If you thought that I would stop talking about former Reno Bighorns swingman Yaroslav Korolev (pictured above for context later) just because he signed with CB Granada in Spain, you would have been right until I received a timely tip in my inbox from the best former Ridiculous Upside player blogger now also playing in Spain, Mr. Mike Gansey.

You see, over the weekend, Korolev - yes, the former Los Angeles Clippers lottery pick - competed in the ACB Dunk Contest along with Fede Van Lacke and Tomas Satoransky.  Satoransky took first, but Korolev received the loudest cheers of the night when it was time for his "prop dunk."

Possibly knowing he was outmatched by Satoransky, possibly just wanting to show off, Korolev opted to dunk over what looks to be his 5-foot-2 girlfriend (or novia en español - Thanks Mrs. Adams!) before giving her a piggy-back ride off the court.  I would've given the dunk a solid eight, but all but one of the judges gave him 9.5s - which I guess I can agree with, considering you probably have to take into account the "prop" as well when judging the dunk.

Oh, and if my writing isn't impressive enough, I actually have the full embedded video after the jump.  Skip to around the 5:45 mark to see Korolev dunking over his girlfriend.

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From the D-League's official press release:

Sept. 21, 2010 - New York - The Reno Bighorns won the 2010 NBA Development League's Draft lottery and will have the first overall selection in the 2010 NBA D-League draft. The lottery took place in Dallas today at the League's annual coaches meetings. The Draft will be held via teleconference Nov. 1, at the League's headquarters in New York.

The New Mexico Thunderbirds secured the second selection, while the Maine Red Claws, Texas Legends and Springfield Armor round out the top five.

The NBA D-League Draft utilizes a "serpentine" format, meaning the order will alternate in each of the eight rounds. For example, the team picking last in the first round will select first in the second round, giving them the 16th and 17th overall choices.

"The lottery is always an exciting time because it signals the tip-off a new NBA D-League season," said Chris Alpert, Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Personnel for the NBA D-League. "With the Draft order in place, teams are one step closer to determining their opening day rosters for the 2010-11 season."

Full draft order after the jump.

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Michael Ruffin: coaching.

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About a year and a half ago, Michael Ruffin an NBA player expecting "big things" for his Portland Trail Blazers.

Now? Ruffin has been named coach for the ABA's Colorado Kings, an expansion team based in Denver, Colorado.

The 33-year-old Ruffin spent nine seasons in the NBA, most notably with the Chicago Bulls during the 2000-2001 season when he started 16 of the 45 games he played in and averaged 2.6 points and 5.8 rebounds while competing with Dragan Tarlac, Elton Brand, Steve Goodrich, Dalibor Bagaric, Jake Voskuhl, Marcus Fizer and the immortal Brad Miller for frontcourt minutes.

"This is a slam dunk for our organization and for Colorado," Durrell Middleton states in the team's press release announcing Ruffin's hiring. "His athletic experience, leadership ability, and keen acumen of the game will prove invaluable. We truly are blessed to have him and we are excited about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our local talent!"

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(Sorry, couldn't find a picture so I decided to fuse "perfect" and "basketball" the only way I know how)

At least one former player thinks the headline is true.

Kevin Owens, a 6-foot-10 center who played 136 games in the D-League for the Roanoke Dazzle from 2003-2006, recently chronicled his (mostly) positive NBA Development League experience in his latest blog entry for SLAM.  What most interested me about Owens' D-League experience was that he seemed to genuinely like it, even though the league - in my opinion - has come a long way from the days of a small cluster of teams in the Southeast.

Now maybe it's just me...but I'm a simple man (not unlike the Lynyrd Skynyrd song). I don't need the flashy things or the expensive home. That is why the D-League was so appealing to me. The apartments were small and shared with a fellow teammate. The bus rides were long and cramped and the money is, in some cases, less than a teacher's salary. These factors can quickly bring a potential NBA player back down to earth.

Yes, this was a time when the salaries were even less than they are now and they frequently took a bus to away games.  Not that salaries are great now (they aren't) and not that riding the bus in the D-League is now unheard of (you'll get some great stories out of D-League coaches if you ask them about their January bus trip from Bismarck to Sioux Falls), but the league has actually improved since Owens' time in Virginia.

The thing I liked most about his narrative, however, was that Owens proved what everyone has said all along: If you go into the D-League with the right attitude, you'll get good things out of the experience.

My first year in the D-League was a learning experience. I spent the better part of the year under the tutelage of two notable NBA veterans in Cory Alexander and Mikki Moore. I perfected how to spin off a defender in the post from Josh Asselin. I gained a great deal of basketball knowledge from my coach Kent Davison. (K.D. was an amazing coach. He brought in guys who not only could play, but were also professionals off the court.) I learned that upsetting a 7-foot, 300-pound assistant coach will likely get you choked out on the bus from Mike King. And most importantly, I learned how to be a professional from my brother Geoff.

While it's great that Owens learned a variety of things as a rookie in the D-League, he seems aware that it was mostly due to him coming in with the right attitude.

