ESPN is reporting that Raymond Felton is closing in on a deal with the NY Knicks. They have a ton of money to throw around considering they only landed one of the major FAs this offseason.  The details:

Two league sources told ESPN.com that the Charlotte Bobcats' unrestricted free agent reached an agreement in principle Friday on the broad parameters of a contract.

The length of the deal has not yet been agreed upon, but Felton will earn a starting salary in the $7 million range.

While I had hoped Ray would stick around in Charlotte after his career season last year, it appears he's looking for a payday as well.  I for one am not willing to pay 7mil or more a year for Ray's services.

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Please, don't even mention his name, I'm sick of it.  This thread is for talking about our last glimpses of Gerald Henderson, Derrick Brown, and Alexis Ajinca before the season starts.  Pay attention, there are some other interesting young players on our Summer League squad.  Alade Aminu and Nate Jawai in particular have done some work in the first four games in Orlando, and may be worth a closer look in training camp.  There a few PG prospects that have also provided inconsistent, albeit intriguing, play throughout the week, and may also warrant a training camp invite.  Keep your eyes on Sherron Collins, Denis Clemente, and Jeremy Pargo in today's game.

For those of you who do not have NBA.com access or NBATV, there other....more nefarious websites from which to stream the game.  Do a little googling, join the discussion.

And now without further ado, discuss!!!!

D-League supporter and RU contributor Aisander D is back!  I saw the article and had similar feelings to what he's written. However, since I was born and raised in Bismarck, people may have though I was being a little biased about my hometown, and thus didn't write the story.  After seeing Carlson's quotes excerpted on HoopsHype this morning, though, I'm glad Aisander, hailing from North Carolina and not North Dakota, stood up for us rach-folk up here on the moon. -- Scott

Typically when following the D-League you stumble across a variety of silly or down-right stupid public relations errors and ideas.  Whether it's a press release about a new team van or merely the swindling of an entire fanbase at the cost of one of the greatest players of all time, the D-League is never short of unintentional comedy.  Oh, hi there Brandt Andersen, didn't see you lurking behind that fake Michael Jordan.

But sometimes, even the most well intentioned PR strategies can afflict damaging and negative outcomes for a community and an organization.  For instance, just take every single thing that Ryan Carlson said in this recent Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Hasheem Thabeet's assignment to the Dakota Wizards:

But Ryan Carlson, the Wizards’ first-year director of media relations, said he already has felt the Thabeet effect. As of Monday afternoon, he had heard from about 40 friends – folks who are not avid fans – who were interested in tickets to tonight’s game. And Bismarck (pop. 58,333) was buzzing as much as Bismarck can buzz.

"It’s not that big of a town," Carlson said. "It’s pretty small and pretty quiet. So when a 7-3 guy from Tanzania shows up, it’s something different."

Some geography: Bismarck, the state capitol, is about two and a half hours from "anywhere," Carlson said. Fargo and Grand Forks, home to the state’s larger universities, are more than 200 miles to the east. Carlson relocated to Bismarck from Grand Forks, where he attended law school at the University of North Dakota, and he said it was culture shock even for him. So he has a hard time imagining what Thabeet must be thinking.

"It’s almost like an assignment to the moon for these guys," Carlson said. "It’s ranch country. It’s politicians and a lot of ranchers."

Wait....what are you saying Carlson?  Are you taking a dump on the town of Bismarck, ND in an official interview about one of the most closely followed NBA players assigned to the D-League ever?  Awesome job.

Really Ryan, I mean......Really?  Your job is to act as a Public Relations Officer, to represent not only your organization  and the community it relies on to support and sustain it financially, but also the players, coaches, and other people working behind the scenes to make good minor league basketball possible.  So with all of that charged to you, working in what is already a somewhat limited marketing environment and with a stigma surrounding your league as "less-than" it's big brother league, you choose to say all of that.  Again, Awesome job.

Hit the Jump for more!

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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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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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