Typically, I do my best to shield myself from ever being wrong.  This morning, though, I'm opening myself up to that very notion thanks to the suggestion from Basketballogy for me to break down the D-League playoffs.  I was going to consult Jon L to come up with an RU consensus, but figured I'd go off the cuff instead - first instincts are always right, right?

That said, I'm ready to rank the playoff teams in order of how I'd bet on them to win a D-League championship if I were able to bet on such things.  All of this will probably change knowing that this weekend includes quite a few match-ups between potential playoff teams (series' between Iowa @ Tulsa, Utah @ Austin, Dakota @ Rio Grande Valley and a win-or-go-home game Sunday between Tulsa and Reno for the D-League season finale) along with the mass e-mails I'm prepared for from angry fans/GM's/etc.

The way I'd rank the playoff teams right now in terms of how they'll do in the playoffs (not necessarily caring about in-season play) is:

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Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and co-owner Evan Wyly announced Wednesday night that the D-League team that will debut next season in Frisco is down to its final three name nominations.

After Nelson and Wyly solicited fan suggestions for some five months -- drawing responses from as far away as China and Australia -- those three finalists are: Texas Legends, Texas Shooters and Texas Stallions.

The above is from ESPN's Marc Stein who, like me, isn't all that excited with the finalists.  Unlike me, however, Stein has a better suggestion:

Excited as I'll be to have a D-League franchise in town -- which means new waves of NBA scouts and personnel folks flying into DFW every season -- I think Texas Prospectors would have made tons more sense.

Calling this team the Prospectors would not only be a nod to the state's rich oil-industry tradition but also invoke the very nature of the D-League, where NBA prospects try to make it to the big time.

Wow, does that make sense or what?  It also keeps us away from the Shooters, just in case Gilbert Arenas is assigned and feels the need to do the FINGER GUNZ.

There is another interesting, underlying storyline with this as well.  The Voice of the Vipers pointed it out on twitter to Stein earlier today:

@vipersradio: @STEIN_LINE_HQ Not a fan of any of the names either. Plus how do they get to take claim to Texas prefix?

With both the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Austin Toros being based in Texas as well, it is a bit interesting that Frisco would decide to take over the Texas moniker.

When I wasn't watching college basketball this weekend, I was blogging dusting off the Playstation 3 and plying my trade as an NBA general manager with NBA 2k10.

I had it all set up perfectly:

• Team: Memphis Grizzlies
• Reasoning: no long term deals so I can rebuild how I want to rebound, but they're serviceable enough for the short haul ... Zach Randolph is easily traded because I like to pretend he's still bad Zach Randolph and not reinvented Zach Randolph ... I can assign Hasheem Thabeet to the D-League and imagine someone inventing Hasheem ThaBlog in PS3 land.
• Game Plan: Just win baby.  Also, re-build around the nucleus and fill the rest up with relevant D-League players and other guys I like around the NBA instead of Mike Conley.
• Bonus: If I'm bad, it's understandable - the Grizzlies were supposed to be bad this season ... plus I haven't turned my PS3 on since December, so I'm going to be bad.

Unfortunately, the game plan didn't work out how I wanted it to work out, leaving me frustrated, but teaching me valuable things about being an NBA general manager:

Most importantly?  There aren't any faces in the D-League.

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I'm going to be honest with my critiquing of Boom Tho's newest music video: I love it, but I thought Internet Dominance probably could have used a video all for itself.  Still, the production is top-notch and it's the second best music video I watched today, so we'll give it four stars out of five.

If you're looking for more Rod Benson rapping, I suggest you download Boom Tho: The Mixtape.

To make this RU relevant, I'd like to include Benson averaged 15.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals while shooting 61% from the field last month. Call him up.

Oh, and to make it even more Ridiculous Upside relevant, here is a screencap I thoroughly enjoyed:

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Typically I report on puff pieces (How you can tell this is serious: No picture OR youtube!), but lately I've been inspired by the work of D-League Digest's Steve Weinman to do some investigative reporting. there's recently become a trend in the D-League just too difficult to ignore: Twitter.  Twitter is an epidemic sweeping the nation, so I'm told, and recently it's even baited a bevy of D-League players into its seductive trap.

