D-League Decoded: Mark Madsen's Impact on the Los Angeles D-Fenders

Mark Madsen brings youth, familiarity to SoCal. (jimrome.com)

In mid-May, the Los Angeles D-Fenders — the Lakers' D-League affiliate — announced in a press conference that they hired former Laker forward Mark Madsen to be their new head coach going in to the 2013-14 season. Madsen will replace former coach Reggie Theus, who took a similar job at Cal-State Northridge. Despite only being out of the NBA for four years, Madsen has already held assistant coaching gigs with the NBADL's Utah Flash (now Delaware 87ers) and Stanford before ending up in L.A.

This won't be the first time the D-Fenders have experimented with a former NBA player as the head coach. Theus had a 14-year career in the NBA, but Chucky Brown (part of the 1994-95 NBA Champion Houston Rockets) held the job during the 2009-10 season before being let go.

Were there more deserving coaches that could have been hired over Madsen? Most likely. But the D-League is a business and Madsen has been a relatively big name around Southern California since his playing days at Stanford in the mid to late '90s. Fans are more apt to pay money to go to a game if they recognize a certain player or coach they remember watching. That will be key for Madsen and the D-Fenders because those Laker fans will have nostalgia of when he was performing (or dancing) with the Lakers.

Add that with a good amount of experience both in the D-League and college level and Madsen will probably be a solid fit with the D-Fenders. One of the biggest challenges an NBADL coach faces is the constant change that happens to his roster on a night by night basis. While that won't be much of an issue with a team like the Lakers, who are built around veteran players, Madsen will still have to be creative with his roster and game-by-game rotation on a nightly basis.

One of the better parts of Madsen being with the D-Fenders would probably be his relatively young age (37). Having a young coach like that will not only be helpful to his future as a coach in the world of professional basketball but also helpful to the Lakers organization because they can help nourish his development as a leader. While it would be bizarre to predict his future as a coach in the D-League and the NBA, it's quite possible that he can land an assistant coaching gig like former player Vitaly Potapenko, who was hired to be with Mike Brown in Cleveland. Of course, those dreams and aspirations will have to wait as Madsen and the rest of the D-Fenders are going to have to take that day-by-day journey to reach the mountain tops that the young coach once reached 12 long years ago.

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D-League Decoded: Philadelphia 76ers and the D-League

Philadelphia has a new D-League affiliate in the Delaware 87ers. (nba.com)

Late last month, it was announced that the Philadelphia 76ers acquired the defunct Utah Flash D-League team and moved them to Delaware to become the 87ers (or Sevens per the team's Twitter account).

Previous to this acquisition, the team's affiliate was the Sioux Falls Skyforce, who were co-owned by three other NBA teams, the Timberwolves, Heat and Magic. Of course, if you know anything about geography you would know that Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a long ways away from Philadelphia, which made it hard for the 76ers to use the D-League until now.

Avoiding the team's weird name that's based on the Constitution, the 76ers are now able to use the D-League to their overall advantage to help develop some of their young players. Now, the team is probably going to be facing a huge overhaul after the Andrew Bynum disaster from this past season. With a team that's rebuilding, you're going to have a lot of porspects that will be in need of developing. Sure, the team can immediately put those players on an NBA court but may be at the risk of putting them out there too early.

At this moment, the 76ers have seven players who are 24 years old or younger, which should increase during the upcoming NBA Draft because of their three picks (No. 11, No. 35 and No. 42). Using Delaware as a means of development for those rookies will be crucial for the simple fact that they'll be able to transfer them in between each location. That alone will allow Philiadelphia's front office to use the same approach that teams like Oklahoma City and Golden State used this past season who both had their own D-League team.

Despite being a solid developmental move,  they only assigned one player (Arnett Moultree) during the 2012-13 season, which does make sense of the strange situation the team was going through. With that said, Philadelphia did use the other teams involved in the D-League to call up two players (Shelvin Mack and Justin Holiday) who turned out to be below average pickups but still meant that there was that connection.

Speaking of connection, the 76ers front office hired and assigned Aaron Moszer to be their first team president. This was possibly the best overall hiring for this new ball club because of Moszer's 15-year experience working in the world of minor league sports. Before signing on to Delaware, Moszer worked as the VP of Sales/Marketing for Ripken Baseball, which is one of the top developmental leagues for youth baseball in the US. While helping out the future of the game of baseball, Moszer was also an instrumental part in the inagural season of the Aberdeen Ironbirds who are the Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Of course, Moszer won't be in charge of the on-court aspect of the team but will be the key man in charge of making sure things go right in the first season of this team.

