D-League supporter and RU contributor Aisander D is back!  I saw the article and had similar feelings to what he's written. However, since I was born and raised in Bismarck, people may have though I was being a little biased about my hometown, and thus didn't write the story.  After seeing Carlson's quotes excerpted on HoopsHype this morning, though, I'm glad Aisander, hailing from North Carolina and not North Dakota, stood up for us rach-folk up here on the moon. -- Scott

Typically when following the D-League you stumble across a variety of silly or down-right stupid public relations errors and ideas.  Whether it's a press release about a new team van or merely the swindling of an entire fanbase at the cost of one of the greatest players of all time, the D-League is never short of unintentional comedy.  Oh, hi there Brandt Andersen, didn't see you lurking behind that fake Michael Jordan.

But sometimes, even the most well intentioned PR strategies can afflict damaging and negative outcomes for a community and an organization.  For instance, just take every single thing that Ryan Carlson said in this recent Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Hasheem Thabeet's assignment to the Dakota Wizards:

But Ryan Carlson, the Wizards’ first-year director of media relations, said he already has felt the Thabeet effect. As of Monday afternoon, he had heard from about 40 friends – folks who are not avid fans – who were interested in tickets to tonight’s game. And Bismarck (pop. 58,333) was buzzing as much as Bismarck can buzz.

"It’s not that big of a town," Carlson said. "It’s pretty small and pretty quiet. So when a 7-3 guy from Tanzania shows up, it’s something different."

Some geography: Bismarck, the state capitol, is about two and a half hours from "anywhere," Carlson said. Fargo and Grand Forks, home to the state’s larger universities, are more than 200 miles to the east. Carlson relocated to Bismarck from Grand Forks, where he attended law school at the University of North Dakota, and he said it was culture shock even for him. So he has a hard time imagining what Thabeet must be thinking.

"It’s almost like an assignment to the moon for these guys," Carlson said. "It’s ranch country. It’s politicians and a lot of ranchers."

Wait....what are you saying Carlson?  Are you taking a dump on the town of Bismarck, ND in an official interview about one of the most closely followed NBA players assigned to the D-League ever?  Awesome job.

Really Ryan, I mean......Really?  Your job is to act as a Public Relations Officer, to represent not only your organization  and the community it relies on to support and sustain it financially, but also the players, coaches, and other people working behind the scenes to make good minor league basketball possible.  So with all of that charged to you, working in what is already a somewhat limited marketing environment and with a stigma surrounding your league as "less-than" it's big brother league, you choose to say all of that.  Again, Awesome job.

Hit the Jump for more!

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If you were to simply look at the box score or a recap from somebody that didn't watch the game, Hasheem Thabeet's debut in Bismarck would be pretty impressive: 18 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and two steals in 31 minutes of action.  Still, without access to an in-game box score, I had no idea that Thabeet played that well until PA Announcer Scott Woodmansee announced his final line while naming Thabeet player of the name.

In the first quarter, Thabeet played just under six minutes and shot 0-for-3 from the field, picking up two boards, a foul, a block and an assist along the way.  His first shot attempt was a 15-footer from the side of the basket that he shot about 17-feet.  I facepalmed as soon as I could see the glimmer in his eye that made him believe he could make that shot, but he shot it anyway.  He really looked out of sorts and made it past half-court on maybe 3/4 of his possessions.

The rest of the game, he was much better, but it all came in spurts and nothing that required a talent more than being tall and athletic, aside from his lefty-hook - my favorite part of his repertoire and a turn-around jumper that probably would be a fun addition, but I'd rather he work on something a bit more powerful.  He's not Nikoloz Tskitishvili.  He also only two points off of offensive putbacks, which is a bit surprising, but he wasn't nearly as active on the glass as he should have been - so I guess it wasn't that surprising.

Defensively, he's great.  You knew that.  When he's trying, he makes the Wizards the best team in the D-League because they can pressure the ball on the wings knowing if they're beat, Thabeet will be there to block, or at least alter, the shot.

Since I've fawned over Thabeet quite a bit in my first two recaps of his D-League games (here and here), I'm going to take the rest of this column to let you know what I didn't like about his game.