But for the rest of us ham-and-eggers, the D-League is perfect. It's a chance to show off our skills in front of a horde of NBA scouts. It's a chance to develop our skills against some amazing competition. And finally it's an opportunity to truly appreciate professional basketball. Now I know a lot of prima donnas think the D-League is below them. The majority of them think that 12-hour trips from small town America to small town America may be a waste of their time, but the way I see it ...even Jordan rode the bus.

I like this guy.

The Texas Legends, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, completed their expansion "draft"  Monday with the results being announced this afternoon.

The only surprise from my projection of what head coach Nancy Lieberman and company would do was the selection of James "Mookie" Wright instead of Rodney "I used to look like this but now I look like this" Webb.  The other players picked up in the draft were Joe Crawford, Diamon Simpson, Dar Tucker, Michael Fey, Ryan Forehan-Kelly, Gabriel Hughes, Frank Robinson, James Peters, and Keith Clark.

This doesn't mean that these players will play for the Legends this season, just that if they decide to play in the D-League this season, they'll play for the Legends.  Essentially, the Legends are now caught up with every other team in that they have a list of returning players that have yet to decide (in most cases) if they'll actually return.

I would expect a maximum of five of these players to actually end up going to camp with the Legends because Simpson, Fey, Robinson and Forehan-Kelly are already signed overseas and I would assume Crawford will either end up in the NBA or Europe before all is said and done.  This doesn't mean that they won't eventually play for the Legends, however, as numerous players have been able to pick up a couple of paychecks in Europe before returning to the comfy confines of the D-League in search of the elusive call-up.

As the team's press release noted, "Now that the Legends have made their draft picks, the players must sign with the D-League in order to truly be Legends."

I wonder what this means for Draino.

I wonder why J.R. Slagendorff wasn't included in this picture?

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The NBA Development League's new team, the Texas Legends, will take the first step towards formulating their roster for the upcoming 2010-11 season with the 2010 NBA D-League Expansion Draft.

The Expansion Draft pool will be comprised of 14 players from the 2009-10 "Returning Player List" from the Los Angeles D-Fenders, which will be on hiatus during the 2010-11 NBA D-League season. Of the 14, the Legends will select 10.

The above is from a press release I received in my inbox Thursday morning, but just decided to bring it to you now because I wasn't sure how to present it to my loyal subjects readers.  

I mean, do we really need to call it an expansion draft if it's just one team taking over another team's roster?  And if the D-Fenders are indeed coming back, do they get to do an expansion draft of the Legends' roster next offseason?  And if JWoww and Snooki wanted to be such good friends, why did they write that note to Sammi when they knew it would just cause drama in the Jersey Shore house?

Even though I don't have any definitive answers to my previous questions (I'm guessing "no", "no" and "I hope we find out next week"), I do have the 14 players that the Legends will be able to pick their 10 from:

If you want to know how I'd "draft" them, keep reading.

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When I woke up while trying to recover from strep throat Monday morning, my prognosis for the Texas Legends roster included Moussa Seck, Eric Tramiel, Mouhammad Faye and whichever Los Angeles D-Fenders don't head overseas next season.

Before going to bed Monday night, however, I learned more about the Legends' ace in the hole, their playground... Legend (if you will): Draino.

Here's what we learned:

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The NBA Development League announced its schedule for the upcoming 2010-2011 season Monday afternoon, beginning with eight teams tipping off on Friday, November 19.

While it's difficult to get too excited about the schedule being released, knowing that the teams won't have any players until the D-League's Draft is conducted in late October, the rosters in the Development League are fluid year-round so that isn't a very good excuse.

That said, I decided to write up a post over at my other home (Aol FanHouse) breaking down the games that interest me for the upcoming D-League season.  Even though I listed 10 games over at FanHouse, I didn't want to neglect you all and decided to give you a special treat.

The game I'm looking forward to most, (out of all however-many D-League games happen next season (I'm bad at math)) is the Sioux Falls Skyforce versus Tulsa 66ers game on Monday, January 10th.

Not only does the game tip-off (AT NOON!?) the D-League Showcase in South Padre Island - which is rumored to be a better locale than my hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota combined with the always wonderful D-League Showcase-hosting Boise, Idaho - but I plan to attend by any means possible ( and yes, this includes somehow hitchhiking in Hasheem Thabeet's luggage if necessary).

It also features one of my favorite coaching matchups, which I attempted to describe over at FanHouse:

Tulsa coaches Nate Tibbetts and Dale Osbourne both come from the coaching tree of current Skyforce assistant Duane Ticknor. Tony Fritz, the head coach of the Skyforce, served an assistant under Tibbetts in Sioux Falls before Tibbetts took the top job in Tulsa. Basically, it's a really mangled reunion of Ticknor's coaching tree.

And, if the fact that Oklahoma City basically sent their entire D-League-eligible roster to Sioux Falls last season to move on in the playoffs is any indication, this might even constitute a good ol' fashioned rivalry game.

I know this isn't going to get any comments, but I'm asking anyway - any games you're looking forward to this season?