Salim Stoudamire Drafted 16th by Stampede, Deal Worked Out Before Draft

by Scott SchroederFiled under: Hawks, NBA D-League, Idaho StampedeSalim Stoudamire, the 31st overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, has not played a regular-season basketball game since 2007-08 with the Hawks, in part due to injury. While there are plenty of red flags when it comes to selecting a player that hasn't played professional basketball in two full seasons, Stoudamire's immense shooting ability almost surely made him worth selecting before the Idaho Stampede grabbed him with the last pick of the first round in Monday's NBA Development League draft. Surely 15 D-League teams wouldn't just decide to pass on a player that was appearing in NBA playoff games just two seasons ago and now reaching his should-be prime at the age of 28, right? FanHouse dug a bit deeper into the situation and learned that an e-mail had been circulated to D-League teams prior to the draft requesting that he not be selected that reads as follows, from a person "...