The Celtics are adding an off-the-radar prospect, having invited undrafted Damen Bell-Holter to training camp, the power forward tells A.J. Jankowski of the Ketchikan Daily News. Germany's Telekom Baskets Bonn had just declined to renew Bell-Holter's three-week tryout contract when the Celtics extended their offer to agents Mitchell Butler and Toby Bailey. Bell-Holter indicates to Jankowski that he'll accept the invitation.
The Alaskan-born Bell-Holter wasn't highly regarded coming out of Oral Roberts this year. Neither DraftExpress nor ESPN.com listed him in their prospect rankings, and we didn't hear of any NBA team bringing him in for a predraft workout. The 6'9" power forward didn't take part in NBA summer league action after averaging 15.5 points and 9.4 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game as a college senior this past season. NBA scouts may have been most familiar with him from his work at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this spring, where he put up 7.7 PPG and 4.3 RPG in nearly 24 minutes of action per contest against other NCAA seniors.
The 23-year-old was sorting through offers before the Celtics called, and he said he was probably going to accept one from a team in Greece. Instead, Bell-Holter will have a shot, however remote, at making the Celtics regular season squad next month. His addition will give the Celtics 19 players, one short of the training camp roster limit. The deal is non-guaranteed, Bell-Holter confirms to Jankowski.
If Bell-Holter survives camp cuts, he'll become just the second player born in Alaska to appear in an NBA regular season game, joining Mario Chalmers.
You mean 3rd… How quickly we forget about Trajan Langdon.
Trajan was born outside of the State of Alaska. Even though he did grow up in Alaska. My mom use to babysit for him when he lived in Craig, AK before the Langdon family moving north.