The Hoop and The Harm

While the basketball world has been focusing on the upcoming NBA All-Star Weekend, there’s another group of ballers who are heading down to the Big Easy this weekend -the D-League All-Stars.

Perhaps some of these names look familiar. Well, unless you’ve got the nonexistent DirecTV package that allows you to see every D-League game live no matter what city you’re in, you’re probably reminiscing about the time you read about the D-League Draft on your favorite hoops website. In fact, 5 of the 13 players picked in that first round were named to the NBADL All-Star Game.

By the way - just because DirecTV doesn’t carry every D-League game doesn’t mean you have to live a deprived life. If you want to, you can watch every D-League game for the rest of the season right here (if you don’t have an NBA.com profile, you’ll have to sign up for one, but it’s free and takes less than five minutes.)

New to the world this year is ‘Dream Factory Friday Night,’ although I can neither confirm nor deny that this has any affiliation with the Dream Factory, a charitable organization similar to Make-A-Wish. Regardless, it sounds it could become a much-needed showcase for the League, not because of the similarities with the NBA’s events (Dunk Contest, Three-Point Shootout), but because of the differences (in the Hot Shot event, a team of two has one minute to score the highest total they can by taking shots from designated spots on the court, ranging from one point for a lay-up to five points for a half-court shot - it sounds a lot like the NBA’s Shooting Stars Competition, except instead of an NBA player, a WNBA player, and an NBA legend, there are only two players per team - a D-League player and a fan. Seriously. That’s pretty cool, minor league or not. Meanwhile, the other event is - no kidding - four players competing in a game of H.O.R.S.E.) If you didn’t know, H.O.R.S.E. was a part of the Association’s All-Star festivities back in the day, but hasn’t been for about three decades now - check out some of the vintage footage. And for more information about Dream Factory Friday Night, here’s the home page.

The NBADL All-Star Game will air on Saturday at 3 PM Eastern Time on NBATV.

There was a professional basketball draft last night. If you didn’t know that, it’s ok. That’s why I’m here.

The NBA Developmental League just had its annual draft, and even if you don’t know anything about the league, that doesn’t mean you don’t know any of its new players. Allow me to reintroduce you to…

1. Colorado: Eddie Gill (PG) - In two years at Weber State, was named all Big-Sky first team twice. Has played professionally in four countries, including for four NBA teams, most notably for the Pacers in 2004-2005, helping them to the playoffs and playing in a career-high 73 games. Plus, he was born and raised in Colorado, nice PR touch.

2. Dakota: Carlos Powell (PF) - The career leader in games played as a Gamecock, Powell led his team in scoring and rebounding as a senior before playing in Portugal for a year, finishing 4th in the league in scoring. Spent last season playing in the Australian League, and led the league in scoring at over 28 a game. The former MVP of the NIT is still only 24, and could find himself in the NBA before long.

3. Albuquerque: Darvin Ham (PF) - Won the 1996 NCAA Dunk Contest, has since played for 6 NBA teams in his career. Has gone through quite a fall from grace; after two years with the Pistons that ended with two trips to the NBA Finals, he spent the next season on a Filapino team called ‘Talk and Text Phone Pals.’ Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find his statistics from this team; I’m guessing it’s because if the team disclosed his minutes played, they’d be hit with a hefty fine from the league for going over on their anytime minutes.

4. Idaho: Jamaal Tatum (PG) - The one-time Missouri Mr. Basketball and former Southern Illinois Saluki, Tatum has the MVC Player of the Year as a senior. Tatum led the Salukis to the Big Dance in his final two seasons, and is headed off to the D-League to start his professional career.

5. Rio Grande: C.J. Watson (PG) -Tennessee point guard was named Second-Team All-SEC as a senior before heading over to Europe to play in Italy and Greece. This will be his first pro stop in the States, but probably not his last.

6. Sioux Falls: Nik Caner-Medley (PF) - After an oustanding high school career and a solid college one at Maryland - where he was named Third-Team All-ACC his final two seasons - Caner-Medley took his game to Germany, playing for the Artland Dragons last year. Good range for his size.

7. Fort Wayne: Larry Turner (C) - Played for Oklahoma before transferring to Tennessee State. Redshirted as a true freshman, and finished with average numbers at a relatively small school. Could be a useful rebounder.

8. LA: Jelani McCoy (C) - I just so happened to come across an article about McCoy earlier this week, courtesy of Henry Abbott, the man behind ESPN’s ‘Truehoop.’

9. Anaheim: Kedrick Brown (PG) - Picked 11th overall in 2001 by Boston after just two years of JuCo ball. Pick was met with skepticism, and rightfully so - his best season, he averaged 5.3 points per between Boston and Cleveland. Now 26 and out of the NBA since 2004, this could be his last shot.

10. Utah: Kevin Kruger (SG) - Played three years at Arizona State before taking advantage of an obscure rule that has since been removed that allowed him to play for his father at UNLV as a senior. Sharpshooter who shot over 40% from deep as a senior.

11. Tulsa: Glen McGowan (PF) - Ex-Pepperdine star was All-WCC as a junior and senior. Suffered from a blood clot in his left arm that made him redshirt a year, but came back better than ever. Since graduating, he has played in Europe prior to being drafted by Tulsa.

12. Austin: Kevin Pittsnogle (C) - Former West Virginia big man was a CBA All-Star last season, as well as making the All-Rookie Team. Put up 44 in one CBA game, the current record. Still only 23, he could definitely make an impact in the NBA as a center with range - think back about a decade to Sam Perkins with the Sonics and Pacers, or Arvydas Sabonis with the Blazers. He’s got my support; I miss the phrase “Pittsnogling the opponent.”

13. Bakersfield: FORFEITED PICK

14. Iowa: Dwayne Mitchell (SG) - Former Auburn backup transferred to Louisiana-Lafayette and was named first team All-Sun Belt as a senior. Played in France last year, averaging 11 ppg.

There you have it, the first round of the 2007 D-League draft. Feel free to check out the rest of it here. And remember, don’t call it the NBADL. The first pick of the NBA D-League Draft was Eddie Gill; the first pick in the NBA Draft is on the DL. Big difference.