Ridiculous Upside

Tulsa Waives Davis, Parham, Young, McCoy, Johnson

2009-11-20T18:51:02Z

Tulsa Waives Davis, Parham, Young, McCoy, Johnson

The 66ers have waived Jeral Davis, Tim Parham, Keena Young, Adam McCoy, Mitch Johnson. I thought Young and McCoy were both decent late-round draft picks, but this is how it goes. Davis and Parham were both likely to get cut because Tulsa already had so many frontcourt players.

Hey, there are D-League games tonight!

2009-11-20T15:15:10Z

More photos » by Laura Rauch - AP

Highly-touted forward Alade Aminu makes his D-League debut tonight for the Erie BayHawks.

Browse more photos »

Tonight marks the beginning of the preseason! Which means games! D-League games! Okay, let's not go overboard, these are D-League preseason games. But still! Tonight the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Dakota Wizards face off, as do the Erie BayHawks and Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Both games are at 7 pm eastern/6 pm central. I probably won't do this for all preseason games, since they're, you know, preseason games, and because the regular season is only a week away anyway, but let's break them down!

Erie vs. Fort Wayne

Both of these teams bring back a lot of key players from last year's rosters, but I think the Mad Ants' guys are slightly better. I mostly say that because Erie's two best players last season were Erik Daniels and (arguably) Maureece Rice, and neither of those players are around. ~~Fort Wayne, on the other hand, brings back Chris Hunter, who was on the all-D-league second team.~~ Chris Hunter is not with the team in Erie. Interrobang. The BayHawks do have some nice three-point shooting in Ivan Harris, but Fort Wayne can counter that with Ron Howard's excellent perimeter defense.

As for who's joined each team this year, again, I think Fort Wayne again has a bit of an edge. Donell Taylor's defense will likely show itself against a team that may be more perimeter-focused in Hunter's absence, but Rob Kurz is a very good three point shooter, Fort Wayne's other former Notre Dame guys (Ryan Ayers and Kyle McAlarney)) should do well in the D-League, and they've added enough solid pieces that I think they'll be a lot deeper than they were last year. Alade Aminu is probably better than I think he will be, and he's talented enough to some problems for ~~Hunter~~ defensively, but I just don't love the rest of their additions enough to say they'll outperform their counterparts.

One final thing to note is that each team is looking for a point guard to hitch their respective offenses to, with Rice gone for Erie and last year's Mad Ant PG Walker Russell taking his game overseas. McAlarney and Andres Sandoval will be the rotation for Fort Wayne and I expect ~~Derrick Mercer~~ Donell Taylor to get some or all of Erie's minutes at the point (even though he's more of a shooting guard), but the fact that all of them are new to their teams and getting used to running the offenses could be something to watch.

Dakota vs. Sioux Falls

Whereas the last game saw two teams with new point guards, this one has two teams with new coaches. Rory White for the Wizards and Tony Fritz for the Skyforce have solid resumes, but this will be the first time we'll see them run things in the D-League.

As for the returning players, you have to give this one to Dakota, which returns five or six key guys from last year's playoff team, while Sioux Falls no longer has former D-League MVP Kasib Powell. With Blake Ahearn gone, Romel Beck and David Bell will carry more of the scoring load, and they should be able to do it. Bell should, anyway. Beck isn't always consistent offensively, a function of his preference for the isolation game. When he's on, though, he's excellent. Keith Brumbaugh is talented, and David Bailey is a decent option at point guard, but missing Powell hurts.

I think Sioux Falls might have the edge in new additions. While Curtis Withers should be solid for the Wizards and Marcus Dove is a good defender, I'm not entirely sold on D'Lancy Carter, and you can only play so many frontcourt defenders at once. I thought the Skyforce did a good job drafting for scoring with Reggie Williams and Leemire Goldwire, and Raymond Sykes is an athletic dunker, which counts for something at this level. They also have allocation player Joe Krabbenhoft, who (if local news reports are to be believed) is on a few NBA radar screens

So join me tonight, as I OSLB some D-League preseason games while watching Futurecast! Be there!

Thunderbirds Waive Bullock, Carr, Kortovich

2009-11-20T01:37:06Z

Thunderbirds Waive Bullock, Carr, Kortovich

The Albuquerque Thunderbirds have waived Garrison Carr, J'Nathan Bullock and Brian Kortovich. Bullock spent some time away from basketball to try out for the NY Jets. Carr was the Patriot League player of the year a few years ago and made 45 percent of his threes as a senior.

Utah Waives Lang, Goffney, LaRoche, Holmes, Darger

2009-11-19T03:02:33Z

Utah Waives Lang, Goffney, LaRoche, Holmes, Darger

The Utah Flash waived James Lang for "medical reasons," although with Garrett Siler and Luke Nevill on the team he probably wasn't going to play much anyway. I'm on record as saying that LaRoche was a good pick, and he has been a very efficient scorer, but for whatever reason it didn't work out.

Springfield Waives Taylor, Easterling, Jones

2009-11-18T23:09:58Z

Springfield Waives Taylor, Easterling, Jones

The Armor waived expansion draft pick Marcus Taylor along with Charles Easterling and Brandon Jones. The other semi-big news in that article is the fact that center Major Wingate hasn't shown up to camp at all, citing "personal reasons." I don't know if he wanted to be drafted by Austin or what, but he's done okay in Europe the last few seasons so he may resurface there.

Sioux Falls Waives Johnson, McKenzie, Miles, Price, Alexander

2009-11-18T21:11:35Z

Sioux Falls Waives Johnson, McKenzie, Miles, Price, Alexander

The Skyforce have waived five players. Nate Miles was the only notable name, and that was more for off-court stuff (being expelled from UConn) than for basketball.

