The Hornets signed two more players to non-guaranteed contracts this week, bringing the roster to 14 as training camp approaches.  The D-League focused blog Ridiculous Upside broke down each player.

On guard DJ Strawberry:

Strawberry has primarily been known to be a defensive presence, but he showcased a few new skills in the D-League this past season which leads me to believe that the NBA could be in his future again.  He didn’t light the world on fire this past season after joining the Bighorns in January, but he did look alright as a point guard – something that I didn’t originally expect him to showcase – and averaged 5.5 assists as the backup off the bench.  He also put up the best field goal percentage of his career, a scorching 52%, but the 34% three-point percentage shows that his range still isn’t really there – he’s just better at getting to the bucket.

On 6-11 Center Darryl Watkins:

He began his rookie season by appearing in nine games with the Kings before being released and entering the NBA Development League for some seasoning.  His D-League debut was less than stellar, split between the Los Angeles D-Fenders and Iowa Energy where he totaled 6.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in right around 20 minutes of action.  The following season, he put up some tremendous numbers in China (like every other American in China) which earned him a training camp invite with the Cavaliers.

After being cut by the Cavaliers prior to the season beginning, Watkins had planned to re-join the D-League and hope for a call-up. Unfortunately, he discovered he had staph infection . . . This led Watkins to missing the entire season.

For more about each player, including more on their careers up to this point, read the rest of the article.  Good stuff.

I could see either guy making the team as end of the benchers, particularly Strawberry.  I wouldn’t expect any real impact from either of them, though.