Players in Review: Quincy Douby

Of all the players to put on a BayHawks uniform during the team’s inaugural season, no one had more of an NBA pedigree than Quincy Douby.

A quick look at Douby's NBA numbers certainly won’t blow you away, but he was a former first round pick (number 19 overall) of the Sacramento Kings.

To put the former Rutgers guard’s talent into perspective, consider this list of other guards chosen in the 2006 draft after him: Rajon Rondo, Marcus Williams, Kyle Lowry, Shannon Brown, and Jordan Farmar. Pretty good company.

Douby’s career got off to a dubious beginning in Sacramento, and his talent and body frame were very much in the model of Kings star Kevin Martin, making him expendable. So it wasn’t a complete surprise when he was waived by the Kings in February.

When the news came down, Douby had a decision to make about his NBA future. Sit around and wait for another NBA team to come calling or sign a D-League contract and make someone notice him. Douby chose the latter and Erie claimed him off waivers on March 11.

He made his D-League debut March 13 when Erie hosted the Dakota Wizards. Incidentally, that was one of the two games I watched live in person, and of all the BayHawks that played in that game, Douby stood out for his ability to get his shot off whenever he wanted. Although he went just 2-of-6 from 3-point range, he did score 16 points in just under 17 minutes of play.

He would go on to play in four more games for Erie, averaging 18.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28.6 minutes per game before he was called up by the Toronto Raptors. He was first signed to a 10-day contract before eventually being signed on by the Raptors for the rest of the season. He was the first call-up in BayHawks history.

Whether Douby is back in Toronto next year or not is a job for another blog, but his short stint in Erie gave fans a glimpse of the kind of talents that can be showcased in the D-League, even if only for a handful of games.

Since the goal of the D-League is to prepare players for the NBA, the best D-Leaguers won’t stay around for long. But it gives fans a great opportunity to catch future NBA players on the upswing, so that they can say, “I knew so-and-so back when…” That was the appeal of Douby in Erie, and that will be the appeal of luring future NBA prospects to play for the BayHawks en route to their dreams of the call-up.