Last Night, Around the D-League

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 5, 2009 4:48 AM EDT Comment 2 comments

Last night wasn't very eventul for myself. Neither college game could keep my attention (Goran Suton is no Mateen Cleaves) and I came home just in time to catch what had to have been the most uneventul two minutes of the Reno-Erie game - turnover, missed shot, offensive board, missed shot, defensive board, missed layup, timeout, jump ball, layup, missed jumper, end game. Not too exciting.

I was also hoping to get a post up this morning about the playoff scenarios, but it's still much too murky - that post may have to wait until next Sunday morning, or as soon as I find a math major to help me (Crazily enough, Bemidji State's Sports Management program didn't have a playoff scenarios course nor did it teach me how to spend that much time on a subject with seemingly infinite possibilities).

First, some handy bullets:

Looks like Bobby Jones will be staying in the D-League. What seemed to be a certainty just a couple of days ago has turned unlikely, according the Philadelphia Inquirer. I never really understood it in the first place, but in my defense, as of Friday at 1:30, a Sixer's coach was pretty sure Jones was headed to Philly.
Earlier this week, we talked internally with Tim Varner over at 48 Minutes of Hell about the development of Marcus Williams. Varner, who occasionally covers the Toros while focusing on the Spurs, wondered what we thought of Marcus Williams. While I was as skeptical as Varner as to what NBA position Williams would play, he apparently impressed enough as a point-forward to lead to this post on him, based on last night's game. Bonus info: Coach Snyder says Mahinmi won't play for the Toros this season, but will work out and practice with the team.
Othella Harrington's D-League development has come to an end. Apparently, Los Angeles didn't see enough improvement in his last game, as he was released for Duane Erwin. In all honestly, LA was not the team for Othella - without anything to compete for, and the likelihood of him not being in the D-League next season, it didn't make sense for them to pick up Othella unless the Lakers were interested.
D-League President Reed will be in Bismarck for the Dakota-Sioux Falls game tonight. Not sure if I'll get an in-depth interview with the man himself, but will introduce myself. Any questions?

Continue on for my lovely, brief recaps of last night's games!

Ya know, I didn't get to watch these games, so we're going to stick with the bullet point format. Just one big mess for each game. I know you'll love it!

The Jam's playoff hopes were on the ropes in the first half, but they came back to defeat the Anaheim Arsenal 96-84. Game story available here. Anaheim shot under 40% and had 19 less rebounds than Bakersfield, which explains the loss quite succinctly. Lone bright spot for Anaheim was Cedric Bozeman, who finished with 20 points, 13 assists and just one turnover. Bakersfield got a great game out of Derrick Byars, who finished with 23 points, eight boards and six assists, shooting 9-of-15 from the field. Trey Johnson struggled and Mateen Cleaves played as well as his alma mater - but more than likely was just as boring.
Idaho stomped the Skyforce. This game looks to have been ugly all the way around for the Skyforce. Just 14 assists and shooting 5-for-22 from the field probably both did in the Skyforce. For Idaho, Berto Bergesen played very well, hitting 5-of-6 from deep to finish with 19 points. For Sioux Falls, Frank Williams played terribly, shooting 2-of-14 from the field and picking up a technical - hopefully he didn't punch big Al Ajinca in the locker room at half time again, because that's the only thing that could have made this game any worse from himself. David Bailey also had a terrible game, culminating in an ejection. Yuck. For what it's worth, Idaho dished 27 assists, including Kevin Burleson's 12, but Nate Jawai finished seven points, shooting 1-for-4 from the charity stripe. Unfortunately, the reporter at this game didn't interview him to see what his excuse for this was. Brent Petway had four blocks, but no post-game Twitter updates.
Austin dismantled the bigmanless Energy. Iowa shot 43%, were out-assisted by 14 and didn't play a post for 22 minutes of the game. These are all problems. Curtis Stinson had a triple-double, but his team lost. Marcus Williams had a triple-double, and his team won. DeMarcus Nelson dominated this game, scoring 29 points, shooting 11-of-14 from the field. Austin had five guys on it's roster that didn't play in a 17 point victory - this strikes me as odd. P.S. John Edwards is not Courtney Sims, or anything close to him.
Reno had 14 more assists than the Erie Bayhawks and won the game. That's the stat of the night. More assists = more wins. Talk about this more, world. For Erie, Maureece Rice was a man on a mission. Rice finished with 37 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Reno was not led by Rod Benson. Boom Tho was not good in this game, finishing with 5 points, 5 turnovers, 5 fouls and zero rebounds. Reno was led by Richie Frahm, who scored 28 points, shooting 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. Frahm should probably be in the call-up rankings. Next week?

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Ask him what is going on with Colorado

Is the league going to really let that team fold?

by hkf on Apr 5, 2009 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

Happiest Man on the Planet?

I nominate Coach Bryan Gates:

Two months ago he had:
- a just traded for veteran shooting guard that was going to try to learn to play the point
- two rookie guards that seemingly would shoot when they should pass and pass when they should shoot
- a veteran long distance shooter that was laying enough brinks to rebuild the Qwest Center, and that was only when he actually could make it to a game
- and a group of big men going through the motions with the results to show for it

Fast forward to today…
- veteran leadership at the point that increasingly makes the right decisions at the right time and if the Stamps need a bucket, he can get that too
- two post-rookie guards that bring effort and energy and are not afraid to make a play WHEN the opportunity truly presents itself
- a veteran shooter that not only went on a road trip but actually found his sharp shooting touch buried in some Dakota snow drift
- and a motivated group of big men who know if they get where they are supposed to be on the court they will get the ball and good things will happen

WHO SAYS THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY?!?!?

Praying it all holds through the playoffs because if it does…(snipped as not to unnecessarily provide a jinx).

Cautiously optimistic…Rumble

by Rumble on Apr 6, 2009 12:19 PM EDT reply actions