SB Nation - Billy Thomas

Last Night in the D-League; Mo Almond Could Put the Spring in Springfield

Jon L — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:00:16 -0000

Mo Almond played well in his D-League debut yesterday. (via www.nba.com)

Tulsa 66ers 98, Springfield Armor 91

In yesterday's early action, the score of this one was 18-13 after the first quarter. Ugh. I missed it, because I was busy sleeping. I said it was early action. (Okay, so it was 11 am central time. Whatever.) Tulsa's win put them at .500, and they have some nice pieces that could push them higher in the standings. Mustafa Shakur has been a fantastic point guard in this league so far, and he had 27 points on 13 shots with six assists and five rebounds (and also five turnovers). They have a few guys who each can get hot on a certain night, and last night it was Cecil Brown with 5-8 shooting (though he also missed both of his threes). And, cough cough, they have Latavious Williams, who played a season high (it seems wrong to also call it a career high) 15 minutes last night and gave the team 10 points on five shots and seven rebounds. He missed half of his foul shots, but he also didn't commit a foul or turn the ball over once. Byron Mullens (who's technically more a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder than the 66ers) added 19 points and six rebounds.

It's amazing what a former NBA player can do for a team. Springfield lost, but Morris Almond had 27 points and seven rebounds, but he also put a spring in JamesOn Curry's step, so to speak. Curry had 15 points on 7-11 shooting and a season-high seven assists before fouling out. Maybe he just needed someone to pass the ball to. Major Wingate had six turnovers but otherwise continued to play pretty well with 12 points and six boards. The Armor fell to 0-6, but things may be starting to look up.

The rest of the games (which were played at a more reasonable hour) are after the jump.

Iowa Energy 117, Dakota Wizards 108

Where the hell did this come from, Mark Tyndale? 31 points on 9-17 shooting (12-15 from the free-throw line) and eight rebounds for Tyndale in 27 and a half minutes. He had help in the form of 20 points from Earl Barron, nine assists from Curtis Stinson and 16 points on 10 shots (4-7 on three-pointers) from Jeff Trepagnier, but it was pretty much all Tyndale down the stretch.

Dakota got some decent games from Maurice Baker (30 points) and Marcus Dove (eight points on 4-5 shooting, 11 rebounds), but aside from those two the Wizards shot 37 percent from the field. They were also whistled for 33 fouls, which might be more of a big deal if both Griffin and Stinson hadn't fouled out for Iowa. This one was mostly on them, particularly in the second half. David Bell made three of his six three-point attempts but was 0-7 inside the arc. Romel Beck was 0-3 from outside and 3-10 overall. Connor Atchley is giving them nothing off the bench. Et cetera.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers 125, Albuquerque Thunderbirds 112

Joey Dorsey had a field day in this one, as one would expect given how thin Albuquerque is up front. 18 points and 18 rebounds, and he had 14 of each at halftime. Six turnovers aren't great, but I'm sure coach Chris Finch will take that if it comes with 7-9 shooting. The entire RGV starting five scored in double figures, as did Stanley Asumnu. Mike Harris had 23 points and seven rebounds, Antonio Anderson had 17 points on eight shots and 13 assists. The Vipers never scored less than 30 points in a quarter, and now they've won six straight.

Albuquerque wasn't all that bad, they just couldn't keep Dorsey off the boards, couldn't guard RGV's shooters, and couldn't keep Harris out of the lane. But, you know, other than that. Yaroslav Korolev shot 8-12 for 18 points, Carlos Powell had 23 points on 13 shots and Kevin Pittsnogle had 19 points off the bench. Albuquerque had a decent third quarter, but the Vipers had four of them, it's as simple as that.

Fort Wayne Mad Ants 107, Sioux Falls Skyforce 98

Fort Wayne was in control for pretty much the entire game; 40 of the Skyforce's points came in the second quarter. Other than that, I think it's fair to say that they struggled. Jeff Potter posted a to-do list before the game, so let's see how the team did.

We have to get off to a strong start tonight. We can't continue to fall behind early and have success; I'd say that finishing the first quarter with a 30-19 lead qualifies as starting strong
Got to rebound...be physical and BLOCK OUT; Fort Wayne was actually outrebounded 37-49, but that apparently didn't matter.
Execute; Does making 45 percent of your threes count as executing?
Kyle McAlarney has to be a threat; McAlarney was 4-7 from outside and finished with 18 points. Only one of those made threes came in the second half, but we'll be lenient and say that he was a threat early, and opened the floor a little bit for his teammates.
Ron Howard has to make his teammates better and stop looking out for his game. Scouts will be much more impressed with that type of play compared to throwing up a bunch of contested jumpers to try and get 20; Welllllllll...Howard got his 20 points, but he needed a team-high 17 shots to get there. He had seven rebounds and a six assists as well, but I can only imagine that spending several months with Mike D'Antoni's Knicks encouraged him to shoot, you know, whenever

Sioux Falls shot okay overall, 40 percent (okay, not great), but could barely hit anything from outside. Reggie Williams was good, anyway, with 27 points and six rebounds, and Greg Stiemsma grabbed nine boards. That's about it.

Maine Red Claws 116, Erie BayHawks 90

This was a close game at the end of the first quarter, then Erie decided to start missing all their shots. Maine, on the other hand, made 59 percent of its three-pointers, including a 6-8 outside shooting night from Billy Thomas (who had 26 points in total along with seven rebounds), a 5-7 effort from Tony Bobbitt and 3-5 from Billy Walker (who finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds). Will Blalock still hasn't been great offensively, but he had a season-high nine assists, and Trey Gilder had 24 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

John Bryant finally had a subpar game for the BayHawks, with 10 points on 10 shots and four rebounds, and only four of those points came after the first quarter. His backup Jarvis Gunter played pretty well with 14 points on nine shots and six boards, five of which were offensive, and Cedric Jackson had nine assists, but other than that the BayHawks just weren't very good on offense. The team has a few days off before playing the Red Claws again in back-to-back games, so perhaps they can come up with a solution by then.

Last Night in the D-League; Big Men Run This League

Jon L — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:00:22 -0000

Rod Benson is just one of the many big men playing well so far this season.

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Watching and/or reading the boxscores from last night's games solidified a theory I've been developing - centers and power forward are owning this league so far this season. That's not to say that there haven't been guards and swingmen also performing well, it's just that around the league, there are a lot of big guys doing solid-to-excellent work. A lot of shooters and slashers are playing overseas rather than the D-League this year, and the guys in the middle are taking advantage.

Update - the play by play data isn't available, but you can now find a PDF of the LA/Reno boxscore here. I go through it at the bottom of this post.

Erie BayHawks 109, Sioux Falls Skyforce 107 (OT)

Here's a good example of what I was talking about up top - John Bryant. The guy is killing it for Erie. He has double-doubles in all four games he's played so far, and in those four games he's shooting 60.8 percent from the field. Last night was probably his best performance yet - 26 points on 12-17 shooting, 16 rebounds (eight of which came on the offensive end) and a team-high four assists. If there's one thing he could improve on, it's getting to and converting from the free throw line. This was his first game with more than four foul shots and he went just 5-9 (he's shooting 53 percent on the season). If he ever figures that part out, he'll be a monster.

It wasn't just Bryant for the BayHawks. Donell Taylor made 14 of his 22 field goals on the way to 28 points (and had eight rebounds), Cedric Jackson finished with 19 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Jackie Manuel grabbed seven boards of his own. Still, Bryant has been this team's driving force so far. Sioux Falls got a solid performance from their own big man, Greg Stiemsma, who had 15 points on nine shots, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. Stiemsma hasn't shot the ball all that well, but his rebounding has been solid so far and he's now averaging a little over five blocks a game. Reggie Williams with 33 points, David Bailey with 10 assists and only one turnover, Joe Krabbenhoft with 10 boards - this team fought back from an 18-point halftime deficit to tie it at the end of regulation, but Leemire Goldwire missed the potential game-winning three at the end of overtime. Fun game.

