D-League Follies - Part II

Interesting things are happening in the NBA Development League, especially for the Houston Rockets. Les Alexander and crew became the first team in the NBA to assume control of the basketball operations of an NBADL team under the league's new "hybrid affiliation" plan. The Rockets have been associated with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for a couple of years, but the new plan grants them complete control of the basketball side of the Vipers without the headaches and investment of outright ownership. In return, RGV can focus on the business end of the operation and have an NBA franchise affiliate to draw crowds.

The Rockets' access to the team will now be exclusive. Previously, the Hornets shared the Vipers as a minor league affiliate, but as of June 29, only the Rockets can make use of the roster. There are a couple of provisos as to how they can use it. First, there is a strict salary cap for individual players signed by the NBADL. Secondly, for an NBA player to be on the minor league team (and still be paid at an NBA salary level), he must be on the big league payroll. Since the Rockets can have 15 active players, but can dress only 12 for games, three players at a time can be getting quality coaching and seasoning down in the valley. To that end, the Rockets fired veteran coach Clay Moser and will install a coaching staff that reflects Rick Adelman's style of play. Adelman will now have a stash of players that have been schooled in his system at his beckon call in case of injuries or trades.

This development helps somewhat to explain the Rockets off-season player acquisitions. Jerome Taylor, Chase Budinger, Sergio Llull, Pops Mensah-Bonsu are all either low draft choices or undrafted free agents with potential. James White, who played for the Rockets at the end of last season, fits that category as well. It is not unreasonable to expect that some of them will see time in McAllen, either as members of the Rockets or as players that have been cut, but are still trying to grow into NBA players.

I am very pleased with the direction the Rockets are moving in player development. In my last post regarding the NBADL, I expressed my desire for this very thing. Now that the CBA has folded completely, the Developmental League can really come into its own and I think more and more teams will follow the Rockets' lead into hybrid affiliation. This blog will keep an eye on the Vipers and report the progress of the experiment.

New Kid in Town

The Houston Rockets agreed to terms yesterday with free agent power forward Nana Papa Yaw Dwene (Pops) Mensah-Bonsu. He is British of Ghanaian descent. He played college ball at George Washington in DC, but went undrafted after declaring for the 2006 draft. Since then, he has had a cup of coffee with the Spurs, Mavericks and Raptors, with stopovers in the D-league at Ft. Worth and Austin. He also played overseas until he had shoulder surgery last December.

At 6' 9" and 240, Mensah-Bonsu's stats in college were good against weak Atlantic-10 conference foes and at times he seemed to be a man among boys. But when his small-college team faced more powerful opponents, his numbers were pedestrian at best. The same goes for the NBA. He tore up the D-League, but hasn't been able to catch on permanently with a big league team. Well, now he has a chance.

How will he fit in with the Rockets? He will be in direct competition with Joey Dorsey, that's how. I have to believe that Dorsey will win that battle. Mensah-Bonsu has a dozen holes in his game. His defense is lacking, he can't pass, dribble or hit an outside shot. He can score at will against weak competition, but he won't see much of that in the NBA. He can rebound like crazy that way too. The scouts kept talking about his upside, then didn't draft him. Unfulfilled potential, thy name is Stromile Swift.

I say that this is what the D-League should be for. Sign him and send him down to the minors for some NBA quality coaching for a year or two. I think that's the way the league is headed, but it won't happen yet. So for now, if he makes the team he will be competing with Dorsey, David Andersen, Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry for playing time at two positions. Good luck Pops.

Von Who?

Jermaine Taylor should be at least as much fun to watch as the departed Wafer - and maybe he'll even stick to a game plan! Regardless, he should sell a few basketball tickets.

Is the plan becoming clear?

Based on who the Rockets have signed, who they let go and who is injured, I think Daryl Morey's strategy is becoming evident.

Rick Adelman did not want Von Wafer back next season, so the team only gave lip service to wanting to re-sign him, probably to appease the fans. Wafer was exciting to watch, but you don't publicly disrespect your veteran coach in a playoff game against the Lakers - and that wasn't the first time. It's the reason Wafer bounced around the league for three years before seemingly finding a home in Houston. He is not coachable. I am not privy to the plays that Adelman calls, but I cannot believe that Wafer was told to drive the lane almost every single time he got the ball last season. Talent aside, he has teammates and coaches to consider.

It's hard to believe the size of the contract Wafer signed in Greece for next season. Five million dollars a year. That's probably twice what any NBA team would have paid him to ignore their coach. Good luck, Von. European coaches may not be so forgiving.

So Adelman and Morey let the two people go who refused to adhere to a game plan. Wafer and Ron Artest scored points, but they hurt the team. A coach has to have players that pay attention or the rest of the team will revolt. That is why Morey acquired Trevor Ariza, Jermaine Taylor and Chase Budinger to replace Artest and Wafer. Whether it works out or not, Daryl, I'm with you. The rest of the Rockets are team players and deserve teammates that are on the same page.