Dakota Waives Powell, Quezada, Stanley, Payne and Davis

2009-11-18T18:38:30Z

Today's the deadline for teams to get down to 12 players so expect to see a lot of these announcements throughout the afternoon. According to a team press release, the Dakota Wizards have released Rashaad Powell, Manny Quezada, Cameron Stanley, Derick Payne and Lorenzo Davis.

Powell is the one I'm most surprised about, as he was named the Big West conference defensive player of the year as a senior. He's bounced around various minor leagues (he was an IBL all-star a few years ago) and has spent some time playing in lower-level overseas leagues. He played at the University of Idaho, so I suppose he could try to get on with the Stampede at some point if he wants to hang around the D-League (though the fact that they didn't draft him or try to acquire him through allocation makes me think it's not going to happen).

Quezada was a decent three-point shooter in college, but the rest of his offensive game wasn't as good. Stanley and Payne were both small forwards trying to make a team that already has several guys who can play that position. To be honest I don't know much about Davis, but Dakota brought back some of last year's big men and drafted a few pretty high as well, so he was probably a longshot.

Fort Wayne Waives Tolbert, Woodfox, Carter, Cornley

2009-11-18T18:19:25Z

Fort Wayne Waives Tolbert, Woodfox, Carter, Cornley

Making this team was going to be difficult with so many players from last year's rotation back in the fold, but the Mad Ants have waived forward Frank Tolbert, guard Booker Woodfox and center Jared Carter, and released guard Jamelle Cornley due to injury. Tolbert was known primarily as a hustle guy at Auburn, but his offensive game slipped a little bit as a senior. Woodfox is a decent shooter and overall scorer who was the MVC player of the year last year. Carter apparently impressed in the local tryouts, but he came in as a third-string center. Cornley did well in college even though he's a 6'5" power forward, but he hurt his knee in camp. Jeff Potter gives the rundown on why all of these guys were cut.

LA D-Fenders Waive Pinick, Wise, Moore, N'Doye, Pruitt

2009-11-17T21:49:56Z

LA D-Fenders Waive Pinick, Wise, Moore, N'Doye, Pruitt

As semi-promised, here are some more training camp cuts as announced by the D-Fenders. In turn: didn't expect N'Doye to make the team, as he (like Skemp in Erie) came into camp as the third center; Moore has bounced around other minor leagues and overseas, so the fact that he didn't stick here wasn't much of a surprise either; like N'Doye, there wasn't much room for Pinick behind Deron Washington and Ryan Forehan-Kelly, even though he's a smart player who will likely do pretty well overseas; Wise showed he could score in college, but the team already has a lot of those guys, particularly after acquiring Dar Tucker; speaking of which, I know Pruitt was injured, but this leaves the team with one real point guard, a Mr. Horace Wormely, who was first team all-NAIA in college but is also 5'6".

Erie's 1st cuts

2009-11-17T15:12:43Z

The Bayhawks reduced their roster to 13 by releasing G Raheem Moss, PG Derrick Mercer, F,C Jeff Skemp
and G Ryan Troutman. Moss was a camp invite. He was the last player cut last preseason. Mercer was Erie's 4th round pick out of American University. Skemp was Erie's 6th round pick out of D-3 Wisconsin-Platteville. Troutman, who played 3 seasons at D-1 Akron, was Erie's 7th round pick out of NAIA Tusculum College. Obtained this info from the Erie Times News.

How'z it goin? 2008-09 Ex-Idaho Stampede

2009-11-17T05:03:05Z

Jon L. mentioned feel free to "fan post" - the only thing I know about "fan posts" involves me lifting my hind leg. But since we are about ready to get started on another season, I thought I would give it a try and see if I could actually put together something worth reading as practice for regular season posting. In search of a topic, I decided I would look backward and see how some of the ex-Stamps from last season are doing overseas and across state lines. Without further ado (and thanks to Eurobasket and Google translator) here we go:

Brent Petway: Of course the logical place for the 2009 defensive player of the year would be an NBA team that needed defensive help. So of course we find AirGeorgia eating gyros (plus Pizza Hut) and drinking ouzo in Greece with Ilysiakos of Athens. From the looks of his stats, he is getting moderate playing time, shooting at a very high percentage and rebounding well. Team is off to a so-so start. Pets numbers good to me. He is also looking for someone to braid his hair if you are in the area.

Lance Allred: Of course the logical place for 2009 All-League player and all around great story (Longshot: buy it for Christmas!) would be on an NBA bench, bringing good vibes and hitting the pick and pop. So of course we find Lance in Italia where I believe he is on the roster of Scavolini Pesaro. When I say I believe, I really mean that - I am not sure he is playing for them any more. In the usual Allred way, nothing is easy. He signed with Napoli to start the season but locked in an unairconditioned hotel room and not getting paid, he started ranting on his blog. To say that the Italians are a bit behind the electronic "lay-it-all-out-there" curve would be a massive understatement. After getting filleted by the local press, he was soon traded to Pesaro for a half finished piece of tiramasu. As a fill in for then injured Eric Williams in the post, Allred was the scapegoat of the 0-5 start. One translation compared Lance to a cut out piece of particle board and he did not appear in Pesaro's last game. Feel bad for the man, but Rumble has a soft spot in his heart for the big red head - so Lance if it's not working out you are welcome to come home and play for Coach Mac - the perfect home for a passing big man.

Luke Jackson: Of course the logical place for a now healthy multidimensional gun slinger that can get to the rack, the foul line and hit the open jumper with significant NBA experience would be...the NBA? Nope, back to Italia and Carfe - Basket Club Ferrara. Like Lance, Luke's team is near the bottom of the barrel in the standings. Unlike Lance, Luke seems to be going off...combining monster games in points/rebounds/assists with a couple 0-5 outings. I just have to put a paw over my eyes and I can see the whole thing like it was yesterday. Anyway, it seems like Luke has found a home. As a side note, it looks from the team website that Luke has picked up a gig modeling jeans...even if that turns out to be mistranslated, it sure sounds like a great story so I won't be investigating it further but rather passing it on as fact.

