Windy City Bulls select 12 players in NBA D-League draft

The Windy City Bulls chose 12 players in the D-League expansion draft on Wednesday. It's impossible to tell how many of those guys will be on the roster when the new team opens play at the Sears Centre on Nov. 11. Many of them have already signed to play overseas this season.

No one on the list would be considered a household name, except maybe Ralph Sampson III, whose father was the No. 1 overall draft pick of the 1983 NBA Draft. The younger Sampson played at Minnesota and was a backup center for the Maine Red Claws last season.

The Bulls' first pick was 6-6 shooting guard Wesley Saunders, a Harvard sociology major who averaged 4.1 points for the Austin Spurs last year. The fifth pick was 6-3 guard Jerel McNeal, who has a couple of local ties. He played at Hillcrest High School then spent one year as a teammate of Jimmy Butler at Marquette. McNeal played in Greece last season.

Five-foot-7 point guard Kiwi Gardner is billed as a YouTube sensation, mostly for mixtapes from his high school days in Oakland, Calif., but he also has an ongoing documentary for anyone who wants to catch up on his past season playing in the Saudi Premier League.

Some of the other players chosen were Akeem Richmond, who once went 10-for-21 from 3-point range in a D-League game; forward Casey Prather, who played on Florida's 2014 Final Four team; former Purdue point guard Jon Octeus; guard Justin Dentmon, who has played in a few NBA games; and guard Xavier Thames from San Diego State, a 2014 NBA second-round draft pick.

The rest of the list includes guard Booker Woodfox, who played at Creighton a couple years before Doug McDermott arrived; former Texas A&M forward Jamal Jones and 7-2 center Ian Chiles from Morgan State.

The Windy City Bulls are one of three D-League expansion teams. The Long Island Nets and Greensboro (N.C.) Swarm also chose 12 players in Wednesday's draft.