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Fast Facts About The Newest Blazers

Don't have time to study up on each of our recent acquisitions? Use this quick reference guide to get to know Rip City's newest players.

By TeamMom
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Sometimes players are added to the roster at a slow and steady pace. Sometimes they join our ranks in bunches.

We've had a heck of a month highlighted by many new additions. Here are some fast facts to introduce you to the new guys and get you excited to watch them play (in order by age). This list includes the 7 new players drafted or traded to the team since the season ended who are most likely to make the 2015-16 roster. Some facts are basketball related and some are just interesting stories to help us get to know Rip City's newest residents.

Know any stories that aren't covered here? Feel free to share them in the comments. And welcome to Rip City guys!

xoxo Team Mom

Noah Vonleh

19 yr old 6'10" 240 lb Power Forward with a 7'4" wingspan.

Facebook

Twitter  @NoahVonleh

Instagram @nvonleh

  • Vonleh's hands are enormous: Length: 9.75in Width: 11.75 inches

  • Played 1 year for Indiana. In 30 games (29 starts) he averaged 11.3 pts, 9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. He was named Big-10 Freshman of the Year.

  • In this draft video by The Post Game, he pronounces his name Von-LAY (not VON-Lee). We also learn that he ruined his mother's floors playing basketball in the house.

  • Drafted 9th overall by Hornets in 2014.

  • His paternal Grandfather, Chief Blahsue Vonleh, was Paramount Chief of the Doe Clan, in Nimia County, Liberia from 1920 until his death in 1947. Vonleh Village in Liberia was named in his honor and is headed by his son, Chief Tarkpour Vonleh.

  • Vonleh played only 25 games his rookie season. His development was in part delayed because he missed most of the preseason recovering from surgery for a sports hernia. Whats a sports hernia? I had to ask that too. Its a soft tissue injury in the groin area that usually occurs in athletes who do a great deal of twisting and turning.

  • In 25 games with Charlotte, Vonleh shot .395  FG%, .692 FT% and averaged 3.4 rebounds per game.

  • He bought his mom a car for Mothers Day and had a super-sweet message for her.

Pat Connaughton

22 yr old 6'5" 210 lb Forward/Guard

Twitter @PlanetPat5

Instagram @planetpat5

  • In 2011, his senior year in high school, Connaughton was drafted by the San Diego Padres. He did not sign with them and chose instead to attend Notre Dame where he would play both baseball and basketball.

  • In 4 years at Notre Dame, he averaged .450 FG% and .777 FT% shooting and 5.9 rebounds per game.

  • The Baltimore Orioles drafted him as a pitcher in the 4th round of the 2014 MLB draft.  He had six games (four starts) for the Short-Season Class A Aberdeen IronBirds before returning to finish his senior year at Notre Dame.

  • He recorded a 96 mph fastball while playing with the IronBirds.

  • Holds the record for the most games played for Notre Dame (139).

  • He recorded a 44 inch vertical leap at the 2014 NBA Draft combine, the second highest on record.

  • Drafted 41st by the Nets, traded along with Mason Plumlee to the Blazers for Steve Blake and draft rights to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

  • Close friends with fellow Notre Dame alumnus Jerian Grant (son of former Blazer Harvey Grant), with whom he shared the team's 2015 MVP award.

  • Graduated in the Spring 2015 with a degree in Management consulting from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business.

Maurice "Moe" Harkless

22 year old 6'9 215 lb Small Forward

Facebook

Twitter: @moe_harkless

Instagram: @moe_harlkess

  • Moe grew up in New York City. His final year of high school he transferred to elite South Kent prep in Connecticut. He received scholarship offers from universities across the country including Oregon but opted to stay in his hometown and attend St. John's so he could be near his family and support his older sister who was undergoing treatment for cancer.

  • Attended University of St. John's for one year where he shot .452 FG%, .676 FT% and averaged 8.6 rebounds per game. Named Big East's Rookie of the year for 2012.

  • Holds the Big East record for all-time most points scored in a debut: 32 points v. Providence.

  • In 2012 Moe was drafted 15th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers and moved to Orlando before the season started as a part of the trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers.

  • Harkless started 59 games his first year in Orlando, but as the team acquired more players in his position, he lost ground. He played 76 games and 80 games in his first two years but only 45 in his final season with the Magic.

  • In three seasons with Orlando he shot .452 FG%, .577 FT% and averaged 3.5 rebounds per game.

  • Growing up his favorite player was Tracy McGrady.

  • Nasty, nasty rookie dunk over RoLo.

Al-Farouq Aminu

24 year old 6'9" 215 lb Small Forward.

Facebook

Twitter @farouq1

Instagram @alfarouqaminu

  • He played for Wake Forest before being selected in the 2010 draft by the Clippers.

  • Aminu played with Chris Kaman for the Clippers in 2010-11 and was part of a trade that brought them to New Orleans in exchange for Chris Paul.

  • He scored his career-high of 20 points in only his 8th professional game (November 9, 2010), April 17 2013 he grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds.

  • He competed on the 2012 Summer Olympics with the Nigerian National Team.

  • Al-Farouq is close to his older brother Alade, who played for Georgia Tech. Alade is also a member of the Nigerian National team. Here is a video of Alade interviewing Al-Farouq.

  • His name means "The Chief Has Arrived." His family is descended from a line of Nigerian Kings.

