Rookies are a vital component of NBA Development League rosters as each team is required to carry at least one first-year professional basketball player at all times. Considering nine of the 16 D-League teams are being ran by an NBA front office this season, getting the first extended look at undrafted free agents is probably just as important for D-League teams' parent franchises as is it is for the minor league team itself.

The 2011 NBA Development League Draft will be held via conference call on Thursday evening with quite a few rookies having signed contracts to be eligible to be selected. Among the top candidates, at least as identified as such by your's truly, are Michigan State guard Durrell Summers,  Mustapha Farrakhan of the Virginia Cavaliers and Cory Higgins, a former standout at Colorado and the son of Charlotte Bobcats' president of basketball operations Rod Higgins.

Other notable rookie names in Thursday night's draft include South Florida big man Jarrid Famous, Dayton wing Chris Wright, Iowa transfer Jake Kelly, Kansas shooter Brady Morningstar, Seton Hall's Eniel Polynice, Mychel Thompson (son of the former NBA player and brother of draft pick Klay Thompson) and two players who played their college basketball in North Dakota -- NDSU's Michael Tveidt and the University of Mary's Anthony Moody.

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The NBA Development League originally set out to be a league where young players, not quite ready for the rigors of NBA play, were molded by capable coaches until their skills were ready to meet reality.  Instead, however, it's become known as the best league for players not currently in the NBA to get to the NBA.

That model has opened up the possibility for a few interesting NBA comeback tails this season as several former NBA Draft picks that have been out of basketball for a bit have decided the D-League will be used as their vehicle to get back into the Association.

The three to watch for in Thursday evening's D-League Draft (more participants listed here) are former Indiana Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley, former NBA journeyman Jamal Sampson and Chris Taft, a promising prospect for the Golden State Warriors before he had his career derailed due to a back injury.

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The 2011 NBA Development League Draft will take place via conference call on Thursday night as all 16 D-League teams pick up their phones to pick the cornerstones of their franchise this season. Among the notable players in this year's draft are former NBA Draft picks Jamaal Tinsley, Jamal Sampson, Alando Tucker and Gabe Pruitt along with former NBA player Cedric Bozeman and promising rookies like Michigan State's Durrell Summers.

Tinsley's situation was written about at length about on Tuesday morning and Sampson falls into the same category considering he's had a bit of a rough situation since being a second round pick in the 2002 NBA Draft.

Tucker, Pruitt and Bozeman have all dabbled in both the NBA and it's official minor league affiliate in the past while Summers was one of the best undrafted players in this past year's NBA Draft.

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The NBA Development League Showcase is, for better or worse, the most important part of the D-League season. Each NBA team, and quite a few overseas teams, converge on one location to watch all 16 D-League teams play two games as they look to make a good impression on the scouts seeing them live for the first time. 

This year that lovely location to converge on will be lovely Reno, Nevada, according to a press release issued by the D-League Tuesday night (which I first mentioned on Sept. 2). I plan on making the trip once again -- especially since we were robbed of the Vegas Summer League -- so hopefully the weather is nicer than it was last year on South Padre Island.

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Jamaal Tinsley's name was brought up with one other rather interesting name in a text message from a D-League coach to me on Monday afternoon, a few hours before it was the hot topic on my Twitter account. I hinted at it on Twitter, but didn't know if it was worth putting out there as it seemed Tinsley didn't make a lot of sense to enter the draft for a league with Development in its name.

Tinsley will be 34 at some point during the D-League season, making him the second oldest player in the D-League Draft behind fellow former NBA stalwart Antoine Walker. Unlike Walker, however, it seems as though Tinsley's zest for playing basketball has been absent for quite awhile.

A first round pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, Tinsley was injured often enough that he made it through just more than 53 games just three times during his eight-year NBA career -- and that isn't counting the fact that he sat out the 2008-09 season while exiled from the Indiana Pacers or this past season after not finding an NBA home due to a lackluster comeback season with the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2009-10 season.

This isn't to say that Tinsley won't make the most of his D-League opportunity because it obviously takes quite a bit of humble pie to be able swallow one's pride and announce to the world that the D-League is going to be the league you're calling home. It does make me wonder if he'll stick it out, however, knowing he's been unhappy in much better situations in the past.

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The 2011 Pan-American Games came to a close on Sunday, shortly after Team USA wrapped up its five days in Guadalajara with a bronze medal in men's basketball. Ridiculous Upside paid particularly close attention to the team sent by the United States because it was made up of NBA Development League coaches and players signed to play in the D-League next season, and while third place is ultimately underwhelming, it seemed worth putting the past week into perspective.

Team USA put on one hell of a hell of a performance in Mexico. I watched Jack Michael Martinez destroy a few teams as an also-ran with the Domican Republic's National Team at the FIBA Americas, but Team USA was able to beat his team twice at Guadalajara. Guilherme Giovannoni was an important starter for Brazil at the same competition, but Blake Ahearn and the rest of the D-League gritted out a win over Brasil after trailing by 17 points at one point in the game. 

The American D-Leaguers went to Mexico with a gold medal as its goal -- a goal the USA hasn't accomplished since Michael Jordan and Co. did it in 1983. They fell short of that goal, though, after dropping a winnable game to Mexico on Saturday before rebounding to defeat Martinez and the Dominican Republic for a second time to claim the bronze medal. It wasn't the result the team went to Mexico hoping for, but it wasn't a failure, either.

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Team USA went on a bit of a bad streak with losses to Uruguay and Mexico after winning their first two games the 2011 Pan-Am Games in Guadalajara. They righted the ship on Sunday, however, with a 94-92 victory over Jack Michael Martinez and the Dominican Republic to win the bronze medal.

Team USA had five players in double-figures, led by Lance Thomas's 14 points, but it was Justin Dentmon that provided the spark needed to propel the NBA Development League Americans down the stretch. Dentmon finished with 12 points and five assists, Marcus Lewis put in 12 points to go with his seven rebounds, Donald Sloan scored 11 points and Leo Lyons rounded out double-digit scorers with 10 points.

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The 2011 Pan-Am Games was supposed to be the first time Team USA brought back a gold medal since Michael Jordan did it in 1983. That will not be the case, however, as Lorenzo Mata-Real and Mexico's national team picked up a 71-55 victory to advance to the gold medal game while sending the USA to play for Bronze.

Mexico certainly wasn't a team to overlook, as I wrote in the game preview, but it didn't seem as though that was the problem for head coach Nate Tibbetts and his crew of D-League players. Instead, their lack of chemistry and any sort of prolonged training camp seemed to do them in as their shooting couldn't overcome some sloppy play.

USA was led by Leo Lyons with 13 points, though eight of those came early in the game, while Jerome Dyson had 10 points and six turnovers. Blake Ahearn played well while he was in, scoring nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field.

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