1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Forward Thinking Rockets are first in NBA (take control of D-League Team)

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by texanskan, Jun 29, 2009.

Tags:
Page 1 of 4
  1. texanskan

    texanskan Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2006
    Messages:
    4,565
    Likes Received:
    163
    Seeking another way to help develop one team, the Rockets are about to begin running another.
    Today in McAllen, the Rockets will announce an agreement to take over the basketball operations of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, making the Rockets the first NBA team to adopt the league’s new “single affiliate partnership model.”
    The Rockets have had an association with the Vipers since the 2007-08 season, serving with other NBA franchises as an affiliate. By gaining control of the Vipers’ basketball operations, the Rockets can be assured that players they assign to the Development League team will put in the role and system they choose. The Rockets will have as much say as they wish about everything from the coaching staff and offensive philosophies to playing time.
    “I think all these things create a competitive edge — which is Mr. (Leslie) Alexander’s main goal and my goal — for the Rockets,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We think it’s a pretty good competitive edge. We can run our stuff. We can put someone down there we think can be a future player development coach and see him in action. We can get a stronger sense on the players, their personality, how well they’re coached. None of those things are huge advantages, but we think it is a good advantage.”
    The Lakers, Spurs and Thunder own NBA Development clubs, and Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson recently purchased a team to begin play in Frisco in 2010. The Vipers, who will no longer be the NBA Development League affiliate of the Hornets, are owned by a group of six local investors led by Alonzo Cantu.
    Given the limits of the teams’ rights to players — NBA franchises hold the rights to players assigned to D-League teams only when they are on the NBA roster — the league is not a true baseball-style farm system, a difference that has kept Alexander from choosing to own an affiliate.
    Roughly 20 percent of NBA players spent time in the NBA Development League.
    “We didn’t see the advantages of ownership all that much, but we did see the advantage of the partnering,” Morey said. “They didn’t have a structure to allow that, and now they do. We’re going to be the first team. We’re excited to help them work to be a competitive team where you can see future Rockets. It can be a place we can learn about players, coaches, trainers, every aspect of basketball. We have another level to learn and execute.”
    Morey said the Rockets might be more likely to send players to the development league than in the past and that there could be times, though likely rare, that the option to send a player to the Vipers to work on areas of the Rockets’ choosing could impact roster decisions.
    “We’ve been working on opening up the opportunity for NBA teams to participate in this model for quite some time now,” NBA Development League president Dan Reed said. “I spoke to many NBA general managers. The Rockets were the first team to jump on the opportunity.
    Day-to-day oversight
    “The Rockets will have the ability to completely manage the day-to-day basketball operations, including the coach, the system, the scouting, the recruiting, the roster management. The opportunities for collaboration involve areas where business and basketball naturally intersect. This is a very important step in the evolution of the NBA Development League, and we’re really happy this has happened.”
    Reed said he does not anticipate problems with the needs of the Rockets and Vipers conflicting when it comes to developing players for one team while seeking victories with the other.
    “This is a pretty typical arrangement in affiliated minor leagues, although it’s new for the NBA Development League,” Reed said. “Those issues crop up from time to time, and based on the history we’ve studied in other affiliated minor leagues, they generally work themselves out.”
    Delicate balance
    NBA Development teams have worked with NBA clubs that have sent players to the league, but coaches also have known that they would be judged like all coaches: on winning.
    The Rockets’ new arrangement can, in some circumstances, move the emphasis to development, though Morey said the intention is to be aware of the Vipers’ needs as well.
    “We’re going to do it in a partnership way with RGV,” he said. “We’ll recommend things we think are right. Ultimately, we will have control, but we like to create partnerships, and the ownership of the team will have interest in how the team and players are developing. We’re going to be good partners.
    “We will want to run Rick (Adelman’s) offensive sets. And it is a spot Rick can try out new things without having to try it out first at the NBA level.”
    jonathan.feigen@chron.com

    www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6502130.html
     
    #1 texanskan, Jun 29, 2009
  2. RasaqBoi

    RasaqBoi Member

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2007
    Messages:
    17,079
    Likes Received:
    20,707
    :cool:
     
    #2 RasaqBoi, Jun 29, 2009
  3. csux

    csux Rookie

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2008
    Messages:
    308
    Likes Received:
    1
    just non-sense, you know jordan's brother always beat jordan playing basketball when they grew up. Does it make his brother the best basketball player ever lived?
     
    #3 csux, Jun 29, 2009
  4. m_cable

    m_cable Member

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2002
    Messages:
    9,455
    Likes Received:
    73
    I wasn't sure how this was different from the Spurs buying an NBDL club but then I realized that Les isn't buying the vipers. The rockets are just taking over basketball operations. This is way smarter than buying the club because they get to install their coaches and staff without spending the money.

    Lakers, Spurs and Thunder must be feeling pretty stupid right now that the Rockets got control of an NBDL team without having to buy it.
     
    #4 m_cable, Jun 29, 2009
  5. wallyj12

    wallyj12 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    2,601
    Likes Received:
    356
    I like this alot. By doing this, the Rockets have created a "major league baseball type system" within their organization. By having 100% control over their D-League affiliate,they can do extreme micromanagement to develop young talent the way they wish they want their talent to grow. Guys with the most potential and talent, guys the Rockets have their most vested interest in can be handled more closely and efficiently and can be brought along the best developmental path that will allow them to reach the "major league" level. The Rockets can also install their offensive and defensive sets so that the younger guys will already but comfortable with our system and know what to expect in terms of their roles within the offense and defensive sides of the ball.
     
