NBA D-League Taking Pride In Its Potential NBA Draft Prospects

On Thursday night, up to sixty NBA hopefuls will be drafted into The Association and welcomed into respective team communities.

Across the blogosphere, fans' voices are heard by the masses as each respective team community echoes in approval or discontent.

Needless to say, it's safe to say the team blogs on SB Nation will have interesting and engaging coverage as each respective blogger aims to draw a conclusion based on a player's history, past play, background, etc. Getting drafted celebrates a new beginning.

On RidiculousUpside.com, things will be a bit different. As a league-centric blog, we'll be celebrating where a couple of specific respective young guns have come from, perhaps a bit more so than where they're poised to go.

That's because, although Thursday night marks the NBA Draft, June, 26th, 2014 is also a big day for the D-League as well.

An all-time high of six minor league prospects will be eligible to be selected by teams in the NBA Draft. This list includes PJ Hairston, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Norvelle Pelle, Cleveland Melvin, Aquille Carr, and Elijah Pittman.

Hairston is widely expected to be the D-League's first 1st round draft pick of all-time. The elder Antetokounmpo is garnering plenty of consideration, not simply because of his abilities, but because of his relation to The Greek Freak in Milwaukee, his brother Giannis. Both players were on display at D-League All-Star Weekend (Hariston was in the Three-Point Shootout and Thanasis in the Slam-Dunk Competition) and have each been on the radar of NBA teams ever since.

What comes of the other four prospects remains to be seen. What's important to remember, in this instance, is the development, growth, and credibility of the minor league as a whole. The more darts one happens to throw, the more likely some are to finally stick.

Hairston and Antetokounmpo are great examples of just that.

Click here for some interesting draft-day story lines from our friends at NBADLeague.com.