Jason Ellis: Of course the logical place for 6'6" post players would be the D-League...where the 2009- 2010 Stamps could use a guy like him. We actually hear a bit more about J locally in that he plays with another Boise State grad for GasTerra Flames in Holland. The Flames are currently at the top of their league and in what should be a surprise to no one, Jason is one of the leading rebounders. Chipping in a few points too. Sounds like Holland is a great place to play and from the articles I have read it sounds like he is enjoying himself. Good for him - he deserves it.

Coby Karl: Of course the logical place for a guy cut once for Sue Yue would be completely out of basketball selling life insurance...so of course we find him back in the NBA playing for one of the league favorites, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sounds like he is the proverbial 15th man and has seen limited game action thus far. Hope he gets his chance, he is a smart ball player that makes everyone better around him. Maybe even LeBron.

Jamaal Tatum/Lanny Smith: Eurobasket says Tatum is back with Stamps, the Idaho Statesman says Smith is back. Which is true? I hope both are back.

Mildon Ambres: Back for his 2nd season...

Roberto Bergersen: Back for his 25th season...(Berto, we kid because we love. p.s. please bring your jump shot with you when you report.)

Coach Joel Ableson: Coach Liv moves on and Coach Joel moves up to sit next to Coach Mac (and be his personal body guard when they play the Flash). Already a shortage on wine coolers through out the Boise valley.

Owner Bill Illet: Utah has Mark Cuban Jr., the Stamps have Jerry Jones Jr. As long as Bill is here, we'll be here! Now if he would just shake loose a few bucks and build us "BillyWorld" then we'd really have something.

To all DLeague fans, hope you have a great year! From the land of Taters, Blue Turf and the 2010 Showcase...

Rumble out

Ridiculous Transactions: 11/9 - 11/15, Plus Trade Analysis

2009-11-16T15:00:36Z

by Darron Cummings - AP

The Houston Rockets said goodbye to Pops Mensah-Bonsu this week. Frowny face.

View full size photo »

A few relatively big moves happened (in our world, at least), but before I get to those, I realized that I never discussed the D-League trades from a few weekends ago at any length, so here we go:

Fort Wayne Mad Ants traded 10 pick (Alade Aminu) to the Erie BayHawks; Erie BayHawks traded Rob Kurz to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants

At least as it stands now, before any games have been played, this looks like a pretty good trade for both sides. Fort Wayne returns Chris Hunter and Sean Sonderleiter in the middle, so as talented as Aminu is the team was already set at center. Sure, Aminu most likely would've been an upgrade over Sonderleiter, Hunter gets the bulk of the minutes there anyway, and since he's a very good D-League center the Mad Ants were able to flip their pick to address other issues. The team also has several other forwards back from last year, but they're mostly defense or rebounding specialists. Rob Kurz should allow the team to stretch the defense a little more, to use that cliche, and because I assume he's going to start, it will be interesting to see if his presence at power forward pushes Anthony Kent to the bench, or whether Kent moves over to the 3 and Ron Howard, last year's starting small forward but 6'5", heads to the backcourt. If the latter is the case, then Kurz's shooting skill will be even more of a necessity as Howard's not much of a shooter (or scorer generally, come to think of it). Fort Wayne also had been angling to get Kurz as a local allocation player because of his time at Notre Dame, so the team is hoping that bringing him in (along with other Notre Dame players) will help them at the gate as well as on the court.

For the Bayhawks, Alade Aminu seemed to be one of the most sought-after players in the draft, at least among teams looking for raw talent. Aminu didn't play a whole lot for Washington's Summer League team, though his defense was alright when he did, and the Miami Heat gave him a look during the preseason. Aminu was a bit turnover-prone in college and needs to develop some post moves (along with some strength), but he's very athletic and handles the ball fairly well for a 6'10" guy. Erie needed a center to replace the departed Erik Daniels, and as I wrote around the draft, bringing in actual centers like Aminu, John Bryant and Jeff Skemp is a step in the right direction. Erie already had some guys sort of like Kurz (Ivan Harris is a three-point shooting forward, Jarvis Gunter is an okay rebounder but doesn't do much else), so they didn't need to duplicate efforts there.

Los Angeles D-Fenders traded Earl Barron to the Iowa Energy; Iowa Energy traded Anthony Tolliver to the Idaho Stampede; Idaho Stampede traded Dar Tucker to the Los Angeles D-Fenders

I've given some brief comments on this one, but to recap, I like this trade for both Idaho and Iowa, but I'm a little baffled by what LA is doing. To elaborate, let's start with Idaho. Last year Bob MacKinnon's Colorado team liked to run, and they led the league in pace. Sure they had Joe Dabbert and Kentrell Gransberry in the middle, but each of those players' proclivity for fouling meant that Josh Davis saw a fair amount of time at center. Anthony Tolliver isn't the same player Davis is, specifically in the area of three-point shooting (Tolliver is okay but not great there), but he's a good passer, a pretty good rebounder and post defender, and he can score a little bit (in the D-League, anyway). Tolliver should be a solid anchor for the Stampede, at least for as long as he's around (he has a history of leaving the D-League either to play in Europe or the NBA).

Iowa-wise, Earl Barron is a solid center with some shot-blocking talent and NBA experience (specifically with Miami). Barron upped his per-36 minute scoring averages and lowered his foul rates every year that he played for the Heat, so he's been improving. He's 28 years old now, though, so this may be his last go-round in the D-League. The Energy drafted a lot of scorers and wing players, and while Tolliver is a good player (see above) he likely would've taken up a lot of possessions that can now be distributed a little more equally.

