Center Johnny Hamilton has signed a partially-guaranteed, one-year contract with the Pistons, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype tweets.
It’s a training camp deal and he’ll likely be an affiliate player who will spend next season with their G League club, the Grand Rapids Drive, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. Hamilton showed strong scoring instincts on the Pistons’ summer league team in Las Vegas, Langlois adds.
Hamilton, 24, played one season with the University of Texas-Arlington after transferring from Virginia Tech. The 7-footer posted averages of 11.1 PPG, 8.1 RPG and 2.3 BPG at UTA. He was eligible for this year’s draft but wasn’t selected.
He appeared in three summer league games and averaged 4.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.7 BPG in 12.7 MPG.
Strong numbers in the Summer League, don’t mean anything but he might be a keeper for Detroit, at least deserves a chance.
Johnny Hamilton has exciting potential on both sides of the ball. He didn’t play organized basketball until his late teens and injuries kept him off the court at Virginia Tech. He broke through in one season at Texas Arlington. He has excellent instincts for the game and just needs more repetitions and good coaching. Pistons have something in him.