Marcus Hubbard traded to Reno for Quaintance
Of course, right after I finish writing my draft wrap-up I see this. Rio Grande Valley has traded power forward Marcus Hubbard to the Reno Bighorns for forward Haminn Quaintance. I like this move for RGV. Hubbard is talented but prefers playing out on the perimeter and shooting threes, even though he's best suited for playing inside. Quaintance, on the other hand, is actually a good three-point shooter. For Reno, Hubbard gives them another backup big man, and Hubbard has gotten a lot of attention this offseason after playing for the D-League Select Summer League team and participating in the NBA Asia Challenge.
about 14 hours ago
Jon L
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D-League Draft: A Second Look
by Jon L on Nov 6, 2009 5:13 PM EST
1 comment
Now that some time has passed and I've had a chance to look over all of the picks, I thought I'd lay down some more thoughts about how each team did. I'll try to make this as brief as I can, because there are 16 teams, but I'll also try to give a pretty good picture of how the teams look heading into training camp. Also, just as a warning, I'm going to be here for most of the weekend, so posting might be a little light. I'll try to catch any big news, of course, but hopefully this and last night's first impressions and the OSLB comments should be enough draft coverage to tide you over for a few days. Anyway, on with the teams. The key picks are listed followed by the round in which they were drafted, below the jump:
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TRADE REPORT! BayHawks trade Rob Kurz to Ft. Wayne Mad Ants for 10th Overall Pick...BayHawks Select Alade Amino with the 10th Pick
From the Erie BayHawks Twitter. I guess Erie liked Alade AminU so much they traded Rob Kurz for him. I also know that Fort Wayne was angling to get Kurz as a local allocation player, so I guess this is a win-win. It remains to be seen, however, if this is a win-win-win.
1 day ago
Jon L
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2009 D-League Draft Results and First Impressions
by Jon L on Nov 5, 2009 11:07 PM EST
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So that happened. If you tuned in to the Open Source Live Blog you saw me try desperately to keep up with the D-League draft, with picks that would occasionally come eight at a time, all while also trying to figure out who the heck some of the players taken in the later rounds are. It was fun, and thanks go out to all the commenters who stopped by and contributed. That's the point of making it "open source," after all. I thought I'd put up some first impressions, what I liked, what I wasn't a big fan of, etc., while the draft was still fresh in my mind. Some of this (okay, pretty much all of it) is on-the-fly analysis, so be aware that some of my opinions could change between now and whenever I do a fuller read on how it went.
What I liked
- I really, really like Utah's draft. They got probably the best big man in the pool with Garrett Siler, then addressed their need for a point guard by taking Orien Greene, who's out to prove his pro career isn't a total disaster, and Jason Richards, who picked up a ton of assists in college. Kevin Goffney could be interesting as well, as he's a good rebounder for a swingman, and I like their late pick of Alain LaRoche, another swingman-type who made over 68 percent of his field goals playing in Finland last year.
- Idaho is another team I thought drafted well. Sundiata Gaines could be a strong point guard for them this year even though the team's already bringing Lanny Smith back. Dar Tucker is the wild card here, as he's very athletic and talented, but has exhibited terrible shot selection thus far in his career. I'll be interested to see how he takes to Bob MacKinnon's offense. Delonte Holland should fit in as a good three-point shooter, just as long as he doesn't get mad at his coach again. Mike Gansey and Bryant McKenzie were both solid late pick-ups. McKenzie should (hopefully) fill their need for a big man; even though he hasn't played much the last few years, the numbers are there. Gansey could counteract Tucker's shooting with his own smart play. I think he's a great fit for MacKinnon's offense with his efficiency and ability to score off of picks and screens.
- Rio Grande Valley is the third team that I get an overall good impression about. They drafted a strong defender in Antonio Anderson and followed that up with a very good three-point shooter in Jonathan Wallace. Jamarcus Ellis showed a nice all-around game at Indiana, averaging a little over eight rebounds, about four assists and about two steals per 36 minutes. Kenny Dawkins should be a solid backup for Cliff Clinkscales.
- Kudos to Erie for drafting a real center (John Bryant) instead of going with their inane idea of sticking a small or power forward in that position again. Bryant's pretty good, too, if you can look past the big and slow factor.
- Shout out to my Turkish psych rock CDs for accompanying me and keeping me from getting too flustered during the draft and live blog. Bunalım, 3 Hür-el, Barış Manço...good stuff.
