HEAT Sign Penney, Place Walker on Injured List

Penney, a 6’5”, 220-pound guard, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2003 as the sixth leading scorer (1,454 points) in school history and also ranked among the Badgers’ all-time leaders in three-point field goals made (2nd), three-point field goals attempted (2nd), games played (3rd) and minutes played (6th). In 127 games (92 starts) at Wisconsin, he averaged 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 26.9 minutes while shooting 43.4 percent (503-1,158) from the floor, 38.7 percent (217-561) from three-point range and 75 percent (231-308) from the foul line. As a senior he was named Honorable Mention All-America by the Associated Press and was a two-time All-Big Ten Conference First Team selection, as both a junior and senior. In 2002-03 he helped lead Wisconsin to a school-record 24 victories, including its first outright Big Ten title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. Penney joined current L.A. Lakers’ forward Brian Cook as the only unanimous selections to the 2003 Big Ten First Team after leading the Badgers in scoring (16.2 ppg), assists (3.1 apg) and minutes (35.0 mpg).

After going undrafted in the 2003 NBA Draft, he played with the Minnesota Timberwolves summer league team at the 2003 Pepsi Pro Summer League in Orlando and averaged 11.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.00 steals and 18.6 minutes while shooting 50 percent (20-40) from the floor, a team-high 53.8 percent (7-13) from three-point range and 83.3 percent (10-12) from the foul line. Penney’s top performance in Orlando was a 16-point, 17-minute outing against the HEAT on July 10 in which he shot 6-10 from the floor.

He signed a free agent contract with Minnesota on Aug. 22 and competed as a member of the Timberwolves during training camp where he appeared in seven preseason games last month. In his seven appearances, he averaged 6.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 18.6 minutes while shooting 45.9 percent (17-37) from the floor, 45.5 percent (5-11) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (4-6) from the foul line. Penney was released by the Timberwolves on Oct. 23.

Walker, a 6’9”, 250-pound forward, was signed as a free agent by the HEAT on Aug. 1, 2003. He has appeared in two of Miami’s first three games and has averaged 4.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 11.5 minutes while shooting 57.1 percent (4-7) from the floor and 50 percent (1-2) from the foul line.

Penney will be in uniform tonight and will wear number 20. He will be the fourth HEAT player in franchise history to wear number 20, joining Jon Sundvold, Brian Shaw and Pete Myers. Miami’s active roster now stands at 12 with three players on the injured list.