Category: New Orleans Pelicans Blog

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have released guard Jannero Pargo. The training camp roster now stands at 16.

“We want to thank Jannero for his effort and time here in New Orleans during camp,” General Manager Dell Demps said. “Unfortunately, he is not operating at full speed due to a pre-existing injury. To his credit, Jannero tried to come back ahead of schedule, but after talking with him and our medical staff, we feel that it is in Jannero’s best interest that he completes his rehab.”

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The NBA Development League New Mexico Thunderbirds have announced today that former guard, D.J. Strawberry, has signed a contract with the New Orleans Hornets.

In five games with the Thunderbirds during the 2007-08 season, Strawberry averaged 31.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 52.8% from the field.  He was named D-League performer of the week.  Last season, Strawberry played for the Reno Bighorns and averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 assists per game.

Strawberry was originally drafted in the second round (59th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns out of the University of Maryland.  He played in 33 NBA games for the Suns in the 2007-08 season.

“We are thrilled and excited for D.J. as he continues his career with our NBA affiliate team, the New Orleans Hornets.  As more and more of our former players get their chance to shine in the NBA, we are proud that the Development League was able to provide a great training ground for these up-and-coming players to improve along the way,” Thunderbirds co-owner Sam Bregman said.

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed free agent forward Joe Alexander.  Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released. The addition of Alexander puts the training camp roster at 15 thus far.

Alexander (6-8, 230), the eighth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, has played in the NBA for two seasons. During his rookie season with the Bucks, Alexander appeared in 59 games, averaging 4.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 12.1 minutes per game. Alexander, the first-ever Taiwanese-born NBA player, missed the first 41 games of the 2009-10 season with a hamstring injury before being assigned to the NBA D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants in January. While in the D-League, he averaged 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 26.8 minutes per game over six D-League games (three starts). Shortly after his stint in Fort Wayne, Alexander was traded to the Chicago Bulls along with Hakim Warrick for John Salmons on February 8, 2010. Alexander played in eight games for the Bulls, registering 0.5 points and 0.6 rebounds per game in 3.6 minutes of play.

Alexander, 23 years old, played three seasons for West Virginia University before declaring early for the NBA Draft. He was named All-Big East First-Team and a All-American Honorable Mention his junior season for the Mountaineers after averaging team-highs of 16.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed free agent guard D.J. Strawberry and center Darryl Watkins.  Per team policy, terms of the contracts were not released. The addition of Strawberry and Watkins puts the training camp roster at 14 thus far.

Strawberry (6-5, 205) was drafted in the second round (59th overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. He appeared in 33 games for the Suns during the 2007-08 season, averaging 2.2 points in 8.2 minutes of play. He was sent down to the NBA D-League for five games by the Suns to play for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. In five games, Strawberry averaged 31.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 41.4 minutes of play and was named the D-League performer of the week for his play. After being traded to the Houston Rockets prior to the 2008-09 season, Strawberry was cut before the regular season and signed with Fortitudo Bologna of the Italian League. In Italy, he averaged 11.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 19 games during the regular season and 14.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in six games during the Eurocup.

The son of former Major League Baseball player Darryl Strawberry, D.J. played for the Reno Bighorns of the D-League last season. In 26 games, he averaged 13.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 27.8 minutes of play. Most recently, the Mater Dei High School graduate (Santa Ana, Ca.) played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League this past July in Las Vegas. In five games, he poured in 13.0 points and 2.2 assists in 26.2 minutes of play. Strawberry played four years at the University of Maryland, earning many honors including being elected second team All-ACC his senior season.

Watkins (6-11, 258) signed with the Sacramento Kings after being undrafted in the 2007 NBA Draft. Watkins appeared in nine games during the 2007-08 season with the Kings, averaging 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.9 minutes of play. The Patterson, NJ native was waived by the Kings in December of 2007 and split the rest of the season with the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League. In Los Angeles, he appeared in 18 games (16 starts), averaging 4.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in 19.8 minutes. In 22 games (11 starts), Watkins put up 8.5 points and 5.9 rebounds in 20.3 minutes of play for the Energy.

