ESPN kind of loves taking shots at the D-League. Why not? It's easy, it's accessible, no one of real importance will take offense. Sure thing!
So it should be no surprise that Andy Katz spends most of this article on Mike Taylor, who was a D-League sixth man for the championship Idaho Stampede making little comments about the D-League being small-time and kind of a joke.
Katz does make a few good points, including that the D-League could become a place for guys who couldn't cut it in college for whatever reason to get their careers back on track. Taylor's an excellent example. He did some dumb things, but none of his arrests demonstrated a grossness of nature or a penchant for violence. The league is too difficult to get into for second chances to be readily available and the D-League provides that.
My main issue with ESPN is that they seldem if ever take a real look at the league to try and see what it's capable of. They list it's problems and reference it as a low point in players' careers, meant only to illustrate how far a player or coach has fallen. Some of it's accurate, but at the same time, it wouldn't kill them to be even handed.