As for the D-Fenders, it's not that Dar Tucker isn't talented, it's just that his shot selection is shaky. He made less than 30 percent of his three-pointers last year at DePaul, which wouldn't be great even if he hadn't averaged more than six three-point attempts per game. He shot just 39 percent overall, so it's not like he was great inside the arc either. He also averaged more turnovers than assists and can't really go left. Tucker is athletic, does a decent job of getting to the rim and is a decent rebounder, but his offensive game has a lot of negatives. Plus there's the fact that he's a shooting guard, and that LA already has Joe Crawford and Charlie Parker, who are nominally point guards but are more scorers than distributor, Ryan Forehan-Kelly, who's a swingman who can do a lot of things but who also probably got accustomed to having the ball last year, Deron Washington, who's another (more efficient) slasher, and Jeremy Wise, a shooting guard. As for big men, let's see...how does Longar Longar strike you? It's entirely possible that Barron asked for this trade, but as it stands now the D-Fenders have a glut of shooting guards and/or backcourt scoring without a ton of guys who can rebound or defend the post. This team could be really fun to watch, or it could be a horrible mess.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers traded Marcus Hubbard to the Reno Bighorns; Reno Bighorns traded Haminn Quaintance to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Here's the thing about Marcus Hubbard - I make snide comments about his game, but he's a decent player. At least he could be. He certainly has his moments. He's athletic, he can rebound a little bit, he stays out of foul trouble. But, somewhere in his career (it may have been at the beginning, who knows) he started viewing himself as a mid-range/perimeter player, and he's not very good at it. He likes shooting threes, and he's about as good at it as Dar Tucker is. Now that the Rockets are running the show, he really didn't fit what they look for in a big man, so it wasn't a surprise to see him go.

Quaintance, on the other hand, does seem like a Houston-type guy. I don't know much about him, and called him a "three-point shooter" around the draft based on last year's EuroChallenge, but he's actually a power forward who was an excellent defender in college (he was MAC defensive player of the year as a senior) and gets steals blocks as well as blocks, plus he can score a little bit and passes pretty well for his position. Oh, and he's athletic. He profiles very well, so I'm curious as to why Reno gave him up. He likely wouldn't have gotten a ton of minutes behind Boom Tho Rod Benson and non-boom tho Cezary Trybanski, but he could've slid into the lineup in the event of a Benson call-up just as well as Hubbard can.

Moving on to this week's, uh, moves, after the jump...

November 10: James White - signed with Spartak SPB (Russia); Ronald Dupree - signed with Telekom Baskets Bonn (Germany)

Well, White said he wasn't coming back to the D-League, so this is just a guy keeping his promise. Spartak just signed Goran Suton last week, so they have a pretty solid (American) inside-outside combo now. The question becomes whether White will come back next year for Summer League and/or the preseason, or whether he's fed up with the entire enterprise. He may cool off after a year, but if the NBA isn't going to seriously invest in him he may not see the point. Dupree goes to Telekom Baskets, also the current team of former RGV point guard Jared Jordan. He's in a similar position to White (but without the relatively-modest NBA success) in that he's ready to move on with his career. As he said in that interview I linked to yesterday, there comes a point in every player's career (the D-League/marginal NBA players anyway) where he has to seriously consider playing in Europe, essentially for the money. This was a tougher year than most for a lot of these players, but if someone has plans, or has plans to have plans, to settle into some kind of routine, live comfortably, start a family, whatever, as it stands right now the D-League/Summer League/training camp circuit just doesn't provide that.

November 12: Washington Wizards - waived Paul Davis and signed Earl Boykins

My interest in this move (other than as a Wizards fan) is to see what Davis will do. He could make a pretty good salary in Europe, and do pretty well on the court leading to future pretty good salaries, but one doesn't go on the "Millionaire Matchmaker" show and talk about how you're looking for someone to settle down with your millions of dollars if you're then planning on leaving the country. Of course, that was a while ago, and he probably wasn't planning on barely making a roster on a nonguaranteed deal, and playing in the D-League definitely isn't what people on "Millionaire Matchmaker" have in mind (I'm guessing), but I could see Davis sticking around here for a few months and using his Clippers years as a way to get another shot.

November 13: Eddie Gill - signed with Base Oostende (Belgium); Toronto Raptors - waived Quincy Douby

I don't have much to say about Douby being waived, as from my read on the situation his position on the team was already somewhat tenuous even before the team drafted DeMar DeRozan (and, hopefully, traded for Sonny Weems). He could do extremely well in Europe, obviously, but he has enough of a name that another NBA team is likely to take a shot on him at some point (hi Memphis!).

Gill, though, is sort of a big deal because he represents yet another talented, high-profile player (D-League-wise) who the Springfield Armor took in the expansion draft and who won't actually be suiting up for that team. Gill may or may not have been looking to head overseas for awhile, but his leaving right before training camp would seem to put the team in a tight spot. They may not have been counting on him being there, but they didn't really bring in any strong point guards through allocation or the draft, so one would assume that they were. Oh well. This leaves JamesOn Curry as the team's starting point guard, I'm guessing, even though Curry's not much of a distributor.

November 14: Houston Rockets - waived Pops Mensah-Bonsu and assigned Joey Dorsey to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Goodbye, Pops. You were enjoyed. I have no idea if Mensah-Bonsu will return to the D-League, as he's in a similar position to Paul Davis (but without the whole "appearing on TV" thing), and also Earl Barron. Mensah-Bonsu is younger than I thought, but 26 years old is starting to approach the "maybe I should just go to Europe" age. His national team coach Chris Finch is in the D-League now, and with the Rockets' affiliate no less, so he could wait around until they're at the top of the list and join the D-League player pool, at which point he'll do so well (he was a monster for the Toros last year) that the NBA can't keep ignoring him (again).