Again, we're about six months until the team will open up shop to start its first season so a lot can happen in that time frame, but this is still a great move for the future of a rebuilding Philadelphia 76ers franchise.

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D-League Decoded: All-Star Weekend Recap

A breakdown of the 2013 D-League All-Star game. (nba.com)

This weekend marks the unofficial halfway point to both the NBA and D-League seasons as they're both celebrating their All-Star weekends. While the NBA is at center stage with their star-studded, three-night event, the D-League quietly had their celebration on Saturday afternoon.

This weekend marks the seventh anniversary of the D-League All-Star game, which started in 2007 when the NBA had its All-Star game in Las Vegas. Since that game, more than a dozen D-League All-Stars have made their way onto NBA rosters, including Othyus Jeffers, Garrett Temple and Gerald Green.

While the All-Star game is the main event of the afternoon, they D-League also has the 3-point contest and Slam Dunk contest to show off some of the best leapers and sharp-shooters the D-League has to offer. This past Saturday was no different as some of the best talent the league has ever seen competed in a game that lacked defense but shined when it came to high flying and entertaining basketball.

Before the All-Star game tipped off, the league held its 3-point contest with participants Marcus Landry (Reno), Micah Downs (Maine), Justin Holiday (Idaho), and Justin Dentmon (Texas). While all four of these guys are solid perimeter shooters, the contest in general was a little sub-par. Sure, these guys probably aren't going to be sharp-shooters like Kyrie Irving or Ray Allen, but I was disappointed in what I saw. Former Wisconsin Badger and current Bighorns forward Marcus Landry defeated Justin Holiday, 13-11, in the finals to win the contest.

One of those strange things I like about the D-League is the fact that it has its dunk contest during halftime of the game, which is better than an awful concert with a girl who lost her voice. The participants of the dunk contest included Glen Rice, Jr., Tony Mitchell, Josh Owens and Dar Tucker, who was a clear-cut favorite after previously winning the contest twice. Tucker probably had the highlight of the competition with a dunk over his 7-foot teammate Jerome Jordan, but Mitchell ended up winning the competition after defeating Owens in the final round.

Moving on to the All-Star game itself, which was contested between the Prospects and the Future rosters. The following is a list of players who were on both teams.

Prospects:                                                  Futures:   

Damion James (Bakersfield)                          Micah Downs (Maine)                             

Tim Ohlbrecht (Rio Grande Valley)                Chris Wright (Maine)

Henry Sims (Erie)                                        DaJuan Summers (Maine)

D.J Kennedy (Erie)                                      James Mays (Maine)

Jerel McNeal (Bakersfield)                            Shelvin Mack (Maine)

Arinze Onuaku (Canton)                               Tony Mitchell (Fort Wayne)

Demetris Nichols (Sioux Falls)                      Courtney Fortson (Los Angeles)

Travis Leslie (Santa Cruz)                            Marcus Landry (Reno)

Justin Dentmon (Texas)                              Jerome Jordan (Reno)

Chris Wright (Iowa)                                   Ron Howard (Fort Wayne) 

It's kind of strange to analyze an All-Star game because it's basically an exhibition game, but I did notice a few things while watching. The first thing I really noticed is how it looked like Travis Leslie was at a level higher than the rest of the roster. Leslie is an extremely athletic player, but also plays at a higher pace than most of the other guys in the D-League. Travis finished the game with seven rebounds and 19 points on 8-13 shooting, which led to him winning All-Star game MVP.

The Prospects won 139-125, but one thing I found both interesting and humorous was Mike Taylor (coach of the Red Claws and Futures team) started and played all five of his Red Claws players. Now that decision was decent because the team played really well together and caught up to the Prospects near the end of the first half. That core of five players featured DaJuan Summers, who had a great 28 point and seven rebound performance that will be forgotten because of his team's defeat.

My last take of Saturday's game was how impressed I was with the overall play of the centers in this game. The center position has been going down-hill in both the NBA and the D-League, but Jerome Jordan and Tim Ohlbrecht shined brighter than some of the guards in this game. I've been a huge fan of Ohlbrecht since I watched him play last month in the D-League showcase and he looked fantastic once again posting double-double numbers of 12 points and 12 rebounds. While those numbers aren't quite impressive, he just looked like a solid player with how smooth he was on the court. 

Even though this was only an exhibition game, Jordan looked like the kind of player that would be worthy of being the top D-League prospect with Donald Sloan heading to China. Jordan has been having a great year but he's been slightly overshadowed by Samardo Samuels, who is his partner in the Bighorns front-court. Jordan had close to a perfect game with 12 points on 6-6 shooting with seven rebounds. 