The rest of last night's action is recapped for your convenience after the jump.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers 94, Tulsa 66ers 89

Garrett Temple had his best all-around game of the season thus far with 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. He shot only 1-4 on threes, but given the rest of it, I'm willing to say whatever (which is different than the will to whatevs). The guys up front also played well, with Joey Dorsey collecting 12 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks and Mike Harris scoring 22 points. Ernest Scott was key off the bench for the Vipers with 13 points on 5-8 shooting, including making three of six three-point attempts.

This is hyperbole, but DeVon Hardin is killing this Tulsa team. The overall rebounding numbers are there, true, and he had seven last night, but he gets lost on defense and overeager to block shots and allows his man to score too easily (did you see Dorsey's and Harris's numbers in the preceding paragraph?). He also doesn't have the burgeoning offensive repertoire that Byron Mullens does; all Hardin can make at this point are dunks and layups, and even then he blew several layups in this game. I haven't really seen anything from him to justify his starting spot or the 28 minutes-per-game that he's averaging. I've said before that he's talented, but the 66ers have two other talented power forwards, Keith Clark and Latavious Williams, who deserve playing time as well. Williams played just under eight minutes last night, all in the first half, and finished with six points, two rebounds and a steal. He also made both of his free throws, whereas Hardin went 1-4. Even giving Hardin somewhere around 20 minutes a night, upping Williams to 10-12 minutes (consistently, no more of this DNP stuff) and keeping Clark at his 15-17 average (rather than the six minutes he played last night) would help improve all of those players' games in the long run and maybe even send a message to Hardin that he needs to focus.

But enough of my DeVon Hardin rant. Mullens played fairly well, with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Larry Owens had nine rebounds, five assists and four stealas. Mustafa Shakur struggled in this one, though, with 15 points on 12 shots and eight turnovers, and overall the 66ers shot just 2-12 from behind the arc and got just 14 points from their bench (six of which came from Williams, remember). They've played six games in the last 10 days, so maybe they just need some rest.

Austin Toros 104, Albuquerque Thunderbirds 103

This one was close all the way through. Malik Hairston had 20 points at halftime for the Toros, but scored only seven more in the second half and fouled out in 35 minutes of playing time. Alonzo Gee also had a better first half than a second, but he finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. Dwayne Jones had 13 points and 10 rebounds, but he was also limited by some foul trouble. Justin Bowen played well, 14 points on 6-9 shooting, and Curtis Jerrells picked up seven assists, but this team still has a three-point shooting problem, and they finished just 1-7 as a team (the one make being Hairston's) from behind the arc.

Kevin Pittsnogle got sent to the bench for this game (he still played, he just didn't start), which was a good move not just because he missed all of his field goals (again, which is kind of remarkable to write), but because his replacement in the starting lineup Cory Underwood played relatively well and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Yaroslav Korolev chipped in on the boards, grabbing 13 (five offensive) to go along with 11 points. The Thunderbirds were really led by Carlos Powell, though, who had 28 points, including 8-11 shooting from the free throw line, four rebounds and a pair of assists.

Utah Flash 104, Bakersfield Jam 99

This game was a little closer than I expected, but then Bakersfield getting 34 points and eight rebounds from Jared Newson will make that happen. Of course, Newson fouled out after 37 minutes of playing time, so it wasn't all positive for him. The Jam also got nice contributions from John Williams (16 points on nine shots, five assists) and Reece Gaines (18 points), but the talent gap was just too great, especially on the boards. Backup center Terrance Gamble had six rebounds, but otherwise no one other than the aforementioned Newson finished with more than three. Utah didn't have that many more rebounds as a team (31-28), but they got solid contributions in that area up and down the roster.

Andre Ingram shot the ball pretty well for the Flash, with 24 points on 8-12 shooting (including 4-7 on threes), and he added five rebounds and three assists. Dontell Jefferson missed all three of his three-point attempts but otherwise played well, finishing with 18 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals. Orien Greene also had 18 points, but he turned the ball over seven times. Jason Richards was again nice off the bench, with four assists in a little over 20 minutes, and Carlos Wheeler had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Idaho Stampede 131, Dakota Wizards 99

What makes the Stampede's total even crazier is that it came on 98 possessions. Anthony Tolliver didn't have a great outside shooting night but got to the line and was able to finish with 19 points on 10 shots and 10 rebounds. Idaho owned the boards, in fact, outrebounding Dakota 49-32, and the disparity matches up with the Stampede's 17 offensive rebounds. Mildon Ambres had nine boards, Cedric Simmons and Emmanuel Jones each had seven and Sundiata Gaines added six to go with his 27 points and seven assists. Tolliver aside the team shot the ball well, with Lanny Smith making all three of his outside attempts, Gaines going 3-6, Ambres 4-9, Roberto Bergersen 2-4 and Mike Gansey making three of his four three-point shots. That's hard for any team to beat.

Romel Beck missed all of this threes but still managed to score 14 points on 22 shots, and David Bell had 24 points despite missing five of his eight three-point attempts. Jason Straight played well off the bench with 20 points on 6-10 shooting, though he also had three turnovers and didn't contribute much else. Connor Atchley played in his first game for the Wizards, getting 12 minutes off the bench, shooting 1-3 and picking up three fouls. You know what? Latavious Williams should get some of his minutes, too.

Maine Red Claws 115, Springfield Armor 89

Hey, so uh...these NBA guys are pretty good. They should, like, play in the NBA, or something. Trey Gilder has been coming off the bench for Maine, something he's not unfamiliar with, but he scored 20 points in 17 and a half minutes last night. 12 of those points came in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, and a lot of them came from the free throw line. Maurice Maxwell just couldn't guard him, and picked up a lot of fouls (he eventually fouled out later in the game). Noel Felix was almost as good, scoring 13 points in 16 and a half minutes. Bill Walker had 17 points and five rebounds, Darnell Lazare also had 17 points, Billy Thomas had 12 points on five shots, and the last time the Armor had the lead was when the score was 5-4.

JamesOn Curry had another nice scoring night, with 20 points on 7-15 shooting, and he added eight rebounds. Of course, he had just three assists (and four turnovers), which helped contribute to a team-wide ball distribution problem; Springfield finished with just eight assists on the night. Major Wingate helped out on his end with 17 points and nine rebounds, although I'm not sure it can be called "help" when no one else was really doing anything. Kentrell Gransberry was limited to playing a little over 17 minutes because of foul trouble, and the other backup center James Cripe had more turnovers (four) than rebounds (three). The Armor fell to 0-4, and I really don't know what the answer is for them, other than maybe "acquire a real point guard." But hey, professional basketball is back in Springfield, MA, am I right?

LA D-Fenders 117, Reno Bighorns 111 (2OT)

This looks like a tough loss for Reno, because several things went right for them. Foremost among them was Desmon Farmer's game. Not just the 37 points and six assists, but also the three turnovers, which is a drastic reduction from what he's done so far this season. The team got double-doubles from Rod Benson (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Marcus Hubbard (11 and 10), Cezary Trybanski had four blocks in 20 minutes, and Doug Thomas gave some solid contributions with 6-7 shooting and six rebounds off the bench.

LA got some nice contributions of their own, obviously. Diamon Simpson played well again with 17 points and 14 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass. Michael Fey had 20 points and eight boards while coming off the bench, and Dar Tucker had a good shooting night (for him), 15 points on 10 shots, including going 3-5 from outside.

A lot of guys were in foul trouble, though, and while I didn't see this game and don't know whether that was a function of all the minutes or because the refs were calling it close, I'm inclined to believe the latter. Benson fouled out in less than 38 minutes, Thomas fouled out in less than 25 and Deron Washington fouled out in 32. Trybanski, Hubbard, Russell Robinson and Horace Wormely all finished with at least four fouls, and they played 20, 33 and a half, 34 and 33 minutes, respectively. Plus, James Jackson, Mo Charlo, Farmer and Reno coach Jay Humphries all got T'd up (and the three players got them at the same time), so there were either some jumpy whistles last night or this game was real chippy.

