The D-League president has finally come back to the internet. Mr. Dan Reed posted his "Top Ten Happenings Since My Last Post", which pretty much covers 2009.
Among the highlights:
3) We're preparing for another very exciting team announcement in the Northeast by the end of March...isn't the suspense killing you!?!?
4) We formally announced our new and innovative playoff format, where our top playoff seeds choose their opponent from the bottom seeds. This just made too much sense not to do for our league, for a variety of reasons. By the way, the idea originated from a suggestion right here on this blog!
9) Coleman Collins of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants decided to join the rest of Fort Wayne's staff to participate in a "study buddy" program, where they help a child with their homework for one hour a week every Wednesday. Any Wednesday that Coleman is in town, he comes to the office to work with his own study buddy. I love this story, as it represents so many things - the commitment that our teams make to our community, and the mindset that our players have about helping others while improving themselves. It goes beyond "accessibility", which is a term that's easily thrown around. Our teams and players are a part of the community -- you see them at the grocery store, at the movies, and at the restaurants -- and they're committed to their community and while striving to reach the top of their profession, just like the rest of us. This kind of thing is happening in every NBA D-League city, where collectively we've done nearly 200 community programs so far this season...
Lots of good stuff in there. My thoughts?
The new team will be Springfield, Massachusetts. This isn't confirmed anywhere else (that I know of), but from what I'm hearing, that's where it's going. New York pulled out of the Harlem team, at least for now, and I'm not aware of any others that are looking to surface for next season. I know Phil Evans, former D-League president, is working to put something together in Virginia, but not soon enough for next season.
Dan is also reading the blogs, and got the playoff idea from a comment on one of his blogs. That's all I got on that one.
Also, great to see Coleman Collins active in the community. The D-League's great.
As a side note, you know what else is great? Nick Nurse, on Twitter.
[Note by Ridiculous Scott, 03/11/09 8:12 PM CDT ]
UPDATE 2: And we've got another confirmation, posted tonight after I posted this. Coincidence, or is RidiculousUpside taking over the world? Probably coincidence!
[Note by Ridiculous Scott, 03/11/09 7:26 PM CDT ]
UPDATE: And a second mention, courtesy of Marc Stein, waaay back during the Showcase. No idea how I missed/wasn't alerted to this!
There's a definite feeling among some insiders that next season's rumored expansion to 18 teams (with new franchise in Portland, Maine, andSpringfield, Mass.) is going to dilute the talent pool further. The league's counter there is that expansion actually makes the D-League more credible in the quest to attract the world's best players not on NBA rosters.
D-League Massachusetts, coming soon to a city near you. Bet on it.
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