April Call-Ups

Last season, there were six call-up's in April, according to the D-League website.  This season, as of me writing this, there hasn't been one.  The other day, we alluded to an article from Dime Magazine (the crew that last had Jasper Johnson as their second best player in the the D-League) that said the NBA should expand their roster to 18 in the last month of the season - I'm not especially fond of this.  The NBA teams should just use the space their given before three additional players get a call-up and don't see the court.

Fortunately, for the D-League, it seems the NBA's going to start using the space they're given.

First, there's the Marcus Williams to the Spurs call-up.  Love it.  He was number one on our call-up list, and for good reason.  This season, he developed like crazy, adding a good amount of ball handing to his repertoire, while leading Austin in scoring and assists, along with sporting a long ball quite as ugly as it used to be.  This one seems to be what many are calling a 'protection pick'.  I'm assuming that another team was going to call him up, but Williams have the Spurs the opportunity to keep him in their system before taking the call-up.  Spurs get a longer look in the Summer League, and Williams gets the money he's been working toward all season.  Perfect.

Next, it seems that Jawad Williams will be signed today from the RGV to the Cleveland Cav's, taking the place of Eric Snow's long retired self, though just came official.  You aren't going to get any arguments from me on this one.  Williams came into the league after playing with the Cav's earlier this season and set it on fire.  I really wanted to get him on our All-D-League team, but he's played in less than half the D-League games, and other players had impressed us througout the season.  

In 19 games, the 6'9" forward is shot 42% from behind the arc, averaging 25.7 points per game.  Williams is a combo-forward that can score.  He's not going to contribute much else to your team, but he will contribute points.  Lots and lots, from all over the court.  This seems more like a hey, come hang out with us during the playoffs and we'll in turn let you be our LeBron James in Vegas during Summer League.

Last, but maybe not least, lots of rumblings coming that Albuquerque is having a player get called up today.  I would assume that it's Will Conroy, because I was told through second-hand sources in an email that he apparently wanted me to know that he has a great attitude and I shouldn't say anything bad about his attitude because he has a great attitude, one that isn't even close to being a bad attitude.  Plus, he's averaging a lot of points and assists.  Mo Saer Sene is always a possibility here - a 7-foot project, which is always fun.  Last but not least, Keith McLeod - he's a former NBAer, which has to mean something.