I also thought Dorsey was older than he is, or at least had been in the NBA long enough not to be eligible for the D-League, but that probably speaks to the fact that I need to brush up on this stuff. Even without Mensah-Bonsu in the picture, frontcourt minutes are scarce in Houston at the moment. Dorsey posted some decent numbers in RGV last year, around 10 points and nine rebounds per game (11 and 11 per-36), but his free-throw shooting was so awful it actually dragged his True Shooting percentage down a fair amount. Dorsey played well in Summer League this year, and I expect him to do very well for the Vipers. Assuming, that is, that he and Kurt Looby find a way to both play in the middle. They'll probably both start, but Vipers fans should probably get used to seeing those guys fighting each other for rebounds.

Your Sunday D-League Bullets

2009-11-15T15:00:28Z

View full size photo »

I've skipped linking to all of the various "local player gets drafted by a D-League team" stories, mostly because they're all pretty similar and also because some of those players may get cut over the next week and a half. There are still some interesting links to hit you with, as you'll see.

SLAM Online has a nice profile of Latavious Williams and the process he and his agent Tony Dutt went through to decide on joining the D-League. There is no relation between my linking this article and the fact that it and Dutt make a lot of the same points (he'll get to play against better competition, with better coaching) that I always make.
Quincy Douby just got cut by the Raptors, and the Erie BayHawks have first dibs if he comes back to the D-League. I'd bet he goes to Europe instead, but maybe he wants to be on hand for another 10-day.
Okay, so one exception to the kind of story I mentioned above: Robert Swift, who's trying to come back with Bakersfield. I'm a little skeptical that he can stay injury-free, but as the article notes, Swift has bulked up a little bit so perhaps his body will be a little more stable.
Ronald Dupree is playing in Germany this year, and Bonn's General-Anzeiger Online has an interview with him about being cut by the Jazz and his decision to play overseas. It's in German, of course, so you may need to use your translation website of choice, but here's a choice quote, roughly translated: "For me it was no longer meaningful to return there. It's okay if you're young and coming out of college, but I had come to a point in my career where I had to take the step to play in Europe.
I don't put much stock in "power rankings" as a general rule, for any sport or other thing that you can rank power-ly, but in the interest of full bulleting, D-League.com has released their preseason power rankings. I think Maine might be a little high and Idaho a bit low, but otherwise it mostly tracks with my own thoughts.
Jeff Potter has been posting his thoughts on how Fort Wayne's Mad Ants practices have been going, but the most interesting one to me is the idea that Sean Sonderleiter has slimmed down a bit over the summer. I doubt it's made him a whole lot quicker, but he was always active and a solid rebounder, so if he's a little leaner (he was never as bad as a Nate Jawai or a Kentrell Gransberry, but his conditioning could've been better) then he should be a very good backup for the Mad Ants this season.

Rockets Waive Pops Mensah-Bonsu

2009-11-14T07:16:08Z

Rockets Waive Pops Mensah-Bonsu

Hey, so remember when I said that Pops Mensah-Bonsu was ahead of Joey Dorsey on the Rockets' depth chart? That is no longer a true fact. Deeks with his Bulls hat on does a good job of listing all of the things M-B can do (which is a fair amount). Brian Cook has to have one of the sweetest rides in the NBA, no? He never plays (nor should he, really) but his team can't waive him, so instead they get rid of better players.

Rockets Assign Joey Dorsey to RGV

2009-11-13T19:58:25Z

Rockets Assign Joey Dorsey to RGV

Well here you go, the season's first NBA assignment. I'm a little surprised the Rockets didn't also send down Jermaine Taylor, who's played less than nine total minutes so far, but after Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola, Carl Landry, David Andersen and Pops Mensah-Bonsu there just aren't a lot of minutes for Dorsey right now. Dorsey spent seven games in the D-League last season, and it will be interesting to see how new RGV coach Chris Finch handles the Dorsey-Kurt Looby rotation early on.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Latavious Williams

2009-11-10T15:00:57Z

Latavious Williams was just drafted out of high school into the D-League. It's your move, David Stern.

View full size photo »

(I've moved this back up to the top after receiving an e-mail from Shoals clarifying/correcting my characterization of his position, which in turn helped me strengthen the end of the piece, I hope. Apologies to Shoals, and please enjoy the new paragraphs.)

I've made a few references to this in the last few days, mostly around the D-League draft, but it's probably time to talk about Latavious Williams. Because honestly, everyone else has so why not RU? Williams, if you haven't already read, was Tulsa's first round pick in last week's D-League draft. That fact is notable because he's the first player in D-League history to go straight there from high school.

The D-League wasn't Williams's first option. His "mentor/advisor" Trey Godfrey wanted Williams to follow in the footsteps of Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler and play overseas. Said Godfrey (back in June):

There's no deal in place...There have been conversations with several teams in several different countries. China is one of them, but there is no deal on the table.

Four months later, there still was no deal on the table, and Williams entered the D-League draft pool. The reaction to this news usually fell under the category of praising (or at least noting) it's historic nature and/or proclaiming what this move means for the future of basketball. As someone who has called for those high school players who won't be attending college to take their game to the D-League instead of Europe (or Asia, or South America), my own reaction may surprise you: it's just too early to tell what this will mean. I'll explain why after the jump.

