The dream league. Total Commitment, Extreme Experiments, and Sudden Stardom in the NBA Development League.

Transcription

1 The dream league Total Commitment, Extreme Experiments, and Sudden Stardom in the NBA Development League.

2 The dream league Total Commitment, Extreme Experiments, and Sudden Stardom in the NBA Development League (Insert) Introduction Playing for your life Inside the NBA D-League. The Brooklyn Dodgers of basketball Your friendly neighborhood pros. Great Moments of the d-league What the future looks like Experiments with the game. Welcome to extreme basketball Bombs away in the Rio Grande Valley. Now try this The D-League gets everything first. A crucible for coaches How bad do you want this job? Two coaches who did. Everybody on a journey It s a long way to the front office.

3 2 Introduction If you distilled the game of basketball into its purest, most intense form, you d have the NBA D-League. The reason for the intensity is simple. Guys here can play at the NBA level, but there isn t room for everybody in the NBA. The result is a Darwinian five-month struggle for professional survival. Every game matters. Every minute matters. Every play matters: The men on the court are fighting for an NBA roster spot before their one-year contracts run out in May. So are the coaches who sent in the play, and the officials who made the call. The rule that the officials called may be on trial as well an NBA experiment. And, like the rules, the equipment used here is often a generation ahead: a preview of a future NBA. Welcome to life on the bubble: 180 pros with 2,400 minutes to show who belongs in the NBA and who s left still working toward that dream.

4 Playing for your life 5 Playing for your life Inside the NBA D-League. D-League players are gladiators. Every game is an exercise in professional survival, but all they have is each other. It s an unselfish, supportive, almost communal way of life. Except for 48 minutes on the floor. Life in the D-League is a unique mix of competition and camaraderie. Everybody on the floor shares the same dream, and the knowledge that only a few will attain what all of them want. Every man plays every minute like it s his last chance. No one backs off, ever. The minutes that decide their fate are the minutes between whistles. The rest of the time D-League players help each other all they can. No one backs off, ever. Apart from their sublime skills, D-League players could be you and me. Only a few have NBA contracts. Most collect about the same pay as the average American. They play at a discount for the love of the game and the chance to make it big. When the season ends, they stay on the court in the NBA Summer League, international play, and development camps for rising young stars their future competition. On the road, everybody flies coach and bunks two to a room in regular-guy hotels, the kind where the breakfast buffet makes your per diem go farther. Top players can make ten times the money overseas. The trade-off is access to the most scouted basketball league in the world, and the opportunity to master an NBA system like Phil Jackson s Triangle Offense in Westchester.

5 6 Playing for your life Playing for your life 7 Pros aiming for NBA roster spots play a chess game, calculating the advantages of each move. In the last few years, more international stars like Thanasis Antetokounmpo (older brother of rising NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo) have been coming to the D-League, absorbing the pay cut for the chance to play in the NBA. NBA players come to the D-League on assignment for different reasons. Jeremy Lamb spent most of a year in Tulsa because he wasn t quite ready for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He didn t love it, but he got better. Being in the D-League is often the difference between playing and not playing. The Thunder was deep at Lamb s position. The San Antonio Spurs Cory Joseph asked for assignment. He wanted more game minutes, and got them with the Austin Toros, now the Austin Spurs. Back up in San Antonio he s playing twice as much as he was before. When D-League players match up against the guy with the contract, they bring it. D-League therapy can be humbling for assigned NBA players. They miss the NBA lifestyle, but it s the competition that comes as a shock. You re playing with guys you ve never heard of who could be better than you. Or hungrier. Or both. When D-League players match up against the guy with the contract, they bring it. When you re called up to the NBA, the best day of your life is a blur of logistics. The voice on the phone isn t Phil Jackson saying how glad he is to have you. It s your agent with a flight number: Drop everything. You re going to New York. The next twelve hours are about airports, paperwork, and a physical exam. For players on the cusp between D-League and NBA teams, life can get crazy. Troy Daniels scored 28 points for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers one afternoon and 8 more with the Houston Rockets that night.

