Following the Pacesetter

by Timothy Varner

The Colorado 14ers are moving to Frisco in 2o1o. From the press release:

Texas D-League Management, LLC, has purchased the  Colorado  14ers  and  will  relocate the team to Frisco, Texas, it was announced  today  by  NBA  Development League President Dan Reed.  The team will  begin  play in Frisco at the Dr.  Pepper Arena for the 2010-11 season, but will not play during 2009-10 in order to transition.

Donnie  Nelson,  Dallas  Mavericks  President  of Basketball Operations and General  Manager,  will  be  the  principal owner and operator of the team. Nelson  brings  23  years of NBA experience with him to the team in Frisco, including 11 years in Dallas’ front office, along with coaching stints with the  Mavericks,  Golden  State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns. Nelson’s  ownership  group  includes  Evan Wyly,  a  Dallas native and the Chairman of Green Mountain Energy, the nation’s leading provider of cleaner electricity  and  carbon  offset solutions.  Colorado 14ers owner Tim Wiens will  retain  a  minority  ownership  stake  in the team.  Nelson, Wyly and Frisco Mayor Maher Maso joined Reed at today’s announcement, which was held at  the  Mavericks’  practice  facility  located  inside  American Airlines Center.

The D-League and NBA have come to an agreement (in principal?) on a new hybrid affiliation model. This hybrid affiliation is not the model, but one of three options NBA teams can choose to better utilize the D-League. The hybrid model allows all the benefits the Spurs enjoy with the Toros, but reduces the financial commitment. The press release, however, does not appear to link Dallas and Frisco  in such an agreement, at least not initially.

When  the  team begins play in 2010, it will be directly affiliated with up to  three  NBA  teams,  which  will be able to assign first and second year players to the club up to three times during a season.

The tie through Mavericks GM and Frisco owner Donnie Nelson is obvious, however.  If memory serves, Mark Cuban has previously expressed uncertainty about the best way to develop a young player, not knowing if the D-League was any more beneficial than allowing a player to remain with his NBA team and develop through practice. To my knowledge, he’s always treated the potential of the D-League positively, but reserved judgement on its place as the eventual front runner in player development.  That is, he treated it as an open question.  One suspects that with Nelson at the helm the Mavericks will use their D-League affiliate more extensively than in the past.  The influence, if any, of the Mavericks on Frisco will be an interesting story to follow.