As the first group of high school players to respond to the NBA's age limit by playing somewhere other than an American college, Jennings, Tyler and Williams will likely be linked together for some time, so let's consider them in turn. Brandon Jennings, of course, played in Italy last season at the age of 18. He didn't have the best season, with inconsistent minutes and reports that his game hadn't improved all that much. This season as a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks, Jennings is playing reasonably well (21 points, five assists, just under two steals and three and a half turnovers per 36 minutes), and many observers are saying the same things ESPN's John Hollinger are: that playing in Europe made Jennings NBA-ready. I've already responded to that article (and the TrueHoop blog post) so I won't repeat myself at length, but my reaction is still the same. While Jennings may have grown as a person playing in Europe, the experience he had there was not unique to playing overseas. Furthermore, everything we know about what sort of basketball prospect Jennings was coming out of high school indicates that he could've been this good a year ago. He also was projected as a top-five pick before heading overseas, and this summer he ended up being drafted 10th. Drafts being what they are, we can speculate that at the very least he wasn't drafted any higher than he would've been had he never played in Europe.

Next up is Jeremy Tyler, who got bored with dominating his high school competition and wanted a bigger challenge. First he was headed to Serbia, but ended up with Maccabi Haifa in Israel. While Jennings is a point guard, Tyler is a 6'11" power forward/center with some skills that are increasingly prized in NBA big men such as agility and deft footwork. Both the New York Times and USA Today went over to Israel to check up on how he's doing, and the reports sound a bit like those on Jennings - riding the bench, occasionally showing flashes of talent but also struggling against more experienced competition. There are some differences, though, the primary one being that Tyler just doesn't seem as mature as Jennings. Not knowing you need a passport to fly outside the US and play ingloud music on Yom Kippur isn't necessarily Tyler's fault (sadly) - either handler Sonny Vaccaro or the Haifa coach probably should've clued him in there. But complaining about not being given a lavishly-furnished apartment, that kind of nonsense is on Tyler. And then there's being bothered by stuff like this (from the USA Today article):

There is little socializing with his teammates -- grown men, many with families, all trying to carve out professional careers of their own.

What, exactly, does Tyler think the NBA is like? There are friendships to be sure, but do you really think that, for example, Brandon Jennings is hanging out with Kurt Thomas on the reg? (Sorry, I know I'm behind but I just saw Eastbound and Down.) NBA locker rooms are, well, groups of grown men, many with families, all trying to carve out professional careers. If one were to draw conclusions based on Jennings's one season in Europe + a handful of NBA games + Tyler's handful of games overseas, it appears that a player's talent level and existing maturity level play a part in how they handle what shouldn't be a surprising situation - veterans being given playing time over 18 year olds in whom their team has no real stake.

Which brings us (finally) to Latavious Williams. There haven't been too many scouting reports on Williams's game, but the TrueHoop blog Daily Thunder has a pretty good description: a 6'8", 205 pound (DraftExpress lists him at 190) combo forward who is agile but whose offensive game at this point consists of dunks and tip-ins, and who doesn't defend much and doesn't get nearly as many rebounds as he could. Williams will likely have a similar experience to Tyler and Jennings while playing for Tulsa - the 66ers already have several power forwards (and small forwards) with more experience, and Oklahoma City has several players that they could - and should - send down at that position.

So far all that ties these three players together is their choice to go away from the college game, but as Brown Recluse, Esq. astutely points out over at FreeDarko, it wasn't really a choice for Jennings or Williams. The NCAA's academic eligibility rules forced those players to seek other options. I won't get into the arguments over whether requiring a certain level of academic achievement is wise/necessary/laudable/inane, or any of the discussions involving standardized testing as a measure of academic achievement and/or fitness, but I will say that where BRE notes that "these players were willing (and even wanted) to go to college...If Garnett or Jennings had been allowed to go to college, it’s not difficult to imagine them extolling the experience and continuing to take classes the way Durant and Oden have," players don't usually go play for coaches like Calipari (as Williams would have and John Wall did), Pitino and arguably Calhoun because they're interested in the college experience and taking classes.

To my point, because I've spent too much time on the preliminaries: much of the discussion thus far has been what effect the career paths of Jennings, Tyler and Williams will have on the NCAA. Even Dan Shanoff's TrueHoop post that I linked to earlier this week notes that would be "one-and-done" players going to the D-League instead is positive for college basketball because it will break coaches' dependence on players like Greg Oden, OJ Mayo and Kevin Durant. Personally, though? I really don't care about what's good for NCAA basketball, and I certainly don't care about college basketball coaches. The fact is, that the NCAA will be fine. Attending/playing at college is still the easiest path, and despite how some may characterize it, going over to Europe for a year or two isn't "bypassing" or "subverting" the NBA's age requirement, it's adhering to it in a different way. Even if the top 20 players from each high school recruiting class decide to play in Europe or Asia or in the D-League, the NCAA still will be able to create stars through the annual tournament, and the majority of college basketball fans are there to root for their alma mater anyway, regardless of who plays for it.

What Latavious Williams should represent is another step towards the D-League becoming a true minor league for the NBA. He, Jennings and Tyler all have highlighted the existing landscape for players who - for whatever reason - won't be playing NCAA ball. It's now up to the NBA to change this landscape into something more to its benefit. In the comments section of that FreeDarko post, Bethlehem Shoals notes that an NBA team not being able to call up a super-talented "high school player" (for lack of a simpler term) like a John Wall who might be on its D-League roster even though that player is clearly NBA-ready could make the D-League "look silly," at least as it stands as a minor league devoted to development. I think that's a little strong, for two reasons.