6 8 the brooklyn dodgers of basketball The Brooklyn Dodgers of basketball Your friendly neighborhood pros. There are no velvet ropes in the D-League. Fans get to know these players up close. They re at the food store and the gas station, people you say hello to on the street. FANS GET TO KNOW THESE PLAYERS UP CLOSE. One D-League exec compares these players to the old Brooklyn Dodgers: regular Joes who lived in the neighborhood, walked to the ball park and made the same money as everyone else. Along with NBA-caliber play, fans get a lot of drama for their ticket money. So much talent cycles through a D-League team in a season that predictions are worthless. A talent-rich squad can struggle in the stretch as NBA coaches cherry-pick the best players. hey! We ve got Shabazz muhammad tonight! Rosters change often, sometimes up to an hour before game time, and fans get used to surprises. Hey, we ve got Shabazz Muhammad tonight! NBA regulars like CJ McCollum (Idaho, ) or Austin Daye (Austin, 2014) come to the D-League to work on something, in the same way that golf and tennis pros go to an undisclosed location to work on their swing. NBA and D-League teams often overlap: The 13, 14, and 15 man on an NBA team are essentially the 1, 2, and 3 guys on a D-League team.

7 Every call-up, every second, third, or fourth chance, every career rehabilitated, resuscitated, or rejuvinated is another in a long list of D-League Great Moments. Here are six:

8 history of the nba development league 1999: The NBA Board of Governors votes to approve formation of the NBA Development League. November 21, 2001: Chris Andersen, first player taken in first D-League draft, becomes the first player to be called up to the NBA when he signs with the Denver Nuggets. He is now a 12-year NBA veteran and 2013 NBA Champion with his current team, the Miami Heat. November 16, 2001: The first season of the NBA Development League tips off as the North Charleston Lowgators face the Greenville Groove. January 9-10, 2005: The first ever D-League Showcase event is played in Columbus, Georgia. The Showcase is a four-day event in which each team plays two games apiece. Since 2005 there have been 15 players called-up or recalled during or immediately following the Showcase. May 2, 2005: Bobby Simmons becomes the first D-League alum to earn an NBA individual post-season honor when he wins the NBA s Most Improved Player award for the season. September 19, 2005: Current era of D-League begins: Under new affiliation/assignment system, players with two or fewer seasons of NBA experience can be assigned to a D-League team up to three times, while each NBA franchise will be affiliated with a D-League team. Also the league changes its shorthand name from NBDL to the NBA D-League to further emphasize the D which stands for Development. April 21, 2006: NBA Board of Governors votes to approve the Los Angeles Lakers as the owners of a new NBA Development League team, later to be known as the Los Angeles D-Fenders. The Lakers become the first NBA team to own and operate their own D-League team. February 17, 2007: The inaugural D-League All-Star Game tips off on Center Court at the NBA All-Star Jam Session at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The East won 114 to 100, with Pops Mensah-Bonsu named the game s MVP. february linsanity history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City. November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel.

9 february When Jeremy Shu-How Lin came out of nowhere to become the first NBA player ever to average 20+ points and 7 assists in his first five starts, nowhere wasn t Harvard. Linsanity was an international fan phenomenon, but the basketball story is about the Erie BayHawks, and the Reno Bighorns before that. Waived by the Golden State Warriors and waived by the Houston Rockets, Lin used his time in the D-League to build up his body and his game. Before the slumping Knicks started him against Brooklyn Nets All-Star Deron Williams, Lin had only played 55 minutes in his Knicks uniform. But he was ready. Lin poured in 25 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and issued 7 assists in a Knicks win. Overnight, the NBA had a billion new fans and, out of nowhere, Lin s #17 was the world s best-selling jersey. december squeaking in history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City. November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel.

