With NBA training camp for just about every team set to begin next week, it's official: basketball season is here.
And though the NBA D-League campaign does not officially start until November, minor league teams are still getting in the mood as they look for talent for the upcoming season.
Some teams have already begun the open tryout process, as such audition sessions will continue for most organizations through the month of October.
NBA training camp is an excited time for NBADL teams too, as the parent affiliates can look to hold over up to three promising young guns who didn't exactly make the cut in The Association for their D-League team to sign. Of course, yet another way to scout and/or take a chance on intriguing talent is by selecting them in this coming fall's NBA D-League Draft.
There are many ways to explore potential talent for the D-League. In addition to all of the aforementioned methods, however, holding private workouts is yet another way.
Such an assertion may not be terribly shocking or groundbreaking by any means for casual fans, but the fact of the matter is the D-League continues it's climb to gain stability and credibility as a more traditional minor league, and the way the league's teams operate are simply a testament to that very notion.
Multiple NBADL squads have been hosting private workouts with some of the past top collegiate and/or international athletes this month. Such athletes also have option (and most exercise it) to go through the motions of open tryouts as well. Not only does this provide teams with a greater sample size as to what a player can do, but it also gives the prospects the opportunity to look dominant through a very lenient audition process.
For a small fee, just about anyone can attend a D-League tryout. That could very well mean a former college star, an international stud, or simply just a career man who played a few minutes with his high school junior varsity team. Of course, D-League staffs do a very solid job of sifting through the masses of candidates, but the opportunity for such participation (for better or for worse) is there.
Therein lies an advantage for the more polished athletes during open tryouts. After strutting their stuff and catching the attention of minor league executives through private workouts, such players will also look like men amongst all the other boys during open tryouts.
Last fall, the IBL's own Chehales Tapscott was one to go through such very motions. As our own Gino Pilato noted earlier this month, the intriguing athlete is set to do it yet again this fall, too.