highlights from his Notre Dame career, is included below.

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Here's the thing - I think Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey reads Ridiculous Upside.

Why, you ask?

Well, he seems to somehow know which players I like and then brings them to to the Rockets - Either he reads what I write or we both are really smart about basketball players.  Actually it probably doesn't need to be either/or, does it?

Here are just a couple of examples (because I'm battling an illness and didn't feel like digging too far back into the archives):

On February 27th, I wrote that Will Conroy needs to be called up.  Then, just two days later, the Houston Rockets called up Will Conroy.

On March 15th, I wrote that Alexander Johnson was the most NBA-ready big man in the D-League.  Well, much to my (fake) surprise, Morey brought Johnson in for a tryout and then signed him a few days later.

And now yesterday, according the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen, the Rockets have decided to add Jordan Eglseder, Antonio Anderson and Ish Smith to their training camp roster.

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