Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and co-owner Evan Wyly announced Wednesday night that the D-League team that will debut next season in Frisco is down to its final three name nominations.

After Nelson and Wyly solicited fan suggestions for some five months -- drawing responses from as far away as China and Australia -- those three finalists are: Texas Legends, Texas Shooters and Texas Stallions.

The above is from ESPN's Marc Stein who, like me, isn't all that excited with the finalists.  Unlike me, however, Stein has a better suggestion:

Excited as I'll be to have a D-League franchise in town -- which means new waves of NBA scouts and personnel folks flying into DFW every season -- I think Texas Prospectors would have made tons more sense.

Calling this team the Prospectors would not only be a nod to the state's rich oil-industry tradition but also invoke the very nature of the D-League, where NBA prospects try to make it to the big time.

Wow, does that make sense or what?  It also keeps us away from the Shooters, just in case Gilbert Arenas is assigned and feels the need to do the FINGER GUNZ.

There is another interesting, underlying storyline with this as well.  The Voice of the Vipers pointed it out on twitter to Stein earlier today:

@vipersradio: @STEIN_LINE_HQ Not a fan of any of the names either. Plus how do they get to take claim to Texas prefix?

With both the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Austin Toros being based in Texas as well, it is a bit interesting that Frisco would decide to take over the Texas moniker.