Well, I can't get to my drafts here in the lovely Denver International Airport (They have a great little deli called Heidi's that I've ate at both stops), so this is what I wrote on my way from Boise to Denver.  I'll have plenty more thoughts throughout the next week, so stay tuned!

2010 NBA D-League All-Showcase Team

Curtis Stinson - PG, Idaho Stampede - While I'm not in love with his NBA prospects, it's more just because I don't think the scouts love him, not because I think he's a bad player. Stinson's an experienced D-League vet and has run the Iowa offense for the past two seasons. Last season, he made everyone around him better, leading to a league leading nine NBA call-up's from Iowa players. This year, he seems poised to do the same. You can shut him down if you make him go left it seems, but many teams either haven't yet caught onto that or would prefer to let Stinson keep racking up double/triple-doubles. If the NBA is looking for a point guard that can play right away, they'd be wise to look into either Stinson or Dakota's Mo Baker. While neither has much of an upside at this point in their career, they're smart and savvy enough to help a team right away.

Reggie Williams - SG, Sioux Falls Skyforce -  I feel I've raved too much about Williams lately, but until I hear a scout that doesn't follow the D-League say he wasn't the biggest surprise of the Showcase, I'm not stopping. Scouts remembered his amazing scoring at VMI, but attributed it to a fast-paced offense and his being the focal point. When he struggled overseas last season, they said ‘I told you so' and went onto look at other players, not even giving him an NBA camp invite this fall. Now, after showing both offense (a 43-point performance Wednesday) and defense (holding one of the top catch-and-shoot players in the League, Billy Thomas, to just four shot attempts and zero makes Tuesday), I think he proved that, if nothing else, it would be worth a team's while to if not bring him in for a 10-day, at least fly him in for a private workout with the team.

Carlos Powell - SG/SF, Albuquerque Thunderbirds - Powell is an NBA player. He has an NBA body with NBA scoring instincts and even his attitude, which has been a knock in the past, now seems NBA ready. The interesting thing with Powell is that he is actually assigned the other teams best offensive weapon, which shows that, even though he's not on a team with defensive stoppers, he is their top defender. With starting point guard Keith McLeod out with an injury, the 6'7 Powell even matched-up against Tulsa's point guard combo of Mustafa Shakur and Zabian Dowdell for most of Thursday's game. With his more-efficient-than-most scoring, leadership and ability to average 22, 5 and 5 at this level, I can't believe it will be too long until Powell gets a bigger contract than he currently has in the D-League. Whether it is in the NBA or another big deal overseas, we've yet to find out.

Anthony Tolliver - PF, Idaho Stampede - Tolliver didn't get raving reviews during his call-up to the Portland Trail Blazers earlier in the season, but he's definitely capable of playing at a level higher than the D-League. Of those in attendance at the Showcase, I heard more than a few rumblings after seeing his games and watching him workout that he was the most NBA-ready player in the D-League. While I won't quite go that far, if it's in the right system, he most certainly is. I feel Tolliver is a bit undersized to be a pound-it-in big man and, as Michael Beasley showed him, might not have the quickness to guard players on the perimeter. If there's a team that would be able to insert him into the lineup to create a match-up problem, either against a big man that can't defend his 3-point prowess or as the 3-man to let him dominate in the post, he's most certainly the best option available.

Jared Reiner - PF/C, Fort Wayne Mad Ants - Honestly, with no apologies to Dwayne Jones, I feel Reiner is probably the best true big man in the D-League. There's just not a lot that he does poorly - and that's a good thing. He has a decent mid-range game, his back to the basket moves are limited, but work, his rebounding and defense is what you'd prefer and he plays like he actually cares. With past NBA experience and an NBA-ready body, I'd put him on my short list of call-up candidates when it comes to looking for a big man.

Player that hurt themselves the most? Off the court, it was definitely LA's Gabe Pruitt. Rumors revolving around him getting in a fight with a bouncer and possibly being arrested the night after his D-Fender's first game at Showcase could not be confirmed, but his benching on Thursday tells me that it was a very distinct possibility.  He also made some headlines with this performance.

On the court, it was Desmon Farmer. He's not selfish, like some have said, but it's not hard to tell that he's clearly not any of his teammates favorite teammate. I won't be surprised to see him head to Europe next week with a nice contract to boot.

Best Assistant Coach? Michael Sanders, Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Myself and Coach Sanders both suffered through a tumultuous final season of the CBA in Minot, North Dakota last season, so it was great getting together with him again. While Fort Wayne lost both of their games, he gets bonus points for taking me out to PF Chang's last night.

Best Dunker? Spud Webb.  Keep in mind, I chose him over Darvin Ham, Tony Dandridge, Jeff Trepagnier if it was 2001, Russell Carter, Mike Gansey and Doug Thomas.

Best Assistant Coach if he would've offered to let me stay at his apartment while I was planning the trip rather than telling me Thursday night? Joel Abelson. Abelson, who is appropriately known as the Vanilla Guerilla in downtown Boise, was probably the leader going into the Showcase for this award since he had homecourt advantage.

Best heckler? This guy. I'm under the assumption that he was just some drunk guy staying at the connected hotel and felt like doing some heckling. If you were following my Twitter updates the other day, you would have noticed that I extensively covered the waffling second graders decision of whether to cheer for the green team or the white team - this guy also made his decision based on colors, and he chose the non-striped team. I'm not sure why, but he was definitely angry at the officiating crew.

Best thing I wish I had at home? A beer pong bar. I'm not sure what it was called, but myself and Alex Del Barrio (AKA, The Voice of the Vipers) went out after one of the games and ended up sitting at a bar that had probably 20 beer pong tables set up. The service was terrible, eventually leading us to go meet Albuquerque coach John Coffino at Old Chicago, but if I were in a beer pong playing mood that night, it would have been heaven.

Best thing about being one of maybe five media members at an event where there were a ton of NBA relevant people? They talked to me. I was able to sit down with Nancy Lieberman, Daryl Morey, Spud Webb and a host of other people that were open and honest with me. Not typically being the guy to have those opportunities, it was really great.