Reimagining the D-League schedule

by

By all accounts, the D-League is an increasingly helpful tool for aspiring NBA players. The Wages of Wins Journal recently released a preliminary paper which suggested D-League call-ups slightly outperform late first round draft picks. But the D-League is still far from its ceiling, not just as business, but as a development tool.

One idea I’ve toyed with in recent days is the possibility of moving the D-League’s season schedule forward by several weeks. Currently, the D-League begins after the NBA season kicks off, conducting their draft and camps on the heels of the NBA preseason. But why not begin the entire process earlier?

What if the D-League conducted its annual draft in the days immediately following Summer League?

Interest in Summer League is growing each year, and its significance to the NBA is increasing as well. The excitement surrounding Summer League is a natural extension of the excitement surrounding the NBA draft. If the NBA/D-League were to hold its draft in the days right after Summer League, they could extend this excitement by another month or two, bridging the time period between the end of the Summer League and beginning of NBA training camp with — wait for it — actual basketball.

Under this scheme, the first several weeks of the D-League season would ride the momentum of Summer League through the dead days of August and September, a time period when NBA die hards are starved for actual basketball, the kind played on the court. And, more importantly, this would add as many as two dozen games to the D-League schedule, providing players with valuable practice and playing time. Those player who performed well during Summer League could ride their own momentum through the opening months of the D-League and into an NBA training camp.

Two more months of Jeremy Lin? Sure, why not?

The rest of the D-League schedule would largely stay the same. NBA teams would still invite players to training camp, albeit with a couple extra months of scouting and game film.

Those players who excelled during the opening weeks of the D-League season may enter NBA training camps with a little more fanfare than usual. And most NBA rookies and sophomores will have spent the beginning of their NBA careers on a D-League roster, using it as a primer to their first and second official NBA training camps. For others, the NBA training camp may be a short excursus between D-League stints. Â And in some unique cases (Blake Griffin?) the initial months of the D-League season may be used to complete an ongoing rehab program. All of this adds up to something cool for fans.

Under this scenario, the D-League schedule for the 2010-11 season could have looked like this:

July 28: D-League Draft

August 11: D-League Training Camps Open

August 23: D-League Season Starts

January 10-13: D-League Showcase

February 18: All Star Friday Festivities

As an idea, this starts a good conversation. Â But it also raises hard questions. Â Could the D-League afford the expenses associated with a substantial increase in games? Would the added games fare better at the gate than the current schedule, riding the wave of Summer League and taking advantage of the annual down period for NCAA hoops and the NBA? Could the NBA stomach running the D-League up against its favorite boondoggle, the WNBA? Would national team commitments for non-American players limit the D-League to a strictly domestic player pool?

In private correspondence, Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside raised another noteworthy consideration, one that might amount to a deal-breaker:

Not saying that [this idea] won’t work, just that it would take a bit of change. Currently, the Summer League is just as much about getting looked at by European teams as it is for NBA teams (if not moreso in some cases). That said, if players are forced to either sign in the D-League immediately after Vegas or wait for a European offer, I think they choose the latter.

The reason they can’t do both, under the current system, is that the D-League has a buyout in place ($30,000ish) that I’d have to assume most players wouldn’t be interesting in paying without exploring all of their options first.

Thoughts?

  • GitErDun

    Maybe its about time for the NBA to finally decide whether the D-League is or isn’t a true Minor League for the NBA. Teams should be free to use their teams to develop their players. Proper use of the D-League could be one of the great Competition Leveling Devices that makes the NBA better. The crap of having 14 guys on the roster and only having 12 dress is nuts. Those guys in suits could be getting valuable playing time against pretty good competition. I would figure that on average, D-league teams and therefore D-league competition is better than college ball competition. There is always the problem of some NBA teams not using their D-League team properly, but there will always be teams like the Warriors and Clips who can’t do anything right.

  • nat z

    This idea has a tremendous amount of merit.

    The interest in the current FIBA tournament is testimony to fan demand for televised basketball 12 months a year. ESPN is broadcasting USA v RUS right now.

    The NBA can easily ammend the rules governing contracts with International teams regarding D-league players if its in their prevailing interest. The system employed by FIFA, with player loans and contract transfers between leagues, is a good model to use.

    This scheme would allow International players to play in the D-league while on contract but in their offseason. Simultaneously team owners could defer money on the players guaranteed contracts.

    In sum I think this would be great for the progress of the game to act as a globalized community.

  • SAJKinBigD

    I think it’s a great idea, but as GitErDun said, not every team utilizes D-League to the same degree.
    It all boils down to money, for all sides.

  • Nick (Italy)

    I think it could work (sometimes I admit I found myself watching WNBA games - well, quarters - during the offseason), but I do not think NBA teams would allow first rounders to participate, both for the injury risk and for the fact that usually rookies already struggle to cope with the lenght of an NBA season and would only struggle more by starting the season a couple of months before (even if at reduced intensity).

