[ BASKETBALL ]
English released,
mulling his options
Despite being released by the Indiana Pacers, former Hawaii basketball star Carl English plans to play somewhere this season. A decision on where that will be could be coming this week.
English was among three players released by the Pacers on Sunday as the team trimmed its roster to 15 players in anticipation of today's deadline. English, a rookie shooting guard, point guard Omar Cook and forward Michael Smith were the last players cut by the team.
Harold Cipin, English's agent with Slingshot Management International, said English's options include playing in Europe, in the National Basketball Development League or the Continental Basketball Association.
"We're looking at all of the options and speaking to a lot of different people and he'll make a decision," Cipin said. "He's going to play somewhere this year, that's for sure, and he'll make his decision, hopefully by the end of the week, and we'll take it from there."
English signed with the Pacers as a free agent in July and made it to the final week of the preseason with the club before being released. He played an average of nine minutes in his six preseason appearances and scored 3.5 points per game.
English had his most productive game on Oct. 18 when he scored 11 points in 26 minutes against the Boston Celtics. He did not play in the Pacers' preseason finale against Denver on Sunday.
Although he didn't make the Pacers' opening-day roster, Cipin said English remains upbeat and still hopes to play in the NBA.
"He obviously has aspirations of playing in the (NBA)," Cipin said. "Everyone that he's spoken to in the Pacers organization and others in the league said that he's definitely NBA material. He'll hone his skills, he'll get a break and he'll be in the league. He's just not starting there right now.
"Carl's a very intelligent player and he knew that he'd have to get a break and he'd have to play well and everything would sort of have to align for him. But he's not discouraged in any way and he'll be pressing on."
English led UH with 19.6 points per game last season and was named to the Verizon Academic All-America third team. He graduated in the spring and had a year of college eligibility remaining when he entered the NBA Draft.
He went undrafted and signed a free-agent contract with an Indiana team that had most of its roster spots locked up by more experienced players. He had hoped to become the 18th Canadian to play in the NBA.
"(The Pacers) have a lot of talent, a lot of veteran players, and it's tough for young kids to crack the lineup, but he made a very gallant effort," Cipin said.
"He had an outstanding training camp, but the Indiana Pacers are a talent-laden team and with a different set of circumstances, different time, who knows? But in this particular go-around, he was very close."
English is the second player with Hawaii ties to be released within the last week. Former Brigham Young-Hawaii guard Yuta Tabuse was cut by the Denver Nuggets last Thursday.
Former Hawaii point guard Anthony Carter is on the San Antonio Spurs roster and averaged 5.5 points and 4.9 assists in eight preseason games. He played 19.25 minutes per game and started four games.
