The NBA Development League Showcase is, for better or worse, the most important part of the D-League season. Each NBA team, and quite a few overseas teams, converge on one location to watch all 16 D-League teams play two games as they look to make a good impression on the scouts seeing them live for the first time. 

This year that lovely location to converge on will be lovely Reno, Nevada, according to a press release issued by the D-League Tuesday night (which I first mentioned on Sept. 2). I plan on making the trip once again -- especially since we were robbed of the Vegas Summer League -- so hopefully the weather is nicer than it was last year on South Padre Island.

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Jeremy Pargo, little brother of current NBA free agent Jannero Pargo, has signed with basketball powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv according to the team's official site (and the above nicely produced highlight package, I guess).

There have been rumors in the media that Pargo has been signed to take the roster spot of Mikhail Torrance who is currently recovering after collapsing while preparing to join his new teammates in Israel.

The creatively-inefficient scorer played this summer for both the Charlotte Bobcats and Minnesota Timberwolves in the Orlando and Vegas Summer Leagues, respectively, but wasn't able to quiet his doubters as he shot just 33% from the field and averaged a horrendous 4.6 turnovers for the Wolves in Vegas.

On the plus side, though, Pargo averaged 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals - the former number pretty impressive considering the amount of time (none) that he was able to build a rapport with his teammates.

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A.J. Ogilvy, the 7-foot rookie center out of Vanderbilt, seems like a pretty chill bro - if you couldn't tell from the picture above.

Since going undrafted in the most recent NBA Draft and "playing" for the Chicago Bulls Summer League squad ("playing" in quotes because he totaled 25 minutes and received a DNP in two games), the Australian big man has taken to the Twitter.

And ... it's been great.  If you don't believe me, believe what I tweet:

@ScottSchroeder: I wish A.J. Ogilvy was in the NBA. RT @ajknows may or may not have just purchased a spiderman costume. Hint; i did. #notsorry

@ScottSchroeder: Here's the thing I just thought of. @ajknows - It's Australian for @boomtho.

And then, as you may have noticed above, he went ahead and tweeted a picture of himself Down Under in a Spiderman costume.

@ajknows: For the non believers out there..@drummerhooper  @preston_l BITCHES http://twitpic.com/2f8vou

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Othello Hunter, a 6-foot-8 forward out of Ohio State, has signed to play next season with Dinamo Sassari in Italy according to a press release from the team.

Hunter played for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Summer League in Vegas after splitting his two professional seasons between the Atlanta Hawks and Ilysiakos in Greece.  In my Nuggets' Summer League roster preview, I wrote the following:

Othello Hunter, PF, Ohio State - Hunter made the Atlanta Hawks out of Summer League as undrafted free agent in 2008 and, with a good summer for the Nuggets, methinks lightning could strike twice.

Hunters runs the floor well and loves to dunk the ball - two things I can definitely appreciate from a big man since every team needs a good hustle player (the Nuggets have a few already, but whatevz).  On defense, his smaller stature - 6-foot-8, 220 pounds - doesn't allow him to body up very well on bigger post players, leaving him at a disadvantage when a team tries to back him down.

I'm not going to say I love his chances, but he's already been able to make an NBA roster as a hustle player.  If not, he performed admirably in Greece after being cut by the Hawks mid-season so I'm sure there will be more opportunities available abroad.

Hunter had a solid showing for the Nuggets in July as he averaged 12.8 points and 6.4 boards to go with one block per game while shooting an impressive 62% from the field, but he becomes one of the many players this offseason to take a guaranteed paycheck overseas as opposed to hoping to get a solid opportunity to prove himself on an NBA training camp roster.

I'm going to make this update quick because the tears have welled up in my eyes, but the NBA Development League will be without the tremendous tandem of Rob Kurz, Blake Ahearn and Sean Sonderleiter next season.

Ahearn, the 2008 D-League Rookie of the Year who has spent time with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs since coming out of little-known Missouri State, will play for Banca Tercas Teramo in Italy.  Ahearn was with the Houston Rockets in the NBA Summer League in Vegas.

Kurz was named the highly unofficial D-League Blogosphere's Most Improved Player this past season, an honor that made the Chicago Bulls call him up to end the season, and will reportedly sign with CB Granada in Spain.  Kurz was with the Los Angeles Lakers in Vegas and was playing well, but "suffered a gash to the forehead" and missed their final three games.

Last, but certainly not least, comes Sean Sonderleiter - hands down the player with the best mug shot in the D-League last season.  Sondy has signed in Germany to play for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany.  After improving quite a bit in the D-League this season, the 29-year-old earned an invite to play for the New Orleans Hornets in Vegas.

I've placed a special video remembering the highlights of one of the players, set to my favorite Macho Man Randy Savage diss track, after the jump.

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Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, the first AP All-American to go undrafted since the ABA-NBA merger, will apparently play next season in Italy.  

Reynolds played for the Phoenix Suns' Summer League team, but was limited early by an Achilles injury that kept him out of the team's first two games.  Still, the undersized shooting guard ran the point and ended up with respectable averages of 10.3 points and 4.7 assists while hitting 48% of his attempts from the field.  That injury-shortened performance, though, was enough to secure Reynolds a training camp invite with the Suns.

Rather than fight it out in training camp with Zabian Dowdell, Reynolds becomes the second (reported) player to take the European route instead of trying his luck with the NBA.

Though it was originally reported that Reynolds will play for Prima Verdi, the team Reynolds has signed with is actually Prima Veroli in Italy's second division.

And he's apparently getting paid for it.

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Jeff Adrien, the 6-foot-7ish Connecticut alum, told the New Haven Register that he's focused on making the NBA next summer.

How focused?

"Right now, I'm really trying to focus on making the NBA," he said. "I think I have a good chance of making it, either through (training) camp or through the ‘D' league. If I have to go through the ‘D' league route, I'll go through the ‘D' league route. I'm just going to stay focused on making the NBA."

We'll ignore the fact that the newspaper decided to call it the 'D' League instead of the D-League, or even the NBA Development League, because this is pretty good news.

Adrien played with the Orlando Magic in the Orlando Summer League before heading to Vegas to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, acclimating himself well to the talent evaluators in attendance at each leading me to agree with Adrien that he has "a good chance of making it."

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Jermareo Davidson, the 36th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, has signed in Russia with new Eurocup team Krasnye Krylia according to the league's official website.

The 6-foot-10 power forward averaged 15.9 points and a league-leading 10.87 rebounds last season in Turkey after spending his first two professional seasons bouncing between the NBA with the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Bobcats as well as stints in the D-League.  Davidson also played this past summer in both the Orlando and Vegas Summer League with reasonable success, though it came in limited playing time.

With the Jazz in Orlando, Davidson was a part of a crowded frontcourt that included fellow NBA-able players James Augustine, Rod Benson and Kosta Koufos.  Davidson's playing time was therefore limited (10.6 minutes per game), but he made the most of it by shooting 60% from the field on his way to scoring 7.6 points and grabbing 2.8 rebounds in his five games played for Utah.

After completing his tour of duty in Orlando, Davidson headed to Vegas where he'd suit up for another NBA-big-man heavy frontcourt rotation for the Atlanta Hawks.  Fighting for minutes on a team that again included Augustine along with Richard Hendrix, Randolph Morris and Alade Aminu, Davidson would play just over 11 minutes per game.  In his short amount of time on the court, though, Davidson averaged 5.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 52% from the field.  Not great numbers, obviously, but relatively good for the little amount of playing time he received.

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