10 december april history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. When Carldell Squeaky Johnson prayed to the basketball gods he didn t ask for much. All he wanted was one game in the NBA. Just one game to tell his grandchildren about and a line in the NBA Almanac that he could point to. He d had a hard road. His dad passed when he was seventeen. The year he turned pro his home was erased by Hurricane Katrina. He played for three teams in Mexico and two in Belgium; but it was the three stints in the D-League that got him the shot. He got a look from the Spurs and finally the call from the New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans). Johnson got his game the day after Christmas. Two minutes, no points and a dream come true. Two nights later he played for his home town team in New Orleans, with fifty friends and family there to see him get his first NBA basket. Squeaky Johnson stayed with the Hornets for two months, collecting more stories for his grandchildren. one shot January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City.

11 april april history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. Reaching the NBA isn t the end of the journey. The hard part is getting off the bench. Sometimes, one shot changes everything. Troy Daniels spent most of his first year as a pro in Hidalgo, Texas, with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, turning in enough 20-point games to make himself an All-Star. His NBA debut with the Houston Rockets was over in 92 seconds and he was up and down three times during the season. Mostly down, which turned out to be a very good thing for Troy Daniels. The Vipers offense is built on 3-point shooting. Daniels had spent most of the year making 3 s automatic and the Rockets had him on the bench during Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. When his moment came, Daniels grabbed a pass from Jeremy Lin and did what he d been doing all year. His 3 put the Rockets up with less than 12 seconds left in overtime. Few in Houston knew who this guy was, but Daniels shot ignited a solar flare on Twitter. The entire D-League was watching one of their own nail the win and three months later an NBA contract. Their messages all said the same thing: That s us up there. Troy Daniels is all of us. committed January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City.

12 april When Ron Mr. Mad Ant Howard became the D-League s all-time leading scorer in March, 2014, he was in his seventh season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the longest single-city run in the league s history. Howard was one of the original Mad Ants. Chances with the Bucks, Pacers, and Knicks hadn t worked out. An aggressive ball handler, resolute defender, deadly from mid-range, he was often better than some of the roster guards but it s hard to displace a guy with a three-year contract. Like it or not, Howard is built for long relationships. He and Reesha have been together since high school. They have two girls and run a sports camp in Fort Wayne. The city has given the Howards its heart and a home, and on April 26, 2014, Ron Howard gave Fort Wayne its first championship. After 7,500 game minutes he held up the trophy co-mvp for the Finals and the season. And, maybe best of all, they won at home. june role Rehearsal history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City. November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel.

13 june Danny Green left the University of North Carolina in 2009 as an NCAA Champion and the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him in the second round. He played in only 20 games in his rookie season before being waived early in his sophomore campaign. Later that season, the Spurs waived him after only two games. Green was a winner, but not quite ready. Yet. The Reno Bighorns believed in him. They traded their star, Patrick Ewing, Jr., to get him and give him what he needed to become a pro. This boiled down to minutes and instruction. Minutes were no problem. Green scored 22 point in his first game with Reno and kept it up. Meanwhile, three develop-ment coaches worked with him before and after every practice. Green asked for more: feedback, film work, stat breakdowns. The Bighorns were winning* and overseas teams started calling about Danny Green, offering big money. Green kept his focus tight, studying film in Reno. Good choice. When the Spurs offered him a role, he knew how to play it and logged 66 games, most of them starts. In the 2013 NBA Finals, he airmailed a record 81 points from beyond the arc in a We ll be back loss to the Heat. A year later, the Spurs swept Miami in four games, with five D-League alumni on the roster: Patty Mills, Cory Joseph, Aron Baynes, Jeff Ayres. And Danny Green, consummate pro. * Small world: Jeremy Lin was a Reno teammate with Green for five games. But that s another story. june retribution history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel. November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City.

