The Idaho Stampede will remain a D-League team next year despite the Trail Blazers’ recent decision to end their relationship with Idaho, Idaho managing investor Bill Ilett tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest: “Rest assured the Idaho Stampede will be in Boise next year, hopefully as a hybrid-affiliate for an NBA team.” Pilato suggests that the Stampede could become an affiliate for multiple teams as a short-term solution, an arrangement they have had in years past. Here’s more from around the D-League:
- Blazers assistant GM Bill Branch told Pilato that, for their part, the Blazers don’t see the closed partnership as a catastrophe for the Stampede. “We hope with the trades, draft selections and affiliate player acquisitions, (Pierre Jackson, Dee Bost, Richard Howell, E.J. Singler, Scott Machado, C.J. Leslie, Dallas Lauderdale), that we are leaving the Stampede with a strong talent pool.” Branch says. “Boise is a great city, and we feel another team will likely want to establish another hybrid affiliation with the Idaho Stampede.”
- Tim Ohlbrecht has been traded from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in exchange for a 2014 D-League first round draft pick, a source tells Pilato. Ohlbrecht’s entire NBA experience came in just three games with the Rockets last year, but the 25-year-old center is still considered an NBA prospect.
- Tyshawn Taylor tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv he was surprised he ended up a free agent playing in the D-League less than two years after getting drafted by the Nets. “It wasn’t a tough situation until I found out I got cut from the Pelicans. My whole thing was to try to get somewhere where I can play. I gotta figure it out, where I can go next.” The Nets traded Taylor in January to the Pelicans, who waived him. The 23-year-old guard hopes to earn a call-up by playing for the Maine Red Claws. “I think this is more for my confidence and being able to play on a consistent basis. In the NBA, I only played one out of every 16 games.”