Your Daily Dose of D-League

As the All Star Game approaches Saturday, there really only appear to be four relevant teams left in the D League. Dakota and Fort Worth in the East are tied atop the standings at 18-10, while Idaho has surpassed depleted Colorado in the West by a game, as they stand at 21-10 to Colorado's 19-11.

Fort Worth vs. Dakota: On paper, you probably have to like Dakota in this matchup going into the second half. Quemont Greer and James Maye have been two of the league's top scorers this year, and Too Much Rod Benson has played real solid ball since joining Dakota after an uninspiring stint earlier in the year with Austin. The real leader here, though, is D League All Star Renaldo Major, who's already been with the Warriors this season and has 18 PPG while shooting 53.3%. Moreover, only Major really seems to have any shot of getting a callup, which means even if he should be called up again, they still have Benson, Greer, Maye, and a few other decent options (Tremaine Fowlkes, Dontell Jefferson) to fall back on. Fort Worth's benefitted throughout the year from having great talents on the team, such as Jose Juan Barea (Go Northeastern), now with Dallas, Pops Mensah Bonsu, now also with Dallas, their third Dallas asignee Maurice Ager, Jeremy Richardson, now with Atlanta, Louis Williams, now with Philadelphia, and Kelenna Azubuike, now with the Warriors (I love, love Kelenna Azubuike by the way. The rest of the Warriors dissapoint me, though.) That's a host of top D League talent, none of which is all too likely to be back this year. Kevin Burleson (12.4 PPG, 4.4 APG) Corey Santee (12.8 PPG), and Luke Schenscher (10 PPG, 7 RPG) as their leading talents left. Burleson and Santee aren't even particularly good, as they're shooting 37.6% and 40.7%, respectively. The only other guy on the roster who's looked decent at all is forward Terrence Thomas, who's posting 8.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG, while shooting 46.5%. Deji Akindele also provides a decent defensive inside presence, with 1.11 BPG in just 15.3 MPG, but if Schenscher gets called up, as he was last year, this team is going to be barren. Don't be surrprised if they go on a real rough streak sometime soon. They're already being outshot by opponents 47% to 46.9%.


One important dark horse in the East, though, is Austin, who is arguably better than both of these squads. They're still five back, but they've won 9 in a row and are 14-4 since their 0-12 start. BJ Elder and Loren Woods have really led this team back, and Troy Bell has been an important part as well.

Colorado vs. Idaho: Colorado just lost Louis Amundson, but still boasts one of the most talented and productive rosters in the entire league, one that's been allowed to play together for most of the year. Led by remaining all stars Pooh Jeter (12.2 PPG, 6.6 APG, 47.4 FG%), Elton Brown (17.8 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 55.2 FG%), and Von Wafer (20.8 PPG, 49.9 FG%, 47.7 3P%), along with supporting parts Rick Rickert (11.9 PPG, 50.2 FG%), Bakari Hendrix (8 PPG), and Mike Harris (10.2 PPG, 1.31 BPG, 57.1 FG%) the 14ers have, seemingly, what it takes to once again be atop in the West. The problem they may, in fact are probably likely, to run into is callups. Amundson has already been lost, though he's expected back after the 10 Day-er runs up. Wafer, Brown, and Amundson again are all pretty likely callups at some point, which would be a real detriment to a team that's handily outscored it's opponents by an average of 6.7 points a game, while shooting 49.7% as a team. Idaho, meanwhile, has ridden big men Peter Ramos 13.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 55.6 FG%, 1.32 BPG) and Jeff Graves (13.3 PPG, 8 RPG, 57.6 FG%) to great success. Randy Livingston is going to the All Star mostly on the merits of being the league's assist leader (9.8 a game) despite his awful shooting (36.5%) and they have Luke Jackson back, as well. However, they haven't outscored opponents like Colorado has (98.3-94.0) and ultimately seem to be overmatched, talent wise. To their credit though, they have the vast defensive advantage, allowing the least points a game in the league. (Incidentally Colorado, on the opposite end of the spectrum, leads in the league in points scored a game.) Thid in the West is Los Angeles, at 15-15, 5.5 back. Don't expect much from them.



-Austin plays Sioux Falls tonight, as they creep back towards .500, Arkansas and Albuequerque face off in a pretty irrelevant matchup, as do Tulsa and Anaheim, while Dakota can take a half game lead over Fort Worth if they top league worst Bakersfield.