Trail Blazers sign community college product Luis Montero
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Summer league can make for amazing stories.
The Portland Trail Blazers signed relatively unknown guard Luis Montero on Saturday, the team announced.
Signing a player to a non-guaranteed contract during the offseason is hardly new for NBA teams. Since teams can take up to 20 players into camp, filling out a preseason roster with intriguing prospects in order to get to know them better is commonplace. It's also beneficial to the player, as they get pro instruction and create a quick line to a parent club if they wind up in the D-League.
But Montero's story is far more interesting, as he wasn't even remotely on the draft radar in June. He wasn't even on the NCAA radar.
The 22-year-old Montero most recently played for Westchester Community College in 2013-14, only to have the school's athletic program shut down for 2014-15. In his last season with Westchester, the Dominican Republic product averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and three assists per game. Montero originally committed to South Florida but wasn't academically eligible, and his time at Westchester saw him become one of the top ju-co recruits in the country.
Instead of transferring - his academics still weren't where they needed to be - he opted to go pro.
"A lot of teams wanted me to play for them in summer league," Montero told Mike Richman of The Oregonian. "We got the best opportunity."
The best opportunity, indeed, as two games with the Blazers in Las Vegas have led to a deal, however small. The Blazers brought Montero in for workouts prior to the 2015 NBA Draft, where he shot well, and he's hit 2-of-4 from outside in Vegas play so far.
"For my country it was a surprise," Montero said of his opportunity. "Nobody anticipated this."
At 6-foot-7, the shooting guard needs to add plenty of weight to his 185-pound frame, but Blazers summer coach Nate Tibbetts has been impressed with his mobility relative to his height.
"I'm going to do whatever I got to do," Montero said of making the most of his extended stay with the Blazers.
Unfortunately for Montero, Portland is one of 12 teams that share a single D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne. The Blazers could still make him an affiliate player if he doesn't make the NBA roster, but they'll have far less control over his development than a franchise with an exclusive partnership would.