  • In 2008 as a teenager, Aminu was arrested along with two friends for shooting a woman with a BB-gun in Norcross, GA. The victim reportedly asked the prosecutor for leniency in the case. Aminu served 3 years of probation and has steered clear of any trouble since then.

  • He has his own line of glasses (both sunglasses and eyeglasses) called  ROUQ, a collaboration with GEEK EYEWEAR.

  • Over 5 years, Aminu's regular season numbers: .437 FG%, .726 FT% and 5.3 Rebounds per game.

  • In this video by JRSportsBrief, filmed while he was with New Orleans, Aminu talks about playing on the Nigerian National team with his brother and dunking on his then-teammate, Robin Lopez.


Mason Plumlee

25 year old 6'11" 235 lb Center

Facebook

Twitter @masonplumlee

Instagram @masonplumlee

  • Mason's older brother Miles plays in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks. The two played at Duke together in 2009-10, when they won the NCAA National Championship.

  • Younger brother Marshall also played basketball for Duke and younger sister Madeleine plays volleyball for Notre Dame.

  • Mason participated in the 2015 All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk contest. He was eliminated in the first round.

  • He was a member of the U.S. Men's National Basketball Team which won the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

  • In 4 years at Duke, Mason shot .547 FG% and .583 FT% and averaged 7.7 rebounds. To get a sense of his progress over the years, he went from averaging 3.1 rebounds per game his freshman year to 9.9 per game his senior year.

  • Plumlee played on the Duke team that lost to CJ McCollum's Lehigh team in the 2012 NCAA tournament.

  • Plumlee expected to be one-and-done at Duke but with so much talent on the roster, he had a hard time breaking through in his first few years. Playing all four years meant he played with both his older brother, Miles, in 2009 and his younger brother Marshall in 2012.

  • In 2013 he was selected 22nd by the Brooklyn Nets. In two years with them he played 152 games. He shot .606 FG% and .545 FT% and averaged 5.4 rebounds per game.

  • Plumlee perpetrated one of the biggest party fouls in the league last year when he ran into a waitress at a Wizards game and knocked her and the 6 drinks she was carrying to the ground. Enjoy this story told by the waitress who described the collision as "total calamity."

Ed Davis

26 year old 6'10" 225 Power Forward

Facebook

Twitter @eddavis32

Instagram @eddavis32

  • Played for University of North Carolina where he won the 2009 NCAA Championship his freshman year. That year he was a solid bench player averaging 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in 18.8 minutes. He broke his wrist in February of his sophomore year after showing an uptick in his both scoring and rebounding. He declared for the draft at the end of his sophomore year.

  • Son of NBA player Terry Davis.

  • Drafted by the Raptors with the 13th pick in 2010. He was lauded for his length, his athletic ability, and being able to finish close to the rim. Main concerns were strength and a hard time shooting from outside the paint. In 3 years and 176 games with the Raptors he averaged .547 FG%, .615 FT% and 6.8 Rebounds per game.

  • In 2013 he was part of the three-team "Rudy Gay trade" which sent Gay to Toronto, Ed Davis, Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to the Memphis Grizzlies and Jose Calderon to the Detroit Pistons. He was acquired by Memphis to be the back-up and possible heir to Zach Randolph. However, Randolph did not get the message that he was supposed to get old and Davis struggled to find meaningful minutes off the bench. In two years -- 99 games -- he averaged .529 FG%, .545 FT% and 4.2 rebounds.

  • In October 2013 he was ejected from a game and fined $15,000 for "making excessive and unnecessary contact with Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas."

  • In July 2014 he entered a 2-year, $2 million contract with the Lakers in an effort to land a role with meaningful minutes. In 79 games he averaged .601 FG%, .481 FT% and 7.6 rebounds per game.

  • Favorite players are Chris Bosh (from his draft night interview) and Kevin Garnett (Lakers introduction video).

  • He is left-handed.

  • At the beginning of last season Charles Barkley declared that he wasn't going to eat until the Lakers won a game. After the Lakers defeated Hornets to win their first game on November 9, Ed Davis did not mince words with his tweet : "Charles, your fat a-- can eat now."

Gerald Henderson Jr

27 year old 6'5" 215 lb shooting guard

Twitter @GhJr09

Instagram @g_hender09

  • Played 3 years for Duke, lead team in scoring his junior year.

  • Finished his degree from Duke in September of 2014 and participated in the May 2015 graduation ceremony.

  • He was the 12th overall selection in the 2009 draft by Charlotte where he has played his entire career.

  • His real name is "Jerome."

  • Father Gerald Henderson Sr played for 13 years in the NBA and won three Championships -- two with the Boston Celtics (1981,1984) and one with the Detroit Pistons who defeated the Trail Blazers in the finals in 1990.

  • Henderson is an avid golfer. He sponsors the Gerald Henderson Jr Charity Golf Tournament to benefit A Children's Place, a non-profit providing support for homeless children in Charlotte.

  • His career-high in scoring is 35 points which he has done 5 2 times (thanks for the correction luna8825).

  • In his 6 years with Charlotte, Henderson averaged .443 FG%, .794 FT% and 3.4 rebounds per game.

  • On November 29, 2013 Henderson hit a spectator with an errant pass and felt so bad about it he took to twitter to try and find her. No word if she ever made contact. Then, on March 12, 2015, he missed a pass by a teammate which hit a woman in the face. Ladies, beware if you are courtside next year!


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