The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AFTER joining his new club near the mid-season mark, Magnum Rolle has paid immediate dividends for the Passlab Yamagata Wyverns in Japan’s National Basketball Development League.

In six games, he has averaged 17.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

His success has transitioned to success for the Wyverns as they moved up from the sixth into a tie for fourth spot in the NBDL with a 15-9 win-loss record.

Rolle put up 23 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in his most recent outing, the Wyverns’ 81-55 series clinching win over Kagoshima on Saturday.

In the first game of the series, he notched 21 points and five rebounds in his club’s 91-64 win.

In the previous series, he posted a double double with 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 75-49 win over the Toyoda Gosei Scorpions.

Rolle opened his season with a productive series, despite his team’s two losses to the third ranked Otsuka Alphas. 

In a 77-56 loss he totalled 19 points and three rebounds, followed by 18 points and eight rebounds in an 83-72 loss.

His signing has been celebrated by the club with an off-court promotion, offering fans the “Magnum Roll”, a strawberry based pastry.

His current tenure with the Wyverns is his second stint in Japan after previously spending two seasons (2012-14) and became an All-Star for the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins of the National Basketball League.

During the 2014-15 season, Rolle spent time globetrotting with Bnei Herzelia of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, Boulder Strip de Mayaguez of  Puerto Rico’s Baloncesto Superior Nacional and the Yulon Dinos of Taiwan’s Super Basketball League.

In his last appearance in Japan and in 41 games for the Diamond Dolphins, Rolle averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. He recorded seven double doubles on the year, including three in the final three games of the season.

Rolle also played briefly with the LG Sakers in South Korea during the 2011 NBA lockout and has also played with Santurce of the Puerto Rican League.

Since graduating from Louisiana Tech in 2010, Rolle was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder and spent time with the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic.

He also spent a season with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Developmental League.

Rolle was an integral member of the Bahamas’ gold medal winning CBC championship team in July 2014. For the tournament, he averaged 13.8 points, seven rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

He joined the team again the following summer when they finished with a silver medal.

The Japanese NBDL includes 10 teams and the top four teams advance to the playoffs in May.

The league took the place of the defunct Japanese Basketball League but failed to merge with the lower level BJ-League.

The new NBDL introduced several new rule changes, including a salary cap of $150m per team and a limit of two import players allowed on the floor simultaneously during the first and third quarters.