It Happened in Boise
Notes on the D-League Showcase.
The 2008 D-League Showcase has come and gone. If my memory serves me correct, the showcase used to be held on the weekend leading into Martin Luther King Day. This year, however, as it was news to me, it seems it was in the week preceding MLK’s birthday. This past week.
So this week, while I wasn’t looking, the NBA’s official farm system all gathered in Boise, Idaho for a little healthy competition. While there were no playoffs, the D-League teams squeezed 14 games into four days in the same arena. The showcase is designed to highlight the talent playing in the D-League and is a blocked off time period in which NBA scouts, foreign scouts and other hoops executives can get together and talk shop.
This year, recognizable names included Taurean Green of the Idaho Stampede (Portland Trail Blazers); JamesOn Curry of the Iowa Energy (Chicago Bulls); former NBA point guards Yuta Tabuse of the Anaheim Arsenal and Andre Barrett of the Bakersfield Jam; Corie Underwood (Albuquerque T-Birds & a few mentions in SLAM); Kevin Pittsnogle (U. West Virginia & Albubuerque T-Birds) and NBA veteran and “D-league Poster Boy” Randy Livingston of the Idaho Stampede.
Additionally, while looking over the D-League standings, you’ll notice that the first place teams (Austin and Los Angeles) in 2 of the 3 D-League divisions (Central, Southwest, West) are exclusive affiliates of their NBA parents clubs. The Los Angeles Defenders and Austin Toros represent the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs respectively. Hopefully the adoption of minor league hoop teams by NBA clubs will pick up and each NBA club will have it’s own farm team.
As NBA franchises are slowly beginning to understand how to utilize the farming system to their advantage, the D-League is working itself out and trying to establish itself as a premier basketball entity outside of the NBA.
3 Responses to “It Happened in Boise”
Jan.18 at 3:52 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Matt, no doubt on the one team-one farm squad thought. The league president told me this summer that it is obviously the goal and with franchises like the Spurs and Lakers leading the way, it hopefully will spread. There are surely enough ballers on this rock to fill the rosters. Hopefully, more franchises will pop in geographically-useful locales (ie Austin-San An. Broomfield-Denver, LA-LA–they even share the Stapler) I would prefer the Iowa-Chicago type marriages where you can build a fan base for the “Big Team” is areas that are close, but that don’t necessarily have a specific allegiance. I am still hoping for that call….
Jan.20 at 9:29 am
Matt Caputo says:
I think the specific allegiance would be better, only because I think it would create more pressure to make “farm clubs” a more necessary part of each NBA team’s organization as a whole. Iowa-Chicago is great, I’d also love to see a Knicks D-League team in Albany or Hartford, but I’m sure both of them are really really remote possibilities. The problem with basketball in the U.S. now is that no one really appreciates ball in between the college and nba levels. If they would put a damn D-league game on ESPN2 that would be a step in the right direction. But who knows.
Jan.21 at 9:44 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Thanks Matt; you’re the D League’s best hope.