Fort Worth and Austin awarded NBDL franchises - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Dooby · 03-21-2005, 04:52 PM

Fort Worth and Austin awarded NBDL franchises

Quote:

NEW YORK, March 21 - NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today that the National Basketball Development League has awarded teams to four Southwest U.S. cities for the 2005-06 season. The teams will be owned and operated by Southwest Basketball, LLC, led by former Indiana Pacers general manager David Kahn.

NBA Commissioner David Stern made the announcement
NBAE/Getty Images
"The expansion of the NBDL illustrates that the NBA's minor league has not only been successful in developing NBA talent on and off the court, but is a business proposition whose time has come," said Stern. "We are indeed fortunate to have attracted not only an investor in four new teams, but also, in the case of David Kahn, an experienced basketball person who knows what it takes to make these teams succeed."

The NBDL teams in Albuquerque, N.M., Austin and Fort Worth, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla. join the Florida Flame (Ft. Myers) as teams independently owned and operated in the league. The Asheville Altitude (N.C.), Columbus Riverdragons (Ga.), Fayetteville Patriots (N.C.), Huntsville Flight (Ala.) and Roanoke Dazzle (Va.) are owned and operated by the NBA.

Kahn worked for nearly nine years in the front office of the Indiana Pacers. From 1998-2002 he oversaw both the business and basketball sides of the organization; represented the Pacers on the NBA's Competition Committee; and managed a staff of over 120 when the team moved into Conseco Fieldhouse in 1999.

Kahn is credited both in Indiana and in league circles for his involvement in the successful launch of Conseco Fieldhouse, beginning in 1995 with local lobbying efforts and culminating in the fieldhouse's opening to worldwide acclaim in 1999. During Kahn's time in Indiana, the Pacers reached the NBA Finals once and competed in the Eastern Conference Finals on three other occasions. The organization was also awarded a WNBA team (Indiana Fever) while Conseco Fieldhouse developed into the Midwest's mecca for sporting events such as the Big Ten men's basketball tournament and world-championship boxing.

"We are bringing in a special brand of professional basketball featuring players on the verge of making it to the NBA and an affordable, family-oriented atmosphere," said Kahn. "We look forward to becoming a vital part of these communities and the ownership team in place for these four cities will ensure our NBDL teams are quickly embraced in this part of the country."

Announcements regarding team names, arenas, tickets and staffing tip off tomorrow, March 22 in Fort Worth followed by Austin on Wednesday, March 23. Similar events will be held in Tulsa on Tuesday, March 29 and Albuquerque on Wednesday, March 30. Ticket information on each of the four new teams can also be found by visiting www.nbdl.com/fortworth, www.nbdl.com/austin, www.nbdl.com/tulsa and www.nbdl.com/albuquerque.

"The NBDL is the premier minor league for basketball and we are confident these teams will become the standard bearers of the league," said NBDL President Phil Evans.

The NBDL offers players, as well as off-court personnel, the opportunity to develop their talent in a highly competitive atmosphere under the NBA's umbrella. Thirty-four (34) players have been called up the NBA on 48 separate occasions. Nine former NBDL coaches, five athletic trainers, 11 referees and 29 front office executives have also been called up to NBA positions since the start of the league's inaugural season in November 2001.

MavKikiNYC · 03-28-2006, 12:26 PM

March 28, 2006
Reality Check on Road to Stardom

By LIZ ROBBINS
Martell Webster found himself staring out the bus window for seven hours, watching his career crawl past desolate farms and dried-up rivers.

The unexpected detour through Texarkana during his rookie season in the N.B.A. became educational for Webster, the Portland Trail Blazers' first pick, and No. 6 over all, in the 2005 draft.

"Usually, you don't have time to ponder, but when you're on a bus, you just check things out," he said. "You can't do that at 35,000 feet."

That is where the N.B.A. charters roam, in the rarefied air that Webster had experienced for his first three months in Portland. But he had played little, and the Trail Blazers decided in January to assign Webster, a 6-foot-7 swingman who arrived directly from high school in Seattle, to their N.B.A. Development League affiliate in Fort Worth.

"At first I was mad," Webster, 19, who rejoined the Trail Blazers in February, said in a telephone interview from Portland, Ore. "I thought it would be a waste of time, but it definitely was not."

Before this season, a rookie like Webster would get coaching from his N.B.A. team but not much playing time. Now the N.B.A. has an affiliate system with the D-League, so teams have another option for preparing players.