14 june NBA prospect blogs had been buzzing about P.J. Hairston since he came out of high school. Then it all blew up. The D-League was his road back. Hairston arrived at the University of North Carolina as a native son and maybe the future. Half-way through, NCAA infractions cost him his eligibility. The university didn t want him. He could go pro or go home. The Texas Legends saw a guy with NBA size, an NBA stroke, and the ability to shake free of defenders to use it. The land of second chances welcomed Hairston with open arms and he didn t disappoint. In his first three games as a pro he showed steady improvement: 22 points, 40 points, then 45 points. Hairston worked hard to show he belonged in a league sharing the court with NBA talent, and that he wanted it more than anybody. the D-League At a glance Out of the 446 players on 2014 NBA opening day rosters, an all-time high have D-League experience, representing more than a quarter of the league s talent pool. To put that in perspective, opening rosters 10 years ago featured just 15 players with D-League experience Teams: D-League Team Affiliation(s) Bakersfield Jam Phoenix Delaware 87ers Philadelphia Fort Wayne Mad Ants Atlanta, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Indiana, LA Clippers, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Orleans, Portland, Toronto, Washington Austin Spurs San Antonio Canton Charge Cleveland Erie BayHawks Orlando Grand Rapids Drive Detroit Idaho Stampede Utah history of the nba development league May 25, 2007: Sam Vincent is named head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first D-League coach call-up hired as an NBA head coach. January 8, 2008: When the Clippers and Warriors signed Guillermo Diaz and C.J. Watson, respectively, history was made with the 99th and 100th GATORADE Call-Ups in D-League history. January : Sundiata Gaines, in just his fifth NBA game, hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Jazz a dramatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. For the first time ever, every team in the NBA features at least one player with D-League experience. The NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs had six D-League players on their opening day roster. Iowa Energy Memphis Los Angeles Defenders LA Lakers November 14, 2012: The D-League announces its first ever television agreement with CBS Sports Network, including a slate of ten regular season games, two games from the D-League Showcase, as well as playoff games and exclusive coverage of the D-League Finals. On the night of June 26, 2014, P.J. Hairston was the 26th pick of the NBA Draft, becoming the first D-League player to be drafted in the first round. Hairston was going back to North Carolina, this time to play for the Charlotte Hornets. 29 NBA Champions have D-League experience. Call-ups have increased steadily since the inception of the D-League. The season saw a record 60 call-ups among 43 players. Maine Red Claws Boston Reno Bighorns Sacramento Oklahoma City Blue Oklahoma City November 20, 2012: The NBA and YouTube announced a new deal that will provide fans with more than 350 D-League games streamed live during the regular season on the D-League YouTube channel. '01-'02 8 call-ups 8 players '02-'03 14 call-ups 10 players '03-'04 17 call-ups 14 players '04-'05 11 call-ups 9 players '05-'06 18 call-ups 13 players '06-'07 22 call-ups 16 players '07-'08 29 call-ups 18 players '08-'09 24 call-ups 20 players '09-'10 40 call-ups 27 players '10-'11 27 call-ups 20 players '11-'12 60 call-ups 43 players '12-'13 36 call-ups 31 players '13-'14 49 call-ups 37 players Santa Cruz Warriors Golden State Teas Legends Dallas Rio Grande Valley Vipers Houston Sioux Falls Sky Force Miami Westchester Knicks New York October 20, 2014: Pierre Jackson erupts for a D-League single-game record 58 points including 27 in the fourth quarter as the Idaho Stampede beat the Texas Legends The 58 points breaks the previous record which was held by Morris Almond who scored 53 points in 2008 and Will Conroy who scored 53 points in November 8, 2014: The 14th season of the D-League tips off in Austin and in Oklahoma City.

15 10 what the future looks like What the future looks like Innovations in the game. Watch what happens around the rim in a D-League game. They re testing a new rule for possible use in the NBA. The cylinder is no longer sacred. Since 2002, every NBA referee has come from the D-League. Similar to the rules in international basketball, once the ball hits the rim it s live, available for big men to jam through or swat away. The league is gathering data on how often this happens, how it influences outcomes, and what fans think. Judging from the decibel level, fans like it a lot. Overtime periods here are three minutes instead of five like in the NBA, an innovation aimed at bringing some pace back to the end of close games. Last season D-League officials tried out calling players for flopping which the NBA chastely calls embellishment issuing on-the-spot technicals rather than assessing fines days later. The jury is still out on this one. When a new rule comes down, D-League officials figure out how to administer it in real time. They look at a lot of film of close calls and then try to make them on the floor. Sometimes a rule is too difficult for human beings to call on the fly, so the rule has to be re-tooled. The D-League officials use the season to fine-tune techniques for getting it right. These go into the training package for the NBA refs. Often D-League refs bring the new rule with them to the NBA. Since 2002, every NBA referee has come from the D-League.