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My review of Hasheem Thabeet's first foray into the D-League wasn't very positive.  I honestly didn't think he played poorly in that game, however - his low numbers could pretty much be explained because he didn't play much due to foul trouble and my only concern was how inactive he seemed - particularly when it came too hauling in rebounds.

Sunday afternoon was a much better game for the Memphis Grizzlies second overall pick in this year's NBA Draft.  Thabeet cleaned up on the offensive glass to give himself easy buckets and swatted shots like it was his job.  And at this point in his career, that should be his job - make it tough to score in the lane and at least make an effort for every rebound.

Thabeet's final line, while ultimately unimportant -- it's not as if Memphis is going to look at what he averages in the D-league and decide to give him minutes based on that -- was impressive: 19 points, 16 rebounds (four offensive) and six blocked shots 38 minutes of action. His D-League team, the Dakota Wizards, also beat the Fort Wayne Mad Ants 94-85, putting them at 2-0 during the early stages of the Thabeet era. (Full box here)

Before I hear the 'it was just the D-League' excuse, his primary matchup was Jared Reiner - a solid 6-foot-11, 255 pound big man who has been in the NBA with both the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks as well as making numerous appearances on NBA Summer League and preseason rosters.  He's not outstanding, obviously, but Reiner is about the most polished big man you'll find playing outside of the NBA right now.  For the record, Reiner finished with 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting and added 11 rebounds.

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Well, it's officially the weekend, meaning there isn't much happening in terms of D-League news.  The Hasheem Thabeet Hype Train (Yes, that is a link to the section of RU that I've dubbed Hasheem ThaBlog) is still going full steam ahead however!

As some of you know, I occasionally moonlight at the Bismarck Tribune as coverer of sports nobody else wants to cover along with being a part-time box score taker and typer.  My boss is the venerable "Captain" Lou "Thesz" Babiarz, the greatest beat writer in the D-League.

Why am I bringing that up?  Well, mostly because it's Saturday, but also because Babiarz was able to track down Memphis Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace as well as Grizzlies assistant coach Dave Joerger for further insight into the Thabeet assignment.  The whole story is worth a read, obviously, but I'll excerpt a couple of the things after the jump that I found to be most interesting.

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In what I assume is the first time in the eight year history of the Memphis Grizzlies Hasheem Thabeet's basketball career, he finally looked like he belonged: he didn't overmatch his opponents, but he wasn't overmatched, either.  It seemed, for once, he was playing with his contemporaries.

This doesn't necessarily sound like a ringing endorsement of Thabeet because, well, it isn't.  It's also not meant to tear him apart, because again, that's not what I'm attempting to do.  He simply looked like an average D-League player, showing that this assignment probably should have come right away in November as opposed to near the end of February.  It's quite pbvious that this assignment was necessary: Instead of playing garbage minutes for much of the last four months in Memphis, he could been in his present situation - playing more than ten minutes a game in an NBA system and working on the things he needs to develop.

Though I'd be the first to argue his D-League statistics should have no bearing on how this assignment is viewed, his final line was as follows: 17:50 of playing time, 3-of-4 from the field and 2-of-4 from the line to finish with eight points to go along with two rebounds, two turnovers, a block and an assist.  His playing time was limited due two quick fouls he picked up at the end of the third quarter that give him four on the game

Since Thabeet met his new team, the Dakota Wizards, in Erie, PA, Friday afternoon, it shouldn't surprise anyone that he wasn't in the starting lineup.  It was a bit surprising, however, that Thabeet had to wait until the 3:34 mark in the first quarter to check in for his first action in the D-League.

Once Thabeet entered the game, however, he was able to get whatever frustration he had due to the D-League demotion out with a hurry.  On his first defensive possession, he left his defensive assignment to swat fellow NBAer Danny Green's lay-up into the crowd, leaving me with high hopes for the remainder of the game.  (Note: Green is on assignment with the BayHawks from the Cleveland Cavaliers)

Unfortunately, that was the last time he'd definitively look much better than everyone else on the court.

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I joked earlier on Twitter today that I was going to change the name of Ridiculous Upside to Hasheem ThaBlog, but apparently the legal team declined that.  Regardless, I'll be your one-stop source for all Thabeet information during his assignment.

