If you read one thing about the D-League every morning, make it my Twitter account (I'd say Ridiculous Upside, but I'm slowly transitioning to FanHouse as well). If you read multiple things about the NBA Development League in the morning, I encourage you to check out all of the other regulars as well one site that I don't think gets enough credit in the blogosphere: the unaptly named Potter's New Blog (it's been running since October. Last October).
Jeff Potter, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants' team president, blogs about everything from Miley Cyrus to Project Runway to marathons to even basketball and occasionally drops interesting nuggets like he did in yesterday's column.
Magnum Rolle of the Indiana Pacers was cut yesterday, and I got myself quite happy with the thought of this young big man donning a Mad Ants jersey for us this fall. However, there is a little known codicil in the Faber Constitution that give the D-League powers to smash my dreams. The deadline for players to be cut and eligible for the new allocation rule was last Thursday. Because Magnum was cut yesterday, if he signs in the D-League, he will go straight to the draft.
Um, that's kind of big news for those that had planned for Rolle to be allocated directly to the Mad Ants following his release. It also will have an effect on a few other recent cuts:
- Los Angeles Clippers - Marqus Blakely (Bakersfield Jam)
- Miami Heat - Da'Sean Butler, Patrick Beverley (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- New Jersey Nets - Brian Zoubek (Springfield Armor)
It wouldn't be surprising to see Blakely and Zoubek in the D-League (and Beverley if he isn't picked up soon), so this is kind of a large missed opportunity assuming the NBA teams knew about this rule. Butler probably wouldn't have been worth occupying the Sioux Falls Skyforce 10-man roster as he's still a bit away from a full recovery.
Brian Skinner and Jeff Pendergraph were also waived, though Skinner is old and Pendergraph is out for the season so I can't imagine either might have joined the D-League regardless of when they were released.