Coby Karl on the Idaho Stampede

[mook]

Nice to see we still could use him. Link.

The Idaho Stampede, the Portland Trail Blazers' NBA Development League team, announced 10 players for its training camp roster, and it included three players who were among the final cuts by the Blazers, along with two players who played at Portland-area high schools and in-state colleges.

Coby Karl, Justin Holiday and Dallas Lauderdale were cut by the Blazers on Saturday, and were protected for D-League assignment by the Blazers.

What does "protected for D-League assignment" mean? Does that mean we have rights to him before another team? Or just that he has a spot protected on the team reserved for him if he wants it?

 

[HailBlazers]

Not sure, but this is great news if he does play!

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm trying to find the documentation on it, but my understanding is that it's like a 40-man roster in baseball. The three "protected" players in the D-League aren't on our 15-man lineup (if we were to, say, send down Leonard he would count for our 15 but be on the "inactive" list that doesn't count for the 12 we need for each game--8 suited up) but other teams can't sign them. For instance, Dallas can't call up Lauderdale's agent and say "we need a big man, here's a 10-day contract". They CAN do that for the other 9 unprotected players.