Charlotte Hornets considering seven cities for D-League team

[Pounder]

[quote=""toad455""]I don't think we'll see the league jump to 30 teams overnight. Maybe by 2020.

of the 13 remaining teams without affiliations, here's my choices for where their D-League teams should be:

Indiana Pacers - Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Atlanta Hawks - Gwinnett, GA
Brooklyn Nets - Newark, NJ(The Prudential Center)
Charlotte Hornets - Asheville, NC
Chicago Bulls - Rockford, IL
Denver Nuggets - Fort Collins, CO
Los Angeles Clippers - Albuquerque, NM
Milwaukee Bucks - Quad City, IL
Minnesota Timberwolves - Winnipeg, Canada
New Orleans Pelicans - Jacksonville, FL
Portland Trailblazers - Spokane, WA
Toronto Raptors - Rochester, NY
Washington Wizards - Roanoke, VA[/quote]

Every assumption that's more about "League" and less about "D" OR more about fulfilling some overlooked city's supposed need for another team and less about the NBA team's "footprint" is going to go unfulfilled. In most of these cases, don't hold your breath.

Of course, the principles at play aren't easy to identify from one team to the next. For that matter, toad's comment about 2020 seems optimistic to me.

So, Charlotte: highest bidder, probably one with less of a college footprint involved. Asheville seems smart, but maybe Fayetteville is better? However... Greenville or Greensboro? No. NO. BIG. BUILDINGS. Heck, most of the current D-League teams have too much inventory.

That goes double for Brooklyn putting a team in Prudential. A rumored downsized Nassau (which seem to involve rumors regarding the Islanders AHL affiliation) seems a smarter idea, but even that seems too big.

Atlanta... I think Gwinnett is too big, but while I think Atlanta would benefit from, say, Albany or Savannah to build regional appeal, Gwinnett wouldn't surprise me.

Does Chicago need to build regional appeal? If anything, them being snarky and locating in Gary would amuse me. However, Chicago has enough places in town to allow locals to benefit from cheaper tickets... unless they want to go the LA route.

Denver- Budweiser (officially Loveland, more identifiably Fort Collins, but more spiritually Greeley)... best idea here, though building regionally with Albuquerque makes more sense for the Nuggets than it does the Clippers. HOWEVER, I think 2020 is optimistic for the Nuggets.

Clippers- they should take the Warriors lead and build a bubble at Venice Beach for their team. They need to win in the city, first.

Milwaukee- another 2020 question mark. They have to solve remaining in Milwaukee first. From there, build up Wisconsin. Green Bay? Wausau?

Minnesota- they should really nudge Miami out of Sioux Falls. Another post-2020 issue to me.

New Orleans- needs to solve New Orleans first. Shreveport is obvious if they stay. Another post-2020, however.

Portland- Spokane VMA is too big and the area too Gonzaga. Aching for Salem or even a team barnstorming through statewide basketball gyms. Also post-2020. I tend to think Washington stays ready for the return of the Sonics, far enough down the line, but not too far.

Toronto- They're who should be in a Winnipeg or Ottawa or anywhere, reinforcing "Canada's team." All sorts of possibilities, frankly.

Washington- Eh, Roanoke probably isn't bad. Does Baltimore have a small arena that isn't college? No, First Mariner doesn't count.

[Minor League Mania]

I think 2020 would be a good timeline as well. The thing that I wonder about is what will happen if a team does move to the Carolinas? Will they just leave them there with no other team near them or will the get a handful of other Southern or Atlantic cities to follow and just create a new division within a year or two span?

If you could knock out 5 or 6 teams by creating a new division then you could really just add one or two teams to each division over the next few season and be there. The D-League has some new media deals in place with ESPN and of course the already existing NBA TV and Youtube deals. National coverage never hurts.

I do think whenever this one to one affiliate expansion is complete, a few of the current cities will no longer have teams. Why keep them in a city that is not successful or simply not a good match?

[Minor League Man]

I think Kenosha, WI could work as a home city for the Bucks (or the Bulls) D-League team...now that the casino project where Dairyland Greyhound Park was is now dead, it's time to start looking at alternate plans...a new arena could work on that site.

[preeths]

The speculation is fun, and the D-League appears to be in growth mode thanks to NBA teams wanting franchises... so I'll bite. It's on the other side of the state, but La Crosse has a relatively good minor league basketball history if the Bucks wanted to look there.

[SignGuyDino]

There were the Mobile Revelers due to Mobile's history with Mardi Gras. Seems a perfect fit with New Orleans if approached right.

Even if Miami pulls out of Sioux Falls, the NBA will have to find somebody to go in there. The Sanford Pentagon is too nice a building to be left vacant.

[drtuba]

[quote=""SignGuyDino""]There were the Mobile Revelers due to Mobile's history with Mardi Gras. Seems a perfect fit with New Orleans if approached right.

Even if Miami pulls out of Sioux Falls, the NBA will have to find somebody to go in there. The Sanford Pentagon is too nice a building to be left vacant.[/quote]

The problem with Mobile is that the Revelers' old arena is likely to close.

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf ... e_sch.html

The Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi is still going and is closer than Mobile. I think they hosted the CBA Mississippi Jets back in the 1980s. Hockey (Mississippi Seawolves, ECHL) was pretty successful there pre-Katrina but since then teams in that space have struggled. Maybe that's less of an issue with the D-League.

[SWSAM]

[quote=""SignGuyDino""]Fayetteville likely to enter the race: http://www.fayobserver.com/sports/proce ... 51522.html

Columbia Mayor wants to build a new venue for Hornets D-League team: http://www.free-times.com/news/mayor-wa ... ity-051315

Don't know if Columbia taxpayers will go for this, though. They just approved a new baseball stadium. I was thinking the old Coliseum (at least for starters) but my understanding is they gutted out a lot of seats there and it mainly for the college tennis team to practice in now.[/quote]

The older Coliseum has had 3,000 seats removed and the playing floor sold off. Not sure if the Colonial Life Arena is an option (the University of South Carolina is the owner).

[SignGuyDino]

Greenville, Raleigh: OUT

Columbia, Greensboro: Intending to bid

Asheville, Fayetteville, Charleston: No answer yet (EVERY hint I'm hearing is Asheville will bid)

http://www.wltx.com/story/sports/2015/0 ... /28041279/

[toad455]

should be either Raleigh or Asheville.

[SWSAM]

[quote=""SignGuyDino""]Greenville, Raleigh: OUT

Columbia, Greensboro: Intending to bid

Asheville, Fayetteville, Charleston: No answer yet (EVERY hint I'm hearing is Asheville will bid)

http://www.wltx.com/story/sports/2015/0 ... /28041279/[/quote]

Probably makes sense that Raleigh was a no-go. Between the Hurricanes and Duke/UNC/NC State basketball, that's some hefty competition in the market.