16 Welcome to extreme basketball 13 Welcome to extreme basketball The Rio Grande Valley Vipers play like they re double-parked. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey has some unusual ideas, and uses the team s D-League affiliate as a not-so-secret laboratory for what ESPN calls Extreme Basketball. The Rockets affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, take half their shots from 3-point range and the rest from inside five feet. Only 3% of the team s shooting is from mid-range. They don t even warm up from there before games, and after tip-off, nobody pushes the ball faster. In , the Vipers averaged 109 possessions and 123 points a game, compared to NBA average 101 possessions and 98 points a game. Funny thing. The Rockets now send up more 3 s than any other NBA team. During the season, Nevada Smith, Morey s coach at Rio Grande Valley, is test-flying new inbounds plays, new defensive schemes, and playing faster than any NBA team in the last twenty years. Morey s hope is that they will uncover innovative new tactics with the Vipers that can be implemented at the NBA level. the vipers either jack it from 3, or they dunk it. Finding simpatico coaches willing to challenge conventional wisdom isn t easy. The Vipers last two head coaches got NBA jobs. Morey looked at 35 college coaches before pulling Smith out of Division III. It was love at first sight. Smith is a guy who will try anything. Nobody s watching in D-III, he figured, so why not? In five seasons since affiliating with the Rockets, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers have been D-League champions or runners up three times. And Daryl Morey is still thinking up new ideas.

17 14 now try this Welcome to extremebasketball 13 Now try this The D-League gets everything first. CMO s see the future first in the d-league. D-League players don t get many luxuries, but there was a time before the season when they had better uniforms than their brothers in the NBA. The new NBA Revolution 30 uniforms, developed in a secret adidas lab, were lighter, cooler, and made rivers of sweat disappear and that was just the fabric. Virtually seamless construction eliminated friction, so players felt better and moved better. The miracle uniforms went up to the NBA fast. Under their game jerseys, many D-League players wear a small sensor that sends gigabytes of data to courtside. Cardio and musculoskeletal exertion, acceleration and deceleration, calorie burn, hang time, even the player s path on the court goes into the telemetry stream. Like early astronauts, everything these men do is analyzed to identify factors that can improve performance and safeguard health. The NBA teams gather practice data, but the teams don t practice all that much as the season wears on. The D-League now measures game data as well. They re learning how different practice regimes prepare players for ingame stresses; the physiological factors that matter most when money s on the line; and whether it s possible to see injuries coming and prevent them. When the season tips off, at least six D-League teams will be using these in-game wearable devices. By the Playoffs, many will be generating data, testing systems from four different tech vendors. NBA players and management all have skin in this D-League experiment, because no one is sure what will come out of it. Everybody has a stake in player health and injury prevention, but at the leading edge of sports and performance science there are, for now, as many questions as answers. Stay tuned. The National Basketball Association is a target rich environment for marketers and a showcase for technologies that fuse entertainment and engagement around the game. CMO s see the future first in the D-League. Much like NBA players, new ad tech has to prove itself in the D-League. The LED panels on the horizontal stanchion that supports the backboard spent two years in the D-League while techies from Van Wagner Dorna fiddled with brightness levels and the ad guys experimented with messaging. (A Eureka moment: The basket signs could sync with other messages in the arena or on TV.) The D-League players had the fun job of trying to slam the signs into oblivion. No one wanted a message from State Farm Insurance to die in a crash at the NBA level. The dunk testing made the signs and the D-League s big men look good. You see a lot of the signs in NBA arenas now and some of the men as well.

