Fair Readers, Go Out There And Become A D Leaguer

I love the D League. I love that Kelenna Azuibuke can be plucked up from nowhere and be a far more serviceable backup thank half the guys earning fat contracts at the end of benches (hey Adonal Foyle) in the NBA. I love that Jose Juan Barea, the first Northeastern Husky in the NBA since Reggie Lewis (that one went well, by the way), played there some last season and wrecked the shit out of everyone. I love that Joe Shipp, my favorite player ever from Cal, continues on in it. Everything about it is fun. It's like minor league baseball, but much more navigable and easy to follow since instead of seven thousand teams there are like 25.

With that in mind, if any of you out there have reasonable basketball skills, this might be fun.

The NBA Development League Pre-Draft Camp offers athletes an opportunity to showcase their talents in front of NBA & D-League front office personnel, as well as coaches & representatives from every D-League team. Participants will be competing for the opportunity to sign a D-League standard player contract and be placed in the 2007 NBA Development League Draft to be held in November, 2007.

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The Pre-Draft Camp will consist of up to 200 players to be selected by NBA & D-League front office personnel. All selected participants will be notified prior to the camp. The $500 fee will cover lodging & transportation while in Dallas/Arlington, TX, as well as practice gear. If selected, you will be responsible for arriving in Dallas, TX on Friday, July 27. Transportation between DFW Airport, the player hotel, and the camp site will be provided.

The camp is in Arlington, and there's a $500 fee you have to front with your application, but if they don't select you you get it back, so there's not a whole lot to lose here. There were like 15 D Leaguers called up last year to the NBA, so teams are definitely using it. I think it'd be great for basketball to eventually establish it as a true AAA, where each team has its own affiliate to assign their own players too. You could expand the draft or, at the very least, just sign a bunch of deserving college players and give them a shot to show something.


Anyway, all four of you FC readers, take a shot. Make this moment last