Watkins played for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2008 Las Vegas Summer League and signed a two-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs in September of 2008. He was cut just before the 2008 season and signed with Tianjin of the Chinese Basketball League for the 2008-09 season. In China, he played in 43 games, averaging 20.7 points and 14.0 rebounds in 41.6 minutes of play. Last season, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the preseason, but was cut just before the regular season. Most recently, he appeared for the Indiana Pacers in the Orlando Summer League and the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Summer League this past July. Watkins played four years at Syracuse University with career averages of 6.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game over 106 appearances (67 starts). He ranks fifth in Syracuse history with 263 career blocks.

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed free agent guard Mustafa Shakur.  Per team policy, terms of the contracts were not released.

“Mustafa will be able to give us depth at the point guard position,” said Hornets General Manager Dell Demps.  “He has thrived in the D-League and has great size and vision for a point guard.”

Shakur (6-4, 195) appeared in 47 games (all starts) for the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA D-League last season, averaging 19.2 points, 6.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 37.8 minutes per game. He was named to the All-D-League Second Team and was an All-Star last season for the 66ers.  Undrafted out of the University of Arizona, Shakur was signed by the Sacramento Kings out of college in 2007 and appeared in five preseason games with the Kings before being cut. During the 2009-10 season, Shakur appeared in two preseason games with the Minnesota Timberwolves before being cut and was also signed to two 10-day contracts by the Oklahoma City Thunder, but did not appear in a game.

Shakur, 26 years old, spent the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons in Europe. In 2007-08 he played with the Euroleague club Prokom Trefl Sopot where he won the Polish National Championship as well as the Polish Supercup. Shakur played for the Euroleague club TAU Ceramica during the 2008-09 season.

A former McDonald’s High School All-American out of Philadelphia, PA, Shakur and current Hornets guard Chris Paul were widely regarded as the top two point guards in the class of 2003.

The New Orleans Hornets announced the hiring of Strength Coach Carlos Daniel, Video Coordinator Adam Tatalovich and the promotion of Mark Cranston to Head Athletic Trainer.

Cranston, who has served the past four seasons as the Director of Athlete Performance and Rehabilitation, takes over the role of Head Athletic Trainer for the Hornets. He is a licensed physical therapist and is certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association as an athletic trainer. In addition, he has professional credentials from the National Strength Coaches Association as a certified strength coach, as well as the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a performance enhancement specialist. He has an extensive resume that covers 29 years of physical therapy and athletic training practice. He was awarded the 1992 Nuprin Comeback Award for the rehabilitation of Olympic gold-medalist Shannon Miller and received the 1995 Distinguished Alumni award from Wichita State University Department of Physical Health. Prior to joining the Hornets, Cranston was a clinical director of sports medicine, physical therapy and athletic training in Oklahoma City. He has a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Wichita State University and a masters of public health from the University of Oklahoma.

Daniel comes to the Hornets from the San Antonio Spurs where he served on the strength and conditioning staff for the 2009-10 season. Prior to San Antonio, Daniel was the Performance Trainer and Basketball Director for the Forza Fitness and Performance Club in Denver. Daniel is a ISSA and NASE certified trainer and is a NASM performance enhancement specialist. During the 2006-07 season, Daniel was an assistant coach at the University of Northern Colorado. A 1998 graduate of Washington State University, Daniel was a standout basketball player for the Cougars, garnering first team Pac-10 All-Academic honors each of his four seasons and capturing the first team Arthur Ashe Academic All-American honor twice. The Boulder, Colorado native finished in WSU’s top 10 in blocks (second), rebounds (sixth), field goal percentage (seventh), minutes played (eighth), points (ninth) and field goals (ninth). He garnered first team All-Pac 10 honors his senior season after averaging 16.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. The WSU graduate went on to play professionally in the CBA, IBL, as well as internationally in Japan, Israel, Australia and France. Daniel last played in 2004-05 with the Yakima Sun Kings, when he was selected to the CBA All-Star Game.

Tatalovich comes to New Orleans after spending the past four seasons with the Chicago Bulls, the last three as head video coordinator. In Chicago, Adam served under coaches Scott Skiles and Vinny Del Negro. Prior to Chicago, Adam worked at Attack Athletics under Tim Grover, working with college and professional players in the offseason. The Hobart, Indiana native spent the 2005-06 season at the University of Dayton where he served as a graduate assistant under coach Brian Gregory. Tatalovich graduated from Indiana University where he served as a student manager for the men’s basketball program.