Official D-League Thread

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Rastapopoulos

Rastapopoulos

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Doesn't the season start any minute? As I understand it, the rules about who you can send down and for how long have changed. Players at any stage in their careers can go down now, can't they? I don't know if a ten year veteran can be sent down, but I think there's no barrier to one going there if he wants to ease in after rehab or something. Meanwhile, there used to be a limit to how many times a player in his first three years could be sent down for, but I think they've dropped that limit.

So... who should we send down? Bear in mind that we do need SOME bench players, so don't say "the bench". I thought that there'd be no way Claver or Freeland would agree to the D-League given their professional experience in Spain, but the way they've both behaved like rabbits in the headlights, I really think they could use the time there. I would say Nolan too, but as I can no longer see a future for him in the NBA, I'm not sure what we'd be developing him for. Barton might be worth sending down, but I have a feeling that if he went, Freeland and Claver would never see the ball.
 
Worth quoting in full (well, the part of it about the D-League):

A dozen things you need to know about Season No. 12 of the NBA D-League, which opens Friday in what is universally recognized as the most athletic (and most scouted) league outside of the NBA itself:

1. The D-League has reached the point where all but five of its franchises have a direct one-to-one affiliation with an NBA franchise. Five D-League franchises are NBA-owned: Austin (San Antonio Spurs), Canton (Cleveland Cavaliers), Los Angeles (L.A. Lakers), Tulsa (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Santa Cruz (Golden State Warriors). Five more are so-called "hybrid" franchises, where the NBA club splits the operating cost with the local D-League owners: Erie (New York Knicks), Idaho (Portland Trail Blazers), Maine (Boston Celtics), Rio Grande Valley (Houston Rockets) and Springfield (Brooklyn Nets). The Texas Legends, meanwhile, are owned and operated by a group Mavericks personnel chief Donnie Nelson heads separately from the Mavs themselves. And then there are five independent franchises that serve as affiliates for multiple NBA teams: Bakersfield, Fort Wayne, Iowa, Reno and Sioux Falls.

2. D-League rosters feature eight players on assignment from their NBA teams: Sacramento's Tyler Honeycutt (Reno Bighorns), Boston's Kris Joseph (Maine Red Claws), Houston's Scott Machado (Rio Grande Valley Vipers), Oklahoma City's DeAndre Liggins (Tulsa), Boston's Fab Melo (Maine), Denver's Quincy Miller (Iowa Energy), Houston's Donatas Motiejunas (Rio Grande) and Oklahoma City's Daniel Orton (Tulsa). No. 16 overall pick Royce White thus far has resisted Houston's attempts to send him to the D-League to get more playing time -- one of the factors contributing to White's impasse with the Rockets -- but the new labor agreement that ended last season's lockout allows players in the first three years of their NBA careers to be sent to the D-League an unlimited number of times. The previous labor deal only allowed players to be assigned to the D-League three times in their first two NBA seasons.

3. There already have been two NBA call-ups for D-League players not on assignment. Orton is indeed on assignment in Tulsa now, but he initially got cut in training camp by the Thunder and didn't actually make their roster until he was promoted from the 66ers after the James Harden trade opened up a roster spot. Then San Antonio called up swingman James Anderson from Rio Grande Valley after Spurs regulars Kawhi Leonard (quad) and Stephen Jackson (finger) suffered injuries. Last season saw a record 43 D-League players combine to earn 60 call-ups and earn more than $11 million in NBA salaries.

4. Other D-League players with some NBA name recognition include Chris Douglas-Roberts (Texas Legends), Melvin Ely (Texas), Christian Eyenga (Texas), Luther Head (Austin Toros), JaJuan Johnson (Fort Wayne Mad Ants), Andrew Goudelock (Sioux Falls Skyforce), Coby Karl (Idaho Stampede), Jamario Moon (Los Angeles D-Fenders), Demetris Nichols (Sioux Falls), Andy Rautins (Tulsa), Garrett Temple (Reno Bighorns) and Kyle Weaver (Austin).

5. One of the better stories in the league this season is 11-year NBA veteran Troy Hudson, who is trying to reignite his career after battling various injuries for the past few seasons and will do so as the starting point guard in Sioux Falls. Chances are there will be other NBA vets who surface as the season progresses, as seen in 2011-12 with the likes of Antoine Walker, Ricky Davis and Greg Ostertag trying to launch comebacks in the D-League, now that the D-League draft process is complete and they might be able to exert a bit more control in terms of where they wind up.

