Odds & Ends: D-League, Tanking, Thornton

Now that NBA teams have finalized their opening night rosters, free agents and camp invitees who missed the cut could turn to the D-League. NBA clubs are allowed to retain D-League rights for up to three players they had in camp, and many D-League squads will still hang on to players’ rights from last season. Many D-League hopefuls, however, have their sights set on November 1st, the night of this year’s draft. Over at D-League Digest, Gino Pilato has a primer for this year’s draft, while at Secret Rival, Mark Porcaro examines the players we know will be part of the draft pool.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the Association:

• By way of Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, an anonymous NBA general manager explains first-hand why his team is in tank mode this season. Any guesses on which GM it might be?
• Just five days after we passed along word that former NBA lottery pick Al Thornton had joined China’s Xinjiang Flying Tigers, Evan Wang of Hupu.com tweets that the two sides have parted ways (hat tip to Sportando). Xinjiang is eyeing James Singleton as a potential replacement for Thornton.
• Although it looks like Thornton will return stateside for now, China has become a hot destination for former NBA players and NBA hopefuls, as our international player movement tracker shows. In an interesting and in-depth piece for Bleacher Report, Jared Zwerling details the emergence of the Chinese Basketball Association.
• Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports takes a look at undrafted players who earned spots on NBA opening night rosters, as well as prospects who left college early and didn’t land on a roster.
• After identifying a few trade candidates around the NBA yesterday, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld lists a few more today, including some big names (Rajon Rondo,  Pau Gasol) and some under-the-radar possibilities (Alonzo Gee, Andre Miller).