Marc Stein: D-League Preview

[Spurs Brazil]

D-League Preview

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. 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, Melvin Ely, Christian Eyenga (Texas Legends); Luther Head, Kyle Weaver (Austin Toros); JaJuan Johnson (Fort Wayne Mad Ants); Andrew Goudelock, Demetris Nichols (Sioux Falls Skyforce); Coby Karl (Idaho Stampede); Jamario Moon (Los Angeles D-Fenders); Andy Rautins (Tulsa); and Garrett Temple (Reno Bighorns).

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, starting at the point for 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 is the first Mexican-born head coach in the NBA family. Yet another pioneer is Tulsa's Darko Rajakovic, with the Serbian emerging as the first European-born head coach under the NBA's umbrella. 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 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, with D-League franchises now permitted to sell jersey sponsorships. 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.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...ny-better-ever

[Bruno]

Some random D-League news/thoughts:

- Toros have lost their preseason game last week against RGV:
http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/201.../gameinfo.html
Cory Joseph had 19 points and 10 assists in 28 minutes.
- A player who put up great stats in preseason and the first game of the season is CDR. If Spurs want to add a scorer at some point of the season, he might be a good option.
- Sending down De Colo for a couple of games would be a good idea. He is in a serious shooting slump and a D-League game, where he could shoot 20 times without a problem, should help him.

[Biggems]

I wish the NBDL would get a team for every NBA team, and become a legit farm system, so much so that every player on a particular roster becomes a player for the parent NBA team. Even moreso, this new league popping up could be another farm system in the making. Have it be like AA and have the NBDL be like AAA. Every NBA team would have 2 farm system teams to filter players through. The NBA could extend its draft, up until around the 90s, the draft was like 7 or 8 rounds. Move the draft to Friday night, televise the first 2 rounds. Then on Saturday televise the remaining rounds on TNT or something, starting at 10 am EST. Even in the later rounds, junkies will be watching the draft. This would benefit not only the NBDL, but also the new league starting up, and the NBA. The farm clubs would be able to develop future talent, while also providing a place for injured players to be sent down for rehab assignments.

[lurker23]

I like that they're using the D-League as a place to test out new rules. Not a huge fan of all of the rules, but some have some promise. I especially like being able to choose your first round opponent, which seems like a fairer system than teams trying to lose to avoid a certain matchup. (I'd limit it to choosing between seeds 5-8, though, which gives the 4 seed auto home court advantage.)

I still say the D-League needs to increase salaries to be slightly more compe ive with mid-level international leagues, but I imagine that's tough to justify with the typical attendance numbers.

[TDMVPDPOY]

D-League Preview

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 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.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...ny-better-ever

thats pretty low salary, might as well goto europe or china...