6. Reggie Theus (Los Angeles) and Paul Mokeski (Reno) are former NBA players you know who hold D-League coaching jobs. Another is Texas' Eduardo Najera, who ranks as the first Mexican-born head coach in the NBA family. Yet another pioneer is Tulsa's Darko Rajakovic, with the Serbian named as the first European-born head coach under the NBA's umbrella. Among returning coaches, Nick Nurse is back in charge of Rio Grande Valley after spending the summer as an assistant with Great Britain at the London Olympics.

7. Salaries remain flat: $25,500, $19,000 and $13,000 for the league's three player classifications. Which means D-League players are virtually playing for free -- and a modest per diem on the road of $40 compared to $120 in the NBA -- although they do receive housing and insurance benefits. It was also brought to my attention this week that the D-League quietly does have a per-team salary cap of $178,000 ... with a dollar-for-dollar luxury tax, just like in the NBA, for teams that go over that amount.

8. Foreign teams that want to pull players out of the D-League must pay $40,000, $45,000 or $50,000, depending on the player's classification, to buy out their D-League deals.

9. Something to look forward to: Perhaps this will be the first season that an NBA team sends a top-shelf veteran down to its D-League affiliate for a Major League Baseball-style rehab assignment. Imagine, for example, Minnesota sending Ricky Rubio to Sioux Falls for a game or two to test his knee in game conditions. That option wasn't available to NBA teams in the previous labor agreement and will be seized upon one of these days.

10. The D-League will continue to employ international goaltending rules that allow players to knock the ball away immediately after it touches the rim. Another one of last season's innovations -- three-minute overtime periods -- also remains in place. Yet there is one notable on-court change: D-League franchises are now permitted to sell jersey sponsorships. And four of the league's 16 teams have taken advantage of the new provision: Erie (LECOM), Rio Grande Valley (Lone Star National Bank), Springfield (MGM Springfield) and Texas (Chocotow Casino Resorts).

11. The league has been divided into three conferences, with the champions and the teams with the next five best records advancing to the playoffs. Canton, Erie, Fort Wayne, Maine and Springfield comprise the Eastern Conference. Austin, Iowa, Rio Grande Valley, Sioux Falls, Texas and Tulsa form the Central Conference. And Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Idaho, Reno and Santa Cruz are in the West. Also still in effect is the pick-your-opponent format for the first round of the postseason, which allows the three conference winners (in record order) to choose their first-round foe from the teams ranked Nos. 4-8. The two remaining teams meet in the other first-round series.

12. The annual NBA D-League Showcase returns to Reno in January for 16 games in four days in front of executives and scouts from NBA teams. Every team will play two games at the Showcase in addition to its standard 24 home games and 24 road games. The D-League All-Star Game, meanwhile, will be played in Houston in mid-February as part of the NBA's All-Star Weekend. Increased broadcast exposure also has been secured through a deal with CBS Sports Network to broadcast 12 regular-season games and the D-League playoffs, as well as a partnership announced this week with YouTube to broadcast every D-League live over the Internet.
Click to expand...
 
why is Najera trying to steal Kaleb's thunder? He's the first Mexican-American coach. Though Dick Versace was the first Latino coach (Puerto Rican)
 
Where's Pendergraph? Let's send him down.
 
BrianFromWA said:
why is Najera trying to steal Kaleb's thunder? He's the first Mexican-American coach. Though Dick Versace was the first Latino coach (Puerto Rican)
Click to expand...

Dick Versace was in an era when some NBA head coaches could be funny, like Doug Moe and Dick Vitale. They didn't have to be hard guys. He was funny and had an Italian name, but he didn't look Latino and he spoke the King's English. Canales looks the part and has a faintly clipped accent, barely there, but there. Canales is the real deal. Spoelstra is a hybrid in between them.
 
In 21 hours, you can see the Stampede play at 7 pm.

[video=youtube;E6V8RECFWss]
 
Idaho currently playing. Coby Karl is playing the point and looks good. I would estimate there are 20 people watching at the game in fabulous El Segundo. PLEASE send Nolan, Freeland and Claver down to make these games more interesting.
 
Well, I just watched the Blazers lose to the 0-12 Wizards, the game started at 7 pm---WAIT !

I forgot! I could have watched this instead! It had to be better.

My biggest mistake of the season so far.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Doesn't the season start any minute? As I understand it, the rules about who you can send down and for how long have changed. Players at any stage in their careers can go down now, can't they? I don't know if a ten year veteran can be sent down, but I think there's no barrier to one going there if he wants to ease in after rehab or something. Meanwhile, there used to be a limit to how many times a player in his first three years could be sent down for, but I think they've dropped that limit.

