Leicester Riders coach Rob Paternostro has admitted his interest in bringing back American point guard Duane James to fill the vacancy left by the departed Tack Minor.
James, who was released by Spanish club Guadalajara a few months ago, was one of the key performers with the Midlands outfit last term when they earned a surprise top-four finish in the BBL.
With Minor, the league’s second-highest scorer, exiting before Christmas, it has left Paternostro with a huge vacancy to fill despite the alternative options of Isaac Westbrook and Bradd Wierzbicki at that spot.
And James could be the perfect fit, he concedes, to come in ahead of next weekend’s Trophy clash with Guildford.
“Duane is the kind of guy we want,” Paternostro said. “We loved having him around last season, on and off the floor. He’s certainly talented as you saw when he got an opportunity to play in Spain.
“All the reports are that he did well there but it was just that his club had to go in a different direction.“
If James finalises his return, it could push Leicester towards a different look than with the shot-happy Minor who visibly struggled to run plays and who was described by one team source as “difficult”.
“He left for personal issues but I think Tack is a talented guy and I hope he will be able to progress his career,” Paternostro stated.
“But when we went to Worthing without him, I thought we were able to share the ball more and we were more efficient in going inside-out. The guys were in different positions and that was more effective. And we’ll look to do more of that.”
.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment