D-League Primer

News came in this week that the Austin Toros will have the 10th pick in this year's D-League draft, which will take place Nov. 2. In honor of the occasion, I felt it was a good time to explain the ins and outs of the NBDL, its draft, and its affiliation system: in other words, a little primer. So, get out your pens and pads, put the kids to bed, and put on your learning caps. This is the NBDL in 2,000 words or less:

The 5-year-old NBA Development League works with a players pool system. All players who want to be considered by a D-League team sign a standard one-year contract - with the league, not any particular team - and throw their names into the players pool. Come Nov. 2, representatives from each of the league's 12 teams (including brand-new franchises in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, and Colorado) will meet for the draft and each will choose 10 players to take to training camp. The draft will be serpentine, or "snaked," meaning that the team with the first pick in round one (in this case, the Anaheim Arsenal) will choose last in round two. So, since the Toros have the 10th pick, and since there are 12 teams participating, they will have the third pick in the second round, or the 15th pick overall.

Next comes training camp. Each team takes their 10 draft choices, two "allocated" players with ties to the local community (former Texas Tech star Andre Emmett filling that role for the Toros last season), at least one player from an open tryout (being held next Saturday and Sunday, by the way, Oct. 14 and 15; see end of this blog for details), and four, and only four, returning players from last season, and goes to camp with a temporary roster of between 15 and 17 players. By the time the season starts that number has to be down to 10.

Roster sizes can go as high 12, if affiliated NBA teams decide to send players down, but if more than two players do come down, someone from the roster has to be cut. By the way, each affiliated NBA team can only send two players down to their affiliated D-League team, and those only during their first two seasons. So the maximum number of players sent down in a season will be six.

So when the season begins, each team will have a roster of 10 men - one of whom must be a rookie and one of whom must be a local "allocated" player. Then they're ready to play. During the course of the season, each team can make up to eight moves, either through trades with other teams or by choosing new prospects from whoever's left in the players pool.

As for team affiliations, restrictions apply in only one direction. The San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, and the Boston Celtics can only send their raw young talent in need of guidance and on-court experience to the Toros. They have no connection to the RimRockers out in Arkansas or the 14ers in Colorado. But any NBDL player, regardless of which team he plays for, can be called up by any NBA team at any time (including during NBA training camp, as is currently the case with Toro forward Jamar Smith). Hence the rationale behind Toros' star Marcus Fizer's going to the unaffiliated New Orleans Hornets near the end of last season: NBDL players belong to the league and not to a team, so when the NBA comes calling, they can come calling wherever they damn well please.

Usually these teams will offer called-up players a 10-day contract and see how things pan out. If they offer a player a second contract at the end of those 10-days, that contract must cover the rest of the season. Players who don't get a second contract and who are waived by whatever team called them up are then placed back in the D-League players pool, where they'll most likely be snatched up almost immediately by a team hungry for players with NBA potential.

And there it is: the NBDL in a nutshell. If you still think you want a shot at the title, the Toros will be taking at least one open-tryout success story with them to training camp. So if you've got the skills - if you can dish the rock, drain the three, or play lock-down "D" - they want to meet you. Come down to the Delco Activity Center at 4601 Pecan Brook Drive Oct. 14 and 15 for your shot. God won't forgive you if you don't try.
Check the team's Web site for more details.
www. nba.com/dleague/austin

See you there.