    #5 wallyj12, Jun 29, 2009
  6. Chamillionaire

    Chamillionaire Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2008
    Messages:
    5,792
    Likes Received:
    2,527
    #6 Chamillionaire, Jun 29, 2009
  7. BrooksBall

    BrooksBall Member

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2007
    Messages:
    20,568
    Likes Received:
    256
    I imagine a lot of teams will start doing this if the cost is simply putting together a basketball operations and some coaches/trainers.

    It actually sounds like the owners would pick up these costs so it's pretty much a no-brainer. I can't see any reason why every single team wouldn't eventually join in on this new model.
     
    #7 BrooksBall, Jun 29, 2009
  8. mic

    mic Member

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2008
    Messages:
    2,405
    Likes Received:
    28
    This is pretty awesome.
     
    #8 mic, Jun 29, 2009
  9. roslolian

    roslolian Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2008
    Messages:
    29,889
    Likes Received:
    20,036
    sux indeed :rolleyes:
     
    #9 roslolian, Jun 29, 2009
  10. W22_STREAK

    W22_STREAK Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2008
    Messages:
    8,008
    Likes Received:
    616
    Say hi to your new home Jermaine Taylor and Chase Budinger
     
    #10 W22_STREAK, Jun 29, 2009
  11. ralphacy

    ralphacy Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2009
    Messages:
    71
    Likes Received:
    1

    Yay, I live in McAllen so horray for that. Now I have 2 more reasons to watch the Vipers.
     
    #11 ralphacy, Jun 29, 2009
  12. Mathloom

    Mathloom Shameless Optimist

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2008
    Messages:
    21,008
    Likes Received:
    22,415
    Rockets take control of D-League team's operations

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6502130.html

    I think its a good move. I think the organization has plans to turn this into a player development machine with top-notch trainers and implementing the same coaching style.

    Thoughts?
     
    #12 Mathloom, Jun 29, 2009
  13. W22_STREAK

    W22_STREAK Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2008
    Messages:
    8,008
    Likes Received:
    616
    I thought u said 2 "seasons" lol...that would mean they wouldn't crack the Rockets rotation in 2 years when we are in desperate need of a point guard...cos an NBA player can only be assigned there in their first 2 years.

    Jermaine Taylor can definitely be a DLeague All star though. I mean playing in UCF is probably the same as the dleague
     
    #13 W22_STREAK, Jun 29, 2009
  14. Noob Cake

    Noob Cake Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2008
    Messages:
    3,563
    Likes Received:
    729
    This must be Morey's thinking
     
    #14 Noob Cake, Jun 29, 2009
  15. Malcolm

    Malcolm Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2008
    Messages:
    1,190
    Likes Received:
    34

    Yea it does Michael Jordan's older brother is the greatest player to ever play the game
     
    #15 Malcolm, Jun 29, 2009
  16. HTR99

    HTR99 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2009
    Messages:
    288
    Likes Received:
    22
    Being that players on the RGV aren't set up like a baseball farm system where the team doesn't own the rights to all the players but only the ones that count against the Rockets' roster, doesn't this allow other teams to easily tap into the hard work/resources of the Rockets? Since other teams have taken note of DM and how he finds gems in the rough, they could notice a player that caught the attention of DM is part of RGV but could be called up to another team since all the players of RGV are not part of the NBA roster. Are they safeguarded by this since they don't own the team or all the contract rights of the players?
     
    #16 HTR99, Jun 29, 2009
  17. DrNuegebauer

    DrNuegebauer Member

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2000
    Messages:
    12,606
    Likes Received:
    9,732
    No - of course they're not safeguarded, that's the way the D-League works.

    However it's not all that different from Summer League - we get a bunch of players playing D-League to see what they've got and see how they react in our offensive sets etc. If another team sees what they're got, for sure they can jump in and sign that player.
    Of course there's no reason that we can't have a "knudge-knudge, wink-wink" deal with the players agents whereby they come and talk to us about an NBA contract if they get another offer.
     
    #17 DrNuegebauer, Jun 29, 2009
  18. HTR99

    HTR99 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2009
    Messages:
    288
    Likes Received:
    22
    I figured that would be the case just didn't want to hear it.

    What about teams like SA/OKC that own their affiliate, are they protected or just as worse off by having other teams take their player? D-League has got to change its rules if more and more teams are putting interest into them, atleast the Cardinals can't just take a player from Corpus Christi.
     
    #18 HTR99, Jun 29, 2009
  19. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 1999
    Messages:
    46,612
    Likes Received:
    33,588
    So this will essentially be a true Rockets "Triple-A team" without paying for them?
     
    #19 Dr of Dunk, Jun 29, 2009
  20. walangjo

    walangjo Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2003
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    28
    Shrewd move again by the front office. I have to say that eversince Daryl Morey took over, they became more sound as a business organization.

    It's like having an added 15 roster spots since they can call up anytime.
     
    #20 walangjo, Jun 29, 2009
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 4

Share This Page