Vipers practice facility marks the start of a new era for the D-League
The D-League has been around for 15 years, but it’s only now beginning to grow into a more prominent and mainstream league. As we see more more teams get added to the fold, in conjunction with a record number of players getting call-ups to to the NBA, the quality of facilities is beginning to follow suit as well.
Some of the better stories you hear from D-League staff and players alike are ones that revolve around struggles in travel or trouble with access to facilities. While those hardships are beginning to become a thing of the past, imagine a D-League franchise — a professional team — that does not have their own facilities for players to use whenever they feel the need.
As fans, we assume that every D-League franchise has these luxuries. They don’t. Many are using shared facilities and are usually at the mercy of others’ schedules and that creates problems, especially when players and coaches need as much gym time as possible.
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, affiliate of the Houston Rockets, recently solved that problem by relocating their practices to a 90,000 square-foot recreation center in Edinburg, Texas. U&M caught up with Matt Brase, head coach of the Vipers, to talk about their new facilities this season, and he couldn’t help but gush with excitement.
“Man, it’s beautiful,” Brase said. “It’s awesome. The facility is very close and we have 24/7 access to maximize both for our players and our staff.”
In previous seasons, the Vipers used multiple places for different activities. They would practice one place (at a schedule time and only that time), lift weights somewhere else, watch film on a different site and, well, you get the picture. Again, these are problems professional teams should not have, but such is life in the D-League … for now.
“We have two full NBA sized courts at our disposal whenever we want,” continued Brase. “The coaches have their own offices, which is really special for us and we have no issues with access so it really allows us to tailor practice to our needs. If we fly in really late after a road trip, we can move practice back the next day and in the past we didn’t have that luxury.”
Coaches aren’t the only ones giddy about the new facility. High-flyer Jarvis Threatt, who was with the team last year, thinks this will make a significant difference to both the team and players.
“It’s real nice, man,” he said. “We can come here whenever we want. We can call one of the interns or assistant coaches and they will meet us there and help get shots up or work on our game. The weight room is in the same place which is great because last year we had to drive 15 to 20 minutes to go lift weights.”
“We have TVs, Xboxs and music in here. Guys are going to benefit definitely because we just workout more. Guys have been coming back late at night and working on their craft and it’s just cool to have that opportunity now.”
The league as a whole is on the rise and while there are bound to be some teams with the same issues RGV had last season, they will soon be a glimpse into the life that once was in the NBADL. The future is here. There are 22 teams set to be on the schedule next season and every single one of them has an NBA affiliation.
In addition to their new practice facility, the Vipers also broke ground on their state-of-the-art arena earlier this year, set to open October 2016. The arena will be the largest entertainment venue in South Texas and will have capacity for 8,500 screaming fans.