D-League Will Be Stronger This Year

I was catching up on my Ridiculous Upside (which, btw, Scott, has received a lot of clicks from rgvipers.com... you're welcome ;-)) when I came across this post.

I'll give you a few minutes to read the post and the corresponding posts from elsewhere on that site and on Jeff Potter's blog.

Basically, from what I can gather from some quick skimming (I hate admitting that I'm responding to something I didn't fully read, but I gathered the premise, and I really don't have time to fully read it right now) is that the theory is that the D-League talent level will go down because of players not returning.

I find that to be hogwash.

Here are the names of a hand full of players who were new to the D-League last season:
Jonathan Wallace
Garrett Temple
Antonio Anderson
Kenny Hasbrouck
Terrel Harris
Mickell Gladness
Sean Barnette
Jermaine Taylor
Kenny Dawkins
Kevin Rogers
Louis Graham
Travis Holmes

And here are a few more who were in the D-League last season, had prior D-League experience, but were out of the league the year before:
Mike Harris
Rich Melzer

And a few more who did not start the season in the D-League, but ended up back in the D-League after playing there the previous season:
Craig Winder
Will Conroy
Quin Humphrey

I just managed to named 17 of the 22 players who wore a uniform for the 2009-10 NBA Development League Champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who combined for a total of 10 GATORADE Call-Ups, four NBA assignments, one league MVP Award, one buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the Championship, one pass to lead to said shot, four regular season triple-doubles, one post-season triple-double (game one of the Finals), one half-court half-time buzzer-beater in game one of the Finals...

Need I go on?

It's true, some of the players I listed made minimal contributions, and could be used for my opposition's case. However, the contributions of the other players easily outweigh what those referenced players didn't do.

I've made the argument many times in this blog that talent in the NBA Development League has increased exponentially every year over the last few years. The reason for that isn't because guys stick around for a few years and the great players keep getting better to increase the talent level. That does occasionally happen (see: Will Conroy), but generally, if they're getting better, they're leaving for more money either in the NBA or internationally. The reason the talent level is increasing is because every year, the NBA Development League presents itself as a more legitimate option for non-NBA players. These players are taking notice of the ever-increasing number of call-ups and assignments and of single-affiliation relationships.

Consider Desmon Farmer, for example. After his stint with the Vipers in 2007-08, he ended up with the San Antonio Spurs for Training Camp and the start of the season. He got cut and vowed never to play in the D-League again. Well, that lasted all of one year. Farmer knew his best chance of getting back in the NBA was to return to the D-League. Maybe he regretted not going right back, considering how close he apparently was at the time. Now Farmer is going overseas again. He played another season in the league, scored a million points, and didn't get a sniff from the NBA. So, yeah, he's going to go make some money overseas. Will he back? I doubt it. But the point is he came back last year, just like folks will do this year.

Mike Harris is another prime example. He'd had a stint in the D-Leauge. He'd been in the NBA (albeit it briefly). He was now making money overseas. He saw what the D-League had become since he'd left, so he came back, earned three GATORADE Call-Ups and an invitation to this year's Rockets Training Camp.

It's more than just players coming back, though. It's those undrafted college players. It's those rookies who get cut out of NBA Training Camp. It's guys with a lot of talent who came up just a little short. In the past they might simply go overseas. After all, for every Jose Juan Barrea (Northeastern... Fort Worth Flyers), there was a Taylor Coppenrath and a T.J. Sorrentine (Vermont... both had the opportunity to go to Training Camp with the Celtics but turned it down to go overseas). I see that ratio turning around every year.

If Jordan Eglseder doesn't make the Rockets, where do you think he's going? Two years ago, the answer was probably overseas. These days? I'd think he'd come to the Vipers (please note: there is no inside information here. I have neither spoken to or met Jordan, nor have I spoken to anyone with the Rockets or Vipers regarding him, I am simply using him as an example).

I would be completely stunned if the talent pool in the NBA Development League failed to get better this year. I'd be be even more shocked if it took a step back. There will be plenty of players with Ridiculous Upside this year. No doubt about it.

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It occurred to me today that we're only two weeks away from Yao Ming and Dwight Howard tipping up the NBA pre-season on top of the Vipers logo at center court of the State Farm Arena court. How cool is that?