What the
- I have to say, the BayHawks got the surprises going early by picking Donell Taylor second overall. First we heard they were looking at Sundiata Gaines. Then they were talking big man. But instead they went with the NBA vet shooting guard who defends a little and doesn't score a ton. So I don't know. It's not that I don't like Taylor, or that he's not a good player, he just wasn't what I was expecting out of Erie's first pick. Cleveland's front office was a part of their draft "war room," so maybe we'll see Taylor called up at some point this year.
- With Rashad Anderson, Pat Carroll, Sean Barnette, Marcus Walker, Joah Tucker...almost all of their picks really, the Iowa Energy were pretty clearly looking for scorers and shooters. I wouldn't bank on having Anthony Tolliver all year if I were them, either, but I guess we'll see if Casey Love and Russell Hicks can get it done down low. At any rate, expect Curtis Stinson to get assists, son.
- I mentioned this in the OSLB, but...I'm not really sure Tulsa has the best track record to pick Latavious Williams. Without a doubt, it probably better that Williams go to a team with a direct NBA affiliate that has shown a commitment to development and to using its D-League team properly (unlike, say, the Lakers). That said, I'm not sure Keith Clark grew all that much as a player last season, and it's possible that Williams will find himself in the same situation of being draft-eligible but not draft-desired. That's not entirely fair, as Tulsa had a rough year last year overall, and some injuries probably forced Clark into situations he was either unready or ill-suited for. Tulsa's new head man Nate Tibbetts is a good up-and-coming coach, and immediately presenting him with a project like Williams speaks to Oklahoma City's (and Tulsa's) confidence in him. But, Williams is a power forward (and a rail-thin one at that - he's listed at 6'8", 190 lbs.) on a team that already has Clark and Larry Owens, plus anyone Oklahoma City might want to send down such as D.J. White, so I wonder how much "on-court" development Williams will get.
The full draft results broken down by team are below the jump.
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2009 D-League Draft Preview
by Jon L on Nov 5, 2009 4:56 PM EST
in D-League Draft
101 comments
A reminder that we're having an Open Source Live Blog in this here comments section, so join us in roughly two hours as we follow the draft and watch Rick Kamla try not to say anything offensive.
It's finally here. The D-League draft is tonight sometime around 7 PM eastern (7 is when the "selection show" starts on NBA TV), and as a preview for what to expect tonight, I thought I'd highlight some of the top players in the draft pool. And I also wanted to go over what each team's needs are. Oh, and I also thought a mock draft would be a good idea. That's a lot of writing, especially when you're me and everything you do is overwritten. So I've combined all of those ideas, sort of. What we have here is a look at each team's major needs with an explanation of who they could draft, done in the first round's draft order. So I guess that is almost exactly like a mock draft, except that I may talk about more than one player per team. To follow along with each team's needs be sure to check out my rundown of each team's major returning and allocated players; Dakota, Fort Wayne...and the rest. I'm not going to talk about every player in the draft pool, because there are 200 of them (you can find the full list here). Also I should warn you that whatever I say in this preview is probably wrong.
I'll be tracking the draft on the D-League site this evening, so those of you who are doing the same or are watching it on NBA TV should come on by for the first Open Source Live Blog of the season. The preview's below the jump.
101 comments | 0 recs |
Grizzlies Waive Trey Gilder
Booooooooo.
1 day ago
Jon L
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SEE MARGE, THIS GUY GETS IT
I didn't make a huge deal of this in my D-League preview because, as with Brandon Jennings in Europe, I'm not sure we'll be able to pass total judgment on how successful or unsuccessful going from high school to the D-League is based on one player, particularly a player who's going to the D-League as a last resort like Latavious Williams. That said, Shanoff completely nails why having players go from HS to the D-League to the NBA should work for all parties involved. Psst, Henry Abbott, I've been saying the same things for awhile now.
1 day ago
Jon L
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Dakota Also Targeting Big Men
I don't know if the headline is "news," since one could figure out the team's needs based on who they're bringing back, but the Wizards are apparently targeting Garrett Siler and Alade Aminu. Aminu is really athletic but also really raw, so I'm a little surprised he's being targeted so much while a guy like John Bryant doesn't seem to be as high on anyone's lists. If not a big man (since Dakota drafts 11th in the first round), according to that article they could go with Orien Greene or fellow point guard Jason Richards, or just the best available guy.
1 day ago
Jon L
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