Previewing Tonight's Games; Featuring the NBA Players of Both Tomorrow and Yesterday

Jon L — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:00:18 -0000

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Bobcats assignee Alexis Ajinca joins a loaded Red Claws team in time for tonight's home opener. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Now this is more like it; five games, some nice matchups.

Reno Bighorns at Los Angeles D-Fenders

Reno is still looking for their first win, and it may just come tonight. Reno's first pair of games came against Idaho, who force teams to run with them, but the Bighorns should be able to play closer to their preferred style here. Michael Fey has had a nice start for the D-Fenders, but Rod Benson should be able to defend him pretty well. They've also acquired Doug Thomas, who I like a little better than Brian Laing (who was waived) coming off the bench. If Desmon Farmer can keep the turnovers down, I like Reno's chances. After the last game, though, that's a big if. The D-Fenders have point guard Gabe Pruitt back, and they also have several guys tall enough and athletic enough to guard Marcus Hubbard wherever he goes on the floor. They have talent, but the fact that Pruitt is still getting acclimated means their offense could struggle.

Erie BayHawks at Sioux Falls Skyforce

There should be some good individual matchups in this one, with Greg Stiemsma having to guard Erie's talented new center John Bryant, and the BayHawks' Donell Taylor likely spending some time checking Reggie Williams (at least he should be). Keith Brumbaugh and Pete Campbell have each shot the ball pretty poorly so far this year for Sioux Falls, but if they can contribute in other areas the team should be okay. Outside of Jackie Manuel's first game, the BayHawks haven't gotten much help for Taylor and Bryant. They'll need someone to pick up the slack (ideally Ivan Harris, who hasn't hit a three yet) to stay in this game, given how many guys can score for the Skyforce.

Springfield Armor at Maine Red Claws

This is already being called a rivalry game, which I guess it is for regional purposes, but let's see how they play against each other first. Maine has a stacked roster now, with ~~five~~ ~~six~~ seven players with some NBA experience (assignees Bill Walker and Alexis Ajinca plus Billy Thomas, Mario West, Will Blalock, Noel Felix and Trey Gilder). It's true that said experience only amounted to about a dozen games for a few of those players, and that Mario West was awful as a pro, and that Blalock has been less than impressive so far this season, but that's still a lot of talent. As for the Armor, well, they've reportedly signed Major Wingate, a talented center who never showed up to Maine's training camp. Plus they have an NBA guy of their own in JamesOn Curry, never mind the fact that he's shooting 31.8 percent from the field and 21.4 percent on threes so far. Actually, you probably should mind that. Even more importantly, Curry has just one more assist (nine) than turnovers (eight) this season. Perrin Johnson and Maurice Maxwell have switched off having good and bad games for Springfield, but who are we kidding; this one could get ugly.

Tulsa 66ers at Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Tulsa won a few days ago, but if you didn't read my write-up of the game (and it's understandable if you didn't; it's really long), there weren't a whole lot of players I was all that impressed with. Mustafa Shakur is good, certainly, but the Vipers have some defenders (like Antonio Anderson) who could keep him in check. Joey Dorsey and Mike Harris also should kill Byron Mullens and DeVon Hardin. Moiderize them. Either Dorsey or Harris could end up with 30 rebounds and 10 blocks. Heck, both of them could. The Vipers have had some players with turnover problems and they haven't been hitting their threes, and the 66ers have some shooters who could get hot, but the skill gap in the middle is just too large.

Austin Toros at Albuquerque Thunderbirds

I was made a fool of the last time I said this, but I'm going ahead with it anyway - Kevin Pittsnogle could be a key player in this game. The Toros just don't really have anyone who can guard him on the perimeter (caveat coming) if he's shooting the ball well. Dwayne Jones is rooted to the paint, Justin Bowen is really more of a small forward (though he can get up to block Pittsnogle's shots) and David McClure is too spazzy. The Toros also don't really have anyone who can adequately guard Carlos Powell. For Austin, they need to get Alonzo Gee involved early and keep looking for him even if he's not hitting shots immediately. More specifically they need to keep running him off of screens, where he does his best shooting. He's the best player on the team, and there were multiple possession stretches against Tulsa the other night when he was flat out ignored on offense. This could be a fun game.

The Lobster Roll: Issue 2

indeedproceed — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:33:19 -0000

Well the first week of D-League play is over, and the Red Claws made it out a solid .500, going 1 and 1. They're still obviously ironing out the kinks within the rotation, and trying to work Bill Walker into a starting spot of the rotation. Their roster seems to be coming along though, and DraftExpress has them ranked 8 out of 16 in their inaugeral D-League Power Rankings. For a full recap of the Red Claws' week, check out this fanpost by Celticsblog user JFoss.

Now that they've got some games under their belt, it's time we took a real deep look at what the Red Claws are working with. Prepare to embark on the promised FULL ON ROSTER PREVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

The Red Claws' roster, like most basketball teams, should be separated into tiers to be evaluated honestly. There is the 'Top Tier', usually consisting of two or three players. These would be the 'stars', and the guys who play the majority of the minutes and do most of the heavy lifting. Then, there are the remainder of the starters and the first guys off the bench. Finally there is the bottom layer, the guys who get sporadic playing time and are usually called on for specific roles (3pt shooting situations for instance).

A D-league team is like that, except with one very important difference. D-League teams need to play the guys who are assigned by their pro affiliates, regardless of chemistry or even sometimes how it affects wins. Usually the pro players do pretty well, but it is assumed that even if they do no, they will still receive playing time.

Note: This is not like the NBA where players have contracts with specific teams. In the D-League your contract is with the league. There are five ways a guy can get on the Red Claws.

One, he can be allocated by the league to a team that plays in an area where he has a vested interest, like Will Blalock, a Boston native.

Two, he could tryout like Mike Williams from Bryant College.

Three, he could've been drafted by the Red Claws in the yearly D-League draft, like Syracuse Junior Paul Harris was in this years' draft first round.

Four, he could be drafted in this past years' Expansion Draft only for new expansion teams like the Red Claws, like Billy Thomas was.

Finally, but most importantly, a player can be assigned to the D-League by the teams' affiliate team, as was Boston's Bill Walker. The Red Claws' other affiliate is the Charlotte Bobcats.

With that in mind, your Maine Red Claws!

Tier 1: The Big Dogs: Billy Thomas, Will Blalock, Darnell Lazare, Paul Harris

Tier 2: Heavy Rotation: Noel Felix, Tony Bobbitt, Anthony Terrell, Stanley Thomas, Abdulai Jalloh

Tier 3: The Rest of the Roster: Gary Ervin, Mike Williams

Tier ?: The Assigned Players, Future and Present: Bill Walker, Lester Hudson and JR Giddens

Tier 1: The Top Dogs

Billy Thomas

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
33	6'5	220	SG	EXPANSION SELECTION**	16.1*	3.4*	3.7*

* D-League Stats

50-Word-Bio

Attended Kansas and played under Roy Williams. Set school record for made 3’s. Went undrafted in 1998. Has played for fourteen teams in ten different league on four different continents. Has played sporadically in NBA. Couldn't play overseas in 2009 because of dispute with FIBA, alleges Serbian team stopped paying him.

Anticipated Role:

Thomas has a rep for having a very well rounded game, being a great locker room guy and being a professional. He's not a sharp shooter but he's got range. He's not a top tier play maker but he makes smart passes. He's not a defensive ace but he plays solid mostly mistake free defense. He's an all around good player in any league, and in the D-League he's an All-Star. The downside is he's 33 (soon to be 34 by the end of December), and he takes a lot of pride in being a professional. Think 'Crash' Davis in Bull Durham. He ought to be the leader from day one.

Will Blalock

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
26	205	6'1	PG	ALLOCATION	12.5*	2.8*	5.3

*stats are from 2007/2008 in NBA D-League, Blalock played 08/09 for Hapoel Jerusalem, but managed only 10 games.

50-Word-Bio:

Boston, MA native, played for Iowa. Drafted second round by Detroit Pistons and managed 14 games in 2006/2007 before being waived for lack of roster spot. Considered to have potential to be NBA player, but not the current skill. Regularly invited to summer teams and NBA camps, but can't seem to stick.

