Dear D-League Players,

I put out a call on Twitter last week looking for someone playing in the NBA Development League to write about their D-League season. There were numerous responses, but I realized that not everyone follows my Twitter account (or the website's)and decided to post it here before making a decision on our new contributor.

Ridiculous Upside has a rather high bar set when it comes to player blogs as the first player in site history was the memorable Mike Gansey. Gansey wrote about Kaley Cuoco, which D-League assistant coaches looked most like John Cena (Hint: His brother) and a comprehensive review of the 2010 D-League season while giving fans an inside look at the league.

Anyway, if you think you can follow in the footsteps of Mr. Gansey, please send me an e-mail (located here) and we'll get things moving. If there's enough interest in players interested in getting their stories to the masses, we might even be able to add multiple bloggers!

Have a great weekend!

NBA teams are officially allowed to talk to agents, essentially tipping off what should be an NBA free agency frenzy (even if the names involved aren't exactly the stars of the league). That shouldn't affect D-League call-ups quite yet as teams work to lock up the bigger names first, meaning Ridiculous Upside will have to focus on other things happening around the Development League.

There will be a random 10:30 a.m. matinee game between the Iowa Energy and Rio Grande Valley Vipers if anyone's looking to watch actual basketball this lovely Wednesday morning. Until then, however, Ridiculous Upside has rounded up the most interesting links from around the web.

Starting it off lighthearted, there was a fun feature on the Maine Red Claws' Kenny Hayes and Chris Wright published on Tuesday. Apparently they both were aspiring professional wrestlers before their basketball careers took off:

Kenny Hayes was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Chris Wright was The Rock. Or maybe The Undertaker. They would arrange the furniture in Wright's basement to simulate a wrestling ring. And then they would go at it, Hayes usually mimicking all the best moves of their favorite pro wrestlers at the time, Wright usually the victim of his moves.

"Oh yeah," said Ernestine Grigsby, Wright's mother. "Down in the basement. They did all that stupid WWF stuff -- the DDT, the Piledriver. They thought they were having a cage match, all that craziness."

Continue reading this post »

The opening night of the NBA Development League season is just over 48 hours away. Considering the D-League is going to be the only game in town and Ridiculous Upside strives to be the premier site for coverage of the NBA's official minor league, it makes sense that we'll begin to ramp up our coverage this week.

On Tuesday, the topic of the day was Western Conference power rankings and -- surprisingly -- there wasn't much in the way of outrage from coaches and front office personnel from around the league (aside from one that asked me to list all of the Ernest movies).

That might not be the case with the Eastern Conference power rankings, though, as there doesn't seem to be quite as much talent on that side of the minor league world. There isn't much continuity in the Eastern Conference, either, as five teams will break in new head coaches with four of them having undergone ownership changes since last season ended.

One thing that doesn't look like it will change this season though, at least judging from opening-day rosters, is the fact that the majority of the playoff teams will likely come out of the Western Conference once again this season. Only the top team in each conference is guaranteed a playoff spot, meaning there are six spots up for grabs -- and last year, five of those six spots belonged to the Western Conference.

Anyway, without further adieu, the Western Conference power rankings: Let's break it down!

Continue reading this post »

The NBA Development League season tips off on Friday night with seven games, highlighted nationally by the Canton Charge hosting the Iowa Energy on NBA TV, meaning that it's probably about time I start to talk about the D-League season in earnest.

My original plan was to compare all of the teams to Ernest movies, but since there were only nine movies made featuring Mr. Worrell, the next two days will instead be simple power rankings. These power rankings will be split into two columns -- the first being the stronger Western Conference -- so everyone has something to read during their Thanksgiving-shortened work week.

1. Austin Toros

The Austin Toros have a lot of continuity and, with just two weeks of training camp, that should play a big part early in the season. The San Antonio Spurs-owned team has the same coaching staff as last season and employs five players that have previously started in the D-League.

Brad Jones' team should have the chemistry needed to persevere through any sort of early season struggles considering Justin Dentmon, Lance Thomas and Leo Lyons all played for the USA's entry at the Pan-Am Games earlier in the fall. The starting lineup will likely be rounded out with Luke Zeller, a floor-spreading center, and rookie shooting guard Tristan Thompson (not that Tristan Thompson).

And, of course, Squeaky Johnson deserves a mention. He'll probably end up behind Dentmon on the depth chart, but he brings four years of prior Toros experience to the Austin lineup -- and that oughtta mean something, right?

Continue reading this post »

If all goes well, the NBA lockout will end sometime soon. If all doesn't go well, NBA TV will still begin playing current basketball in January when the 2012 NBA Development League Showcase gets underway.

The D-League Showcase has become the biggest event for the NBA's official minor league and, in what I believe is a new development this year, NBA TV will show half of the games live on television. Along with a plethora of NBA and overseas scouts looking for an influx of new blood, the Showcase also draws quite a bit of media attention (even your's truly plans to be in attendance at the Reno Events Center!).

It's really difficult to guess what rosters will look like in two months, but as of right now, the D-League PR staff has decided these are the intriguing match-ups:

Continue reading this post »

There was an interesting fan post a couple of weeks ago inquiring about playing fantasy basketball ... featuring players from the NBA Development League. Hopefully the NBA lockout ends within the next 48 hours and everything can go back to normal, but if it doesn't, I've made certain that drafting Jamaal Tinsley for your fake team is a real possibility this season.

It might not be as pretty as the sites that Yahoo! and the like set up, but the folks at We Talk Fantasy Sports have set up a mock league featuring the bare bones infrastructure of what would be the only D-League fantasy league on the world wide web. Unfortunately it'd be too difficult to set up a head-to-head league, so we are required to go the rotisserie route -- but that typically works better in basketball anyway.

Now, all everyone needs to do is leave a note in the comments indicating an interest in playing and we can go from there.  Also, please leave any questions or concerns as well so we can work out as many of the kinks as possible before the season starts.

Ladies and Gents,

There's about 10 days left until the NBA Development League Draft. All of the D-League teams have coaches, open tryouts have been written about ad nauseum and there really aren't a lot of other things out there worth discussing until the Pan-Am Games begin mid-week.

So, in an effort to give the people what they want -- especially since I've noticed people actually commenting as of late -- I'm opening the blog up to any questions you want answered, any stories you want written, any interviews you want me to get or anything else y'all are interested in regarding the D-League.

I'm not making any promises, but hoping I can get some good ideas to keep things interesting over the next few weeks.

Your Pal,

-Scott (Email here if  you prefer not to comment below)

P.S. I have a friendly note regarding SB Nation's iPhone App below for those interested!

Continue reading this post »

Yep, the Canton Charge is the name of the newest team in the NBA Development League. Following a long line of tradition that began with names like the Sioux Falls Skyforce and evolved into the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Texas Legends, the Cleveland Cavaliers have decided to name their D-League team after an offensive foul call.

Actually, according to the press release posted on the team's website, the Cavs named their D-League team the "Charge" to reflect the attitude of the Canton, Ohio, community.

"We're very excited about this and we think Charge is not only a great name for the team, but it can also help reflect an attitude and mindset for our entire community. Canton is charging ahead in multiple ways, and we're working hard to make our future better and better," Canton Mayor William J. Healy II said in the release.

Continue reading this post »