Flash select 7-footer first in D-League draft

The Utah Flash used its first pick, No. 5 overall of the NBADL draft, to take 7-foot Garret Siler from Augusta State University in Georgia.

Siler spent the NBA preseason with the Hawks.

"The Siler deal really came from our affiliation with the Hawks," said Flash coach Brad Jones. "We spent four days down there with them and they loved him. He was their last cut. They think he has a great career ahead of him in the NBA, and we hope they're right."

Jones feels good about his center position going into training camp.

"We're locked in at center," said Jones. "We have Luke Nevill and we have this Siler guy. I was making sure this year that we had big (men), so we're really excited about that."

The Flash used its second pick for guard Orien Green who has spent three seasons with three different NBA teams including the Boston Celtics.

"When Orien Green was there, we had him No. 1 on our list as far as combo guards go, we didn't think he'd be there in the second round," said Jones. "But when he was there, we just had to take him."

Also drafted by the Flash were forward Kevin Goffney from Chattanooga, guard Jason Richards from Davidson, forward Joe Darger from UNLV and Riverton High School, guard Travis Holmes from VMI, forward Alain LaRoche from North Florida and UVU forward Jordan Brady.

The Flash will soon finalize invitations to its training camp, which opens Nov. 15.

"We have a lot of very good players coming back off of last year's team that actually went to the finals," Jones said. "So we really felt like we could really get aggressive and try to find guys to beat those guys out. Also, we have Lee Cummard and Luke Nevill coming in, so that just added to the depth of our returners."

DRAFT NOTES: Undrafted Syracuse guard Paul Harris, who missed all of training camp and the preseason because of a sprained ankle before getting waived by the Jazz, was selected No. 8 overall in the first round by Maine.