Anticipated Role:

He'll get the majority of the point guard minutes unless Lester Hudson or another NBA player gets assigned to the team, as his only competition is Abdulai Jalloh, a D-League rookie. Blalock still has enough people excited about him to keep getting invites to camps, but as far as prototypical point guards go, he's lacking a lot of the skillset. Defensively he's got the body to contribute in the NBA but his passing and long range shot have both been knocks on him since his days at Iowa, and he's done little in the last two years to rectify that. (Austin) Ainge has said however that this team will play defense first, so while Blalock probably won't dominate the boxscore very much, he will probably see a lot of time. One of the knocks on Blalock during his last stint in the D-League were that he needed to be a better on the court leader and be more assertive. If he can mange to improve there he should look to join Billy Thomas as a veteran presence in the locker room.

Darnell Lazare

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITIONS	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
24	6'8	240	PF/SF	Rd 2 Pk 9	13.9*	5.8*	1.2*

*stats from Ukrainian Super League

50-Word-Bio:

Played on the LSU team BBD and Tyrus Thomas took to the final four in 2006. Played all four years of college career, graduating in 2007. Undrafted in NBA, spent 07/08 with Gothia Basketball, Sweden, then 08/09 with Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian Superleague, playing a significant role on both teams.

Anticipated Role:

Unknown. This is a player that Austin Ainge or Jon Jennings must have really liked, and it was not because of his college career. Whatever secrets they know, he played well in the preseason game scoring 19 points and grabbing 8 boards in about 35 minutes in a starting effort from power forward. The rest of his season won't be so cozy however, because with Billy Walker needing minutes, and 1st round (in the D-League Draft) pick Paul Harris soon coming back from injury, it will probably be Lazare who misses out, as neither Walker or Harris will likely steal minutes from Blaylock or Thomas, so Walker will probably be bumped down to the power forward position. Regardless though Lazare has proven he's a valuable scorer and active overall player.

Paul Harris

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITIONS	D-League Draft	PPG	RPG	APG
23	6'5	225	SG,SF,PF	Rd 1 Pk 9	12.0*	8.1*	2.2*

*College stats

50-Word-Bio:

Buffalo native, played until Junior season for SU. Surprisingly went undrafted this spring despite what was by many accounts a very strong series of workouts, an exceptional Junior season, and an NBA ready body. Possesses a 6'10 wingspan. Played Summer League for T-Wolves and invited to camp with Utah Jazz.

Anticipated Role:

Hard to gauge. He's still recovering from a knee injury right now, but when healthy he should see significant playing time off the bat. Because of his tweener size, he's the type of guy that is kind of built for the D-League, but will have to prove he has a bigger skillset to get a more permanent invite to the NBA. He's listed at 6'6 but that's wishful thinking. He's 6'5, or more likely 6'4. The knock on Harris since his freshmen year is that he can't shoot, and when he gets to dribbling he tries to do too much with the basketball. This isn't a professional diagnoses, but you might call it "Ron Artest Syndrome". From the beginning though he has all the tools right now to be a heck of a stopper and a finisher. He may suffer from turnover-itis at first, but he should be a stat filler right away, posting high marks in rebounding, steals, blocks, and with his literally freak athleticism he should be able to grab 12-15 ppg.

The problem of course for Mr. Harris is the unstoppable Mr. Walker. Bill Walker is 6'6, Paul Harris is 6'5 (ish). They would both be amazing 6'9 power forwards. They're both skill deficient small forwards, and Paul Harris is in an especially tight spot, because in socks he looks like a great point guard with big arms. He'll be competing directly with Bill Walker for minutes for as long as Bill Walker or JR Giddens for that matter are on the Red Claws. That's a losing battle for the hungry Harris.

Tier 2: Heavy Rotation

Noel Felix

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
28	6'9	245	PF/C	EXPANSION	13.2*	6.6*	1.2*

*D-League

25-Word-Bio:

Fresno State alum. Undrafted. Been to the big leagues, but has also played in Europe. Usually gets invited to a camp, but usually doesn't stay.

Anticipated Role:

Felix's strengths on this team are his size (there is 1 other guy taller than 6'8 on the team, and he got 11 mins in the 1st preseason game), and his athleticism. The problem is that he only has those things working for him as a player. He's shown littler improvement over the last few years and the biggest thing pro scouts are looking for from him is the ability to hang in the post. In the D-League a guy of his size and raw athletic talent should be getting more than 6 rebounds per game. Felix was a DNP the first game and I don't anticipate him starting, but this team is thin on height and thin on actual NBA experience so he'll find a significant role.

Tony Bobbitt

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITIONS	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
30	6'4	205	SG	Rd 7 Pk 8	13.1*	2.3*	2.4*

*Career NBDL stats

25-Word-Bio:

Graduated Cincinnati University after playing 2 years for Southern Idaho. Played brief stint with the Lakers, then with the Lakers minor league team. Played overseas.

Anticipated Role:

He's principally a scorer off the bench, and Billy Thomas's main sub. He's also probably going to play the main role of sniper for the squad, and just as an example out of 11 total 3pt shot attempts for the Red Claws in their preseason game, Bobbitt took 6. Expect that kind of aggressive attitude whenever his hands touch the ball.

Anthony Terrell

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
28	6'6	230	PF	Rd 6 Pk 9	.6.0*	3.9*	.6*

*06/07 stats

25-Word-Bio:

Went to school at UNC Wilmington. 80 games w/60+ starts. Never averaged above 9ppg after high school. Played in USBL, ABA, NBDL. No NBA experience.

Anticipated Role:

A bruiser down low. Obviously not going to log much time at any position outside of 4/5. Should have significant role however, because there aren't many physical guys on the roster. Height would be a problem in the NBA but as long as he's working hard, shouldn't be a problem here. Not going to wow much with stats but he'll throw his body around.

Stanley Thomas

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG	RPG	APG
29	6'5	205	SF,PF	TRYOUTS	20.6*	5.8*	1.8*

*ABA stats

25-Word-Bio:

2 years at Texas Tech, then 2 years at Robert Morris. Former ABA team, "Chicago Throwbacks," played in Attack Athletics building, same building managed by MRC's AC Mike Procopio.

Anticipated Role:

Will see nights where he gets 9 mins per game and nights where he gets 25 mins per game. If Bill Walker sticks around the D-League, won't see a huge uptick in mins, but if Walker is called up and JR Giddens does not get demoted to take his place, Thomas could even be a starter at the SF. Natural scorer, but with bulk should be taking it to the hoop more than he does. Won't be asked to take many 3's but has the range. Played for the Chicago Throwbacks last season the in ABA, where he had to do everything for the team. This season will be asked to do more but if he wants to see his minutes increase needs to really up his consistency.

Abdulai Jalloh

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG*	RPG*	APG*
23	6'2	190	PG/SG	TRYOUT	15.5	5.5	2.9

*Junior season at James Madison University

25-Word-Bio:

Made the team on a tryout basis despite missing almost all of senior season at JMU with torn rotator cuff. Spent first 2 yrs of college at St. Joe's

Anticipated Role:

Both Billy Thomas and Tony Bobbitt CAN play the point, but that does not mean either SHOULD. Abdulai Jalloh looks to be the guy to fill the void at the backup point, but he's not exactly traditional either. In college he was one of those "SG's in a PG's body". He's a scorer, a defender, and a rebounder, but I don't think he's that much of a distributor. For now he's got the support of the coaching staff, logging 23 minutes per game over the first 2 regular season games, and unless Lester Hudson gets reassigned (which he has said he is not ready to do), Jalloh should keep logging those high rotation minutes.

The Rest of the Roster:

Gary Ervin

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG*	RPG*	APG*
26	5'10	183	PG	Rd 4 Pk 9	8.2	2.3	2.7

*D-League last season

10-Word-Bio:

Graduated from Arkansas 2008. Previoulsy played at Miss State University.

