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Let's get excited about the 15th man on our dept chart, because eh, it's summer.
Bio information
He stands at 6''1' and has a 6''4' wingspan.
He weights in at 184.
It was his birthday on august the 2nd, he now is 23 years old.
He is known for his bulldog approach to the game (sounds like another PG I know).
He got into legal trouble once, from what appears to be more of a drunken behavior than anything else.
Full story here :
http://www.kpax.com/news/griz-basket...issoula-fight/
High school career
He was a stud in high school, as of Wikipedia :
Cherry's team won the state tournament, winning against forever rival Damien Lillard.
He was a tremendous leader and a clutch performer during their title run :
College Carreer
He was injured in his senior year, which marked an overall decrease in his efficiency posting his lowest eFG% and a TS% of ,524%. He is a good play-maker, had an AST% rate of 26% in his senior year, his highest. He is a good defender, posting Dratings of 91,91,90,98 (injured senior year).
He then went undrafted and struggled in his team NCAA lost to Syracuse vs Carter-Williams.
D-League
He posted an higher FG% than in college, near 45%, and also posted his best 3PT% at 33%. He averaged 4,5 AST a game for 1,9 TO and showcased intelligent play-making, not playing out of control. Nothing really stands out there, but he never was a walking highlight reel.
Relationship with Damien Lillard
Being from the same area and playing in the same conference, they faced each other quite a lot.
Full story here: http://www.nba.com/dleague/news/will...014_08_04.html
Best parts here :
Highlights and other stuff
From the D-League
Bio information
He stands at 6''1' and has a 6''4' wingspan.
He weights in at 184.
It was his birthday on august the 2nd, he now is 23 years old.
He is known for his bulldog approach to the game (sounds like another PG I know).
He got into legal trouble once, from what appears to be more of a drunken behavior than anything else.
Wikipedia wrote:
http://www.kpax.com/news/griz-basket...issoula-fight/
KPAX wrote:
He was a stud in high school, as of Wikipedia :
Wikipedia wrote:
He was a tremendous leader and a clutch performer during their title run :
gogriz wrote:
Wikipedia wrote:
He then went undrafted and struggled in his team NCAA lost to Syracuse vs Carter-Williams.
D-League
He posted an higher FG% than in college, near 45%, and also posted his best 3PT% at 33%. He averaged 4,5 AST a game for 1,9 TO and showcased intelligent play-making, not playing out of control. Nothing really stands out there, but he never was a walking highlight reel.
Relationship with Damien Lillard
Being from the same area and playing in the same conference, they faced each other quite a lot.
Full story here: http://www.nba.com/dleague/news/will...014_08_04.html
Best parts here :
Before Damian Lillard faced the likes of Chris Paul, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook each night, there was one point guard he couldn’t shake.
From the streets of Oakland to the mountains of Utah, Will Cherry stuck to Lillard like a thorn in his side -- the same way he guarded him and anyone else who crossed him on the court, for that matter
From the streets of Oakland to the mountains of Utah, Will Cherry stuck to Lillard like a thorn in his side -- the same way he guarded him and anyone else who crossed him on the court, for that matter
“I respected him from the first time I ever played against him,” Lillard said of Cherry, whose games with the NBA D-League’s Canton Charge he tracked this past season. “He was just a dog. He played hard, he was aggressive -- fearless.”
Now, two and a half years after they last faced off, Cherry has trailed Lillard all the way to the NBA.
The news that the 6-foot pitbull of a point guard has signed with the Toronto Raptors comes three weeks after Lillard served as his former rival’s de facto promoter at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
The Blazers star watched proudly as Cherry, a two-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, hounded NBA hopefuls as the Cavaliers’ sixth man.
“He deserves to be on an NBA team,” Lillard told NBADLeague.com after Cherry finished with 21 points and a standing ovation from the crowd in his second game.
Now, two and a half years after they last faced off, Cherry has trailed Lillard all the way to the NBA.
