RealGM

Stein reports that because of the new rule, 3 of the 4 players Dallas released (McCants, Sean Williams, Haluska and Dee Brown) are D-league eligable.

Is 3 players the limit? Why did they have to be signed and waived? Could they not just signed with the Texas Legends?

Is there any advantage for the Dallas Mavericks by having these players (Williams, McCants) play for the Texas Legands?


This is new territory for me and I don't even know where to find these rules.

Thanks for any help.

Players don't sign with D-League teams. They signed with the D-League itself, and then are assigned to the teams via various methods. Some are designated as "returning" players (the meaning of which should be obvious); some are "assigned" (due to either recent stints with the parent NBA teams, or strong local ties, i.e. Iowa State players going to the Iowa Energy), and some win spots via local tryouts. The rest go into a pool, from whence they are drafted at the start of the year, and then further acquired/released from the pool throughout the year. This is why players get released when they're injured; because they've signed with the league itself, they get paid anyway.

Thanks Sham. I was not aware that a D-league team could not just sign someone. So that answers part of it.

On thing I still am not clear on is this: if Dallas waives someone like Cardinal, could we bring up and send back McCants & Williams the way we do with 1&2 year players?

Yes, but they're not exclusively yours. They can sign with any team.

Interesting. Then there is not much benefit for the team, but moreso for the player.

By signing with Dallas first - albeit briefly - McCants and Williams are automatically assigned to Texas (the Mavs D-league team) rather than being drafted with their rights assigned by the D-league, if they want to play in the D-league and Texas wants them. They were obviously players who wanted to play for Texas, as they only had a cup of coffee in training camp and weren't really in Dallas to be in the mix for the Mavs.

This arises from a new rule in 2010 as described in a fanhouse article http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/09/25/allo ... iate-bond/ The limit is 3 players.

"In accordance with the NBA, the NBA Development League will implement a rule change with regard to how D-League rosters are assembled. Beginning this season, up to three players cut last from the roster of an NBA team before the D-League Draft will be allocated to that team's D-League affiliate provided they sign the standard D-League contract.

"This rule replaces the previous allocation rule, where players of local significance would be allocated to D-League teams, a rule that was designed to help with marketing but didn't increase the team's bond with the NBA like the new allocation system should.

"The new allocation process is a big change and it will alter our league drastically," said one D-League coach, speaking to FanHouse on the condition of anonymity as the rule change has not yet been officially announced by the league. "Very often, the best players in the D-League attended training camp with an NBA team. It's great from an NBA team's perspective since the players they like, and want a longer look at, can stay with their affiliates."