Amid all the hubbub (there's a fun word I don't get to use often enough) surrounding the D-League Showcase this week, it's likely that the Erie BayHawks' roster move was merely a glitch on your basketball radar. They signed guard Booker Woodfox and waived guard Martin Zeno. If you did catch the news, your first thought was probably something like "Booker Woodfox? What a (insert descriptive adjective of choice here) name. Who's he?"
Well, I've done a bit of research to answer that question for you.
After playing two years of junior college at San Jacinto College, Woodfox went to Creighton as a junior and earned Missouri Valley Conference 6th Man of the Year. Then, as a senior, Woodfox averaged 15.8 points in 24.9 minutes per game and earned the Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year Award. More importantly for the BayHawks, he's a shooter, which is something they lack. Woodfox upped his 3-point attempts and 3-point percentage last year at Creighton, converting on 91-191 (47.6 percent) of his 3s, including a 7-9 effort on the road against St. Joseph's. He also shot 86.8 percent from the free throw line.
Woodfox coming out of nowhere is nothing new. The 6'1" guard was barely a blip on the Creighton fans' radar when he first signed on, but he won them over in a hurry as Max Univers writes on Inside Creighton Hoops here and here.
Of course, he wasn't totally off the Erie radar this season. After all, he did start out the season in training camp with Erie's favorite roster rival, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. It's only fitting that the BayHawks should add him now. Following the D-League showcase, Erie hosts the Mad Ants for their next three games, Saturday, Sunday, and next Wednesday (Jan. 13). Woodfox is just the latest in a growing list of players with ties to both the Mad Ants and BayHawks, which should make for a spirited series of games.
Shooting is clearly the reason he was brought in for Erie. Martin Zeno was not getting the job done at 36 percent from the field and just 0-7 from 3-point range. Along with the trade acquisition of Mike Gansey, the BayHawks are clearly trying to rebuild on the run with an emphasis on shooters.
Woodfox's size makes him a bit of a concern on the defensive end, howver, especially if he's going to play the two-guard at this level. I don't foresee him taking a lot of point guard minutes from Cliff Clinkscales/Cedric Jackson right now, but maybe that's a possibility down the line. In the meantime, other teams will try to exploit him on the defensive end if he's matched up against other two-guards. But that's a problem for the future.
The bottom line is that right now Erie has problems—major problems—shooting the ball, especially from 3-point range. Considering that Woodfox trails only Kyle Korver on the Creighton single season 3-pointers made list, I think he's definitely worth a look as an answer to solve Erie's shooting woes.
And finally, in totally useless non- and uber-non celebrity trivia, Woodfox is one day shy of being exactly two years younger than me. Hey, I told you I did some research!
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