The news that the 6-foot pitbull of a point guard has signed with the Toronto Raptors comes three weeks after Lillard served as his former rival’s de facto promoter at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
The Blazers star watched proudly as Cherry, a two-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, hounded NBA hopefuls as the Cavaliers’ sixth man.
“He deserves to be on an NBA team,” Lillard told NBADLeague.com after Cherry finished with 21 points and a standing ovation from the crowd in his second game.
Their rivalry-turned-brotherhood is born out of a basic tenet of Oakland: The 510 takes care of its own. "When we're playing against each other, we do not like each other at all," said Orlando Watkins, who coached Lillard at Oakland High. "But once that final horn goes off ... we're actually a really close-knit city."
Eleven years ago, Watkins watched as Cherry exhibited all of the qualities of an Oakland point guard even while still in junior high: an unflappable court presence, a take-no-prisoners mentality and, most importantly, a burning desire to beat the player lined up across from him.
He arrived at the gym that day hoping he could convince Cherry to join Lillard at Oakland High. Instead their paths ran parallel: Lillard's eventual success at Weber State led Montana coaches to pursue Cherry, Watkins said.
By the September of 2012, Cherry was poised to become the next sleeper out of the Big Sky when he broke his foot during a pick-up game. Montana coaches sat him down to discuss the option of red-shirting his senior season.
"Coach, I can play," he told head coach Wayne Tinkle.
Tinkle estimated that Cherry played at 60 percent from the time he returned in December until March, when he led the Grizzlies to their third NCAA tournament appearance in four years to the detriment of his pro prospects.
“He was so passionate about his teammates that were there at the time that he didn't want to let any of them down,” said Tinkle, who has since moved on to Oregon State.
Still not fully recovered after graduation, Cherry played just 12 minutes for the Pelicans at the 2013 Summer League and waited for offers from European teams that never came. "This injury set me back a little bit," he told Watkins, "but when I get an opportunity, I'm gonna take it and run with it."
Eleven years ago, Watkins watched as Cherry exhibited all of the qualities of an Oakland point guard even while still in junior high: an unflappable court presence, a take-no-prisoners mentality and, most importantly, a burning desire to beat the player lined up across from him.
He arrived at the gym that day hoping he could convince Cherry to join Lillard at Oakland High. Instead their paths ran parallel: Lillard's eventual success at Weber State led Montana coaches to pursue Cherry, Watkins said.
By the September of 2012, Cherry was poised to become the next sleeper out of the Big Sky when he broke his foot during a pick-up game. Montana coaches sat him down to discuss the option of red-shirting his senior season.
"Coach, I can play," he told head coach Wayne Tinkle.
Tinkle estimated that Cherry played at 60 percent from the time he returned in December until March, when he led the Grizzlies to their third NCAA tournament appearance in four years to the detriment of his pro prospects.
“He was so passionate about his teammates that were there at the time that he didn't want to let any of them down,” said Tinkle, who has since moved on to Oregon State.
Still not fully recovered after graduation, Cherry played just 12 minutes for the Pelicans at the 2013 Summer League and waited for offers from European teams that never came. "This injury set me back a little bit," he told Watkins, "but when I get an opportunity, I'm gonna take it and run with it."
At 23, Cherry heads to Toronto as the player everyone from Oakland to Montana envisioned he could become: a dynamic floor general, whose quickness, court vision and improved jump shot have built him into a pick-and-roll weapon; an ultra-competitive scrapper with an insatiable work ethic, who entered Montana as a wiry teenager and left looking “like an NFL defensive back,” Tinkle said; and still, above all, the defensive dog Lillard met all those years ago.
“I was most proud of how he just stayed Will,” Lillard said. “He was always Will Cherry, whether he was new to a team or things weren't going well.”
“I was most proud of how he just stayed Will,” Lillard said. “He was always Will Cherry, whether he was new to a team or things weren't going well.”
Highlights and other stuff
From the D-League
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