Jordan makes lukewarm debut

Jamaica's centre Jerome Jordan scored four points and grabbed two rebounds for the New York Knicks in their 100-90 defeat to the Denver Nuggets, in his National Basketball Association (NBA) Summer League debut match on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Despite Jordan's low scoring, Dan D'Antoni, the Knicks' assistant coach, told the team's website that he is pleased with his performance and believes Jordan will get better.

"With Jordan, he is a big guy but we were facing a line-up that was incredibly small. So I don't think we saw what he is capable of and it isn't really fair to assess him off this one game," D'Antoni said.

The seven-foot Jordan, who averaged 15 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game for the University of Tulsa, was selected 44th overall in the Draft by the Bucks. However, after being drafted by the Bucks, Jordan was then traded to the Knicks, which play in the Eastern Conference division. They won 29 games last season and will be seeking a much-needed lift as they failed to make the play-offs for the second consecutive year.

Jordan started all 35 games for Tulsa this season and was named Second-Team All-C-USA. He also earned NABC and Sports News first-team All-Conference USA honours and became the only player in C-USA history to grab at least 800 rebounds and block 300 shots. He also set the school record for blocked shots with 333.

A former Jamaica College student, Jordan is currently completing his degree in sports science.

- Robert Bailey