Scott Caulfield sends in Part 2 of his experience at Will Voigt's Bakersfield Jam training camp. A big thanks to Scott for doing this! Sounds like things are going well out west, and I know Frost Heave fans are planning and trying to figure out how to see Voigt and the Jam while they are in Portland, Maine, to face the Red Claws in December.
Scott writes:
"Well my week in the D-League has come to an end, but I have to say it was a great experience helping Coach Voigt out again and meeting some new friends. First and foremost that crosses my mind is that Will has once again surrounded himself with high quality staff members. Assistant Coach Greg Minor, who played with the Celtics, is one of the nicest and most genuine people I have ever met in my life. I had the pleasure of putting Greg through a workout today before I left, and he worked as hard as any player has this week. Assistant Coach Chris Leazier (formerly with St. Anslem and Dartmouth College) is another person who I can’t say enough good things about. One of Chris’s many duties for Coach has him with the unique job of “translating” Coach Voigt’s basketball vocab into a “layman’s dictionary,” meaning he has to define every basketball term the Jam use and put it on paper in wording that “your mother would understand,” so the players can best study these terms.
Frost Heaves fans will be happy to hear that John Williams and Benson Callier are still in Bakersfield as of Friday night. Benson was put on the injured reserve due to some plantar faciaitis problems that is keeping him from playing to his full capability, so Coach has put him on this list until he can get back to full speed. This also keeps him safe from being cut as the injured list is a bit of a safe haven (for now…). John Williams fans should feel great knowing that John is currently the best point guard the Jam have in camp. John is a consistent defender and can score at will against very tough D-league defenders. I never had the opportunity to work with these guys when they played for the Heaves but it has been a highlight to have in common being “Frost Heaves Alumni” with these two young men.
Here are a few more quick highlights (and lowlights) from camp off the top of my head. Be prepared to get on YouTube and type in “Best International Dunk Ever, Jared Newson”. Jared in going to be playing for the Jam this season and is an absolute animal on the court, our good friend Benson Callier was welcomed to the NBADL this week as Ben got dunked on so hard by Jared in a drill this week that it nearly brought the camp to a standstill…! Coach Voigt also found out that his top draft pick Amara Sy (France) has a small fracture in his wrist and could be out from one to eight weeks, ugh. Amara reminds me of Issa Konare except more athletic and polished as a basketball player (yup I said it and that’s saying a LOT), Amara has been playing professionally in First Division France for the past 8 years, and is on many NBA teams radar.
Frost Heaves fans will be happy to hear that John Williams and Benson Callier are still in Bakersfield as of Friday night. Benson was put on the injured reserve due to some plantar faciaitis problems that is keeping him from playing to his full capability, so Coach has put him on this list until he can get back to full speed. This also keeps him safe from being cut as the injured list is a bit of a safe haven (for now…). John Williams fans should feel great knowing that John is currently the best point guard the Jam have in camp. John is a consistent defender and can score at will against very tough D-league defenders. I never had the opportunity to work with these guys when they played for the Heaves but it has been a highlight to have in common being “Frost Heaves Alumni” with these two young men.
Here are a few more quick highlights (and lowlights) from camp off the top of my head. Be prepared to get on YouTube and type in “Best International Dunk Ever, Jared Newson”. Jared in going to be playing for the Jam this season and is an absolute animal on the court, our good friend Benson Callier was welcomed to the NBADL this week as Ben got dunked on so hard by Jared in a drill this week that it nearly brought the camp to a standstill…! Coach Voigt also found out that his top draft pick Amara Sy (France) has a small fracture in his wrist and could be out from one to eight weeks, ugh. Amara reminds me of Issa Konare except more athletic and polished as a basketball player (yup I said it and that’s saying a LOT), Amara has been playing professionally in First Division France for the past 8 years, and is on many NBA teams radar.
I’d like to thank Anna for allowing me to share my thoughts with everyone during my time here in Bakersfield. I hope it gave you a bit of an insight into what an NBADL training camp is like. In closing I will say if you haven’t heard, the Bakersfield Jam will be playing the new Portland D-league team on December 26th & 27th in Maine, so if you want to see Coach Voigt and his new crew you should think about making a little road trip.
Thanks, Scott"
-Anna Grearson
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