Continuing his quest for the NBA, former GW guard SirValiant Brown will try out for a developmental league this weekend, according to his father who was reached at his Springfield, Va., home last week.
Brown will join other college standouts and NBA hopefuls in
Suwanee, Ga., for a four-day tryout and draft beginning Saturday morning and ending Oct. 31 at the Winners’ Circle Sports Academy. Players will compete for spots on eight National Basketball Developmental League teams. All teams have already drafted four players, including the Asheville Altitude, which chose former Duke guard Chris Carrawell and Georgetown forward Lee Scruggs.
At the draft, each team will select 12 players to join players already selected to rosters for two days of inter-squad scrimmages Nov. 1-2. On Nov. 3, rosters will be cut to 11 players and a supplemental draft will be held, which will include players cut over the last days of NBA training camps.
Teams will open training camps Nov. 6 and have until Nov. 14 to pare their roster to 11 players.
The NBDL, a new league that begins play Nov. 16, was designed to boost basketball presence in the United States and overseas while serving as a minor league for the NBA, according to the league’s Web site. Teams are mostly from the East.
It became increasingly apparent that Brown would make this career move after getting passed over in the April 27 NBA draft and failing to impress the Philadelphia 76ers during the Shaw Summer League. Brown was not invited to 76ers training camp despite ties to his summer workout partner NBA star Allen Iverson.
During his limited time with the 76ers over the summer, Brown scored two points in 30 minutes, on 1-of-9 shooting from the floor over six games. Playing the point, Brown had just one assist and committed three turnovers. He was outscored by point guards Speedy Claxton, a 76ers first-round draft choice in 2000, and former Temple standout Pepe Sanchez.
Brown’s mother, Marcella Brown, said the former Colonial has also received a slew of offers from overseas teams. He could not be reached for comment regarding the status of those offers.
Coming off a disappointing sophomore season, which saw his scoring average decline 7.3 points a game, Brown joined 57 underclassmen who submitted their names to NBA League offices.