Anticipated Role:

Looks like he's the low man on the totem poll for the backup point minutes, and another case of buyer's remorse for the Maine Red Claws. Of the 8 players selected in the D-League Draft, the Red Claws have kept only 5, cutting their 3rd, 5th, and 8th round picks. Ervin was selected in the 4th round, but appears already behind Abdulai Jalloh on the depth chart, and he was only a tryout. He's not a great passer, and he's undersized as a defender. He can score proficiently and he can probably manage the ball in the D-League without too many turnover, but he's far from a traditional point. His minutes should probably hover around 5-10 per game, no matter who is brought on. He's not a realistic NBA player at this point, and with his size (listed optimistically at 5'10) he'll need to really revolutionize his game to get a look at for a call up.

Mike Williams

AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	POSITION	D-LEAGUE DRAFT	PPG*	RPG*	APG*
27	6'11	245	C	TRYOUT	5.2	9.1	UK

*ABA Stats

10-Word-Bio:

Bryant College, played overseas and in ABA. Holds record for blocks at Bryant.

Anticipated Role:

He's the tallest guy on the team at 6'11, but if the early season has been any indication, that will only get you so far with Austin Ainge. Ainge cut Tyrell Blair, a 6'11 center the team also had, and this is a team that is severely short on height. Williams should get around 10 mins per game if only by sheer lack of competition on the depth chart, but he'll offer a solid weakside shotblocker in the paint and he also should be getting his share of boards while on the floor.

Tier "?": The Assigned Players, Future and Present

Ah, the ringers. The pros. The guys who are actually getting paid. As I've said before, the D-League is a different game. It's not always so much about team, as it is about developing yourself as a player. In that vein, the guys the Celtics and Bobcats choose to assign down to the D-League are always going to play ahead of the actual D-Leaguers, regardless of who is the better actual player.

There are 7 players between the Celtics and the Bobcats that could theoretically be assigned to the D-League. Those players are Bill Walker (already there), JR Giddens, Lester Hudson, for the Celtics, and Gerald Henderson, Derrick Brown, DJ Augustine, and Alexis Ajinca for the Bobcats.

Of those 7 guys, Gerald Henderson and DJ Augustine are probably scratches on D-League time, as they both have established roles with significant playing time on the Bobcats.

The Red Claws are currently carrying 11 contracted players, plus Bill Walker. The team saves 2 roster spots per pro team affiliate, so the Celtics can assign one more player and the Bobcats can assign 2.

If you've made it this far, you've read about 2000 words about guys you don't know, so I won't waste your time telling you about the guys you do. Click for breakdowns of the games of Bill Walker (ESPN), JR Giddens (ESPN), Lester Hudson (Draft Express), Alexis Ajinca (ESPN), and Derrick Brown (Draft Express)

The remaining players most likely to be assigned (in your humble bloggers opinion) are JR Giddens for the Celtics and Ajinca and Brown for the Bobcats. Once a player is assigned, they are thrown right into the fire. Bill Walker was assigned on a Sunday and was starting on a Monday, and has started every game since. He's currently averaging 22 points and almost 10 rebounds per game.

Giddens has already proved himself a D-League All-Star, starting 23 games last season for the Utah Flash, and just absolutely filling the stat sheet. If Walker is still on the team when he is assigned, he'll take minutes from Billy Thomas and Tony Bobbitt.

Ajinca, who is by most accounts can be considered a real NBA player in much the same way that Kool-Aid can be considered a 'juice drink', has also shown some promise in the D-League, getting about 12 pts, 7 boards, and 2 blocks per game in 11 games played last season. He'll take all of Mike Williams's minutes and eat into Anthony Terrell's time as well.

If Derrick Brown is assigned to the Red Claws, he'll send Darnell Lazare to the bench. He actually duplicates a lot of Lazare's skill, and he's one guy I could see really flourishing in the D-League.

So when I watch, what do I watch for?

Well, as Celtics fans, first and foremost watch Bill Walker. He's quickly becoming one of the more polarizing Celtics players, but you'll see why he has such a devoted amount of groupies (yours included) on the site very quickly. Beyond that though, there are still plently of things about the D-League that should endear it to the common but discerning basketball fan.

D-League games are messy, and it's not just because of the quality of play. Also, the players (not assigned by a NBA team) in the D-League are signed to yearly contracts, so each season they log they're only getting paid between $15,000 and $25,000 (2007 numbers, probably slightly higher now). They're not playing for the big bucks, they're playing because they want if not a call up from a NBA team, at least a camp invite next summer. Becaue of that when a guy is on the floor, he's trying to make stuff happen. You can't be satisfied being Bruce Bowen or James Posey in the D-League. You have to prove you have a skill a better (and better paying) team will value.

So watch to see what guys like Darnell Lazare and Will Blalock are doing with the time they spend on the floor. They're younger guys who still have to improve their games to get on with a pro club. Watch other guys like Stanley Thomas or Anthony Terrell, who are trying to prove maybe not to NBA teams but to overseas teams that they are worth a lucarative contract. Watch seasoned vets like Tony Bobbitt and Billy Thomas. They're not trying to prove they have the skills, they're trying to prove they STILL have the skills, and that at a moment's notice they're ready for a 10 day contract to be the 9th or 10th guy in a rotation, with no rust. There is drama to be had, you just have to know what you're looking at.

References:

Stats provided from NBA.com, and CREZ Basketball

Images obtained from Maine Red Claws team page

Recapping Last Night's Games, Where Bob MacKinnon Picked Up Where He Left Off

Jon L — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:00:13 -0000

Sundiata Gaines was everywhere for the Stampede.

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Idaho Stampede 137, Reno Bighorns 115

New Idaho coach Bob MacKinnon is apparently taking the "Stampede" name seriously, as the team raced their way to 111 possessions in this came. For comparison, NBA pace leader Golden State averages a little over 101 per game. This is nothing new for MacKinnon, whose Colorado 14ers were the fastest team in the league last year, but the front office has done a terrific job of acquiring the right players for that style of play. Sundiata Gaines had a fantastic D-League debut with 31 points on 15 shots (he went 7-11 from the free throw line), 12 assists and four rebounds. He also had six turnovers, but did I mention that his team had 111 possessions? Anthony Tolliver was equally efficient, scoring 26 points off of 14 shots and adding eight rebounds. Mike Gansey played well off the bench, putting up 12-7-5 with two steals and a block in 22 minutes. Overall the Stampede made more than 55 percent of its threes.

Reno hung in for awhile, up until the fourth quarter when they were outscored by 15, with many of those points coming either out on the perimeter or at the free throw line. Desmon Farmer played pretty well, scoring 25 points, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out six assists, but he also shot 0-4 from downtown. Marcus Hubbard must have received an ultimatum not to shoot threes because he had zero outside shots yet again (which is a good thing) and he finished with 20 and seven, but he also picked up five fouls, and I would imagine that a fair amount of Tolliver's production came against him. Rod Benson struggled a bit, picking up three (very) early turnovers (he finished with four overall) and shooting 3-9, though he had five offensive rebounds and six blocks. Outside of Brian Laing (16 points, eight rebounds) the Bighorns got nothing from their bench, with four players combining for nine points, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks (both Cezary Trybanski's) and six turnovers. That doesn't even match Gansey's production. David Noel should play better in the future, and Majic Dorsey is a decent backup point guard, but the Reno starters got next to no help last night.

