Grizzlies sign Willie Reed, Donte Greene

The Memphis Grizzlies signed free agent forward Donte Greene as well as forward/center Willie Reed of the NBA Development League’s Springfield Armor to multi-year contracts, the team announced today.

Greene (6-11, 226) comes to Memphis with NBA career averages of 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 16.8 minutes in 253 games (82 starts) over four seasons (2008-12) with the Sacramento Kings.

The 25-year-old has missed the majority of the 2012-13 regular season while recovering from a fractured ankle suffered during an offseason workout on Aug. 25.  He recently played one game in Puerto Rico for Atleticos de San German of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN).

After leading Syracuse University in scoring (17.7 points) as a freshman, Greene was drafted by the Grizzlies in the first round (28th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft.  Memphis then completed a three-way trade on draft night that sent Greene’s draft rights and a 2009 second round draft pick to Houston in exchange for the draft rights to current Grizzlies forward Darrell Arthur (27th) from Portland.  Houston also traded the draft rights to Nicolas Batum (25th) to Portland for the draft rights to Joey Dorsey (33rd) to complete the deal.

Born in Munich, Germany, Greene moved to the United States at the age of three and was named Maryland’s 2007 Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at Towson Catholic High School in Baltimore, the same high school attended by Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.

Reed (6-10, 220) joins the Grizzlies after averaging 14.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.77 blocks on .557 shooting in 29.3 minutes in 48 games (30 starts) for Springfield this season.  The 22-year-old ranked fifth in the D-League in total blocks (83), posted 12 double-doubles and registered 24 games with multiple rejections in his first season with the Armor.

Reed enjoyed some of his best games this season against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, scoring a D-League career-high 27 points on Feb. 23 before netting 21 points and collecting a D-League personal-best 20 rebounds against Fort Wayne on March 17.

Undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft, Reed signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings on Sept. 21, 2012 but was waived on Oct. 26, 2012.  The Kansas City native played two collegiate seasons (2008-10) at Saint Louis University, where he recorded 10.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.69 blocks in 67 games.

The Grizzlies’ roster now stands at 15.