Red Claws trim roster; open tonight

PORTLAND — The short wait is finally over for the Maine Red Claws as they open their season tonight against the visiting Austin Toros at the Portland Exposition Center.

Maine coach Austin Ainge has not had a lot of time to assemble his roster. Training camp began on Nov. 9 and the Red Claws played only one exhibition game (earlier this week).

From that short time frame, Ainge had to trim the roster from 15 to 10 players.

“That doesn’t give you a lot of time to get your team set,” said Ainge, who is the son of Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge. “It was difficult letting go of the guys we had to because they were all deserving, but the numbers had to be made.”

The final two players cut on Wednesday were Tajuan Porter and Jajuan Smith.

Maine presents one of the biggest front court challenges in the league with big men Magnum Rolle and Tiny Gallon.

Gallon is a 6-9, 290-pound forward out of Oklahoma who participated in the Boston Celtics preseason camp.

Rolle is a 6-11, 235-pound center out of Louisiana Tech. Both could be called up to the NBA at any time, Ainge said.

“It’s extremely rare to have two players NBA ready on a D-League roster,” Ainge said. “It’s also rare that they are NBA-ready big men. We’re extremely lucky to have them.”

Both players could present challenges for the Toros in tonight’s opener who will counter Maine’s big guys with 6-11 Marcus Cousin out of Houston, 6-9 Marcus Hubbard out of Angelo State and 6-7 forward Michael Joiner out of Florida State.

While that trio matches Maine’s duo in size, it’s Rolle’s and Gallon’s NBA-ready games that could present the difference, Ainge said.

“Those two are two of the best that you’re probably going to see early on,” Ainge said of his players.

Ainge also said that the Toros counter with great outside shooters such as Lewis Clinch and Dominique Archie.

Maine opened its inaugural season last year going 27-23 (18-16 in the Eastern Conference). It went 9-7 against Western Conference foes, including losing both of its games to Austin. Maine didn’t make the playoffs, but it became the first D-League team to sell out all of its home games.

What should fans expect from this year’s team, whose only returning players are Mario West and Paul Harris (Harris missed all of last season with an injury).

“We are younger, more athletic and I think my guys play a little harder,” Ainge said. “I think we’re going to be a great defensive team and we’re going to have great defenders at every position, and create turnovers and get some fast breaks off our defense.”

Harris, who went to Syracuse and went undrafted in the NBA Draft in 2009, missed all of last season with an ankle injury. Tonight’s tip-off has been an anxious wait.

“I am extremely excited,” Harris said. “Not being able to play has been really difficult.”

Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Lasme injured

One player Maine was counting on to have a stellar season was Stephane Lasme, a 6-8 forward out of the University of Massachusetts.

Lasme will miss an unspecified amount of games after under going foot surgery earlier this week.

“He’s going to be out for a while,” Ainge said. “We’re dealing with what we’ve got.”

Timberwolves waive former Red Claw

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced earlier this week that they waived former Maine Red Claws guard Maurice Ager.

Ager played for Maine last season. He made the T-Wolves roster out of training camp this season and appeared in four games averaging 3.8 points in 7.3 minutes per game. Minnesota originally signed him as a free agent on Sept. 24.

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