Unlike years past, when the D-League's purpose was to provide N.B.A. teams with reinforcements, the N.B.A. is nowusing its eight-team minor league as a farm system.

After initial hesitation over supervision, facilities and the D-League's negative connotation, many N.B.A. executives warmed to the idea of giving their draft picks and free agents a place to play.

Of the N.B.A.'s 30 teams, 19 have sent at least one player to the D-League, for a total of 29 players, including 5 first-round draft picks: Webster, Boston's Gerald Green, Denver's Julius Hodge, Sergei Monia (originally from Portland and now with Sacramento) and Dallas's Pavel Podkolzin. Fifteen D-League players have been called up to the N.B.A. this season.

"I would not hesitate to send people again," Portland General Manager John Nash said. "The competition isn't as good as summer league in Vegas because in Vegas you have N.B.A. players. But this is the next best thing.

"Martell played effectively there. I just didn't want him to languish here on the bench. I wanted him to get a taste not just of the competition, but get a perspective. I think you can be a little surreal in your approach coming from high school to the N.B.A."

Next season, when the N.B.A.'s age requirement increases to 19, the D-League plans to lower its limit to 18 so players wishing to bypass college will have an alternative.

Players who can qualify academically will probably opt for a college program that offers more exposure.

"For business reasons, it would be good for us if everyone who didn't come to the N.B.A. went to college," N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern said. "If I had my druthers, this league would be for N.B.A. players who just needed a little more time."

Stern has a goal of increasing the D-League to 12 or 13 teams next season and perhaps ultimately to as many as 30.

That means the ever-shifting landscape of minor league basketball could change again next season. The Continental Basketball Association has had discussions the past five years about merging with the N.B.A.'s developmental league, and the sides are closer than ever to having some C.B.A. teams join the D-League.

Jim Coyne, the general manager of the Albany Patroons of the C.B.A., said his league could survive defections. "It's going to have a few bruises when that happens, but if we lose some, we can replace some," he said in a telephone interview.

"We wish them well," he added about the potential of teams leaving the C.B.A. "I don't understand the rationale. They have to pay a higher franchise fee, they don't have control of the players. I like to help place players and make winning teams and not depend on somebody feeding us players. That's why we're still committed to staying the long haul. If there wasn't any C.B.A., then the D-League would be the only feeder."

The N.B.A. still partly supports its league, even though it owns only two franchises (it wants to sell the Roanoke, Va., and Fayetteville, N.C., teams to have local ownership of every franchise). The D-League has five new teams this season and is struggling to break even. Average attendance is just 1,966.

"If we were bringing minor league baseball, people knew what it meant," said David Kahn, a former Indiana Pacers executive who owns four D-League teams in the Southwest. "Minor league baseball has 100 years of history. It will take us at least three years. I think we're very much in the catch-up phase as people figure what this is about."

Each D-League team is shared by three or four N.B.A. teams. Players can be sent down and recalled three times in a season.

"It's been utilized much more than I think we hoped for and were ready for," Stern said.
The D-League teams are expected to absorb the N.B.A. players immediately. "My policy has been pretty straightforward," said Sam Vincent, the Fort Worth Flyers coach and a former N.B.A. player. "This is the N.B.A. developmental league, and if at any point we get N.B.A. players, they get preferential treatment."

Most N.B.A. teams have sent staff members to the D-League affiliates to monitor the players' progress. The Blazers sent Bill Bayno, the former U.N.L.V. coach who is now an adviser, as a personal coach for Webster and Monia. The Celtics' president, Danny Ainge, accompanied Green for a few days.

"In retrospect, we probably would have used it earlier," Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said of the league. "It's a good experiment. I hope the D-League grows in size so teams can have one or two teams per N.B.A. team and they can run something that you're doing."

Green, 20, went to the Celtics from high school and has played far more for the Fayetteville Patriots in the D-League. "In those three or four weeks, I felt like I was a whole lot better, just because I was playing," he said.

He offered advice for future first-round picks. "Don't take it as a bad thing," he said. "Go in there and use that as motivation. Work hard and show your team that you're ready to come back up."

That was Webster's goal. He played eight games with Fort Worth, worked out twice daily, picked the brain of his coach and picked up the tab for his teammates on the road.

"Taking those long bus rides, it makes you appreciate coming back to the N.B.A," Webster said.

sixeightmkw · 03-28-2006, 12:32 PM

Isn't Webster Jet's cousin? I think so.