These guys may look douchey, but just wait because the D-League is next.

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Every year in the D-League is a little different.  The stand-out players and studs change from week to week, let alone year to year.  And with every new batch of players comes new attitudes, personalities, and back stories.  One thing that really sets the D-League apart from the NBA is that our players are much more uninhibited in displaying their real personalities and saying/doing crazy things (exceptions: Stephon Marbury and Ron Artest).  When you combine all of the new players coming into the D-League this year, you come up with a general theme, a storyline upon which one can predict the craziness of the upcoming season.  Take last season's theme as an example: 6'9" Left-Handed Chinese Point Guard Dominates D-League. Explosive Athletes Almost Make NBA (here's looking at you Marcus Williams, James White, and Derrick Byars).

I say all of that to come to this point.  This year's theme is becoming abundantly clear: Emo Rock Band.

Emo Rock Bands are well known as the tight-black-clothing wearing, black-fingernail-painted, ugly-swooping-hair styled, whiny-droning-emotive losers who appeal most to girls between the ages of 11-14.  Now my prediction is that certain elements of this style will present themselves in this year's players.  If you think I'm crazy and full of BS, just wait.

Hit the Jump for Proof

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Boom Tho has been spending his summer just chillin'.....wait is that Chase Budinger behind him?

Because people love reading interesting posts, and because Rodrique Benson is the most interesting man in the world, RU would like to bring you the official late-summers-eve interview with Rod Benson, aka Boom Tho.  If you don't know who Rodrique Benson is, then I am disappointed in you.

After a great career at University of California, Rod Benson has played for the Austin Toros, Dakota Wizards, and the Reno Bighorns in the NBA Developmental League, and also played for French Pro-A team SLUC Nancy.  Which is a team named after a chick named Nancy.  Rod is also very well known for his blogging on both his personal website Too Much Rod Benson and for Yahoo's Sports blog Ball Don't Lie. 

Aside from that, Rod's just a cool guy.  So rather than sling a bunch of cliche questions at him, we're going a little off the wall.  In this interview you're going to see a side of Rod Benson that no one else has seen before, other than his friends who pee on each other.

Hit the J-U-M-P for the Boom-Tho-ness.

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Who's acomin' to the League???

Here at RU we're all about finding the next big thing.  And no, that's not a Jasper Johnson joke or a dig at Sun Yue.  We really do strive to find those players who will shine in the upcoming season, and possibly make a strong push for 10-day contracts or an extended stay with an NBA team.  The first place one might look for such up and coming talents would be the pool of undrafted NCAA players who may be more apt to stick with the D-League in hopes of getting a second look (or in some cases third and fourth look) from NBA scouts.

Now think back faithful reader to a time when you ate strictly Ramen Noodles and Microwavable Beddar Cheddar Brats, yes that far back.  That's right, you had just graduated from college (or left home, whichever the case may be).  You were on your own for the first time, and trying to make your way in the world.  Now let's pretend that you had valuable athletic abilities and basketball skills; how much different would your life have been?  Very.  You certainly wouldn't have spent that six months living on a commune in Iowa if you'd had sick hops coming out of school.

We were all 22 years old at some point - here's to you cheddar brat!

So for the talented young men who didn't get snapped up by the NBA the first time around, let me help you on your path to basketball success with a little advice: play in the D-League.  First, the D is the perfect place to build your professional resume; NBA scouts will be watching, and having D-League experience pretty much trumps all minor leagues in terms of competition and talent level.  As NBA and D-League agent Bill Neff put it in an interview earlier this month, "The D League is the best formula for preparing a player for the NBA. Very few American players come from Europe to the NBA. If it is your dream, stay here and play..."  Nuff said Bill.

Unfortunately, a lot of young men have already either signed overseas, or made enough waves in Summer League to get an NBA camp invite.  So for now we'll primarily be focusing on those players who are currently still available.  This list may change drastically as we start to see who else signs with international teams and gets NBA training camp invites, but for now lets see who we got.

Hit the J-U-M-P for a list of Undrafted Rookies

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When a new D-League franchise was announced this past spring, the first question that popped into most fans' minds was "What will their Mascot look like?"  An understandable query.  The Developmental League is known for it's incredible array of eye catching mutated foam animals.  From the Wizards cross-eyed goblin Dunkie to the Tulsa 66er's bird-esque creature Routie, the D-League already plays host to some incredible mascots.  I love these mascots, primarily because they are so goofy and often bizarre.

Well finally, after months of waiting the Maine Red Claws have released their newest media member: Crusher!  We've been giving the Red Claws a hard time recently, but it's clear they are merely enthusiastic.  Despite painting their entire fan base as slack jawed, 19th century fishermen, I'm sure that the Red Claws have come up with something wholly original for their new mascot.

We have gained access to exclusive behind the scenes photos of Crusher, so hit the JUMP and enjoy!

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Last night, The Monitor broke the news that Clay Moser has been informed by the Houston Rockets that they have decided not to retain him as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers head coach.  Not exactly shocking as we'd been hearing that the Rockets opened Moser's position and were interviewing other candidates since they bought into the Vipers via the hybrid model, but it is disappointing.

Last season, Moser's first as a D-League head coach, ended in a bit of disappointment in the form of a 21-29 season, but it's hard to put the blame on Moser.  Smush Parker, Alton Ford and Kendall Dartez - three of the better Vipers to begin the season - all left for more money overseas midseason, leaving Moser to retool without much, well, tools.  This was especially evident when the Vipers lost Jared Jordan to injury for a month during the season, but before Jawad Williams joined the team for about a month and a half before being called-up.

As confusing as that was to read, imagine coaching it.  Fortunately, Moser was able to find Kurt Looby, who was more than likely the steal of the D-League draft (after a bit of coaching, because he wasn't impressive right out of the gates), or else the season likely would have been worse.

It seems to us, Moser, like Paul Woolpert before him, was given the shaft a bit prematurely, which was probably inevitable once the Rockets took control.  I mean, he went 21-29 last season!!! He probably sucks at coaching!!  Well, according to the resume, not really.

Moser's career began as an assistant under the legendary Jim Valvano at NC State way back in 1987 (Thankfully the year AFTER Chris Washburn). He's also worked for the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Idaho Stampede as General Manager/Basketball Ops and  was the head coach of the Great Lakes Storm (All CBA). Plus, he's worked as an assistant/advance scout for the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic.  Aside from that, he's also been a head coach in China and was the VP of Business Development for the New Orleans Hornets for a season.  Needless to say, he has experience in all facets of the game.

Now that we know who was fired (but still aren't sure why because Moser seems to be qualified), our esteemed colleague Matt Moore over at Hardwood Paroxysm hit on what this might mean for the Rockets.  It basically means that the Rockets are looking to spend a lot of money on a coach that, as Rockets GM Daryl Morey says,  they found someone more experienced and accomplished, and they were surprised that person became a candidate.

Well, we've only heard two names that are still in the running for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers coaching search.  The two rather prominent candidates are former University of Virginia coach Dave Leitao and  RJ Adelman, the son of Houston Rockets head coach Rick Adelman.

In Leitao, the Rockets would be getting a coach with no minor league or NBA coaching experience.  In RJ Adelman, nepotism an up-and-coming coach that just happens to have a father that is the head coach of the Vipers parent club.  Are we looking at a Red Claws situation here?

Hopefully Morey and complany have a third candidate because neither name we've heard is either more experienced OR more accomplished.  Apparently the NBA's stance on D-League players (read: not good enough) carries over to D-League coaches as well.

If you missed yesterday's post, Part 1 of the interview with Bill Neff, I strongly suggest you go back and read it now.  Bill has shared some fascinating insights into the world of player representation, the strength and weaknesses of the D-League, and the general financial outlook of both NBA and D-League franchises.  Now without further ado, let's delve into Part 2 with Agent Bill Neff.

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Recent occurrences in the D-League have made it abundantly clear that we are approaching a difficult time for both the NBA and Developmental League.  The financial markets have begun to predicate many of the actions taken by major league and minor league franchises.  Bakersfield recently announced their platinum club plan, charging exorbitant prices for D-League games.  A quick scan of our transactions list reveals that a lot of well known D-League players are making the jump overseas.  Many NBA teams have been cutting staff and signing players very cautiously, in an effort to guard the bottom line.  Combined, all of this paints a painful picture, filled with tough decisions ahead.

In order to get a handle on the state of the D-League and the outer forces influencing it, we're going to be interviewing a series of people who can be considered "stakeholders" in the League.  GMs, coaches, players, and agents will be the target of this effort, which will essentially try come to some understanding about where the D-League stands in the next year and where we are headed in the future.

Our first interview in the series is with well known agent Bill Neff, who works for Saga Sports and has over 15 years of experience with the CBA, NBA, and D-League.  Bill graduated from the University of Michigan in 1980 and has represented mostly minor league players for much of his career.  Mr. Neff's current client list includes the likes of well known player/blogger Rod Benson, Gerry McNamara, Jamaal Tatum, Kevin Ollie, Mike Wilks, Jason Hart, and Demetris Nichols.  Bill was also representing Mike Taylor when he was the first player drafted from the D-League in the 2008 NBA draft.

Today's post is Part 1 of the interview, followed by Part 2 tomorrow morning.

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