"They brought out a [Michael Jordan] look alike. Wow, the crowd is furious.  Had MJ showed up, it would have been one of the greatest moments ever. Instead, the crowd is booing and throwing back free shirts. Wow, this place went from electric to catatonic faster than an MJ free throw line jumper in the Delta Center."

The above is brought to you via the twitter account of Spencer Ryan Hall, who also runs Salt City Hoops.  Hall is in attendance at tonight's Dakota Wizards-Utah Flash game, where Bryon Russell challenged Michael Jordan to a one-on-one game at halftime, with the winner receiving a $100,000 donation to the charity of his choice, courtesy of Flash owner Brandt Anderson.

Wait, what?

Brandt Andersen, the always controversial owner (putting it nicely, folks), is known for trying to do anything to sell tickets for the Flash.  And by anything, I mean anything.

The first time they caught wind of it at RU, Brandt went on a tirade against now Idaho Stampede head coach Bob MacKinnon.  Then, he sent his mascot to live on a billboard in Utah for a couple of weeks to sell some extra season tickets.  Somewhere in there, he started a big campaign to get Stephon Marbury to play for his Utah Flash.  Most recently, he's been on this whole Bryon Russell should play Michael Jordan one-on-one... Jordan disrespected the state of Utah when he called B-Russ out in his Hall of Fame induction speech.

I'll give him credit, because he obviously put a lot of time into this one, even going as far as reporting to the Daily Herald that Jordan was in town (that same article mentioned that tickets were still available.  

Still, with the negative connotation of the D-League already, I'm not sure this is the type of publicity the D-League needs.

Update: The Utah Valley Daily Herald has updated their story.  It made me laugh.

Derrick Byars, loved by many, known by few, was cut by the Chicago Bulls today.

Yes, the Bakersfield Jam already sent out a press release that stated he and Patrick O'Bryant, proud alumni of the Jam, had already secured spots on NBA teams for the 2009-10 NBA season.

Yes, some dude named Mark Deeks said Byars is pretty good and that Byars should make the Bulls.

Yes, he was cut even though the same team employs Lindsay Hunter and Jerome James.

Tomorrow, my friends, we shall cheer against the Bulls and for the Spurs. 

Wait, they cut Marcus Williams.

I can't wait until the D-League season, when these guys will get the playing time they deserve.

And, hopefully, by then the tears will be gone and paragraphs will include multiple sentences.

Last year, right around this time, the Minnesota Timberwolves opted for Kevin Ollie over Blake Ahearn.  I think we all know how that worked out (it didn't).

Well, thanks to the wonderful people over at Black Heart, Gold Pants, there's reason to hate the Wolves again/still.  And I quote:

The particularly prickish aspect of this all is that Reiner was just two days away from playing an exhibition with the T-Wolves in Sioux Falls, home of his successful [D-League] career and a hour's drive away from his hometown of Mitchell. Really, Minnesota? You couldn't work in a couple more days for the Bighorn Chief? You're all bastard people, Timberwolves! That's what you are! You're just bastard people! And I'm going home and I'm gonna... I'm gonna bite my pillow, is what I'm gonna do! Wait, I am home. Whoops.

Yes, Jared Reiner was cut so they could continue to let the rottong corpse/contract of Brian Cardinal chill on the bench/do whatever he does.

Alright, so I disappeared for awhile.  blame it on the ah-ah ah-ah ah-alcohol.  Or blame it on the fact that it's October and no time for anything exciting that should be written about the D-League.  Your choice, really.

Anyway, last night I was watching Monday Night Raw my friend texted me and said Boom Tho was on Monday Night Raw, along with Tyler Hansbrough and someone else he didn't recognize.

Not sure how far to read into this, but either Rod Benson was released or Indiana is now letting one of their most marketable players be seen in public.  

But wait - it gets worse... He even tweeted: 

Turn on wwe Monday night raw and catch me sitting behind the announcers.

This of course all comes after his earlier tweet that said he was done tweeting until after camp.

Yesterday, Fanhouse's Chris Tomasson went a bit further in-depth, but essentially recapped the first thing I wrote on RU over two weeks ago, regarding Benson's social media goings-on and how they affected his NBA prospects.  I say Fanhouse's Chris Tomasson, but he wore the hat of Rocky Mountain News Chris Tomasson, which is a nice way to say he took the old media approach on new media.

The one part about his story that did interest me however, was the seeming dissent between Rod's agent, Bill Neff, and Rod himself, regarding Benson's chances of making the Pacers:

It might soon be a moot point. Neff believes Benson, who has totaled nine points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes while playing in two of Indiana's three preseason games, has little chance to make the Pacers due to all their guaranteed contracts. Benson doesn't agree with that assessment, saying he's been playing well.

The D-League draft order was set this afternoon.  Here's the results:

16. Tulsa 66ers

15. Idaho Stampede

14. Springfield Armor

13. Sioux Falls Skyforce

12. Rio Grande Valley Vipers

11. Dakota Wizards

10. Fort Wayne Mad Ants

9. Iowa Energy

8. Maine Red Claws

7. Reno Bighorns

6. Austin Toros

5. Utah Flash

4. Bakersfield Jam

3. Los Angeles D-Fenders

2. Erie Bayhawks

1. Albuquerque Thunderbirds

Hey everyone that reads Ridiculous Upside.  I convinced Jon L that I can help cover the D-League this season so this is my second post (actually, I begged him in a few long e-mails... you can probably help too, if you're so inclined).  Been a D-League (and recent RU) follower since we had a team here so I'll try to keep RU as on top of things as it has been in the past.

Since it's almost full-fledged basketball season again, I wanted to start out with something that hopefully we will be able to refer back to throughout the season, much like they did last season: A(n almost) comprehensive list of everyone that doesn't have an NBA roster spot locked up for this season.  The idea is, with so many roster spots already gone overseas (We'll miss you, Trey Johnson), there aren't many spots left over there.  And with most NBA teams seemingly leaning toward keeping the minimum of 13 players on their roster, there won't be a lot of options for the guys that don't make the League.  Therefore, I'm guesstimating that a decent percentage of these guys will be coming to a D-League city near you. Or maybe far from you, if you live in Florida.

I'll start out tonight with a look at the Atlanta Hawks!

Atlanta already has 13 players on guaranteed contracts according to Sham, so I'm not sure why I'm even doing this.  Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Continue reading this post »

Rod Benson, via Twitter:

Campin w Indiana. This will be my final tweet for a while. You can hit me on facebook, but no blogs or tweets. Old stuff wont be up either.

After reading posts here in the past, it was always questioned if Rod could make a serious run at the NBA and still do the personal blogging and twittering thing.  I guess this kind of answers it.

Since he took down everything on Too Much Rod Benson, I'm assuming this was a mandate from the Pacers and not something Benson decided to do on his own.

Now, I'm not sure why he'd go to camp with the Pacers anyway since they have Jeff Foster, Tyler Hansbrough, Roy Hibbert, Solomon Jones, Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy already signed to guaranteed deals, but if they also said he can't blog and tweet, it makes it all the more confusing.

We all know Benson's D-League accolades, or we should by now - basically, he's proven all he can in the D-League.  I mean, per 36 minutes, he's averaged 14.9 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.  You'd think that'd at least be worth an NBA look.

So really, I think this will decide it: Either Benson's blogging is the reason he hasn't earned that NBA job yet and he'll catch on with the Pacers or another team after the preseason, or his game just isn't suited for the NBA level.

I'm leaning toward the former.  What do you think?