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Allen Iverson is Right to Deny the D-League

Allen Iverson's future never included the D-League. (bleacherreport.com)

Allen Iverson crossed over Michael Jordan and scored roughly 24,368 points over a 14-season spread in the NBA. A 13-time All-Star, Iverson is also a basketball pariah worldwide refusing to accept a smaller role during his last stateside contract and leaving Turkish club Besiktas to undergo calf surgery, never to return and play out the remainder of his two-year, multi-million-dollar contract. He is still holding out for another shot on an NBA court that will likely not ever appear. In spite of his hopes – and his checkered history – Iverson’s recent dismissal of the Texas Legends’ offer to join them in the D-League is no surprise.

Iverson, like most professional athletes, has a high opinion of himself. One almost must to perform on such a large stage. Though it may look like hubris (and rightly so), his move to turn down the Legends’ offer was the right one to make. The team – the Dallas Mavericks’ D-League affiliate co-owned by Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson – has made splashy signings since its inception in 2010, having rostered players such as Greg Ostertag, Dan Gadzuric and Chris Douglas-Roberts and recently employing Rashad McCants and Delonte West (who reneged on his deal). Several of these players have earned 10-day contracts based on their play with the Legends including 37-year-old point guard Mike James, who parlayed his second 10-day bid into a guaranteed contract with the Mavs.

James’ name doesn’t carry the stigma of the 37-year-old the Legends tried to scoop last week, though. Iverson is a former MVP and scoring champion. He also led the league in steals for two seasons, in 2002-03 and 2004-05. But he has always been a high-usage player and a volume shooter, getting his career average of 26.7 ppg by making 9.3 shots on 21.8 attempts per game. Moreover, Iverson is an underwhelming three-point shooter (his career-best 36 percent came in 2009-10 when he attempted only 25 triples) and unless the man who once berated the idea of practice has changed that, he is not a reliable spot-up option. Iverson has not played professional basketball in two years and, in a comeback, he would be forced to get open shots by relying on speed, a formerly consistent tool in his arsenal that is surely fleeting due to age, injuries and time away from the professional game.

By accepting and admitting his past mistakes while turning down the Legends last week, Iverson showed a maturity that was missing as recently as 2010. While some don’t believe Iverson’s presence would help theD-League or the NBA at large, there are sects of fans who believe Iversonshould still be playing in the Association. Signing with the Legends under the guise that it could accelerate his return to the NBA would be unfair to his diehard followers and to Iverson himself.


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D-League Decoded: Welcome to the Small Show

The Texas Legends pursuing Allen Iverson was one of the biggest D-League stories of the week. (usatoday.com)

Hello readers of Beats, Dimes and Drives. My name is Dakota Schmidt and I'm addicted to basketball. Sure, most of you are also addicted to the sport since you're reading this site, but I'm a little different. You see while most people like the Heat, Thunder or Clippers, I personally like watching the Bucks, Bobcats and the NBA D-League. If you don't know, the D-League is the NBA's minor league where players develop and teams feature creative names like the Mad Ants, Red Claws, Skyforce and — of course — the Bighorns. Yes, the D-League has been around for more than 10 years, but this is quite possibly the greatest season yet with better teams and a vastly improved pool of players. With that said, the D-League is still kind of a hidden commodity so I'm going to take you on a little tour of the best stories from the past week in the NBADL.

1. Rumors that the Texas Legends would be going after Allen Iverson
Around Monday morning, ESPN's Marc Stein reported that the Texas Legends were going after former NBA MVP point guard Allen Iverson, who hasn't played in the United States since his '09-'10 stint with the 76ers. The 37-year-old declined the invite from the Legends after stating on his Twitter account that he thinks that the D-League is a great opportunity for players, but he wanted to complete his "legacy" in the NBA.

I do understand that Iverson would want to go straight into the NBA because he was one of the most popular players in the first half of the 2000's. With that said, it's 2013 and teams aren't really looking forward to acquiring a player in his late 30's when they really don't know how he could still produce after not playing in the league for three seasons.

Iverson's refusal to join the Legends leaves the door wide open for former D-League MVP Justin Dentman, who was acquired last week from the Austin Toros. Dentman may be familiar to NBA fans because he had separate stints last season with the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs, but he has really made his mark in the D-League, where he helped lead the Toros to a title last season. Dentman is perhaps one of the top scoring guards in the league with a solid mid-range shot and a quick first step that helps him drive to the basket.

