Warriors announce opening night roster, team ready to start regular season.
The Santa Cruz Warriors announced their opening night roster late Thursday night, waiving guard John Allen, and forward Paul Crosby.
Allen, 24, averaged 3 points in 4.5 minutes played over two preseason games with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Crosby, 24, did not make an appearance during the preseason for the Warriors as he was away from the team for personal reasons.
The roster consists of 12 players, ten active as well Joe Alexander and Taylor Griffin, who are currently recuperating from injuries.
Santa Cruz Warriors coach Casey Hill is eager for the season to begin, "I'm excited to get started, the D-League offseason is the longest one," said Hill. "I'm hungry."
Returning player Cameron Jones feels similarly about opening night and the fans of Santa Cruz, "Last year's opening night was a lot of fun and I'm hoping tomorrow night will be the same kind of atmosphere," said Jones. "I'm expecting the fans to be loud and for us to play real hard."
Coach Hill is pleased with Golden State's decision to call-up center Dewayne Dedmon earlier this week to their team and earn his NBA contract, "I couldn't be happier for (Dedmon), I feel like we've fulfilled our duty as an organization getting him into the NBA," said Hill.
The call-up of Dewayne Dedmon to Golden State leaves a hole at the center position for the Santa Cruz team, but it's not something that worries Coach Hill, "I don't think (Dewayne's departure) has had a major effect," said Hill. "The D-League is an undersized league and we've got plenty of talent left on our team to compete at any level of D-League basketball."
Jones knows the adversity the team faces with the loss of Dedmon, "On defense (Dedmon) was our main rebounder and our main shot blocker, he was there to bail us out," said Jones. "It's going to be a challenge, he got the rebounds first, but somebody's going to have to get them for us next time."
The Warriors open their season at home Friday night against the Austin Toros at 7:30 p.m.
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