D-League Rewind: Cream Rising to the Top

The Rewind is back after a one week hiatus for the holidays. The season is about a third of the way through and a couple teams have emerged as early contenders. I wanted to shine the light on them a little bit this week.

The next couple weeks will be a busy time for the league as the D-League Showcase will run from January 6-10th in Santa Cruz, CA and 10-day contracts can be offered by NBA clubs as early as January 5th according the Larry Coon’s salary cap FAQ. Buckle up!

Call-Ups

Jarell Eddie of the Austin Spurs earned himself a call-up to the Washington Wizards on December 23rd; what a great Christmas gift for the forward sniper! In his NBA debut he went 4/5 from 3-point range earning himself a new moniker of #EddieMoney. Keep it goin’ Jarell!

Acquisitions

D.J. Shumpert via player pool — LA D-Fenders

Jon Horford via player pool — Canton Charge

John Holland via waivers — Canton Charge

Derrick Nix via waivers — Grand Rapids Drive

J.R. Inman via player pool — Westchester Knicks

Tomislav Zubcic as draft rights player — OKC Blue

Davon Usher via player pool — Maine Red Claws

John Jordan via player pool — Erie BayHawks

Karrington Ward via player pool — Erie BayHawks

Mardracus Wade via player pool — Iowa Energy

Nick Johnson via waivers — Austin Spurs

The D.J. Stephens Spot

No, no, no D.J. hasn’t taken this spot over permanently  but it’s getting close to being a shared fixture. J.P. Tokoto had some nice dunks over the past two weeks but nothing earth-shattering like our guy Stephens had.

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The assignment guys would not be outdone this week as Justin Anderson decided to make his own poster against Reno. Vince Hunter is the No. 5 prospect on our weekly rankings and while his block attempt here is admirable, he might think twice next time he sees Anderson winding up for a dunk.

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NBA D-League Performer of the Week

DeAndre Liggins took home the weekly honor after leading Sioux Falls to a 3-0 record and averaging 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 3.3 steals. Liggins is third in league in assists per game at 7.1, second in steals at 2.5 and he holds the only two triple-doubles on the season so far.

Westchester Knicks Keeping it Rolling

When DaJuan Summers went down with a left achilles injury I thought the team would hit a downward spiral, but they have persevered instead. The team is currently 12-5 and they have more wins through 17 games than they had all year last year as they went 10-40 in their inaugural season.

While Jimmer Fredette gets all the headlines, the key for their success has been balance on offense and defense. Jimmer provides the scoring with 23.3 points a night on 49 percent shooting and the scary part is they can be even better if he focuses on distributing the ball as much as he does on scoring. He’s averaging 4.6 assists a night which isn’t terrible but throw in the fact that he’s turning it over 2.7 times a game and it looks less than desirable.

His running mate in the backcourt is rookie Travis Trice II who I’m still waiting on to bust loose. He shows flashes of brilliance but right now he seems fine with playing second fiddle to the main event that is Jimmer Fredette. Trice brings it on both ends and while he’s small, he battles with opposing guards on a nightly basis. Once he settles in and creates some offensive consistency he could become even more dangerous.

At first look you might think Thanasis Antetokounmpo is having a down year but he’s filling a niche that works for him. His numbers are down but he’s like a poor man’s Gerald Wallace for this team and it’s exactly what they need. His field goal percentage has skyrocketed to almost 54 percent and his free throw number is reaching 80 percent as well! The one area that concerns me is that he isn’t getting to the line near as much as last season and that needs to pick up for a player who struggles with outside shooting like he does.

Jordan Bachynski and Darion Atkins make up the Westchester Wingspan team as they run the floor like small forwards and protect the paint like guardians of the rim. Bachynski looked lost last year as he joined the team mid-season, but this year he’s seemed spry and much more fluid on the court. The injured Summers was his front court mate to start the year, but when he went down the reigns were tossed to Darion Atkins and he’s been quite the pleasant surprise himself. The duo combines for 22.8 points, 15.2 rebounds and 4.8 blocks a night, anchoring the team’s back line perfectly.

Don’t think I’m crazy, but Bachynski is the best pro prospect on this roster right now.

