Is the D-league brand outdated.

[bectond]

The Texas Legends have 5 former No.1 picks on their 10 man roster. Idaho just signed 34 year old A. Walker. In my opinion the NBA is transitioning away from a league that develops youngsters to more of a second chance circuit or demotion league (see the T.Williams demotion). A number of nba assignees are putting up under whelm stats due to the new found high talent level of the D-league players.

[TBirdCrazy]

I agree...it is suppose to be a league of developing new talent...that is what it branded itself as. However, the big names that have come into the league this year have been strictly for money for those teams. Can you hate the teams for marketing a "former number 1 draft pick" or "former all-star" or such....no i can't fault them. I fault the league for allowing the "has-beens" (and I use that really loosely) who need to make "some coin" for allowing them to sign contracts. Then again, it helps to market the league also.

I am not a fan of having "old-timers" that have played in the NBA a while, playing in the D-league. But I do not mind those draftees that just could not stick with a team in the NBA, and now are trying to make it back to the league.

Tough situation...

[bectond]

By this time next year the Eddie Curry's of the world will all be vanquished to the D-league. The D-league will become a glorified temp service for the NBA where a few 2nd round picks are garaged and players with bad contracts go to die. Walker is the tip of the iceberg, in a couple of years the only young players in the D-league will be the assignees. Once the NBDL salaries are raised veterans will flock into the league. Hopefully, the D-league adopts the old CBA rule where each team must carry one rookie.

[FrontOffice]

They already do have that rule

[Shootmaster_44]

Perhaps what the D-League has to do is take a page from the AHL. In the American Hockey League, each team can carry 6 players who have more than 320 (I believe) games of major pro experience (NHL, AHL, European). So if the D-League were to limit teams to say 3 players like this, that would help.

I also think the NBA should do away with the D-League draft and expand the NBA draft back to 5 or 6 rounds. Make the D-League less of an independent league and more of the NBA's minor league. Instead of cutting players drafted in Round 2 and beyond, each team could send them down to the D-League. Have them on some form of a two-way contract or an Entry Level Contract where the team could call up and send down players. Allow for conditioning assignments in the D-League and say a player like Lebron was injured, you could send him down to Erie for rehab. Plus, if NBA teams actually utilized their D-League teams, it would be easy to convince cities to support teams as it would be a chance to potentially see the stars of the future. Ergo, we could see it grow to a one D-League team for each NBA team. What the Lakers did with Jordan Farmer a couple years ago is what the D-League should be.

[bectond]

I think NBA teams should drop down to 10 man rosters and adopt a no foul out policy. Also, each team should be required to have a D-league affiliate with a 15 man roster for temporary services(replacing injured NBA players). And as MBL does expand NBA roster to 15 players later in the season (call-up youngsters and additional bench players for the stretch run). this would increase the overall talent level in the D-league (and NBA) while preventing a lock-out (limit D-league salaries to 150K and increase the salaries for call-ups)

[not so fast]

my understanding is the NBA and D league would do a lot of what you guys want if the players union would cooperate. And they won't .

I think the NBA wish they had never taken on the notion of a D league. They could have subsidized the old CBA with a fusion of cash, had a strong league, kept doing what they were doing for years, and save themselves a boatload of money.

Egos just would not let them.

[preeths]

Originally Posted by not so fast

my understanding is the NBA and D league would do a lot of what you guys want if the players union would cooperate. And they won't .

I think the NBA wish they had never taken on the notion of a D league. They could have subsidized the old CBA with a fusion of cash, had a strong league, kept doing what they were doing for years, and save themselves a boatload of money.

Egos just would not let them.

To be fair, the NBA tried, but it was the CBA leadership that rejected their overtures. I was as critical as anyone else over the D-League's initial effort (which has improved by leaps and bounds over the years), but it was the CBA's Isaiah Thomas who blew a deal with the NBA.

[bectond]

I doubt it is the union, the owners want to keep a bad economic system in place, which is based on a salary cap. When the real problem is that rookie contracts are not long enough (they should be 7 instead of 5 years long) and they don't put enough resources into developing players (the D-league). Why would the union be opposed to increasing membership?

[not so fast]

Its simple, the players union don't want players being sent down back and forth that will effect their salaries.

Why should they? Unions want guarenteed contracts, and they don't want guys salaries effected with minorlegues. what can they gain as a union with players being sent down by the wim of a team, who may have an ax to grind with a player, versus actually trying to develop players?

Its a red herring for a union and for players who presently, dont have to worry about being sent down,. They don't want a major league baseball style run team that can keep a decent player on a farm team and pay him 40k, then bring him up for the playoffs, and teams would be saving money all over the place, and ruining the integrity of the game.