Should The Nets Send Terrence Williams Down To The D-League?
Jan 22, 2010 D-League, Dave D'Alessandro, Dee Brown, Springfield Armor, Terrence Williams
In Dave D’s latest article, he briefly glosses over something that I find really interesting:
For starters, we’d consider sending Terrence Williams to Springfield for a few weeks. He’s not getting much out of being here, and everyone can see that. He doesn’t play much anymore — 8.4 mpg this month, with no discernible contribution across the board — and maybe a short vacation convinces him to start playing a team game again, which he hasn’t shown much interest in doing lately.
The D-League is there for a reason. And as long as there’s roster space for a call-up who will bust his tail for a chance to play a few weeks in the NBA, you might as well use it.
At the beginning of the year, I would have scoffed at this. Not only because I was (still am) one of his biggest supporters, but also because I saw him playing a very big role on the team at this point in the year. Instead Terrence Williams has logged just 78 minutes in 9 games this month. Let’s look at the pros and cons of sending Terrence down:
Nets on the Net: 11/11/09 Edition
Nov 11, 2009 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, D-League, Devin Harris, Lawrence Frank, Nets on the Net, Terrence Williams, Tony Battie
Don’t expect CDR or Courtney Lee for tonight’s game against the Sixers.
The big news out of practice yesterday was that Devin Harris started light practice and could take on more strenuous activity later in the week. Tony Battie was also spotted practicing.
Lawrence Frank talks about how Terrence Williams has been asked to do a lot in the early part of this season.
Despite the injuries and adversity, Lawrence Frank is still talking 40-wins for this team.
Business West profiles the Springfield Armor, the Nets D-League affiliate.
The Canadien Press mentions how the Nets are paying their dues right now with their tough start.
In a response to people who think everything is great about New York sports, NYTimes columnist George Vescey mention the Nets (along with the Knicks, Giants, Jets, etc.) regarding some things that are wrong with NY sports.
Springfield Armor Make Their Expansion Draft Selections
Sep 18, 2009 D-League, Dee Brown, Springfield Armor
A couple weeks back, the Springfield Armor’s Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown told us there are many ways that you can fill your D-League roster. These methods included an expansion draft, local try-outs, and a D-League draft.
Well, a few weeks ago the Armor had their expansion draft in hopes to add a few players to their roster. The player pool for the expansion draft consisted of players from the two teams that folded after last season (Anaheim Arsenal and Colorado 14ers). At first glance, that isn’t the best starting point, but when you realize that the 14ers won the D-League title last year, you see that the Armor have a terrific starting pool of talent.
With the first pick in the expansion draft, the Armor took 7-foot center Marcus Campbell. Campbell is a D-League vet (4 years) and he is an intimidating force in the middle. Campbell’s 171 blocks are sixth in D-League history. Last season Campbell averaged 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds a game for the Arsenal.
According to Dee Brown and the Armor’s strategy was to draft height, and with the selection of Campbell and Kirk Walters (the player pool’s second tallest player). As Dee Brown told reporters:
“We definitely targeted big men in the expansion draft,” Armor Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown said. “Size is a quality you can’t teach. We also wanted to gain as much NBA D-League experience as possible and felt that the selection of Campbell certainly fulfilled both goals.”
Springfield also got a player with some NBA experience, Cedric Bozeman (23 games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2006-07). Bozeman started all 48 games for the Arsenal last season, averaging 19.4 points per game to rank 21st in the NBA D-League.
The Armor have obtained the rights to each of the 10 players they drafted and will submit their list – in order of preference – to the NBA D-League Office to pursue contracts. The next step for the Springfield Armor is to hold their local try-outs. They are scheduled for October 17th and October 18th.
For the complete list of Armor players drafted, click here.
NetsAreScorching Interview: Armor Coach Dee Brown
Sep 2, 2009 D-League, Dee Brown, Interviews, Springfield Armor
With the D-League expansion draft today, it is the perfect time for us to hit you up with some more D-League knowledge. Yesterday, new Armor Coach and Director of Basketball Operations, Dee Brown was kind enough to take time out from his busy schedule (the expansion draft remember?) to answer some questions we had for him.
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NAS: Along with being the head coach of the Springfield Armor, you are also the Director of Basketball Operations. What are the responsibilities of that role?
Dee Brown: The responsibilities is to oversee the on court and some off court basketball decisions of the franchise. Evaluate talent, personnel decisions including tryouts, drafts and trading players. I will work side by side with our GM Alex Schwerin on making decisions off the court as it pertains to the players and franchise and the marketing of the Armor.
NAS: How can your NBA experience help when dealing with players trying to make the NBA themselves?
