I'm going to be honest with my critiquing of Boom Tho's newest music video: I love it, but I thought Internet Dominance probably could have used a video all for itself.  Still, the production is top-notch and it's the second best music video I watched today, so we'll give it four stars out of five.

If you're looking for more Rod Benson rapping, I suggest you download Boom Tho: The Mixtape.

To make this RU relevant, I'd like to include Benson averaged 15.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals while shooting 61% from the field last month. Call him up.

Oh, and to make it even more Ridiculous Upside relevant, here is a screencap I thoroughly enjoyed:

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Typically I report on puff pieces (How you can tell this is serious: No picture OR youtube!), but lately I've been inspired by the work of D-League Digest's Steve Weinman to do some investigative reporting. there's recently become a trend in the D-League just too difficult to ignore: Twitter.  Twitter is an epidemic sweeping the nation, so I'm told, and recently it's even baited a bevy of D-League players into its seductive trap.

"Wait, everyone has Twitter! Even you have Twitter, Scott!"  Yes, you're right about that.  I use it to connect with the World and tweet about Ridiculous Upside related happenings (and occasionally post sweet videos like this and this).  Being an unemployed writer (or unemployed whatever gets me hired next, I guess - I could technically be an unemployed urinal cleaner right now) I hope to show the world that I'm witty, funny AND knowledgeable, plus have plenty of time to write about whatever needs writing about while gaining followers/a wider readership.  It hasn't worked yet, but I was tweeted at by ESPN's Marc Stein, Yahoo!'s Andrian Wojnarowski and CBS Sports' Ken Berger, among others, last week upon breaking the Hasheem Thabeet story, so hopefully I'm making progress.

In that same sense, I'd prefer D-League players to try to consider Twitter as a possible venue to help get them a job.  I know it seems a bit far-fetched, but with teams looking for every possible reason to not call-up a D-League player (until the last 72 hours or so, anyway), it'd seem prudent to be on the best behavior possible while tweeting what the world can see.  If I were an agent, I'd recommend my players tweet nothing but boring:

Jus woke up. It's bright out. Brkfast time, then hittin the gym  to get xtra work in w/ coach

Just got done at the gym. Lotsa shots up. Jumpers feelin good, D improving 2.

Dinner time. Probably gonna watch a movie tonite. Comedies are my favorite!

If an NBA team googles that player and their twitter page comes up, it's not going to be a red flag.  In fact, they may consider him a character guy, adding to his stock.  Maybe. I don't know, I obviously don't work for an NBA team, but when I do, these will be the types of things that could differentiate players in my opinion (along with the obvious things, of course).  Of course the alternative would be just to not have a twitter account, but then they'd be out of touch like TAFKAMB, and that's never a good thing.

After the jump, I'll break down a couple of D-League Tweeters!

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The SB Nation Basketball Network is proud to join with the NBA to spread the word about the Hoops for St. Jude Week. This is a great program for a great cause and we encourage you to participate.

Join NBA stars from around the league in celebrating Hoops for St. Jude Week and help fight childhood cancer. NBA stars including Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay, Shane Battier, Danny Granger, Steve Blake, Kevin Love and Coach George Karl have teamed up for Hoops for St. Jude by donating $20,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Karl is the father of Idaho Stampede wing Coby Karl, who seems to have recovered quite well from his bout with papillary carcinoma, a form of treatable cancer.  The younger Karl even earned a call-up to the Golden State Warriors earlier this season.  Without money donated to cancer research in the past, I'm not sure he'd be able to have the career he's had thus far.

You can support Hoops for St. Jude Week by making a donation to St. Jude or by bidding for hope on items during the eBay auction at www.hoopsforstjude.org. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and others have each donated an autographed team jersey. Don't miss your opportunity to own a piece of NBA history while helping a child with cancer.

Hoops for St. Jude Week - turnings hoops into hope for the patients of St. Jude.

For more information, visit www.hoopsforstjude.org.

More photos » Paul Connors - AP

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In last night's Golden State Warriors game, Andris Biedrins went out with a groin injury, ending his night with just 15 minutes of playing time.

No worries.  Former D-League call-up Anthony Tolliver came in off the bench to play 42 minutes.  How'd he do in those 42 minutes? 19 points, 14 boards, five assists and a steal.  He even hit 3-of-6 from 3-point range, single-handedly proving that I'm not an idiot when he remembered that he's not a terrible 3-point shooter.

He also hit the go-ahead lay-up in a 95-88 comeback victory over the Pistons and  forced D-League Digest's Steve Weinman to create the following hashtag on Twitter:

#showmedleaguealumdominance

Done and done.

Fellow/former D-League call-up as well as fellow Warrior C.J. Watson had 17 points, eight board and five assists.

And that was your Sunday morning's D-Leaguers in the NBA update.

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably noticed a myriad of tweets devoted to me being perturbed about the use of the phrase 'There's a reason they're in the D-League.'  If you don't follow me on Twitter, you should.  Regardless, I'm able to give the average NBA fan a pass as they're not paid for their opinion and thus have the right to be as uninformed as they see fit. 

I get a bit more perturbed, however, when someone from the largest sports media brand in the world is so uninformed.  As a case in point, I'd like to focus this morning on Jeff Caplan, Mavericks beat writer for ESPN Dallas.

On Tuesday Caplan decided to lede one of his recent blog entries on the Dwayne Jones tryout Tuesday with quite the hyperbole:

Apparently the gap between NBA talent and the NBADL is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

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My friend Mark from ShamSports has said it best:

I'm starting to think Dwayne Jones walks into workouts and shits all over GM's desks. He should have had a multi year NBA career by now.

While in-season tryouts usually aren't privy to public knowledge (the only D-League in-season tryouts I've been made aware of this season are the two with Jones, though I'm sure there are others),  it certainly strikes me as odd that he's 0-for-2 in getting a 10-day contract after averaging 16.8 points and 15.4 rebounds over the course of the season.

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For about a week now, I've been trying to figure out how to write exactly what Patrick Hayes wrote yesterday:

Writing about sports, in general, puts people in a tough position. Most writers who are truly passionate about the sports they cover -- and Schroeder is, if you read how diligently he covers the D-League -- have a weird balance to strike. On the one hand, as basketball fans, there's obviously a lot of admiration for athletes that can do things most of us sitting and watching would love to do. On the other, particularly in Schroeder's case where he's one of few news sources out there for D-League coverage, he has a responsibility to give honest assessments of what he sees. That's just part of building an audience -- if you're just writing nice stuff all the time, people are less likely to take you seriously as a credible source who has some knowledge.

Because I obviously have a rooting interest, it's hard for me to properly evaluate the chances, which is why I wanted to ask Schroeder a few questions -- he has much more knowledge on the subject and is extensively familiar with what teams look for when they make call-ups. While I was certainly, like most people, hoping to hear that Farmer is a shoe-in to get a call-up, I also appreciated Schroeder giving an honest assessment to a primarily Flint audience that wouldn't like parts of what he said.

In reality, there's no real formula for what NBA teams look for when scouring the D-League for prospects.

It's worth pointing out, I think, that Schroeder does not just give negative takes on Farmer. He's written positive things about him this season as well.

Emphasis is mine, but it's not a dig at Smilin' Steve Weinman, who unlike me is very nice and "a credible source with some knowledge."

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(Photo by Chris Detrick / The Salt Lake Tribune )

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From the Salt Lake Tribune's Ross Siler, via his twitter feed:

I thought of the name last night and somebody seconded it this morning - - Mark Madsen - - now that the Utah Jazz are looking for a 13th man.
Madsen has spent this season as an assistant coach with the D-League's Utah Flash, who run the Jazz's system and everything.
He fits the bill as the veteran 4/5 the Jazz probably are looking for with their open spot.

While I think this was mostly in jest, it really does kind of make sense because, as Siler says, Madsen knows the system and fills a need. 

The 34-year old Madsen has played in 453 NBA games, including 49 during the playoffs, and would bring a wealth of knowledge and a veteran presence to the hopeful playoff team.

"[...] He's as good a big man as we have,"said Utah Flash head coach Brad Jones.

Madsen, though, gave Jones his word that his playing days were done. "I said, 'If I make a commitment, I make a commitment,' " Madsen said.

Seems, judging from this Siler article that Madsen has put the kibosh on playing again.

Anyway, I'll have a story up soon on who the Jazz should call-up (Preseason invitee Alexander Johnson or dominant big man Dwayne Jones probably lead the way), but this would certainly be an interesting alternative.

As an aside, what would make more headlines?  The Flash's assistant coach getting a call-up to play in the NBA or the time they brought a fake Michael Jordan impersonator to their game?