Tyrone White, who played with the CSUB Roadrunners from 2011-2013, will be on the training camp roster of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League when they open camp this week after being selected in the third round of the NBA D League draft on Saturday.
The Vipers are the D-League affiliate of the NBA's Houston Rockets.
“This is a big opportunity,” White said. “It just goes to show you what you can accomplish if you stay committed to yourself and do what you want to do with basketball and do it.”
White played last season in both Cyprus and France before joining the Salem Sabres of the International Basketball League based in his native Pacific Northwest where he averaged 27 points and five rebounds per game, the third highest scoring in the IBL. White says it was a long year but the work paid off.
“I was working two full-time jobs, playing basketball but still getting my workouts in,” he said. “I never gave up.”
White averaged 10.7 points per game while shooting 43-percent from the field and 40-percent from three-point range during his final season with Bakersfield. He closed out his senior year with 27 points at Seattle U before scoring a career-high 30 points in his final game as a Roadrunner at Utah Valley.
White graduated in 2013 with a degree in liberal studies from CSU Bakersfield. He was one of the first players recruited to CSUB by head coach Rod Barnes.
“It's an exciting time for us and it's a great thing to see him each year getting better and to have this opportunity,” said Barnes. “A lot of people in the D-League called me about him and I knew he would get drafted; I think this is a start with our program where year in and year out you are going to see guys make their way up to the professional level.”
White credits Barnes with helping him not only get through college but help with recommendations after he graduated.
“Without a doubt the connections Coach Barnes had helped me a lot to deal with this,” White said. “He's a known man and he was willing to give me a good report. It showed I was a good kid willing to work hard and do the right thing and it paid off.”
White was the 14th pick in the third round of the D-League draft and becomes the second Roadrunner to be drafted into the NBA D-League. Former Roadrunner Demarcus Hall was selected by Bakersfield in the 2008 D-League Draft. Along with Hall, White joins former 'Runners, Zeke Andrews (Bakersfield) and Dwuan Rice (Idaho) as CSUB alumni that have played in the D-League.
White realizes while he is close to his NBA dream, he can't lose sight of the tasks ahead.
“I try not to think about it too much, I'm just trying to make this team and do my best.”
The McAllen, Texas-based Vipers won the NBA Development League Championship in 2010 and 2013. In 2013, the Vipers were also named the NBA Development League Development Champions, which recognizes the team that best embodies the NBA D-League's goals of developing NBA-caliber basketball talent via call-ups and assignments.
White will hit the floor with the Vipers for the first time on November 10 when they host NLBP's Fuerza Regia in an exhibition game.
Meanwhile the Roadrunners will open their exhibition season this weekend hosting Whittier College at the Icardo Center on Saturday night. Tipoff is at 7 P.M. Tickets are available by calling 654-BLUE or purchasing online at Vallitix.com
