D-League Rewind: Feel the Heat of the Skyforce
The D-League season is about 20 percent complete and the hottest team right now is the Sioux Falls Skyforce, who boast a record of 6-2 following six straight victories. The Miami Heat have utilized their affiliate to get work in for Jarnell Stokes and he has been masterful in his time with the club. They have the luxury of putting him alongside a pair of steady veterans in Tre Kelley and DeAndre Liggins, which has helped tremendously.
The Austin Spurs and Westchester Knicks were both dealt major losses this season with Bryce Cotton being called up and DaJuan Summers going down with an injury, but both are holding strong at 7-2 and look to be real contenders — for the time being.
Call-Ups
There weren’t any call-ups this past week, so the number is steady at three thus far. However, we did have our first international defector with Jack Cooley of the Idaho Stampede inking a deal with Unicaja Malaga in the Spanish ACB.
Acquisitions
Dahntay Jones via trade — Grand Rapids Drive
2016 second round pick via trade — Raptors 905
Jamaal Franklin as returning player — Los Angeles D-Fenders
Phil Pressey as returning player after being waived by the 76ers — Idaho Stampede
Dunk of the Year?
We’re only 10 games into the season, but Orlando Johnson made a strong case for holding down the Dunk of the Year title. He also got me in trouble with the wife because I woke our sleeping daughter up after yelling “Oh my God!” while watching it live. So thanks for that, Orlando.
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I still feel bad for Stockton after watching this. Just look at his reaction!
NBA D-League Performer of the Week
Indiana Pacers assignee Rakeem Christmas brought home the goods this week with averages of 24.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists, all while helping the Fort Wayne Mad Ants to a 3-0 record. The Pacers have Christmas and Shayne Whittington on extended assignment with their D-League affiliate so far this year and it’s working out well. Terren Petteway is giving them a huge boost off the bench, too.
Unlikely offensive threat
D-League teams don’t usually find gold in the third round of the draft, but Santa Cruz Warriors head coach Casey Hill has done just that. Verdell Jones is a rookie in the D-League world, but at 26-years-old he’s far from immature in his professional life. The former Hoosier is averaging 11.6 points per game in just 24 minutes a night for the defending champions.
While Jones has been highly efficient — 48 percent shooting so far — in his spot minutes off the bench, an injury to Hobson presented an opportunity last week, and he ran away with it. The Warriors split their weekend double header with the Texas Legends and Jones averaged 24 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting a blistering 57 percent from 3-point range.
Over his last three games, Jones is playing almost 36 minutes a night and he’s scored double figures in each of those games. Coach Hill has been a master of plug-and-play options over the last couple seasons and it looks like Jones is next in line for that honor.
Jordan Mickey’s continued brilliance
The Boston Celtics assignee has been impressive during his assignments with the Maine Red Claws. Through his first nine professional games he’s averaging 19.4 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks and he has seven double-doubles over that span. The undersized power forward (6-8) is perfect for the D-League, as his bruising style of play has proven to be too much for opposing bigs on a nightly basis.
Mickey still has a lot of work to do — he’s shooting 49 percent from the field, which isn’t great seeing as most of his shots (97 of his 137 attempts) have come in the paint — but the early results are encouraging. His ability to step out and knock down the 3-ball, where he is 4-12 from above-the-break, is a step in the right direction because he needs some semblance of a jump shot to succeed at the next level.
The most impressive part of Jordan’s game, however, is on the defensive end. His timing and anticipation on the weak side is tremendous and while some shot-blockers gamble for blocks and give up offensive boards, Mickey rarely leaves his teammates out to dry.
Keith Appling keeps it rolling
The Erie BayHawks have gotten off to a slow start at 2-5, but Appling certainly hasn’t been at fault. In fact, the 23-year-old point guard has flourished since joining the Orlando Magic organization last season, when the BayHawks acquired him for Cleveland Martin.
Appling was impressive in Summer League, too, averaging 15.6 points per game on 50 percent shooting. A lot of people close to the team thought he had done enough to make their roster, but he was one of the final cuts heading into the season. He is doing all he can to make it back to the NBA and any team in need of a scoring point guard would be wise to give him a shot.
The BayHawks are a different team when he turns it on, so the key for Appling is to stay aggressive by attacking the rim. Last season with Erie, he got to the free throw line 8.1 times per night. This season, that number has dipped to 4.1 attempts per game. Some of that is due to his role changing as the team expects him to set the table for others, like recent draftee Tyler Harvey. Nonetheless, Appling is the leader of the team and they need him to keep his foot on the gas to succeed.
Quarter by quarter scoring
The D-League stats page was recently updated, so I had some fun with it by looking up the top-5 scorers (including assignment players) for each quarter this season. Only one name made the list for each quarter and that’s Erick Green, who has proven to be a big-time scorer when given ample opportunity.