First, even the best potential "one and done" players need to on something. From what I've read, John Wall still has a shaky jumpshot, and on the defensive end mainly relies on his athleticism to block shots rather than locking down his man. Heck, even LeBron James still needs to improve his footwork if Yahoo's Kelly Dwyer is to be believed (and he is). Even if it's something relatively small in the context of a player's overall game (as with James), players can always improve and develop, especially when they're 18 and 19 years old. Do you really think John Calipari is going to help Wall with his jump shot? Or that he would've helped Latavious Williams? Everything I know about Calipari indicates that he's more concerned with recruiting the best athletes and using their superior talent to win games for him rather than helping them improve in any deficient areas of their games. Hasheem Thabeet spent four years in college but still needed to work with D-League coach Scott Roth before the draft because his game hadn't fully developed to where it needed to be at UConn.

Second is something I wrote about in my response post to the ESPN article/TrueHoop post about Brandon Jennings's time in Europe. To recap, some sports writers are now crediting the humility Jennings gained from not playing much in Rome and his experience being surrounded by other pros for his professionalism and overall NBA readiness early in the season. As I've pointed out, humility is easy to come by in the D-League. There's been some hand-wringing over Philadelphia's small attendance number of around 11,000 per game. That's still ten times (or more) the size of a D-League crowd, and there were some games last season that probably had high-double figures/low-triple figures in the stands. Someone like Williams will get a chance to play not only with minor league veterans but also actual NBA players who might get sent down to Tulsa this year, and play against any other NBA assignees. Even a school like Kentucky can't consistently guarantee the same caliber of teammate or opponent.

The D-League was a last resort for Latavious Williams after both college and playing overseas ruled themselves out. Seeing that fact, along with Jennings and Tyler choosing to play in Europe, should spur the NBA on to make changes to the way it deals with high school players. One disadvantage of not being able to call up or even retain the NBA rights of a "one and done D-Leaguer" is that it encourages lazier teams like the Clippers to freeload off of the development work done by smarter teams like the Spurs or Rockets and draft their players (sure it's a different system, but I doubt Donald Sterling or Mike Dunleavy care about that). One way to solve that problem could be to allow high school players drafted by a D-League team to be "transferred" up to the NBA the following year (or whenever they're eligible), but not allow them to be called up before they meet the age requirement. It would solve the freeloading issue while keeping the age limit in place, and there's an added benefit that NBA teams would be encouraged to become either directly or hybrid-ly (not a real word) affiliated with a D-League team in order to reap that benefit. That's one suggestion, but the point is that it's now the NBA's turn to figure out how to get the most out of this new class of player - talented, not old enough for the NBA and either unwilling or unable to go to college. In the immediate wake of the NBA instituting its age limit, most observers focused on the "one-and-done" players.The collective experience of Jennings, Tyler and Williams shows that the NBA needs a long-term strategy to focus on the development of young talent outside of the NCAA without discouraging players from attending college.

As it stands now, and as I've written before, playing in the D-League rather than Europe has advantages for players, such as the possibility of greater endorsement deals and TV (or at least general media) exposure. There's also the fact that players in the D-League work with coaches who specialize in helping players prepare for the NBA, not just win the EuroChallenge (this is no knock on European coaches, but the fact is that they have different goals). Teams, however, don't yet see much benefit from having high school players in the D-League, but they easily could.

Latavious Williams may or may not make the NBA, but what his joining the D-League out of high school means for the NBA age limit and the NCAA as the traditional route to the pros should matter less to the NBA than the fact that the onus is now on them to determine whether they want to take advantage of having an in-house option for developing basketball talent. Even moreso than with Brandon Jennings, it's now up to David Stern (and Dan Reed) to seize the initiative and figure out a way for minor league basketball to work.

Turnover at the Top

2009-11-13T15:00:44Z

Chris Hunter is one of only a few of last season's D-League leaders coming back to the league.

View full size photo »

I've made a few oblique references this offseason to all of the D-League three-point shooters who will be playing overseas this year, and it's true that there will be some unfamiliar faces jacking up perimeter shots next month. But it's actually even more remarkable than I thought. Heres is the list of last year's D-League award winners:

MVP - Courtney Sims
Defensive POY - Brent Petway
Impact POY - Eddie Gill
Rookie of the Year - Othyus Jeffers
Coach of the Year - Quin Snyder
Sportsmanship Award - Will Conroy

Notice anything? With the exception of perhaps Sims, all of the players listed above are playing overseas (and RU's Coach of the Year pick, Bryan Gates, is in the NBA now). True, one of them could come back midseason (and be in the running for the Impact award), but those are still some relatively big names missing. It gets even more drastic than that. Here are the All D-League teams:

First: Blake Ahearn, Will Conroy, Erik Daniels, Courtney Sims, Marcus Williams

I expect Williams to join back up with the Toros, and we're still waiting to see what Sims will do, but Ahearn, Conroy and Daniels are all overseas now.

Second: Derrick Byars, Josh Davis, Chris Hunter, Trey Johnson, James White

Hunter's back in Fort Wayne, but Byars - gone; Davis - gone; Johnson - gone; White - gone.

Third: Lance Allred, Ronald Dupree, Eddie Gill, Dontell Jefferson, Cartier Martin

Jefferson is back with Utah but I would expect a call-up for him at some point this season (the defense is too good). Otherwise, they're all in Europe and elsewhere. And while I won't bother listing all of the honorable mentions, by my count less than half of them are with the D-League again this year.

So what's the point of this? Change, and lots of it. Sure it will be disappointing not to see these talented players, but I prefer to see it as a crisi-tunity. With training camps underway and the regular season starting in just two weeks, a lot of players will have a chance to make their mark on the D-League. Some of them we can probably guess - expect Marcus Williams to tear it up again until he gets called up, Garrett Siler should be one of the best big men in the league and Carlos Powell and Anthony Tolliver should both fill up the box scores. But just as likely is that we can't predict right now who's going to make those 2009-2010 All-D-League teams. It could be someone like Amara Sy, who started his career off promisingly in Europe; or Reggie Williams, who was a smart, crafty scorer in college; heck, it could even be Yaroslav Korolev (it probably won't be Yaroslav Korolev).