18 a crucible for coaches 17 A crucible for coaches How bad do you want this job? Two coaches who did. There is probably no greater coaching challenge in sports than a single season in the NBA Development League. This is a crucible for coaches. like the players, Coaches pay their dues, too. Like coaches everywhere, D-League coaches are judged on wins and a universe of other factors that are largely beyond their control. As a D-League coach, you re entrusted with developing NBA-assigned players as well as your own roster players and giving them mucho minutes. You have to devote coaching time to teaching them a system that may or may not be your system. The D-League is the ultimate test of coaching skills. The better your guys play, the more likely it is they ll get beamed up to the NBA. Then you get a New Guy, maybe from the NBA, maybe from overseas, college, who knows? Basically, D-League rosters turn over twice during a season. You ll see 25 guys during the year, all needing different things. How do you forge a team (fast) and get it to play its best (consistently) under these (ever changing) conditions? Coaches that can move up because they can play any hand: Over 40 NBA coaches proved their savvy, their discipline, and their flexibility in the D-League. Like their players, coaches move around to move up in the NBA maybe starting as an assistant in player development or a big man coach paying dues at every station of the cross. Coaches say the hardest thing is being the third or fourth guy on the bench instead of Number One. The best move up. The others find their own level. That s basketball.

19 18 a crucible for coaches a crucible for coaches 19 Quin Snyder Head Coach, Utah Jazz Quin Snyder s journey to the Utah Jazz head coach s office included stops at four NBA teams, two Division I NCAA programs, the D-League, and Moscow. Even in college he was the smartest guy in the room. At Duke, he went to the NCAA Final Four three times as a player, then picked up a law degree and an MBA. He had brains, energy and a basketball pedigree. Enough to land an assistant job with the Los Angeles Clippers and a reunion with Coach K at Duke. Missouri made him a D-I head coach in He won early. Then, not so much. The D-League s Austin Toros, now Austin Spurs, gave him the platform to do what he does best. During three years in Austin, Snyder mentored more players up to the NBA than any other coach and still won more games than they did. With player development written all over him, the Philadelphia 76ers needed him. So did the Los Angeles Lakers, and CSKA Moscow. By the time he became head assistant for the Atlanta Hawks, Snyder had seen and done everything at every level in the game of basketball. Eight jobs and several million miles later, he was ready to run the whole show for the Jazz. David Joerger Head Coach, Memphis Grizzlies David Joerger has a gift for developing young players and devising systems that make the most of the talent he has on hand. In seven years as a minor league coach, he won five championships and sent eighteen of his guys up to the NBA. Then it was his turn. Five fast rings in any league gets peoples attention. After Joerger s Dakota Wizards won the D-League championship in 2007, he was invited to come up to the Memphis Grizzlies and do something about a defense ranked 26th in the NBA. By the time he replaced Lionel Hollins as head coach, Memphis had the stingiest defense in the league. In his first full year as top guy, the Grizzlies went 50-32, finishing the season with fourteen consecutive home wins, then losing to Oklahoma City in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs. No one ever said it would be easy. But this is what all the work was for.

20 Everyone on a journey It s a long way to the front office. For casual fans, the NBA D-League seems a long way from the spotlight. But for coaches, trainers, and front office executives looking to move up, Development means life under a microscope. The Knicks Allan Houston learned to lead a team on the floor. Now he wears a suit and is doing it from the front office. Houston works two shifts. He s the Assistant GM for the New York Knicks that play in The Garden, and the head man for the Westchester Knicks in White Plains. Houston has final say on basketball operations from tryouts to trades. At The Garden he s part of the conversation. In White Plains he s the boss, but everyone will be looking over his shoulder. New Orleans GM Dell Demps, another retired player, has arrived where Houston hopes to go. He was Director of Pro Player Personnel for the San Antonio Spurs before also taking over the Austin Toros, serving as GM. After five years of investment in the Spurs organization, he got his opportunity in New Orleans. Over 100 of NBA teams front office executives worked their way up from the NBA Development League. The league itself is on a journey. Seventeen of the NBA D-League s eighteen teams now have oneto-one affiliation with an NBA organization. The dream is that one day all 30 NBA teams will have their own minor league franchise a parallel universe of professional basketball in its most intense form. Even the NBA has a dream

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