The NBA Team Formerly Known As the Sonics just announced the purchase of the Tulsa 66ers, which was previously an affiliate -- though mostly unused -- of the Knicks. The Ok. City Whatevers became the third team to purchase a D-League team, joining the Lakers and Spurs.
The Knicks will continue to share a team -- they're linked with Reno, along with the Sacramento Kings -- but there has been talk in the past about the Knicks buying a franchise to put in the New York area. Harlem and Brooklyn are the two potential sites under consideration.
The D-League is the right idea on many levels -- the Lakers D-League team shares the practice facility and plays at Staples Center before Laker games, like a JV team -- but there are too many restrictions that keep it from being a true minor league system for the NBA. If an NBA team wants to send a player to the D-League, it costs them a roster spot. For instance, if Isiah Thomas wanted to do right by Randolph Morris last season and send him to Tulsa to get some burn, the Knicks would not be able to then fill Morris' spot on the roster with another player. The Knicks would have still technically had 15 players on the roster, with Morris assigned to the D-League (not that it mattered because Morris never played anyway).
The rules are made like this so rich teams like the Knicks can't just acquire a bunch of young players and bury them in the D-League while loading up on vets. It protects young players from being buried in the D-League. This happens a lot in hockey and, for the most part, it's always better for the younger player to develop in the minors instead of sitting on the bench in the majors.
The D-League's ultimate goal is to have 30 exclusive affiliates for each team and hope the rules can be adjusted enough to make it a little more of a legit minor league system instead of a minor league circuit that happens to have the backing of the NBA.
For instance, it would have been better for the Knicks if they were able to assign Demetris Nichols, Randolph Morris and Jared Jordan to the D-League. The rules should allow the players to opt-out of the assignment if they can find another NBA job (but then they can't be sent to the D-League by that NBA team for, say, 60 days) or if they get a better opportunity in Europe (as Jordan eventually did). The rules should also say that the NBA team can keep a rookie in the D-League for up to one full season, but must call him up for at least 10 days during that season. After one season, if he doesn't make the team in training camp, he must be set free. Perhaps the player can have another opt-out in July. Something like that.
Just bloggin.
Comments (10)
I can't think of a player that the D-League really helped. I thought Boston sent Gerald Green to the D-League his rookie year. Didn't help him much. ITs reasoning for keeping Morris in the NBA b/c he would get practice reps with the team and learn the Knicks system to me was a valid one . . .if the Knicks had a system . . . or ever practiced.
I like it. I definitely like it.
I can't tell you how many times last season it puzzled me that Chandler never got a run at the D-league. The guy barely played all year till the end of the season and nobody can really say if staying with the team helped or hurt his development.
An advantage to a real minor league is that the NBA team presumably has some say in how that player is going to be used - prospect x will be playing 30 + minutes a night at the 4 spot. Drawbacks to playing in Europe are the possibility of being buried behind a veteran or being played out of position. It can help a player trying learn a new position in the pros.
Maybe the Pittsbugh Pirates can take Zack Randolph off our hands too?
Or what about 3-team trade where we'll ship zach to Green Bay, Boston could take Farve, and we'll take Manny and his dreads on the Knicks to replace Balkman...
sorry Fixers.. i'm just ready for the weekend...
I know we have the best fans in the world but sometimes I wonder if we have the most impatient, unappreciative, wishful thinking fans in the world also. You guys really need to relax and let the bosses do their job. If you want OUR team to be winners (and we will be once again) we have to take our time and stick to the script. I'm going to see Dark Knight again tonight for the 2nd time.
Best movie ever and arguably the best performance ever. If he doesn't win the oscar then I'm sure Marbury will win it for his performance this summer (acting like he wants to really play).
You guys sound like you would rather have Steph back instead of Zach.
You guys need rehab............BAD!!!!!!!!!!!
Great post. Holding on to the three you mentioned (Nichols, Morris and Jordan) would have been great (we wouldn't need Duhon if we kept Jordan, a pass-first type). Allowing them to play at MSG in a developmental league would have given them tremendous confidence to play in the NBA. A floor general, a scorer, and a low-post player in a true "minor" league. couldn't agree more.
This is where our new management can help our team: developing talent. Isiah's picks weren't terrible, but we saw no growth in terms of the players' games. Since we are drafting young players who do not know the NBA game, we need to get serious about developing their skills in a separate league, not between NBA games on the road.
It can't hurt to take a young player with talent that's not good enough to get minutes YET and give him minutes in the D league instead of collecting splinters on the bench. If a player is drafted he should just get the salary he is entitled to regardless of whether he plays in the NBA or D league. That ways there's less of an incentive for the player to leave and a better chance to develop him.
"For instance, it would have been better for the Knicks if they were able to assign Demetris Nichols, Randolph Morris and Jared Jordan to the D-League. The rules should allow the players to opt-out of the assignment if they can find another NBA job (but then they can't be sent to the D-League by that NBA team for, say, 60 days) or if they get a better opportunity in Europe (as Jordan eventually did).
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In baseball that is the Rule V Draft. Obviously with a smaller roster and therefore, less players overall, the rule would be different, but in baseball, if you have been in the minors for 5 years, teams can pluck you out of another team's system, BUT they have to put you on their 25 man roster (ie ML roster) and keep you there all year. As soon as they take you off the 25 man roster, they have to offer you back to your original team.
For many years I have advocated the creation of a virtual NBA team (though a Knicks D-League team would be fine) that played a limited number of games in multiple sites - that would make games a real local event, upping attendance. For example a Knicks D-League team might play in Hartford, New Haven, the Harlem, Brooklyn, and Newark.
Doing so would solidify a fan base, add cable interest, and help generate interest in New England's smaller big cities who desperately need the entertainment venue.
Furthermore the D-Leaguers could work out with the Knicks when in town providing added competitive spirit.