Inaugural Energy Build With Defense

When the NBA Development League expansion draft was complete Wednesday, Iowa Energy coach Nick Nurse had what he wanted - the chance to sign three top defenders in last year's league.

The Energy will open their inaugural D-League season in November and hope first-round draft choice Will Conroy, second-round pick Jackie Manuel and third-round pick Anthony Terrell are on the Energy roster.

"I talked with a lot of the NBA teams about the players who could play defense and the top three guys we drafted were in the top five for a lot of the teams," Nurse said. "I really think that we had a great draft.

"Other players chosen by the Energy from the rosters of the 12 teams in last year's league included former Creighton standout Deanthony Bowden, former Stanford forward Matt Haryasz and former Georgia Tech center Luke Schenscher.

Conroy and Manuel were the fourth and fifth overall picks of the 10-round expansion draft.

Iowa was one of four teams allowed to pick 10 players from the rosters of the 12 teams that competed last year. Ten of the teams are returning for the 2007-08 season, but two - Arkansas and Fort Worth - have gone dormant. The entire rosters from those two teams were included in Wednesday's draft.

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source : desmoinesregister.com