The rest of the games are after the jump.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers 109, Austin Toros 102

This was a similar story to the other night, but with a different result. Mike Harris played well from the jump and finished with 28 points on 20 shots and 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass. Frontcourt-mate Joey Dorsey cleaned up as well, scoring 22 points on 9-11 shooting, with seven offensive and 17 total rebounds. Austin's Dwayne Jones finished with decent numbers, but he struggled a little bit early on and I'd imagine Dorsey's defense was a part of that. Jonathan Wallace didn't show a whole lot in the first game, but he dished out seven assists in this one to go with 5-8 shooting. Antonio Anderson came back to earth on offense, shooting 1-9, but he got to the line and made nine of his 11 free throws, and realistically any scoring the Vipers get from him is a bonus anyway. RGV still couldn't hit threes (6-18, and they needed a few to go in late in the game to even reach that mark), but last night that didn't matter

As for Austin, they're 1-1 and have a lot of positives, but I'm really trying hard not to frown on this team. Curtis Jerrells was shaky once again, with more turnovers (six) than assists (four) and needing 19 shots to get 18 points. Marcus Williams used to turn the ball over six times in a game too (occasionally), but he usually had double-digit assists when he did it. Jerrells had six steals, which is a positive, but he might be more of a project than I thought. As I mentioned above, Jones did alright, with 17 points on seven shots (and he was perfect from the free throw line, which is great for him), nine rebounds and two blocks, but he was almost non-existent in the first half. Alonzo Gee is clearly the best player on the team this year, as he had yet another terrific game with 23 points on 12 shots (and went 9-12 from the free-throw line), five rebounds and three steals, but he's not much of an outside shooter. Luckily he knows it and doesn't attempt many (if any) three-pointers, but as Austin's roster stands now they don't have anyone who can consistently hit from downtown. No Marcus Williams, no Malik Hairston, no Blake Ahearn. Other than the ball movement thing (again a problem last night with just 12 assists on 35 field goals), the lack of an outside threat is probably the Toros' biggest concern right now.

Tulsa 66ers 98, Utah Flash 87

Tulsa got even on the strength of its backcourt, with Mustafa Shakur scoring 23 points on 16 shots (though eight of those came at the free throw line) along with six rebounds and four assists and Moses Ehambe contributing 17 points, including being perfect from three-point range and the free-throw line. Larry Owens had a pretty good all-around game 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. I thought Owens was just okay in Summer League (he was on the New Orleans roster), but he could turn out to be a really nice player for the 66ers. Byron Mullens had 17 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end, and while his shooting improved that just means he went 7-16, and he turned the ball over seven times (a variety of ways; traveling, offensive fouls, bad passes) and fouled out in a little over 33 minutes. He needs a looooooooot of work. Speaking of needing work, Latavious Williams! Mostly on the offensive end, as he missed all four of his field goals and bricked three of four foul shots. The rebounding skill is definitely there, however, as he grabbed eight boards in about 12 and a half minutes, and another positive are his zero fouls and one turnover. Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive.

The Flash suffered from yet another okay-but-not great game from Dontell Jefferson, only this time backup Orien Greene played terribly (he shot 2-12 with three assists and five turnovers). As I say, Jefferson finished with alright numbers, 17 points on 11 shots with six rebounds, four assists and two steals, but it took him awhile to get going and he turned the ball over four times himself. Luke Nevill played almost the exact opposite of the first game, where he didn't rebound particularly well (three boards in 19 minutes), but he shot 6-9. Carlos Wheeler had a nice game beside him with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Bennet Davis had six and eight off the bench. Jason Richards picked up a lot of assists in college, and he had four in 12 and a half minutes for the Flash. He could do well in a larger role should either Jefferson or Greene get called up

Maine Red Claws 107, Dakota Wizards 97

The Red Claws took a few minutes to get going in this one, missing three of their first four shots, turning the ball over and committing fouls, but they settled down and ended up outscoring the Wizards in the first quarter. One of the reasons they did so was pulling Bill Walker with about five minutes left in the first, as he was rebounding well but defending pretty poorly and doing silly things like shooting three-pointers. Tony Bobbitt came in and played well in his stead, and when Walker came back in the game he was clearly more focused, and finished with 18 points on 6-11 shooting and eight rebounds. Best of all he had just two turnovers, both of which came at the end of the game when the victory was well in hand (and one of them was a palming call, which is sometimes iffy anyway) . Billy Thomas was on fire again last night, hitting four of his five three-pointers on the way to 18 points of his own. Maine did a great job closing this game out, particularly since it was the second night of a back-to-back, making 13 of their 18 shots and outscoring Dakota 32-21 in the 4th quarter

Dakota didn't play particularly poorly, as the moved the ball around fairly well and didn't turn it over too much (outside of four apiece from Romel Beck and Curtis Withers), they got out-rebounded a little bit but not on the offensive end, and those 97 points coming on 88 possessions. Losing your home and season opener to a team playing it's second road game in as many days hurts, though, so I'm sure they're looking for answers. Beck and Maurice Baker shooting a combined 4-13 on three-pointers isn't great, and looking at the game, three of Beck's six misses from long-range came in the fourth quarter when he was undoubtedly trying to get his team back in the game by himself. Beck is 27 years old, so if he hasn't learned by now how rarely that works...well, you all can finish that sentence yourself. Still, there's a fair amount to build on, with Curtis Withers dropping 22 and 10 (including four offensive rebounds) and backup point guard Jason Straight playing pretty well off the bench, and everyone else on the team made 60 percent of their threes. I wouldn't start worrying if I was Dakota.

Los Angeles D-Fenders 103, Albuquerque Thunderbirds 99

That the Thunderbirds lost this one shouldn't be a huge shock, as they were yet another team playing for the second night in a row, but boy did I overestimate Kevin Pittsnogle. (And underrate Michael Fey, which I'll get to in a minute.) Pittsnogle missed his first several shots and finished the game 2-8, including 1-4 from behind the arc. He also didn't rebound or defend nearly as well as he did in the opener. Perhaps the guy who's been out of basketball for over a year isn't who you want starting games at the beginning of the season, eh Coach Coffino? Sticking with Albuquerque, backup center Erek Hansen is a terrific shotblocker (he had two) but still needs work in the other areas (zero points, one rebound, five fouls). This team has some talent (Carlos Powell had 14-4-5, Keith McLeod had 21 points on 13 shots and five assists), and they're to be commended for coming back after starting the game extremely flat (a large amount of which was Pittsnogle), but the center position is anything but solid at this point

As for the D-Fenders who, you know, actually won, this really was about the terrific game Michael Fey had. He started out 3-5 with a hook shot, a dunk and a layup and forced Pittsnogle to the bench five minutes into the game. The rebounding was largely absent (just three in over 27 minutes), but he finished with 22 points on 13 shots and generally caused some problems in the middle. Michael Fey, I officially apologize for saying Kevin Pittsnogle wouldn't have any serious defensive responsibilities in this game. As for the rest of the team, Ryan Forehan-Kelly was his usual solid all-around self with 19 points, four assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block. Deron Washington is still raw offensively (eight points on 11 shots), but he grabbed seven boards and handed out four assists. Horace Wormely ran the offense pretty well with seven assists and only three turnovers, and Dar Tucker had a nice game off the bench with 14 points on 10 shots, six rebounds and three assists.

Iowa Energy 96, Springfield Armor 84

I was right about a few things in this game (though not about James Cripe getting more playing time, just five minutes for him), most notably that Iowa's shooters would probably miss more of their shots while playing a game less than 20 hours after the last one. And, in fact, the Energy made just 13.3 percent of their threes and shot 38 percent overall. So how did they win? A few things. First, they did a great job of getting to the free throw line. There weren't an obscene amount of fouls handed out, and while Iowa had an free throw advantage it wasn't really enough to question the calls. Neither Curtis Stinson nor Mark Tyndale had a great night from the floor, but Stinson sank nine of his 10 freebies and Tyndale went 8-10 from the line, while Pat Carroll made all five of his free throws and Earl Barron went 5-6. Stinson had another nice game overall, with 19 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and only two turnovers in 45 and a half minutes. That rebounding number isn't an aberration; Stinson is one of the best rebounding point guards in the league, if not the best. Tyndale also played well overall, adding 10 rebounds (five offensive) to go with 14 points

Meanwhile, the Energy were horrible from the free throw line, shooting 53 percent as a team. When I say the team shot horribly, I mostly mean Kentrell Gransberry who missed seven of his ten free throws, though he played decently in other areas picking up six rebounds, three assists and two blocks. JamesOn Curry didn't shoot any free throws at all, which is pretty bad when you need 13 shots to get 13 points. Even worse for the Armor and for Curry were the turnovers. Curry coughed it up seven times, and let's break them down. Four came from bad passes, one came off of a traveling call, and two came from steals by Stinson and Carroll. Even if you give him the traveling call, a lot of those were likely avoidable. Tre Whitted had five turnovers and Adam Harrington added four, and that plus the foul shooting is your ballgame. The Armor have some decent scorers, including Curry, but they desperately need someone who can take care of the ball. Perrin Johnson got into some early foul trouble which limited his effectiveness, which is too bad for Springfield because he needed only five shots to get eight points, and added nine rebounds and four assists. At least the Armor get an "A" for effort (and also for "Armor," I assume).