2. Toko Shengelia's Monster Night
The young Brooklyn Nets prospect straight out of the country Georgia has seen very limited minutes in his rookie year, which has allowed him to have two separate stints with the Springfield Armor. Springfield has one of the worst records in the D-League, but they were the center of the universe this past weekend simply because of the play of the 6'10" Shengelia. In Friday's game against the Maine Red Claws, Shengelia possibly had the best performance by any player in the D-League this season when he put up a 39 points and 18 rebounds.

While Maine did have a good crop of forwards (Chris Wright, Micah Downs and Fab Melo), Shengelia basically chewed them up and spit them out by being a fiend on the boards and working his mid-range shot to perfection. It's unclear how many times Shengelia will be assigned back to the Armor this season, but it is clear that it will most definitely be must-watch action if he is reassigned.

3. Royce White to the D-League?
The long-winded controversy between first-round pick Royce White and the Houston Rockets appears to be over as White is scheduled to debut with Houston's affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, on Feb. 11. The Rockets have been one of the best teams when it comes to using their D-League counterpart after sending players like Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas and Patrick Beverly to the team so far this season. The main issue between White and the Rockets front office has been White's fear of anything involving flight, which is odd because the D-League flies commercial airlines rather than the private airlines of the NBA.

I've stated my personal opinions about White on my Twitter account, but I think his stint with Rio Grande Valley will prove how important his future as a basketball player really is. Royce's skills are undeniable and he should have a good career in the NBA, but there will always be questions about if he's going to be focused more on his battle with anxiety than with his play on the court.

4. Potential D-League PGs that could replace Rajon Rondo
This past Sunday it was reported that Boston Celtics All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo would miss the rest of the season because of a torn ACL, which only hurts a team that's already fighting to stay in the playoffs. Boston does have a wide variety of combo guards like Avery Bradley, Jason Terry and Leandro Barbosa, but none of those guys are really a pure PG.

The D-League has a wide variety of point guards that official D-League blogger Kevin Scheitrum wrote a piece about earlier this week. The first player that stands out at me has to be Delonte West because he's an NBA veteran who has also played multiple seasons under Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. While he's had a troubled career, West is still a talented player and is definitely worth at least a 10-day contract.

While the rest of the D-League PGs don't have the experience of West, there are still a wide variety of players Boston can choose from. For example, Courtney Fortson of the Los Angeles D-Fenders — the  No. 1 D-League prospect — is the type of high energy player the Celtics could use to energize their squad. Fortson is improving both as a scorer (19.1 PPG) and as a distributer (6.5 APG) while also pulling down 5.3 RPG, which is outstanding when you look at the fact that he's 5'11".

Some other notable PG's in the D-League include Donald Sloan, Andre Barrett, Sean Singletary and Ben Uzoh. Both Sloan and Singletary have experience playing in the NBA and are similar players because they're solid distrubters and are solid shooters. Barrett has been around both the NBA and the D-League since the early days of the league and he's probably the best passer in all of the NBADL. Like Rondo, Andre is never going to be the best shooter around, but he is notching 11.3 assists per game while playing with the Celtics-affiliated Maine Red Claws. That is key, as Barrett would be able to make the smooth transition between leagues because Boston and Maine run similar systems. Last but not least, former Nets guard Ben Uzoh has been one of the top prospects in the league all season long simply because he can do anything on the court from leading an offense to being one of the best rebounders in the league for a guy his size (6'3", 205 lbs.).

5. Rise of DaJuan Summers
Former Pistons/Hornets forward DaJuan Summers has been of the more pleasant surprises in the D-League so far with the Red Claws. Now of course people know about his talent since his college days with Georgetown, but he's really exploded as the third forward on that Red Claws team. The team was going into the season expecting things out of Micah Downs and Chris Wright, and they have definitely produced in their roles but Summers has been the standout player since being signed in early December. Recently DaJuan had a career night against the Springfield Armor where he put up 34 points and 10 rebounds but only to get out-shined by Toko Shengelia who had that outstanding game I previously talked about.

DaJuan might not be the best player you've ever seen play but he's really worth taking the time out of your schedule to take a look at him like a lot of the other talent in the D-League.

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Prepare for New(-ish) Faces in the NBA

Adam Morrison works for a steal and Coby Karl...runs? Stares? (AP Photo)

Starting tomorrow, NBA teams can sign players to 10-day contracts, meaning you'll soon be asking questions like "Who is that?" and "Why does the Spurs' bench look so different?" Mark Deeks of The Basketball Jones had the drop throughout the week, running down lists of potential D-League call-ups and experienced players who could be granted returns this season. It would be wise to familiarize (or reacquaint) yourself with some of those names before the first round of short-term deals is made.

Oh, and Adam Morrison is featured in the picture at the top of this post because the Association needs those locks on the sidelines again.


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