Armor send three players to D-League All-Star Game.
Armor guard JamesOn Curry and teammates Jerry Smith and Jeff Foote have been selected for the D-League All-Star Game.SPRINGFIELD – It’s a good day to be a Springfield Armor player.
Armor players JamesOn Curry, Jerry Smith and Jeff Foote were selected to represent Springfield at the sixth annual NBA D-League All-Star Game Feb. 25 at Orlando, Fla.
Curry is the longest tenured Armor player and the only one to have received an NBA call-up in the three-year history of the franchise.
Smith, who earned D-League performer of the week honors for his play last week in a pair of wins over Sioux Falls, leads the Armor in scoring at 17.7 points a game.
Foote ranks sixth in the D-League in rebounding and has registered a team-high eight double-doubles.
“It speaks a lot to our team and I think guys like Dennis Horner, Lance Hurdle and L.D. Williams can all be in our spot as well,” Foote said. “We have a tremendous team and it’s an honor to play with these guys and I’m very happy to be on this team in Springfield.”
“It’s great,” Smith said. “This past year I’ve put my all into it and dedicated to try and get better and for it to pay off like this is an unbelievable feeling.”
The only better news for a D-League player would be a call-up to the NBA and getting selected by fan voting and the D-League coaches for the All-Star Game is a step in the right direction.
“I hope so, that’s the goal,” Smith said. “It can only help, it can’t hurt.”
All three players spent time in NBA camps during the preseason, Curry and Smith with the Nets, who are in a hybrid relationship with the Armor, and Foote with Portland.
“It’s been kind of a wild ride for me the last two years so it’s kind of nice to be recognized again,” Foote said.
The Armor signed Foote out of the available player pool. Foote spent last year playing in Israel and Spain and started this season in Poland before returning stateside and joining Erie in the preseason.
This is Smith’s second season with the Armor after finishing up at Louisville under coach Rick Pitino. Curry is in his third season with the Armor and is the only member of the franchise to have earned a call-up back in the 2009-2010 season.
Springfield returns to the court Thursday night when they host the Texas Legends at the MassMutual Center. It will be the fifth game of a six-game homestand, the longest of the year for the Armor.
In fact, the Armor are in the midst of a stretch in which they play nine of 10 games at home, a crucial period of the season.
“I think we have some good momentum going and hopefully we can keep it going and continue to get wins,” Smith said.