Here are the D-League transactions from today:
The NBA Development League has announced its All-NBA D-League teams for the 2016/17 season, headlined by league MVP Vander Blue. While Blue didn’t play in the NBA at all this season, many of the players on the NBADL’s three All-NBA D-League squads received call-ups throughout the year, and some of them finished the season on an NBA roster.
Here are this year’s 15 All-NBA D-League players, many of whom will have a decent chance of finding their way onto an NBA roster next season:
First Team:
Second Team:
Third Team:
The Pelicans intend to own and operate an NBA D-League franchise starting in 2018/19, and have received preliminary proposals from six cities in or near Louisiana, the team announced today in a press release. Representatives from those six locations will have until June 7 to submit a “complete and comprehensive proposal” for a D-League team to the Pelicans.
The six cities to express interest in housing the Pelicans’ new D-League affiliate are Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Pensacola, Florida; St. Tammany Parish, LA; and Shreveport, LA.
“We are excited to the see the excitement which this process has generated among the six locations,” Pelicans owner Tom Benson said in a statement. “All of them have stepped forward with legitimate and sincere interest and are going to make a case via their proposals for why they would like to be the home of our NBA G League team in 2018-2019. The process is underway and we know that this will be a very significant addition for a city/parish near us as it will add global exposure and bring professional basketball to their town.”
The Pelicans initially announced in late March that they intend to launch a D-League affiliate to begin play for the 2018/19 season. By that time, of course, the league will have re-branded itself — it’s set to become the “G-League” later this year in honor of its partnership with Gatorade.
[RELATED: NBA D-League to become NBA Gatorade League in 2017/18]
At the time of New Orleans’ initial announcement, the organization indicated that it would send a Request for Proposal to 11 cities, including seven in Lousiana and four in nearby states. It appears that about half of those cities responded to the Pelicans’ request, showing interest in landing a team. We should hear more in the coming months about which locations are the frontrunners to host the Pelicans’ NBADL affiliate.
With the Pelicans poised to acquire a D-League club of their own, the only NBA teams without an affiliate – or a plan in place to add one – are the Nuggets, Clippers, Trail Blazers, and Wizards.
Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
Here are today’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
Here are the D-League transactions for the day:
Toronto’s D-League affiliate, the Raptors 905, beat the Maine Red Claws tonight to win the D-League’s Eastern Conference and advance to the finals. Pascal Siakam, who was assigned to the D-League earlier today (via the team’s Twitter feed), contributed to the win, scoring 15 points. The victory caps off a great day for the franchise, as its coach, Jerry Stackhouse, was named the D-League Coach of the Year this afternoon.
Four years after playing his last NBA game, Jerry Stackhouse is receiving formal recognition for his coaching work. The NBA D-League announced today in a press release that Stackhouse, the coach of the Raptors 905, Toronto’s NBADL affiliate, has been named the D-League’s Coach of the Year for the 2016/17 season.
Stackhouse, who took over as head coach of the Raptors 905 last offseason, led the club to a 39-11 regular season record, the best mark in the D-League. Toronto’s affiliate made it through the first round of the NBADL playoffs and is now facing the Maine Red Claws, Boston’s D-League affiliate, for the right to advance to the championship round. A Raptors 905 win tonight would send the club to the D-League Finals.
While we typically wouldn’t dedicate a full story to a D-League award, Stackhouse’s achievement is worth noting because his name has increasingly been mentioned this year among the NBA’s ascendant head coaching candidates.
Sam Fortier of The Ringer profiled Stackhouse last month, writing that the longtime NBA star hopes to join the ranks of the league’s head coaches in the near future. Stackhouse told Fortier that he looked at the quick jumps from playing to coaching made by Derek Fisher and Jason Kidd, and believed he could follow suit.
“Seeing [Fisher and Kidd] get those head-coaching jobs, I was like, I know I’m — you hate to say better — but I know I’m damn as good as those guys when it comes to coaching,” Stackhouse said. “I’ve had more experience. …
“I wouldn’t have been ready [to be a head coach] in 2012–13, but Jason Kidd came in and my mind was like, ‘I have more of a pulse of this team than he could ever have. They respect me.’ I look at all of the other relationships you have to have to make it work, and the people you need to know in organizations. … It’s hard to get that.”
It doesn’t appear that many teams will make head coaching changes this spring, after more than one third of the league’s clubs hired new coaches in 2016. But when NBA jobs start to open up again, there’s a chance that Stackhouse will draw some interest.
Here are the D-League transactions for the day:
Here are Monday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA: