DeMarcus Cousins, Haheem Thabeet

Former UConn standout Hasheem Thabeet, guarding Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins while with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season, has signed with the Grand Rapids Drive.

(AP file photo)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids Drive have signed six players ahead of Saturday’s NBA-D League Draft, including former second-overall pick Hasheem Thabeet.

The 7-foot-3 Thabeet, the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, is joined on the first-year team by forward Lorenzo Brown, guard Josh Bostic, power forward Adonis Thomas, guard Bruce Massey and guard L.D. Williams.

Brown, Massey, Thomas and Williams played last season with the Springfield Armor – the franchise was purchased by the Drive to set up a D-League affiliation with the Detroit Pistons. Thabeet and Bostic were in camp with the Pistons, as was Brown.

Technically, all six signed NBA-D League contracts and are available to an NBA team during the season.

Andrew Loomis, the Detroit Pistons executive director of basketball operations, said the signings help lay the foundation for the Drive.

Thabeet, he said, “is a guy who is really close and is probably an NBA call-up, and probably should be on an NBA roster.

“I think we have a lot of guys who should be on NBA rosters," he added, "so it is a great opportunity to really focus on our development of the program and get some of these guys to where they belong, and some of them to where they want to be.”

With six players in the fold, the Drive and Pistons staffs now focus on the NBA-D League draft Saturday. The Drive have the first and fifth picks in the first round.

Here’s a look at the six players signed:

Hasheem Thabeet

The 7-3, 263-pound Thabeet was the second overall pick coming out of University of Connecticut after his junior season. At UConn, he averaged 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds as a junior when he was a second team All-American and national defensive player of the year.

In the NBA, in 224 games with Memphis, Oklahoma City, Portland and Houston, he’s averaged 2.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 10.5 minutes per game. He was in camp with the Pistons after spending last season with Oklahoma City.

Lorenzo Brown

Brown, 6-5, 189, was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2013 NBA Draft out of North Carolina State University. He played in 26 games with the Philadelphia 76ers last season and averaged 2.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He also played for Springfield last season.

Josh Bostic

The 6-5, 230-pound Bostic played last season for Elan Chalon of the French League and averaged 7.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 10 games. He was named the 2008-09 NCAA Division II Player of the Year after leading Findlay University to a 36-0 record and a national championship.

Adonis Thomas

Thomas, 6-7, 240, played at Memphis, where as sophomore he averaged 11.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. Last season he played with Springfield and had two 10-day stints with Orlando but did not play and another with the 76ers. He got into two games. He was in camp with the Indiana Pacers.

Bruce Massey

Massey, 6-3, 195, is out of Middle Tennessee State and known for his strong defense. He average 6.3 points in two seasons in college, and averaged 5.0 points in 26 games with the Armor last season.

L.D. Williams

Williams, 6-4, 215, is a guard out of Wake Forest who went undrafted in 2010. He averaged 8.4 points in four seasons at Wake Forest and started 118 out of 119 career games. He spent the past three seasons with the Armor. He averaged 6.5 points in 30 games last season. In 2012-13, he averaged 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in 49 games.

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.