Why the Trail Blazers should bring a D-League affiliate to Seattle
The Portland Trail Blazers are enjoying a surprise season, but the front office should have an eye for the future of the organization and look to add an NBA D-League affiliate sooner rather than later.
The Blazers previously held a single affiliate relationship with the Idaho Stampede (now the Salt Lake City Stars) from 2012 to 2014, but made the decision to end their affiliation following the 2013-14 season. General manager Neil Olshey gave two key reasons for breaking off the relationship: The first was his belief in his coaching staff’s player development saavy; the second was the proximity of the team. The Stampede had been located in Boise, ID at the time and while many teams have affiliates even further away, this was clearly a factor in the Blazers’ decision.
In past seasons Portland had little use for a D-League affiliate due to a seasoned roster, but last year they lost four starters and went young instead of re-tooling with veterans. With their current roster they are the sixth youngest team in the NBA and could now use the services of a minor league affiliate to get some of these less experienced players valuable minutes. Cliff Alexander (20), Luis Montero (22), Pat Connaughton (23) and to a lesser extent Noah Vonleh (20) are out of coach Terry Stotts’ rotation and could have seen ample playing time had the Blazers owned their own NBADL franchise.
The Blazers clearly know the importance of live-game action since they utilized the D-League’s flex assignment rule to send Montero and Alexander to the Santa Cruz Warriors to play four games each, and one could only imagine they would have played 20-25 games if the team had their own affiliate.
According to a league source, the last two expansion teams in the NBADL cost the NBA club approximately $7 million. That’s chump change for an NBA franchise looking to add a viable minor league system moving forward. The D-League had 19 teams this year and there will be three new teams next season in Greensboro, NC (Charlotte), Hoffman Estates, IL (Chicago) and New York, NY (Brooklyn) — each team is now affiliated with an NBA club, so the movement is clear and it’s time for the Blazers to get back on the ship.
So, why would the Blazers put their D-League affiliate in the Seattle metro area instead of somewhere around Portland? For that answer look no further than the owner, Paul Allen. Allen has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest and specifically the Seattle area. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), is part owner of the Seattle Sounders FC (MLS), lives in Mercer Island, WA and he attended Washington State University. Oh, and by the way, he co-founded this tiny little company named Microsoft whose headquarters are located in Redmond, WA. Get the picture?
Seattle has been yearning for professional basketball ever since they were robbed of their beloved Seattle Supersonics. Seattle native Jamal Crawford puts on the Seattle Pro-Am every summer to bring back local professional talent for the fans, but a professional franchise — even a D-League one — would likely flourish beyond belief.
Another benefit of the Seattle area being used to house the Blazers’ D-League team would be proximity. Seattle is roughly a three-hour drive from Portland and only a 45-minute flight into SeaTac International Airport, which is about 15 miles south of Seattle.
Now that you are totally on board with the team being up in the Seattle area, let’s check out some arena options for the team to use.
The first option is the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA. This location is a 10-15 minute drive from the airport and only 25 minutes or so from Seattle, so those rabid fans could easily make the trek. The ShoWare Center has capacity up to 6,500 and is already home to the Seattle Thunderbirds — a hockey team part of the Western Hockey League, which is overseen by the Canadian Hockey League. This is important because the venue is capable and experienced with minor league teams and catering to the family atmosphere which the NBA D-League prides itself on providing. Most of the D-League franchises can be found in locations like Kent — not major cities but still have the population to sustain a professional team for many years to come.
Next we have the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, WA. Tacoma is a little further south (it’s about a 25 minute drive from the airport and 40 minutes from fans in Seattle). The Tacoma Dome would be massive venue for the D-League as it has capacity for 23,000 fans and surpassing the current leader for capacity (Iowa Energy 16,000) by 7,000 seats. Clearly there are not 23,000 people showing up for an NBADL matchup and that could hinder the Dome’s chances. Another thing that might hurt their candidacy is that they are the major concert venue in Washington state, so availability for home games could be a potential issue.
We round the discussion out with the most obvious choice, and that’s KeyArena in Seattle, WA. Again, Seattle is about 15 minutes north of SeaTac Airport thus making the logistics work quite well. The Key has capacity just over 17,000 for basketball games and is still the home for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. For many of the Storm’s home games the arena uses an upper level seat blocker to make the arena appear more full than it actually is, and the same could be done for a D-League franchise.
Another major benefit to starting an affiliate as an expansion team is that the Blazers would not have the hybrid affiliation like their previous agreement with the Stampede. In essence, they would run the entire show and give Neil Olshey another project to headline for the franchise.
The Portland Trail Blazers are currently one of only eight remaining NBA clubs without a D-League affiliate and whether or not they bring a team to the Seattle area and warm the hearts of millions of spurned fans is their prerogative, but the fact remains that an affiliate is needed. A short-sighted thought process by the team’s brass can only be beneficial for so long and while the rest of the league is jumping on board, Portland seems content standing their ground in objection.