As promised last week, we (read: I) have continued to seek perspective on whether the D-League offers the best basketball in the world outside the NBA. Let’s start your Friday morning off with a few quick-hitters from voices around the league, with the caveat once more that there is more than a bit of a stateside bent with this sample:
Nick Nurse, Iowa Energy head coach: “I think so, no question about it. It’s so different. The style of play [in Europe] is slower, less athletic, less free-flowing movement. There’s some great players and great teams, but so many of these guys are so borderline NBA that [the D-League] can fairly make that statement.”
Chris Alpert, NBA D-League Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Personnel: “We want to be the best developers of talent in the world. We want to be the best basketball outside the NBA. We want to deliver value to our communities. We feel we’re accomplishing those goals. We’re the Development League. We’ve seen over 150 call-ups, over 20 coach call-ups. Every single referee hired to the NBA since 2002 has been hired from the NBA D-League. In every sense of the word, we’re developing talent for the next level.”
Dell Demps, San Antonio Spurs Director of Pro Personnel; Austin Toros GM: “I’ll say it’s apples and oranges. They play a different type of basketball in Europe under the FIBA rules, and we play a different type of basketball here. As far as talent level, there are players in the D-League that are good, and there are players there that are good as well. I think it’s apples and oranges.”
Steve Brandes, Idaho Stampede President and GM: “This is the league that all the GMs and scouts go to pull up from. Last year, we had tons of call-ups. This year, not as many, probably because the 10-days are just starting, and teams are actually running with less guys because of the economy.”
Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets GM: “No. Spain is better, as one example. That’s not a knock; it’s a false standard. The D-League is a new league, just developing. It’s pretty unfair to say it should be on the level of Spanish leagues that have been around way longer. The talent level in Spain is definitely better than the D-League.”
John Coffino, Albuquerque Thunderbirds head coach: “I think this is the most talent I’ve ever seen throughout the league, and it’s going to keep getting better with some NBA guys getting in the league because of contracts. I’ve never seen so many good players on every team. Twenty percent of the NBA are players that have played in the D-League at one time, so that’s something to be said. The level is really close, but there are a lot of potential NBA players in our league. We have a few, and there’s a lot of teams that have a handful.”
Dan Reed, NBA D-League President: “There’s no definitive way to prove best. It’s like scouting; it’s in the eye of the beholder. But we think there are a few things in our favor: We produce four times more NBA players than any other league in the world. That’s certainly a metric you can hang your hat on, and certainly something you would consider when evaluating best. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to define. But if you say that the NBA is unquestionably the best basketball league in the world, the league that produces the most NBA players could be argued as the next best. We are clearly in that position for a pro basketball league, and that’s one major reason why we think we’re the best basketball in the world outside the NBA.”
Yeah, I know: You’re stunned to learn Dan Reed supports his league as producer of the best basketball in the world outside the NBA. I reiterate that this isn’t presented as a representative sample of basketball minds worldwide, but it’s clear from this group of voices that there is some diversity of thought within the D-League-and-NBA community itself. The next step from here: gaining more perspective from those more connected with the game outside North America. So if I’m lucky enough to have any international scouts coming across this, please go ahead and email me as your thoughts would be more than welcome. Same goes for any other readers with experience watching the game across the globe. We would love to have more feedback like that of reader Fabian, who gave us some thoughts last week in the comments section:
To me and all people outside of the U.S., it is pretty clear that the “Euroleague” is the best league outside the NBA. The Euroleague is a league that is [comprised] of all national champions and finalists of the different national leagues. So the best of the best of Europe play there and statisticians have acknowledged that individual statistics of the Euroleague transfer nearly 1:1 to the NBA. Some Euroleague teams even beat some NBA teams in preseason friendlies. So if you speak about the league with the best players and talent outside the NBA, it is definitely the Euroleague.
No need for bashfulness here: Feel free to give us your take in the comments section, via email or on Twitter!
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Sundiata Gaines! The D-League call-up nailed a trey at the buzzer to take out the Cleveland Cavaliers in Utah last night. Be sure to check out RU’s Scott Schroeder’s Gaines narrative.
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D-League programming note: The league’s newly signed deal with VERSUS gets into gear this Saturday night with a tape-delayed showing of Fort Wayne’s visit to Sioux Falls. VERSUS will air the game at 11 p.m. ET and will do the same with nine other Saturday night games this regular season (and the network will show six playoff games as well). So far as I’m concerned, it will be well worth the couple of hours wait to move from my laptop screen to the wall unit with DVR capability. The D-League is comin’ at ya in HD! Get ready!
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Steve,
I have only ever seen a handful of NBADL games and the one constant in them was the fundamental lack of defensive cohesion. Now whether that’s do to this being a minor league and players thinking they have to show they can score to get to the show or roster fluctuations and not a lot of long term roster stanbility from year to year, I don’t know .
Euroleague teams on the other hand often have core players on a team around for years and the teams meld into good teams both offensively and defensively. Can the NBADL really be considered the best basketball league outside of the NBA in the world if most teams there can’t play good defense?
Again, my NBADL experience is limited so I am making the mistake ofpaint the NBADL with a very wide brush given my limited exposure.
Wow, I´m a little stunned to see my comment so prominently in the article^^ Anyway to further the debate, I´m with Morey on the D-league vs. the spanish league topic. And I think there certainly are some more national league whose teams just play a better brand of basketball. However most of the difference here stems from the things mentioned in the comment before my by Steve. D-league teams lack crisp execution and a good defensive game plan but this is in part because of the missing continutiy in the roosters and the need of every player to show himself. Naturally you cannot compare that to a normal league. Still the d-league has a ton of talent and propably the most atlethic gameplay outside the NBA. So on the grounds of that I say the d-league easily outplays some of less prominent european leagues like my domestic league in Germany (sadly the BBL is not worth following, to few talent there and to few german players to root for), not so sure about leagues outside Europe and the U.S. though I think the CBA in China isn´t too bad. But as said before the d-league cannot compare itself competion wise to the leagues like Spain, Italy or the aforementioned Euroleague, talent and athletic wise it maybe more even but still the best players of Europe would rock in the NBA too if given ample chance (see Gasol, Nowitzki, Navarro, Fernandez or Ginobili), the d-league has only Ramon Sessions to show for so far.
Meant of course “[...]the comment before mine by Nick”, tzzz
Well I don’t think there is even a debate here… Like Dell Demps said, it is like comparing Apples and Oranges. The D-League is a farm league for the NBA. The Euroleague is a competition. The goal of D-League teams is to develop 2nd round rookies and sophomore, the goal of Euroleague teams is to win games.
Of course, as Mr Coffino pointed out that 20% of NBA players played in the D-League. It’s why it’s made for! Euroleague or Spain ACB are not there to produce reliable 10th man for NBA rosters…
Now, let’s have a look what are the best players from D-League in the NBA: Rafer Alston, Bobby Simons, Chris Andersen, Jamario Moon, etc. Now let’s have a look on the best former Euroleague players in the NBA: the Gasol brothers, Turkoglu, Okur, Kirilenko, Ginobili, Nocioni, Scola, Calderon, Fernandez, etc… I think it’s pretty clear.
I am not saying that a better D-League team would not be able to beat a bottom Euroleague team on a single game but I am pretty sure any the top 16 teams of the Euroleague woulf have no problem to be a D-League champion.
You have to stop being so US centered when it comes to basketball. Of course the NBA is way ahead of any league but the D-League is not the second best league in the world. I don’t think it’s even the third or fourth…