    For players interested in playing in Europe, apart from the buy out problem, you also have to consider that most euro training camps start in the last week of August / first week of September. The D-League would also be less of a marketing possibility for them: Summer League in Vegas allows European scouts/agents/team officers to see a lot of players in a two week span while meeting agents, NBA team officials and coaches all in the same place, while maybe a few euro top teams could spend money to send a scout travelling for a couple of week in two/three D-League cities to only see 6 or 7 games. For them, having some more videos to provide to the euro teams may not be worth it.

  • SAJKinBigD

    Move up the timing of the Summer League, too?

  • bert

    They should make the D-League the Division 2 of the NBA. The top 3 teams of the D2 league get promoted into the NBA. The bottom 3 teams of the NBA get regulated to the D2 league. This would encourage teams from tanking cause they would lose money from tv contracts, fanbase and etc. And the loan system would be added. If the spurs drafted a rookie, and they knew for sure he wouldn’t make the team. The spurs could loan him to another team so he can get experience and at the end of the loan period, he comes back to the spurs with no drawbacks. The reason soccer is popular is cause every game matters. In the NBA, teams drop games for draft picks. In soccer, if you lose a game, you get regulate and lose out on a lot of money. If you get rid of the draft, and have teams go look for players on their own, it evens out everything. It’ll make everything more intresting, but it’ll make life for the Spurs very hard cause they would have to develop a Tim Duncan and not just get one with the draft, but that is the same for everyone else.

  • Tyler

    @ bert

    “In soccer, if you lose a game, you get regulate and lose out on a lot of money.”

    I think this is exactly why the NBA would never institute this policy. But I agree with you. Ideally, I’d love to see a more soccer-like format, but at this point, I think the NBA is doing everything they can to maximize the wealth of the entire league. In other words, you wouldn’t relegate the Clippers for the Toros because your basketball related income (and how the salary cap is calculated) would most likely decline, making the owners and players alike less money. Really, I don’t see anyone in the NBA benefiting, except maybe the fan (no tanking, etc).

    But the idea of moving up the start of the D-League season and instituting something similar to transfers in soccer are ideas I can totally get behind. In fact, it makes so much sense there is no chance it will happen.

  • GitErDun

    “I think it’s a great idea, but as GitErDun said, not every team utilizes D-League to the same degree.”

    At their own peril I might add.

    Why, if you really cared about your team, would you miss the opportunity to school your own players?? Warriors, Clips, Kings do come to mind though.

  • ThatBigGuy

    I love the idea, but I don’t think it will be done.

    I’m betting this idea has been chatted about amongst those who really matter. However, I don’t see such changes because of the added cost. Starved as we may be for basketball during the offseason, will enough people pay for a Summer League Pass on Dish Network to offset the added salaries, traveling expenses, gym leases, etc? I wouldn’t think so. No way ESPN bumps baseball and preseason football off their programming for a dozen D-League games either.

    I think when all the financials of the new CBA get hammered out, I think the powers that be will take a very long hard look at the WNBA. I’d say that if the WNBA stays, then there will be no extension of the D-League’s season. If the WNBA gets cut, I think the NBA will have a little more monetary freedom and will look at extending the D-League.

  • Tyler

    @ThatBigGuy

    FWIW, I think you can bank on the NBA keeping the WNBA around.

    And in regards to the financial health of the NBA, I think the league is doing better than even they thought they would do, as evidenced by the surprisingly high salary cap. Maybe they’re just managing expectations (“get ready for the salary cap to go way down”) or trying to set the stage for the CBA negotiations (likely), I think the league is on pretty solid ground.

  • Badger

    Bert,
    There is NO way I want to see a good D League team elevated to NBA status and see a storied franchise thrown to the dogs just because the former kicked ass against other D leaguers, and the latter imploded (like the Spurs did when Robinson was injured, allowing us to land Duncan in the next draft) during one bad season.

    The D League is great, but who among us would buy a $100 ticket to watch the Idaho Stampede vs. the Spurs???

  • AshG

    Most teams don’t use their D-League teams effectively because they don’t own their own team. There are 30 NBA teams and 16 D-League teams. Only Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Oklahoma City own their own teams.

    Another problem is that the NBA doesn’t need to have a minor league system like baseball. There aren’t as many players, for one. Most NBA teams can get by with 7-8 players. Additionally, new draftees are able to come in and impact the game right away, unlike baseball. How often do you have a baseball player go right into the big leauges after being drafted? Not very. Whereas most players drafted in the Top 5 (and done so rightfully. see Thabeet, Hasheem) will be starting for their franchises immediately.

    And how can you say that the Warriors didn’t use their team well? They brought up 3 players last season who all turned out to be amazing finds. They are one of the few teams who steadily rely on their D-League team.

    However, I agree there should be more go-between from the NBA franchise to the D-League team ala MLB. This would allow the development of a stronger bench. Will probably never happen though. Not as much need for it in the NBA as there is in MLB

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Timothy Varner

    @AshG

    I’m with you regarding the Warriors. They are one of the best teams in the league in terms of D-League usage. In that way they’re ahead of most of their peers.