Last Night in the D-League, Where Potential Meets Blowouts

Jon L — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:00:26 -0000

John Bryant had a nice D-League debut for the BayHawks (via www.slamonline.com)

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I never did get Futurecast up and running last night, but I was able to follow along reasonably well for most of the games. There were definitely some flat teams, as five of the six opening night contests were decided by double digits. Yikes. Regardless, I'm definitely excited that the D-League season is back on and that we have stuff to watch and talk about now. So let's get to it.

Erie BayHawks 85, Fort Wayne Mad Ants 77

I called made this game the main course in my Thanksgiving semi-related preview (I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, by the way), and I guess the fact that this was the closest score justifies that. The game wasn't even really that close, though, as Erie had a 49-34 lead at halftime. John Bryant had a fantastic game for Erie, with 16 points on 7-12 shooting, 14 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and two steals. He had five fouls, which is something to work on, but that's a pretty great debut. Jackie Manuel played pretty much out of his mind, with 18 points on nine shots, nine rebounds and four steals. He had six turnovers and five fouls, and most of his production came in the first half, but otherwise it's something to build on.

For the Mad Ants, I'm really, really confused. Ron Howard, Brandon Cotton and Sean Sonderleiter led the team in field goal attempts, which is mind-boggling with guys like Rob Kurz and Ryan Ayers on the roster. Kurz didn't attempt a single field goal! And this is a guy who started in the NBA! Howard is a good defender, but he should never take 16 shots in a game, and he showed why by making just five of them. He got to the free throw line and made eight of his nine shots there, but otherwise I can't imagine this is the offense Joey Meyer envisioned. I should say that Sonderleiter played pretty well, improving his rebounding in the second half and finishing with 21 points (on 11 shots) and 10 boards, and was able to draw some fouls himself. Jeff Potter has been writing that Sonderleiter has been putting in work this offseason and looking pretty good in camp, and the results are there. I still think this team missed Chris Hunter, though, not just in taking some rebounds away from Bryant but in taking shots away from Howard as well.

Hit the jump for the rest of the night's games.

Sioux Falls Skyforce 112, Maine Red Claws 95

Reggie Williams is going to be a fantastic scorer in the D-League. I know I've said it before, but he made me say it again by scoring 29 points on 13 shots to go with four rebounds and four assists. He's not particularly athletic but he's crazily efficient and does a good job of getting to the free-throw line. Keith Brumbaugh and Joe Krabbenhoft each had pretty good games, Brumbaugh scoring 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds and Krabbenhoft picking up nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Those rebounds were key for each of them as starting center Greg Stiemsma had a pretty terrible game.

NBA assignee Bill Walker played, well, like an NBA assignee should with25 points on 18 shots and 11 rebounds. He also led his team with five turnovers, though, and that likely made the difference in the game. The Red Claws weren't out-rebounded by a large margin, they did a decent job of distributing the ball (15 assists on 34 field goals, which isn't spectacular but is okay) and they shot just two fewer free throws than their opponents, but they turned the ball over 19 times to the Skyforce's 12. Billy Thomas had his three-pointer going, making three of four shots from behind the arc and finishing with 18 points overall. Stanley Thomas and Abdulai Jalloh each had 17 points, on 11 and 10 shots respectively. And before you ask, I know almost nothing about Jalloh. It looks like he played at St. Joseph's where he did pretty well (even being the team's second-best rebounder at 6'1"), then he transferred to James Madison and was terrible.

Austin Toros 93, Rio Grande Valley Vipers 82

This was sort of the opposite of the Erie-Fort Wayne game in that it was closer than a double-digit win would indicate. The Vipers actually outscored the Toros in the second quarter and were down by just one at the half, but Alonzo Gee finished with 24 points on 15 shots and Dwayne Jones had 11 points and 12 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end. Curtis Jerrells was a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line, but he shot just 3-11 from the field and finished with just three assists in 40 minutes to go along with six turnovers. Wherefore art thou, Marcus Williams? Jerrells, and by extension the Toros, are going to have to figure this out, because even though they won the signs weren't entirely positive, and that starts with the ball distribution. Seven assists on 32 made field goals is pretty terrible. The team also made just one three-pointer out of nine attempts and was out-rebounded 39-48.

Rio Grande Valley really could've had this one. Why didn't they? For starters, Joey Dorsey struggled on the offensive end, shooting 3-9, and he also had a hard time handling Jones on the glass early on. Kurt Looby came in during the first half and fared better, and ended up with six rebounds in 18 and a half minutes. Dorsey's board work improved, and he ultimately grabbed 15 rebounds (eight offensive), but that was one early struggle for the Vipers. Another was three-point shooting. I will probably mention this a little too often early on this season, but new coach Chris Finch has said that he prefers an up-tempo, three-point-heavy offense, but the Vipers shot just 3-14 from behind the arc last night. Antonio Anderson led all scorers with 28 points on 19 shots, which is nice, particularly from a guy known more for his defense, but he was 1-5 on threes and turned the ball over six times. This team might need to trade for some outside shooting, because from what I've seen in this game and in the preseason, it's just not there in-house.

Utah Flash 100, Tulsa 66ers 85

Dontell Jefferson shook off some early struggles (he started the game with a missed three and a pair of turnovers) to finish with 18 points on 11 shots and five rebounds, though he also had just two assists. Backups Orien Greene and Jason Richards helped out in that department, with Greene picking up five assists to go with 17 points on nine shots, eight rebounds and three steals. If he can bring that kind of production off the bench on a consistent basis then the Flash should be set in the backcourt, for as long as Jefferson is around anyway. Richards added three assists in 13 and a half minutes. Luke Nevill and Carlos Wheeler weren't particularly efficient offensively, with Wheeler needing eight shots to get 10 points and Nevill scoring 11 points on 12 shots, but they did pretty well with the other stuff. Wheeler grabbed 10 boards and had two blocks while Nevill added nine and four, respectively. Bennet Davis added nine rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench. Garrett Siler got a DNP for some reason.

Tulsa has a decent starting point guard, Mustafa Shakur, they just need a backup. Eight of the team's ten assists came from Shakur, and Larry Owens was the only other player with any (two, if my math is correct). NBA assignee Byron Mullens struggled with his shot early one, and he finished with 14 points on 17 shots, five fouls and four turnovers (though he added 10 rebounds). Keith Clark played pretty well, with 14 points on eight shots, seven rebounds and four steals. Latavious Williams played a little under 11 minutes off the bench, and while he didn't put up a single shot attempt he still had three rebounds and a block, which is decent production, particularly since he also didn't turn the ball over or commit a single foul. It's always good to temper expectations, anyway.

Albuquerque Thunderbirds 102, Bakersfield Jam 81

So this game was as ugly as I feared it would be, although it didn't really get that way until the second half. The good news for the Thunderbirds is that Carlos Powell is good and on their team, as he finished with 20 points on 13 shots, nine rebounds, five assists and only one foul in 37 minutes. The other good news is that their centers are pretty good rebounders, as Kevin Pittsnogle, Erek Hansen and Chad Toppert combined for 18 boards. The bad news is that their centers aren't what you'd call "good" offensively. Pittsnogle was particularly bad, shooting 0-10, and five of those shots were three-pointers. He's played well in the past, but at this point he's been away from the game for so long that it will take some time for him to get his game back. Hansen shot 2-8 and Toppert was 2-7, so the alternatives weren't much better. (Okay, Toppert is actually a guard and not a center. This is why I shouldn't write these things at 2 am.) Yaroslav Korolev proved me wrong for at least one game, finishing with 15 points on seven shots, five rebounds, two steals and only one turnover. Good game outta him.