Rockets Signings

The Rockets announced the signing three of their off-season acquisitions in the last week. In keeping with team policy, Daryl Morey refused to discuss the terms of the contracts with Jermaine Taylor, Chase Budinger and David Andersen (see previous post).

Jermaine Taylor brings offensive skills with him from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He was third in the country last year in scoring with 26.2 PPG. He was C-USA player of the year, among other college honors. I know, big numbers, but he did it at a "directional school", as Jeff Van Gundy used to say. He meant that the player was a big fish in a small pond. Granted, UCF has a small basketball program, but it is - believe it or not - the fifth largest university in the country, with over 50,000 students. So he's hardly been in West Podunk for the last few years. One interesting note, he majored in Interdisciplinary Studies. Does anyone know what that is? The big question on Taylor is, can he play NBA defense? He certainly wasn't known for it in college.

Chase Budinger had a great Summer League recently and was a major reason the Rockets went undefeated. He was a three-year starter at Arizona before declaring for the NBA draft. Taken in the second round by Detroit, the Rockets bought his rights minutes later. Budinger is an athletic wing man with a mixed bag of skills and a good all-around game. His weaknesses are that he doesn't have good defensive lateral movement and is not a "go-to" scorer.

So the Rockets added depth to the shooting guard/small forward position with two second round draft choices. I like getting excited about new players, especially ones that can score. I hate that I have to temper that excitement by reminding myself that players drafted in the second round are drafted in the second round for a reason. They are not saviors. Fortunately, the Rockets have one of the best coaching staffs in the league and with a little luck, they can make these guys into players that can at least fill a role on a good team.

Yao Out - Andersen In

After weeks of consultations with top doctors, Yao Ming has decided to have surgery on his injured left foot. The surgery he has chosen will almost certainly keep him out all of next season. He will endure a bone graft to heal the existing fracture and have his arch surgically lowered to help prevent similar problems in the future. This is obviously a major decision that will affect the remainder of his career. On the positive side, it is the same surgery that Cleveland center Zadrunas Ilgauskas had following career-threatening foot injuries early in his career and he came back to play the last seven seasons without issue.

Both to replace Yao on the roster next year and to replace Dikembe Mutombo permanently as Yao's backup, the Rockets acquired the rights to David Andersen from the Atlanta Hawks. Andersen is a native of Carlton, Victoria, Australia and was the second round draft pick of the Hawks in 2002. He is 6' 11" tall and weighs 242. He plays best facing the basket and has good offensive skills. Defense is another matter. Let's hope working with Adelman, Turner and Sikma can teach him enough about the NBA game to be a capable fill-in.

A nice interview with Andersen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiaPVFZ6jk

Nickel and Dimed Again

Last summer I enjoyed logging into the NBA web site and watching grainy little movies of the NBA Summer League. I caught all the Rockets games, though I was familar with very few of the players. Even so, I enjoyed it and appreciated the league making it available to me.

This year, guess what? The league is charging us $14.95 to watch those same grainy little movies. Bad move, NBA. It's die-hard fans like us that buy tickets to your games and patronize your sponsors. And now you even want to charge us to watch the off-season try-outs. It's things like this that make the general population feel like pro sports players and owners are greedy bastards.

The fact is that the promotion departments of the league and its teams are geniuses. They are corporations putting out a product and they get us to pay to advertise it for them. They've actually got most people thinking it's our civic responsibility to support them. Genius. When is the last time you saw a bumper sticker proclaiming the owner's love of Crest toothpaste or Charmin toilet paper or any other corporate product? I'm telling you, these NBA guys are geniuses - most of the time. This time they screwed up. This is one too many reaches into my pocket. I won't pay. The NBA (Nothing But Advertising) can keep their grainy little movies.

Ariza and Artest Trade Teams

LA Lakers forward Trevor Ariza agreed in principal to a five year contract with the Rockets yesterday, clearing salary space on the Lakers payroll for them to sign much-traveled Rockets Guard/Forward Ron Artest. I like the results.

Ariza is young, athletic and his game is growing every year. And he doesn't have an attitude that rubs his teammates the wrong way. He will also fit in well with Rick Adelman's motion offense.

Artest, on the other hand, annoyed everyone on the team at one time or another and frustrated the coaches no end. He was a black hole on offense. The ball went in but never came out. If anyone passed the ball to Ron, the offense stopped until he felt like driving into a crowded lane to put up a moving prayer. While he was a tough, hard-nosed defender, he often let his pride take over and challenged star players to a game of one-on-one, rarely winning. To put it succinctly, he thinks he's better than he is and that he knows more than the coaches. I won't miss him.

My only question now is where does that leave Shane Battier? Shane is arguably the best non-injured player on the team and he plays the same position as Ariza. Battier has the flexibility to slide over to power forward, but that is already a well-manned position for the team (Scola, Hayes, Dorsey and Landry) and Shane is not really big enough to challenge some of the NBA's more powerful forwards. Assuming the answer to my question is that Ariza is going to come off the bench behind Battier, small forward will be a very strong position for the Rockets.