St. John's basketball alumni updates: Sidigas Avellino to waive Dwight Hardy?

Dwight Hardy could be waived by his Italian Club Sidigas Avellino, reports Sportando.net (translated by Tim Dimas) - not for his play, but because of the often confusing rules of playing basketball abroad. In Dwight's case, his working visa.

The use of illegal passports has started to become a big issue around European basketball. Teams are attempting to get their players to receive passports from a different country because there is a quicker process behind it. Avellino wanted Hardy on the court as soon as possible but because it took too long to get a working visa for him the U.S., they sent Hardy to Congo to attempt to get a passport there.

During the summer, Hardy traveled to Congo to receive a passport that would allow him to play in Italy but the Italian Consulate in Brazzeville, the capital of Congo, has yet to release a working visa to Hardy.

The main reason for the snag is that Hardy's American passport states that his birthplace is in the Bronx, New York, while his Congo passport states that his birthplace is in Brazzeville, Congo.

The Federal Prosecutors Office is currently investigating the situation with the thought this is a scam by Avellino to get Hardy on the court.

Dwight Hardy's situation is similar to that of former UTEP forward, Omar Thomas, who played for Hardy's club also. Thomas was found to be using a fake passport and was disqualified by the league before he got a chance to play for Montepaschi Siena.

Hardy now sits in limbo and could potentially find himself without a job, though likely not for long after his performance with Pistoia.

Hardy began his Italian career for Pistoia in Lega Due where he averaged 22 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists before moving up to Serie A and joining Avellino. Hardy took Pistoia to the finals of the league, losing 3-1 in a best of 5 series.

Alumni Updates:

Justin Burrell is enjoying a nice start to the season with his new club, Chalons-Reims (FRA). Burrell is averaging 13 points and six boards for the ProB club who are 6-4 this season. Burrell started his professional career in Japan with Yokohama BC before moving to France this past summer.

Malik Stith is finally getting playing time and is taking advantage of it. The former St. John's guard transferred to Division II Fairmont State University after last year. In his first three games, Stith is averaging 15 points and four assists. His season high for points and assists have been 24 and 8, respectively.

His scoring has increased game by game from nine points to 12 to finally 24. The Falcons are 2-1 on the season.

Nurideen Lindsey is looking like the same dynamic and speedy Nurideen from his time with St. John's. The other transfer from last season is averaging over 16 points per game along with four rebounds.

Lindsey's best game was against Robert Morris where he had 26 points, five assists and four rebounds. Turnovers still plague the point guard - he is averaging six turnovers a game.

Sean Evans has moved on from Gottingen and is currently a part of the Portland Trailblazers D-League team, the Idaho Stampede. The D-League season has yet to start.

D.J. Kennedy was traded to Memphis in the offseason from Cleveland. He was waived but brought back on a training camp invite. No word if he landed a spot on the Grizzlies D-League squad; the Rumble will continue to monitor Kennedy's progress.

Dwayne Polee II is playing 14 minutes per game for San Diego State, averaging 3.7 points, 4 rebounds per game. His best game, was agains non-Division One San Diego Christian, logging 20 minutes and scoring 8 points and 6 rebounds.

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