Bottomline: the quality of basketball, player talent and teamwork was above anything you’ll see in ANY college game.

Hopefully, the Toros will make it here on Saturday night.

Kudos, and keep it up.

I’ve been away from the computer all day, and I’ve missed a good discussion–very intelligent arguments from all involved.

DR: It was honestly one of the more exciting basketball games I’ve ever attended. The game represented everything you’d ever want in a live sporting event — an already intense Dakota-Sioux Falls rivalry, huge playoff implications, stars like Kasib Powell playing big in a big game, Mo Baker and Renaldo Major coming up with huge plays at crunch time for the home team, and a crowd that literally didn’t sit down for the last 7 minutes of the game. Usually at a game like that I have a strong rooting interest, so it was a little surreal to have to stay composed amidst all of the madness.

I do love the fact that the D-League has the flexibility to try out all sorts of great things like the new playoff format.

Best basketball outside of the NBA is definitely worth of debate. I wouldn’t write it off. I guess, for myself, I have a bit of a distorted view, because I’m seeing the best players from American colleges end up in the D-League, if they’re not drafted into the NBA. In that sense, it’s true. However, thinking globally, which is becoming more prevalent, you’re probably right that there are other league’s that are just as talented, though hard to compare, as it’s almost apples to oranges. Two very different games, by most accounts.

The D-League doesn’t have as much turnover as you may think, or at least not every team. I’m most familiar with the Dakota Wizards, as I’ve watched them since their inception 14 years ago, before they were in the D-League. This season, the Wizards returned four players from their championship season two years ago, and and another three from last season. That’s seven out of 10 players that the community was familiar with one. One player, Maurice Baker, has been with the Wizards for the majority of the past six seasons.

I do agree with you that there should be a better system for NBA assignments, as Tim originally asked Dan. It’d be nice to expand the NBA roster, even to 16, and be able to keep the rights of a player or two while they’re playing in the D-League, especially in the case of the Spurs, who are so great at getting players called up. Until the 1:1 affiliation can happen, I think that’s the best we can hope for.

thanks for your reply. You bring up some interesting points.

Re: the interaction between the D-league and the NBA, I have to say that from a European point of view the whole college basketball thing doesn’t make much sense because it is not organised that way at all over here. You have junior leagues and “schools” (most of that for under-17 players) and then several levels of leagues. “Division 1″ teams (at the top) have second and third teams in lower divisions that are at the same time “development teams”.

I think the college basketball structure is staying out of tradition, but apart from that it doesn’t make much sense and it’s under threat from the D-league or high-schoolers jumping directly to the NBA. I can see more and more players going directly from high school to D-league, which could become a formidable springboard to the NBA. Look for colleges to shut that down and put minimum age rules in the D-League and so on.

Re: the best basketball outside of the NBA as I said I find it a bit arrogant because I am not convinced at all. There are many leagues in Europe or South America that I feel would give the D-League a serious run for their money. As for the “every player wants to play in the NBA”, I agree it’s true for a majority of them, but especially in the US. Otherwise Splitter might be playing for the Spurs by now, whereas he will probably never do.

The most interesting point is the opportunity for smaller market towns to get a taste of high-level basketball. I had not considered that. But in the end to retain fan loyalty I think you need to build a stable core of players – it’s exciting to see players moving up but it also means your team might go in a serious slump, or get to the playoffs only to get trashed because a key player was “called-up” a week before. I think people will tire of that as well. Therefore I can really imagine a development where NBA teams have to commit players for a whole season. Then it will actually be more of a development league than an “extra storage” league.

In reply to Will:
The players that have played in the D-League on assignment, along with the call-up’s that went straight to the NBA, are pretty evenly distributed. There is a reason that these guys are in the D, so it’s a fair assessment that the majority are in the bottom 1/5 of the D-League. Just playing in the NBA is something that anyone that plays basketball dreams to do, and the D-League is giving these players an amazing opportunity to do so.

The best basketball outside the NBA seems a bit arrogant, but if you look at the talent pool in the D-League, it’d be hard to argue. It ain’t braggin’ if you back it up, as my friend Kid Rock once said.

I live in a D-League city, and the ever-changing rosters aren’t a negative, but rather a positive. People in these cities root for their players to move up, so they can say “Wow! Dontell Jefferson’s in the NBA? He started out as a backup shooting guard for us! We met him at the Pizza Ranch in Bismarck! Nice guy!” It’s not so much a negative, as the rosters are so fluid due to players either getting a better opportunity, or having NBA players come play in smaller cities that otherwise wouldn’t have an option to see this live.

I can’t speak on the international development, but would love to hear your thoughts on my other points.

A few comments:
- it’s clear that the D-league serves a purpose and it can be a great asset when used right (e.g. Toros, as we all know). The claim to be the best development league in the world, well, yes, since it’s the only development league in the world Obviously the other leagues in the world have other business to attend than to simply develop players for the NBA to scoop. So the answer is in the question for this one. And it’s nice to know former D-league players amount for 15% of the NBA, but with all due respect, how many of these players aren’t in the bottom 15% of the NBA? Also how many of these players had played in the NBA (or been drafted) before being assigned to the D-League?
- Re: the best basketball outside of the NBA, isn’t that a bit arrogant? I think it is.
- Re: the future the D-league will have to deal with a serious paradox: NBA teams will support it because of the flexibility it gives them (just count the number of moves between the Spurs and the Toros this year) but at the same time the D-league will never manage to find credibility if the line-ups change on a daily basis. At some point they will need consistency to grow and that’s going to be a tough sell for NBA teams supporting them.
- Re: international development, at least in Europe I don’t think the NBA can come and set up some franchises and develop a completely new system, D-League or not. First of all they wouldn’t find American investors to do so, so they would have to go to local investors, and those are already in the game right now and developing their own brand. Second, fans in Europe like the NBA for what it is (and it’s now much more international than it used to be) but they don’t really care for it outside of that. Local leagues and Euroleague are still what most people follow.