As is the case with all D-League games, you can watch Memphis Grizzlies Hasheem Thabeet's debut with the Dakota Wizards versus the Erie BayHawks live here.  It's probably one of the worst feeds in the D-League, but I don't think it'll be hard to tell that Thabeet is the 7-foot-3 dude that, if not skill-wise, is at least literally head and shoulder's above the competition.

As I previewed in my match-up's post, he won't have an easy assignment tonight:

Tonight in Erie, he'll face the duo of 6-foot-11, 300 pound behemoth John Bryant and former Georgia Tech bigman Alade Aminu, both of which are on NBA radars and also have a considerable amount of upside (Aminu's could even be described as 'ridiculous').  If Thabeet dominates offensively, it'll shock me, and not just because I know Thabeet's what some call 'terrible' when it comes to his 'offense'.  Erie is ranked second in the D-League in least points allowed per team defensive possession (1.029 pts/poss allowed) and first in the D-League in lowest 2-point FG% allowed on defense at just 47.0%.

Join me in the comments!

My alternate title for this post was "it's the Development League, not the death knell."

Thursday, a 7-foot-3 Tanzanian oozing with upside was assigned to the NBA's Development League.  This evening, he'll embark on what he has to hope will be a momentous rebirthing of his professional career, something of which well respected journalists had high hopes.

D-League Digest's Steve Weinman was very optimistic this morning that the Hasheem Thabeet assignment would be good for Thabeet, the D-League and everyone else involved.

Hardwood Paroxysm's Matt Moore is a bit less positive, opining that it will just be 10 days in the D-League before returning to the bench in Memphis, waiting for his NBA career to come to a fizzling stop.

If you're looking for my opinion, I'm reserving judgment until the assignment is complete.  Since I'm not able to see into the future, I can't say whether this assignment will be great for the D-League, terrible for Thabeet or anything else - we've never seen such a high draft pick in the D-League, and therefore, I don't feel comfortable guessing how it's going to turn out.  If you've read my work for any amount of time, you'd notice the one thing I hate to be is wrong.

I do know that Hamed Haddadi, after being assigned to the Dakota Wizards last season, developed quite well from the time of his first game in Bismarck to the player that was recently moved ahead of Thabeet on the Grizzlies depth chart - so I have relatively high hopes.

Still, it took me until this afternoon to actually sit down and write this post because I don't honestly know how this is going to end up - If Thabeet looks amazing, we'll be subjected to the same tired 'well, it was against D-League players' and if he looks terrible it'll simply be 'well, Thabeet's terrible. I've said that since he was drafted. Thabust. You know the drill!'

The caliber of big men Thabeet will face while on assignment isn't going to give him an easy path to domination, especially with a target on his back.  The easiest way for his opponents over the next week to make a name for themselves is going to via dominating the second overall draft pick -  Thabeet will have to earn every point, rebound and blocked shot that comes his way while on assignment.

After the jump, I've previewed each of his potential assignments.

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According to multiple sources close to the situation, the Memphis Grizzlies will assign second overall draft pick Hasheem Thabeet to the D-League's Dakota Wizards, along with rookie guard Lester Hudson, on Friday.

Thabeet will become the highest ever draft pick assigned to the D-League, a dubious record previous held by Martell Webster, who was assigned to the Fort Worth Flyers from the Portland Blazers as the sixth overall pick in 2006.

The 7-foot-3 Thabeet was drafted as a shot-blocking specialist with high hopes that he could be one of the premiere defensive big men in the NBA after a career at the University of Connecticut that saw him average 10.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and an astounding 4.2 blocks per game.   Fifty games into his NBA career, however, Thabeet has shown to be all to raw for the NBA, scoring less than three points and three rebounds while averaging 10 minutes of playing time.

The writing on the wall seems to have finally come on Tuesday, when Hamed Haddadi was moved ahead of Thabeet on Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins depth chart.  According to SBNation Grizzlies blog Straight Outta Vancouver, "Haddadi fits the system better, since his tough rebounding and excellent, albeit raw, passing skills are closer to Marc Gasol's style of play than anything Hasheem Thabeet has done all season."

The Dakota Wizards will play seven games in the next 13 days before having a week off, leaving me to assume that Thabeet would be recalled at that time.