Mixed Bag for MAAC Players in NBA Summer Loop

The NBA's Summer League ended earlier this week, and individual results of three former MAAC standouts trying to make an impression strong enough to get invited back to a preseason camp mostly earned mixed reviews.

Former Saint Peter's standout Keydren Clark, twice the NCAA's leading scorer nationally, had the best summer, while former Rider swingman Ryan Thompson and former Siena power forward O.D. Anosike also participated.

Clark, the dynamic 5-foot-8 guard who last played at Saint Peter's in the 2005-06 season and had been playing professionally overseas since then, got into six games with the Minnesota Timberwolves' Summer League team.

Clark averaged 8.5 points per contest, playing an average of about 19 minutes. He shot 20-of-37 from the field, including 12-of-23 from three-point territory. He also averaged 1.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.4 turnovers.

Thompson, a 6-5 guard/forward who graduated from Rider after the 2010-11 season, got into five games, saw an average of about minutes per contest and averaged 5.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and had one total assist and four turnovers. Thompson made 12 of of 32 shots (37.5 percent) he took from the field.

The 6-7 1/2 Anosike, who led all Division I players nationally in rebounds in each of the past two seasons, found grabbing missed shots more difficult on the professional level. He got five total rebounds in six games, playing slightly more than an average of eight minutes over six contests. Anosike averaged 2.5 points per outing and made 6 of the 12 shots (50 percent) he attempted.

Two other former MAAC players -- ex-Siena forward Ryan Rossiter and former Iona Momo Jones -- were worked out  by NBA teams, but neither participated in Summer League games.

The next step for the MAAC-connected players in their respective quests to join the NBA is to get invited to a regular preseason camp and, then, make a strong enough impression to make a regular-season roster.

If that doesn't happen, the other option is to either play overseas or in the NBA's Developmental League.