For the Jam, yikes. Where to start. First of all, it's never a good thing to have a better three-point percentage (.435) than overall shooting percentage (.319). Robert Swift had a decent rebounding outing, with 11 boards, but he was pretty much a non-entity offensively with four points on 1-5 shooting. He also picked up five fouls and turned the ball over four times in 30 minutes. This is another team without a point guard, and they mustered just eight assists on 22 made field goals. Justin Hawkins shot just 3-14, though he made up for it somewhat with eight rebounds and 9-10 shooting from the free-throw line. And all isn't entirely bleak, as Reece Gaines and Jared Newson did fairly well offensively, with 19 points on nine shots for the former and 18 points on nine shots and four rebounds for the latter. Still, these are your starting guards and they best they can give you is a pair of assists from Gaines? And the backup PG Lance Hurdle gives you a zero in that department? Yikes.

Iowa Energy 106, Springfield Armor 73

Ahhh, it's good to have pro basketball back in Springfield, Massachusetts. The boxscore/play-by-play for this game was acting up all night, and as of my writing this the stats are still stuck in the second quarter. I'll update it whenever the D-League fixes their site.

NBA "Generations" Team Wins in Incheon 94-82

Jon L — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:00:23 -0000

Krusty poses for trading card photo. (via www.nba.com)

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The "NBA Generations" team comprised of retired NBA and current D-League players won the second game of the NBA Asia Challenge on Sunday, beating the Incheon ETLAND Elephants 94-82. Again, there's not much more than a boxscore to go off of (and again, it's in PDF format downloadable here), but Billy Thomas made all 12 of his field goals to lead the NBA team with 27 points. Anyone who's watched him play in the D-League knows that he's capable of these hot streaks, and his team certainly needed it. Russell Robinson and Lanny Smith stepped up after not contributing much in the first game, scoring 17 and 15 points respectively (with Smith also picking up eight assists), but other than Dominique Wilkins' 10 points the rest of the team scored just 25 total. Incheon's American players led that team in scoring, with Amal McCaskill scoring 17 and Chris Daniels picking up 16 along with a game-high six rebounds. Kim Sung Chul added 15 points of his own on 5-9 three-point shooting. Lim Hyo Sung had eight assists for the Elephants.

The NBA/D-League players now head to the Philippines, where they close out the Asia Challenge against the Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars on September 11.

NBA/D-League Players fall to Korean All-Stars in First Game

Jon L — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:24:19 -0000

D-League players chowing down before the game (via www.nba.com)

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The first game of the NBA Asia Challenge was held on Saturday in Seoul, and the Korean All-Stars pulled out a 114-98 victory over a team comprised of retired NBA players and current D-Leaguers. There's not really much information available about the game except for the boxscore. The Korean players were led by Jeon Tae Pung, who scored 32 points, as well as Lee Kyu Sup and Moon Kyoung Eun who each had 20. Lee Seung Joon threw in 19 points and 11 rebounds. Dominique Wilkins led the "NBA Generations" team with 31 points and eight rebounds. Billy Thomas somehow grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 18 points. Tim Hardaway had a game-high eight assists. The Korean team's win can likely be traced to their dominance from behind the arcs, making 49 percent of their three-pointers compared with 22 percent for the Americans. The U.S. team also shot just 59 percent from the free-throw line.

You can find a PDF of the full boxscore here. The next game is today against Incheon.

Expansion Draft Results & Analysis

Jon L — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:17 -0000

After cutting down the nets in Colorado, Billy Thomas will be playing for the Maine Red Claws this season.

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While RU had its mock draft on Tuesday, yesterday was the actual expansion draft with the Springfield Armor and Maine Red Claws picking from among the guys who finished last season with either Colorado or Anaheim, both of which are now no more (though Springfield is kinda-sorta the new Anaheim). The teams were actually drafting the D-League rights to these players, not the players themselves, so in some cases the teams were drafting guys who have already signed elsewhere, in the hopes that they're either cut by the NBA or come back from overseas during the season, in which cases the players would join whoever drafted them. A round-by-round list of the picks can be found here, but since there were only two teams drafting I'll just list the final "rosters":

Springfield	Maine
Marcus Campbell	James White
James Mays	Trey Gilder
Eddie Gill	Billy Thomas
Kentrell Gransberry	Noel Felix
Cedric Bozeman	John Lucas III
Jamar Brown	Kedrick Brown
Malick Badiane	Dominique Coleman
Marcus Taylor	Joe Dabbert
Cameron Bennerman	Josh Davis
Kirk Walters	Andre Patterson

Overall, the Red Claws bet heavily on the players I was talking about above, taking James White and Trey Gilder (who both have at least partially-guaranteed NBA contracts) with their first two picks, then followed up later in the draft by taking Dominique Coleman, who's going to play in Belgium, and Joe Dabbert, who's going to be in Korea. If these work out it was a good draft for them, but if not then they'd better hope to get some NBA assignees this season. The Red Claws also were able to pick up Josh Davis in the ninth round, though, which is crazily low, so that was definitely a good pickup.

I really like what Springfield did in the draft, taking up the best center in the draft with the first pick (Campbell*) then surrounding him guys who can score like Bozeman and Mays. They also seemed to have cornered the market on available big men. Felix and Davis are the only two players Maine has right now who can play in the middle. There really were two different philosophies at work here, with the Armor taking guys who can contribute immediately and maybe keep fans coming to games once the novelty of having a new team wears off. Both teams will be filling out their rosters with players from local tryouts, of course, but at this point Springfield seems more ready to start the season.

* Thanks to an alert reader for reminding me that it was Marcus Campbell who was drafted, not Hubbard.

But that's just one man's opinion. What do you, the viewers at home, think?

D-Leaguers Participating in the NBA Asia Challenge

Jon L — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:00:22 -0000

Lanny Smith and a handful of other D-Leaguers are headed to Korea and the Philippines for the NBA Asia Challenge.(via images.chron.com)

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I first heard about this awhile ago, but the details were just released yesterday: a team made up of former NBA stars and current D-League players is heading to Asia later this week to play against fellow "legends" in South Korea and the Philippines, in what's being called the NBA Asia Challenge. The team will be coached by new Dakota Wizards coach Rory White, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar serving as the "celebrity assistant coach." The other retirees (sorry, "NBA Legends") who will theoretically be playing are Tim Hardaway, Dominique Wilkins, Robert Horry and Vlade Divac. The New Jersey Nets' dance-slash-dunking team and "zany mascot" ~~Slylock Fox~~ Sly the Silver Fox will also be in attendance. But enough about them. D-Leaguers!

They'll be joined by point guards Lanny Smith and Russell Robinson, shooting guards Billy Thomas and Derrick Dial, forward Chris Ellis and center Marcus Hubbard. I said "theoretically" above because assume that most of the team's plays will consist of Hardaway walking the ball up the court, then passing it off to Dial who will do most of the work, then they'll swing it to Wilkins for a flat-footed jumper. Then Hubbard gets the rebound while Divac falls down. Then in the fourth quarter the D-Leaguers do all the work while the NBA guys sign autographs. Repeat!

Not that they'll be facing a stiff defense or anything (or playing any themselves), but this is a goodwill trip more than anything else - the NBA, I would imagine, is realizing that "expanding into Asia" means more than "drafting Chinese players" and as such is trying to get folks in other Asian countries excited about their product. This is reportedly the largest NBA event in the Philippines to date, for instance. Of course, it would be even better if some of these D-Leaguers made it to the NBA this year so that people who saw them play in Seoul or Incheon or Manila could follow them there, but if nothing else this could lead to more Futurecast viewers, maybe even enough to make up for the lack of Sun Yue.

The games are on September 5, 6 and 11, but I'm not sure what level of coverage we'll have on them. I'm not even sure they'll have boxscores. Then again, it's a slow month for the D-League. If nothing else, this is a good move for the NBA and I'm sure it will be a good experience for the D-Leaguers.