"Wait, everyone has Twitter! Even you have Twitter, Scott!"  Yes, you're right about that.  I use it to connect with the World and tweet about Ridiculous Upside related happenings (and occasionally post sweet videos like this and this).  Being an unemployed writer (or unemployed whatever gets me hired next, I guess - I could technically be an unemployed urinal cleaner right now) I hope to show the world that I'm witty, funny AND knowledgeable, plus have plenty of time to write about whatever needs writing about while gaining followers/a wider readership.  It hasn't worked yet, but I was tweeted at by ESPN's Marc Stein, Yahoo!'s Andrian Wojnarowski and CBS Sports' Ken Berger, among others, last week upon breaking the Hasheem Thabeet story, so hopefully I'm making progress.

In that same sense, I'd prefer D-League players to try to consider Twitter as a possible venue to help get them a job.  I know it seems a bit far-fetched, but with teams looking for every possible reason to not call-up a D-League player (until the last 72 hours or so, anyway), it'd seem prudent to be on the best behavior possible while tweeting what the world can see.  If I were an agent, I'd recommend my players tweet nothing but boring:

Jus woke up. It's bright out. Brkfast time, then hittin the gym  to get xtra work in w/ coach

Just got done at the gym. Lotsa shots up. Jumpers feelin good, D improving 2.

Dinner time. Probably gonna watch a movie tonite. Comedies are my favorite!

If an NBA team googles that player and their twitter page comes up, it's not going to be a red flag.  In fact, they may consider him a character guy, adding to his stock.  Maybe. I don't know, I obviously don't work for an NBA team, but when I do, these will be the types of things that could differentiate players in my opinion (along with the obvious things, of course).  Of course the alternative would be just to not have a twitter account, but then they'd be out of touch like TAFKAMB, and that's never a good thing.

After the jump, I'll break down a couple of D-League Tweeters!

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The SB Nation Basketball Network is proud to join with the NBA to spread the word about the Hoops for St. Jude Week. This is a great program for a great cause and we encourage you to participate.

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Karl is the father of Idaho Stampede wing Coby Karl, who seems to have recovered quite well from his bout with papillary carcinoma, a form of treatable cancer.  The younger Karl even earned a call-up to the Golden State Warriors earlier this season.  Without money donated to cancer research in the past, I'm not sure he'd be able to have the career he's had thus far.

You can support Hoops for St. Jude Week by making a donation to St. Jude or by bidding for hope on items during the eBay auction at www.hoopsforstjude.org. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and others have each donated an autographed team jersey. Don't miss your opportunity to own a piece of NBA history while helping a child with cancer.

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For more information, visit www.hoopsforstjude.org.

In last night's Golden State Warriors game, Andris Biedrins went out with a groin injury, ending his night with just 15 minutes of playing time.

No worries.  Former D-League call-up Anthony Tolliver came in off the bench to play 42 minutes.  How'd he do in those 42 minutes? 19 points, 14 boards, five assists and a steal.  He even hit 3-of-6 from 3-point range, single-handedly proving that I'm not an idiot when he remembered that he's not a terrible 3-point shooter.

He also hit the go-ahead lay-up in a 95-88 comeback victory over the Pistons and  forced D-League Digest's Steve Weinman to create the following hashtag on Twitter:

#showmedleaguealumdominance

Done and done.

Fellow/former D-League call-up as well as fellow Warrior C.J. Watson had 17 points, eight board and five assists.

And that was your Sunday morning's D-Leaguers in the NBA update.

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably noticed a myriad of tweets devoted to me being perturbed about the use of the phrase 'There's a reason they're in the D-League.'  If you don't follow me on Twitter, you should.  Regardless, I'm able to give the average NBA fan a pass as they're not paid for their opinion and thus have the right to be as uninformed as they see fit. 

I get a bit more perturbed, however, when someone from the largest sports media brand in the world is so uninformed.  As a case in point, I'd like to focus this morning on Jeff Caplan, Mavericks beat writer for ESPN Dallas.

On Tuesday Caplan decided to lede one of his recent blog entries on the Dwayne Jones tryout Tuesday with quite the hyperbole:

Apparently the gap between NBA talent and the NBADL is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

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