All this turnover at the top of the league, talent-wise, is both likely a little daunting for the league and a pretty exciting development for D-League watchers. Teams are busy right now sorting out who can play and who can't, then it will be our turn.

D-League Playoffs Expanding

2009-11-11T19:54:48Z

The D-League announced today that its playoffs are expanding to include best-of-three series in both the first and second rounds. Previously, those rounds had been a single-elimination format. The league also announced that the top four seeds will select their opponents for the second year in a row.

Increasing the number of games seems like a smart move. Every team will now get one home playoff game (the lower seed hosts the first game, the higher seed hosts the second and third), which means more money for them (although it also means increased travel costs).

As for the seeding, each division winner will get a spot along with the teams with the next six best records regardless of division. The top division winner gets the first choice of opponent, followed by the other division winner and then the two other top-ranked teams. I had thought the league might split the playoffs up by division and have the Western champ meet the Eastern champ in the finals, but given that Dakota and Sioux Falls are considered "Eastern" teams, this is just as well. Of course, all that happened last season was that the #1 seed picked the #7 seed and #2 played #8, so we'll see if teams are encouraged to get a bit crazier this year.

It also raises the question as to whether this is a trial run for the NBA. There was some discussion several years ago (that's died down since) about whether the NBA should seed it's playoff teams by record regardless of conference. This was back when there would be one or two Eastern Conference playoff teams with records under .500 while talented Western teams were left out. While the D-League began this "pick your opponent" system last year, there are two divisions now rather than three, so it matches up with the NBA's division organization a little more. I doubt the NBA will move in that direction, but the D-League is (partly) about being a test lab for the NBA, so this could be a step closer to seeing more NBA playoff teams from one conference than the other at some point down the line.

The Springfield Armor's mascot is going to have a dumb name

2009-11-11T15:00:34Z

The Springfield Armor apparently still don't have a name for their mascot which, if you recall, looks like this:

The team held a naming contest which ended this past Sunday. Why didn't Ridiculous Upside write about it before then, so that you, our readers could participate? Well you see, the thing about that is...[runs away]

Sorry about that. Here are the REAL, NOT JOKE names that the team put up for a vote, which I must again emphasize are the REAL options, and are NOT A JOKE:

Ax
Lance
Link
Sabre
Steal

Personally, I will continue to call the team's mascot Moltar, but I'll discuss each of the team-derived options after the jump.

Dumb name number one. With this one, all I have are questions. Will the mascot be carrying an ax(e), or will that be too confusing? Are the Armor (is the Armor?) trying to get some of that Ax(e) Body Spray sponsorship money? Is the name short for Axel? And if so, will the team be using the Beverly Hills Cop theme as its entrance music? The only other Ax I can think of was in the Demolition tag team, which reminds me that it's been wayyyyyy too long since this site featured an early '90s wrestling video. Enjoy:

Lance

This one I kind of get, kind of. The mascot looks like a ye olde knight, sort of, and ye olde knights carried lances, sometimes. It's a little bit Ren Faire-y, but I get it. Of course, if they were in Austin, Lance would mean this guy:

Link

Attention Springfield Armor: naming your mascot "Link" leaves you open to numerous "Legend of Zelda" jokes, or at least it would if I ever played those games. I didn't, but I know that one of them was called "Ocarina in Time," so I'll probably just reference that over and over. Consider yourselves warned.

Sabre

Wait, I thought that ye olde knights carried lances, not sabres. Unless the team name is changing to the Springfield Russian Cossacks, I don't get it. I can only assume that team owner Michael Savit was watching the old American Gladiators show on ESPN Classic recently and thought that Sabre sounded like a cool name for the mascot. Be the light, kids:

(And if you didn't click on that video because you didn't think it included an American Gladiator rapping...go ahead and click on that video.)

Steal

Okay, I really don't get this one. Steal? As in, theft? Oh I get it now, they mean a steal like in basketball. You know, how like other teams name their mascots "Swish" or "Hoop" or "Dunk" or "Effective Field Goal Percentage." Well I can see how that...no, wait, no. How, exactly, does that relate to what the mascot looks like and/or the team name of Armor? Are they encouraging people to steal the guns stored in the Springfield Armory? That can't be right. I thought the D-League was about family-oriented entertainment. The only other thing I can figure is that it's supposed to be "Steel" and someone mis-typed it. Because the armor is made out of steel, I guess? Or at least we're supposed to pretend that it is even though it's likely made out of some kind of foam rubber. Of course, we all know what steel mills are like.

Keep reaching for that rainbow, Springfield!

Poll

What should the Springfield Armor name their mascot?

While in camp with the Pacers, I still kept a journal of my experience, took pictures during our...

2009-11-10T21:57:39Z

While in camp with the Pacers, I still kept a journal of my experience, took pictures during our trips and used my personal gift from David Stern (a Flip camera that everyone got) to record plenty of video.

BDL's Too Much Rod Benson column is back up now that Rod Benson is back in the D-League, but even more than his talking about training camp or the video of him in China and Taiwan with the Pacers, the line above stuck out to me, for two reasons:

1.) The NBA was figuring out its social media policy, and ended up cracking down somewhat, at the same time it was handing out cameras for guys to take pictures and record video, theoretically to post online? Is that not a mixed message?

2.) Those phones may themselves have been "donated" from the company, but if the league paid for them, couldn't that money have gone towards narrowing the gap in what the refs wanted and what the league wanted to give them? I know the impasse was about more than just money, but for the league to be handing out cameras at the same time it's calling for fiscal prudence on some level strikes me as, again, a mixed message.

Or am I making too much of this?