Dee Brown: I can speak on 12 years of hands on playing experience in the NBA on the do’s and don’ts of getting to the NBA and most importantly staying when you get there. I’ve played with great players and for great coaches so I’ve got tons experience on how to communicate with all levels. I’ve also been in the front office at different capacities from Director of Player Development to Community Ambassador. So I know what NBA Execs look for and expect from their players on and off the court.
NAS: You are CEO of the EDGE Basketball, LLC, and have shown an interest in developing players. Is that why you have decided to make the transition to the D-League? So you can both coach and help develop young talent?
Dee Brown: I’ve owned EDGE basketball for 4 years and have been training every level of player from talented middle school players to NBA players like Grant Hill, Drew Gooden, Chucky Atkins and Deshawn Stevenson. The most important thing to me is developing young and even experience players. I’ve been doing that since I retired and always felt like a coach on the floor or leader in the locker room when I was a player. That’s why the D-League excites me. My job is to make these players better and put them in a situation on the court to succeed and showcase their respective talents all in the concepts of winning and competing.
NAS: You have mentioned before that this is a unique situation because you are dealing with three different affiliates. Are you going to be running your own offensive stuff or are you going to use a blend of what the three affiliates (Sixers, Knicks, Nets) do offensivly?
Dee Brown: Obviously you can’t put everyone system into place but you can take bits and pieces of what each affiliate runs and incorporate it into your system. Most NBA teams run some similar sets. So you speak with each affiliate coaching staff and get input of key components of their offense and defense philosophies and try to mesh as much as possible into what you want to accomplish as a coach. The names might be different but you want to make sure that the things you are running are NBA sets and consistent on both ends on the court what these player will see if they get called up. Also it gives NBA teams a real look at players in NBA situations so they can get a true evaluation of the players.
NAS: You come from a WNBA background where for the most part offense is based on movement without the ball and quick passes. Are you going to bring that offensive style to the Armor?
Dee Brown: Ball movement and quick passes are always important at any level of basketball. We will push the ball every possession to put pressure on the defense and get the best shot available based on ball movement, screens on and off the ball.
NAS: For the expansion draft, you are selecting players from a pool of two teams that ended up shutting down operations. Do you feel like that puts your team at a disadvantage or do you think there is enough talent in the pool of players to put out a competitive team?
Dee Brown: I think it will help us because there is plenty talent on both teams. You get a chance to choose from the D-League Champions Colorado team. That has to be a good thing for us and Maine. So it will give a good foundation to start with and have some players with D-League and pro experience.
NAS: Is there a max number of players you can have on your roster? If so, how are things handled when a player is sent down from one of your affiliates? Are there roster spots reserved for them? Does the fact that you have three affiliates make roster moves harder to handle?
Dee Brown: The max number is 12 but you will keep 10 because of the players that might be assigned from affiliate teams. Whenever a players is assigned from one of your affiliates you must make room on your roster and since we have 3 affiliates we can have up to 6 assigned players at once but I’m sure that will be unlikely to happen but would be great for a D-league team and a city to have NBA roster players playing in your market. We want our affiliates to trust and believe that we can make their players better if they send them down to Springfield for development and growth.
NAS: Another question about dealing with multiple affiliates. Let’s say that you have guys not on a NBA roster on your team, and more than one player wants to bring them up for a stint on their NBA squad. How is that handled? Which team would get that player?
Dee Brown: Any player on our roster can be called up by ANY of the 30 NBA teams. The first NBA team that contacts the D-league will have the rights to get that player. Our 3 affiliates can assign their 1st or 2nd year players to us in Springfield.
NAS: How are you going to fill your team roster? Strictly through the expansion draft? Try-outs? Invites? Anything else I didn’t mention?
Dee Brown: We will fill our roster with all of those methods. Expansion draft 1st then we will have a local tryout, the D-league draft. So we will always be looking for ways to find talented players.
The NBA D-League And The Nets
Aug 31, 2009 D-League, Sean Williams, Springfield Armor
Update: Joe Barbieri, the PR man from the Armor sent me a quick correction:
The expansion draft is actually Wednesday, September 2nd and I don’t think the bulk of our players will come from that. The purpose of the expansion draft is to provide us with “returning players,” which then have to sign. I would say the bulk of our roster will come from the NBA D-League draft, which will take place in October or November.
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Let’s face it, most casual NBA fans don’t really give the NBA Development League too much thought. That’s really a shame, because there is a lot of great basketball going on in the D-League, and if you sit down and watch a game you are going to see some guys who could be (and in some cases soon will be) on a NBA roster.
I am writing this to try and help inform Nets fans about the D-League and how it operates. Since this is a Nets’ blog though, I will be concentrating on the Nets’ new affiliate, how the Nets’ could use the Development League, and a little Nets-related D-League history.