Veterans Leading Sioux Falls to the Promised Land

The Skyforce are 11-3 to start the season and even if you follow the league you would hardly know it. For some reason they have not gotten the coverage of some of the other top teams and I think it’s mostly because they have a lack of true star power. Westchester has Jimmer and Austin had Bryce Cotton and all their assignees to bring them attention, so they’ve gotten a lot of the pub, but Sioux Falls deserves some love too!

Veteran leadership has been the key for the HEAT affiliate as Tre Kelley (30), DeAndre Liggins (27), Keith Benson (27) and Byron Mullens (26) all playing big roles in their early success. The young players sprinkled into their lineup are 22-year-old Greg Whittington and assignee Jarnell Stokes from Miami.

Everyone knows their role and they play them consistently. The team has five players averaging between 12-16 points a night which makes them very difficult to scout for opposing teams. Any one of their top five players could lead them in scoring on a given night. Stokes has been huge as the team is 7-1 in his appearances and he’s led the team averaging 18.1 points and nine rebounds in under 30 minutes a game.

They also smother you on defense. Liggins and Whittington are stifling defenders who can guard positions one through four in the D-League, and if by chance someone gets beat they have Benson and Mullens patrolling the pain for blocks. Liggins’ return has been huge, providing even more versatility for head coach Dan Quinn to work with. While Liggins leads the league with two triple doubles, he also leads the league at 5.1 turnovers a night. If he can shore those issues up, he could get another NBA look. He’s been a revelation.

Their top prospect is Greg Whittington who is averaging 15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.4 steals while shooting 43 percent from the field so far. He’s out right now with a sprained wrist but the team hopes to have him back for the Showcase and he could be one of the early ones to get a 10-day offer — he’s that good.

The good news for Sioux Falls is that they have another elite defender waiting in the wings as affiliate player Briante Weber hasn’t even played a game yet. He just turned 23 today actually so he will bring more youth to the lineup while enhancing the team’s defensive prowess.

The Omnipresent Austin Spurs Drudge On

The Austin Spurs have lost two players to NBA call-ups so far and have not missed a beat. Bryce Cotton was signed by the Phoenix Suns pretty early this season and Jarell Eddie just earned a deal with the Wizards this past week. The team is 12-3 regardless. They are in the top-10 in points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game and oh yeah, they allow the third fewest points per game as well.

The steadying hands have been their bevy of pros in Orlando Johnson, Deshaun Thomas and Demetri McCamey, who have all helped keep the ship afloat after the team lost Cotton and Eddie. Throw in the young buck Keifer Sykes and the backcourt is quite potent.

Perhaps my favorite player on the team is draft rights player Cady Lalanne out of UMASS. He’s a 6-9, 23-year-old forward with seemingly endless potential. He came in as a project but has already exceeded early expectations averaging 12.5 points, 6.7 boards and 1.5 blocks while shooting 48 percent overall and 40 percent from three-point land! The three-pointers are very encouraging as he’s shooting 3.9 per night and shooting them efficiently for his size. I would like to see him be much more aggressive however as he’s only shooting 1.3 free throws per game. Even as a pick-and-pop type of forward that’s unacceptable.

It seems like Orlando Johnson should be like 35 by now, but the 26-year-old guard is still young and vibrant as he showed earlier this year against the Reno Bighorns.

That is quite possibly the dunk of the year and we’re not even halfway done with the season yet! Johnson has NBA experience with 96 games played in The Association and it’s easily visible when you watch him play. He’s quick but not in a hurry and he never seems to lose his poise and that cannot be understated for its importance to a young developing team.

Their continued continuity is even more impressive when you factor in how many NBA assignees they have taken in this year. Not only have Ray McCallum, Boban Marjanovic and Jonathon Simmons all made appearances, but they have utilized the flex assignment rule to get Lamar Patterson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Bairstow on the roster as well. The Spurs’ organization has long been intelligent with their use of the D-League for assignees, so this isn’t surprising in the least.

Yesterday, the team announced they claimed Nick Johnson off the waiver wire as well. Johnson spent his rookie season with the Houston Rockets before they traded him to the Denver Nuggets this summer. The Nuggets waived Johnson and he’s been rehabbing an injury prior to signing with the D-League. In 20 games on assignment last season Johnson averaged 18.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists in just under 34 minutes a night. He will definitely help ease the concerns over the loss of Cotton and Eddie to the NBA, but make no mistake he does not plan on being here long and his signing just before the Showcase is most likely not a coincidence.