NBA Development League

[SoSueMe]

First, I have to give the Score (the weakest of three all-sports networks in Canada) credit for broadcasting games.

My question: Is this stuff worth watching? Or should I shut off my television and wait for USC/UCLA and Hockey Night in Canada?

I mean, when it comes to hockey and baseball outside the NHL and MLB, it's watchable and quality. But WHAT is this!? There is NO ONE in the stands.

(I don't have much to do today, a wrestling meet and that's it. Plus, there's five inches of snow outside and I hate winter).

 

[BYH]

You hate winter and you live in Canada?

Isn't that like hating sun and living in Florida? Or hating water and living in the Bahamas? Or hating dry heat and living in the desert?

 

[HoopsMcCann]

one thing i've learned, byh, is that canadians generally live in canada

 

[SoSueMe]

You hate winter and you live in Canada?

Isn't that like hating sun and living in Florida? Or hating water and living in the Bahamas? Or hating dry heat and living in the desert?

It's not like I had a choice in the matter when my mother decided to have me.

And, as posted on another thread (where I'm asked why I hate Canada), it's not like I can escape. In theory, it seems easy enough to pack up and move to the States. But it's not, as referenced in that thread.

I used to think there are "warm spots" in Canada. And, after living coast-to-coast, I realize there isn't.

 

[BYH]

one thing i've learned, byh, is that canadians generally live in canada

Thanks Hoops. I had no idea. :D

It was just surprising to hear such anti-cold sentiment coming from a Canadian, is all.

SoSueMe, why do you hate Canada?

 

[SoSueMe]

one thing i've learned, byh, is that canadians generally live in canada

Thanks Hoops. I had no idea. :D

It was just surprising to hear such anti-cold sentiment coming from a Canadian, is all.

SoSueMe, why do you hate Canada?

Stop it!! I'm not a traitor! (although, I'm sometimes a hater)

I hate the winter, the CRTC, CanCon, how journalists got hosed on NAFTA, our collective never-ending quest to define a culture that isn't there, the fact that "Quebec is a recognized nation within a united Canada" and and the cost of domestic airfare.

That's all.

For what it's worth, imagine, say, Cajuns in Louisiana, or Hispanics in California, DEMANDING that they be a "recognized nation within a United America." And then the federal government ALLOWING it to happen!? Ridiculous isn't it?

 

[HoopsMcCann]

for the record, i love me some canada

 

[Bruhman]

about the d-league...

the local franchise, florida flame, is "on hiatus" after a two-year run, perhaps never to return. the product wasn't bad, about what stern envisions, triple-a hoops. it was a showcase for borderline nba-ers and some former nba-ers. if you like (or at least don't mind) the nba style of hoops, the d-league is the closest facsimile around.

 

[MC Sports Guy]

Does anyone else think that calling it the Developmental League is a horrible marketing mistake? Fans of pro basketball don't want to go see players develop, they want to see good basketball. Even if that's what's going in the league, give it a slicker name. Something like, Stern's B-Ball Club.

Or maybe even the Hey, I Remember That Guy League.

 

[leo1]

the d-league is a strange animal. no one watches it because, well, it's unwatchable.

the concept of a developmental league along the lines of baseball's farm system is a good one. i just don't think it'll ever equate with farm systems because minor league baseball has been entrenched for so long.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

First, I have to give the Score (the weakest of three all-sports networks in Canada) credit for broadcasting games.

My question: Is this stuff worth watching? Or should I shut off my television and wait for USC/UCLA and Hockey Night in Canada?

I mean, when it comes to hockey and baseball outside the NHL and MLB, it's watchable and quality. But WHAT is this!? There is NO ONE in the stands.

(I don't have much to do today, a wrestling meet and that's it. Plus, there's five inches of snow outside and I hate winter).

Turn the TV off and read a little. Just because you're a sportswriter, doesn't mean you have to watch sports 24/7.

 

[SoSueMe]

First, I have to give the Score (the weakest of three all-sports networks in Canada) credit for broadcasting games.

My question: Is this stuff worth watching? Or should I shut off my television and wait for USC/UCLA and Hockey Night in Canada?

I mean, when it comes to hockey and baseball outside the NHL and MLB, it's watchable and quality. But WHAT is this!? There is NO ONE in the stands.

(I don't have much to do today, a wrestling meet and that's it. Plus, there's five inches of snow outside and I hate winter).

Turn the TV off and read a little. Just because you're a sportswriter, doesn't mean you have to watch sports 24/7.

I don't HAVE to. I WANT to.

Seriously. I don't watch a single television show that isn't a sports broadcast - or Seinfeld. I have watched one episode of Lost in my life and it was when I was drunk at a buddy's house after a bunch of us went out and crashed at his place and he had to watch it before bed. I've never watched Scrubs, never watched Grey's Anatomy and never watched Studio 60. I've watched the ocassional CSI with the fiancee and I watched the Office in its first season, before I went back to a daily and afternoons.

 

[leo1]

First, I have to give the Score (the weakest of three all-sports networks in Canada) credit for broadcasting games.

My question: Is this stuff worth watching? Or should I shut off my television and wait for USC/UCLA and Hockey Night in Canada?

I mean, when it comes to hockey and baseball outside the NHL and MLB, it's watchable and quality. But WHAT is this!? There is NO ONE in the stands.

(I don't have much to do today, a wrestling meet and that's it. Plus, there's five inches of snow outside and I hate winter).

Turn the TV off and read a little. Just because you're a sportswriter, doesn't mean you have to watch sports 24/7.

I don't HAVE to. I WANT to.

Seriously. I don't watch a single television show that isn't a sports broadcast - or Seinfeld. I have watched one episode of Lost in my life and it was when I was drunk at a buddy's house after a bunch of us went out and crashed at his place and he had to watch it before bed. I've never watched Scrubs, never watched Grey's Anatomy and never watched Studio 60. I've watched the ocassional CSI with the fiancee and I watched the Office in its first season, before I went back to a daily and afternoons.

must be a canadian thing

 

[slowcenter]

You have to be a serious pro basketball fan to watch the D League. It doesn't have the cache of a college, with a built-in group of rooters, and none of the teams have even been in their markets for very long, except for the former CBA teams that have been added.

Minor league basketball has always been a tough sell. It has only worked in markets where there is no other sports competition (Sioux Falls, Rockford, Yakima, etc). Now that the D League has acquired the few solvent CBA markets, the CBA will probably go away in a year or two. But that doesn't mean the D League is financially healthy.

In time, if the NBA leaves the D League teams in their markets and does some actual promotion in those communities, it can have a small following. But leo1 is right about it not being even close to minor league baseball in terms of history and marketing smarts.