So... who should we send down? Bear in mind that we do need SOME bench players, so don't say "the bench". I thought that there'd be no way Claver or Freeland would agree to the D-League given their professional experience in Spain, but the way they've both behaved like rabbits in the headlights, I really think they could use the time there. I would say Nolan too, but as I can no longer see a future for him in the NBA, I'm not sure what we'd be developing him for. Barton might be worth sending down, but I have a feeling that if he went, Freeland and Claver would never see the ball.
Click to expand...

That's a tough one. I'd send someone there who's young but has a definite (hopefully) future with the team. As I look at the bench the first person who comes to mind is Claver. Mostly because he's young and really seems to struggle in all areas on the floor. I might also think about Barton. Part of me wants to keep him around as he's a fairly confident shooter, but his long term prospects may be better with some d-league seasoning. I probably wouldn't send Freeland as he already has good fundamentals and basketball IQ- he's just over matched in the NBA and the d-league isn't going to help that. I think Noland Smith may be a lost cause, so why bother. As I look at the team roster I don't see anyone else that we will reap benefits by sending them down.
 
"Olshey reluctant to use Stampede just yet"

“I guarantee you Will would go down there and average 20, 5 and 5,” Olshey said, referring to points, rebounds and assists. “What I don’t want to have him do is spend two weeks down there tearing up the D. League, scoring, rebounding and making plays, and then come back and be behind in terms of where the team is. Because every day, Terry is putting in new stuff.”
Click to expand...

I guarantee you that that quote will make Barton a marked man if he ever goes down there...
 
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Interesting the players are paid in tiers...... shit I get more per-diem then they do!
 
I think that if you think a D-league defense will hold Barton to 20 points, you're high as a kite.

Babbitt averaged 21, 9 and 3. And he has 3x the conscience that Barton has. Will's got all the makings of an up-and-coming Irrational Confidence Guy.
 
Barton's not a shooter like Babbitt and would not average 20 ppg in his first stay with the Stampede. Babbitt was awful in his first time (10 days). He was better his second rookie year callup (25 days). Yes, he averaged 20.1 ppg in 14 games in those two stays (good enough to start only the last 9 games), but it took being sent there twice. (He went a third time, in his second year, 3 games in 6 days, 21.0 ppg).

Barton would have a learning curve just like Babbitt did. Also, the coach has a learning curve too, to instantly change his system to make the NBA callup the star of the team, even if the player isn't really skilled enough yet to deserve it.
 
Coby Karl vs Bakersfield : 33 min, 7-12 , 3-6 3pt , 3-4 Free throw, 7 ast, 20 pts.
 
Seems like the D-League is making small steps toward being an actual minor league system. Here's an interesting, detailed blog post about the Warriors innovative but completely sensical use of their D-League team.

In summary, they liked Rick Jackson a lot in college, he went undrafted and played in europe for a year, blew out his knee in April and was up for grabs. The Warriors brought him into training camp knowing he couldn't play, but basically paid him to rehab with their medical staff and then signed him to their D-League team. The plan was that having watched training camp and playing for the D-League team that the W's own, he could be a call up option should injury require it and be able to step in knowing the system fairly well. However with the Santa Cruz Warriors well stocked with big men and the GS Warriors getting very good play from rookies Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green, in addition to their vet bigs, there was no room for him, and Kirk Lacob (Joe Lacob's son, GM of the SC Warriors) traded him to a team that had more playing time available.

It can be viewed as a fluff piece, but its pretty cool that the Warriors paid for a guy they liked to come to training camp only to rehab. No way would he have gotten that high quality of medical and rehab treatment anywhere else. Ownership in Gs has shown a willingness to spend, and the costs for a training camp invite and D-League commitment are relatively little in the scheme of things. This player wasn't the only training camp invite they committed to long term, and it seems like a good idea in theory. These guys learned a lot of the system in TC. They might be UDFAs or Euro players who the Warriors like. They go play for the SC Warriors, owned by the GS Warriors and presumably the coaching staff there runs a similar system on both sides of the ball. Now when you call these guys up they have some kind of baseline level of knowledge of what the Warriors are running instead of being completely new to everything.
 
That's kind of a sad comment on the cost of medical care, because you could earn about as much working in Target as you can playing in the D-League.
 
Why aren't the Rockets giving Donatas Motiejunas a chance?

He looked great overseas, looked great in the Las Vegas Summer League, and in his two NBDL games, he put up 31/8/3 and 17/11/3.

I was very impressed with what I saw from him in Vegas. He looked better than pretty much any other rookie outside of Damian Lillard. Does McHale have one of those weird Larry Brown-esque hangups against playing rookies or something?
 
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