Greensboro Swarm: The G-League Thread

[JDR720]

i have no idea why we would draft him, he is about 15 years removed from being a prospect.

[Braggins]

Damien Wilkins? LOL, we can't get rid of this guy.

Isn't he getting close to 40 years old? Seems like we are basically going to be paying him to babysit for our D-League team. Not that its a bad thing, but it is kind of funny.

[Diop]

I guess Patrick Ewing Jr wasn't available?

[Liver_Pooty]

Damian Wilkins. Good grief. He'll play a game for us before january. It's inevitable

[dmutombo321]

Hopson is an intriguing prospect. Big time scorer with good size at the SG position.

After the ridiculous numbers he put up in Dleague last year, I'm surprised he was made available in the expansion draft. I seem to recall him having a mercurial reputation and coming across as somewhat arrogant in his predraft interviews coming out of college. Perhaps that had something to do with it.
http://dleague.nba.com/player/scotty-hopson/

I'd say he's the probable starter at the 2 if they end up playing Harrison at 3

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[yosemiteben]

Article containing thoughts on the expansion draft: http://dleaguedigest.com/2016/08/25/nba-d-league-expansion-draft-results-and-thoughts/

Snippets:

Though teams acquire a solid amount of talent through the expansion draft, almost none of these players listed are guaranteed to play for their new respective teams.

A majority of these players have either moved on or are pursuing overseas careers of which offer greater financial security than that of the D-League.

The Huestis Effect
Meanwhile, the Greensboro Swarm turned some heads in the draft with the selection of Josh Huestis, who is currently under contract with the team’s parent club, the Thunder.

Why is this significant? Originally, NBA teams who signed their draft picks had the first right of refusal for their D-League rights. That appears to not be the case with Huestis, however, who was a draft-and-stash D-League prospect in 2014.

If Huestis is placed on assignment by the Thunder, he will play for their own team, the Oklahoma City Blue. It is only if Huestis is waived by the Thunder would the Swarm then hold his D-League rights.

No Love For Erie?
Not a single player from the Erie BayHawks was taken in the expansion draft. There’s always two sides to a coin. One, Erie is relieved that none of its players were taken. However, what does it say about the talent they left unprotected if nobody wanted to take a shot on them?

Do the math. The maximum number of players a single team could lose was two during the draft. With 36 players to be selected, nearly every team would expect to lose at least one player. Not Erie, however.

[dmutombo321]

^ This article may explain the reason a talent like Hopson, one of the best players in the D-league last year, was left available for D-league selection by his team. Possible he had given indications of his intent to play overseas next season and his d-league team simply left him exposed to protect other players on their roster knowing that Hopson wont be playing in the NBDL next year.

In other news, it looks like Kendall Marshall is being waived by Utah after they acquired him in a salary dump with the sixers. If he's not headed overseas or doesnt score a minimum contract from another team, he would definitely be worth kicking the tires on for a Swarm PG prospect.

[fatlever]

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[yosemiteben]

Video interview of Coach Gillespie to discuss the Swarm's open tryout: http://www.fox46charlotte.com/good-day/205292574-video

I seriously would love to try out just for kicks. I've been shooting a solid 34% from three at the Y lately so I'm feeling my oats a bit, I might make the cut.

[yosemiteben]

Announcement of Swarm assistant coaches, more qualified than I expected - http://greensboro.dleague.nba.com/news/swarm-finalize-coaching-staff/

[fatlever]

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[yosemiteben]

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The Swarm has the #13 pick (out of 22 picks) in the D league draft on Oct. 30.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Moving this post over from the Andrews thread due to relevance.

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Andrews waived today.

What does that mean for keeping him with Swarm?

I believe the Hornets keep the D-League draft rights of the last 4 players that they waive.

I hadn't found this in my initial research on league rules, but now I've managed to find a bit more on it. Most notably, it's not the four most recent cuts, but a team can designate any four "affiliate players" who will bypass the Dleague's draft pool and head directly to Greensboro once they're cut. Of course, this clarification is moot because we only signed 19 players, which makes sense given the four designations and fifteen active roster spots.

It's also worth noting that, while this keeps other DL teams from claiming them, there is no way to protect them from being signed by NBA teams. Think less minor league baseball and more NFL practice squad. We'd hold their DL rights, but they're still NBA free agents.

In addition to the four affiliate players, there are also up to two spots available on DL rosters for NBA assignees. These guys stay on the NBA roster and are paid their NBA salaries (though this is reportedly being addressed with the addition of two-way contracts in the new CBA).

Essentially this means that up to six players we had in Hornets camp will be transferred to Greensboro, or half the Swarm roster. The following are the 8 DL-eligible players on the roster.

Fully Guaranteed contracts: Frank and Wood

Frank isn't likely to spend time in Greensboro, but we'll almost certainly see Wood there quite a bit. Wood has a second, unguaranteed year on his current deal before becoming a RFA.

Non-guaranteed, but with NBA experience: Harrison

Harrison is another player that seems destined for Greensboro, be it through assignment or designation. He's in the last year of his NBA contract before becoming a RFA.

Partially-guaranteed rookies: Tobey and Graham

While Graham took the DL route last year after going undrafted, he's still technically a rookie by NBA standards. It's important to differentiate these two from the yet-to-be-mentioned camp invites due to them receiving $75k signing bonuses and unguaranteed second years on their contracts, making them ineligible for cap-exempt Exhibit 9 "summer contracts" as the last three received. But this also seemingly indicates a greater level of interest from the team in keeping them around.

Summer contracts: Sulaimon, Ellis, Andrews (waived)

All these guys are on 1-year, fully unguaranteed contracts. The only way they'll hang around is as one of the four designated cuts destined for the Swarm. Even though Andrews has opted to take an offer elsewhere, they can still keep his DL rights if they want.

If I had to guess, the partially guaranteed deals of Tobey and Graham get them to the roster, while Harrison and the cap invites receive the four Swarm designations.

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[fatlever]

well done Blackout. Thank you.

[yosemiteben]

Some confirmations on Swarm players:

D-League Digest ‏@DLeagueDigest 18h18 hours ago
After being waived by the Hornets, KU alum Perry Ellis will be joining the Greensboro Swarm, source tells D-League Digest.

Ridiculous Upside ‏@RidicUpside Oct 22
Sources tell Ridiculous Upside that recent Hornets cut Mike Tobey will start the 2016-17 season with the Greensboro Swarm.

I thought Tobey looked pretty good in the limited minutes we saw him. He just turned 22 a couple weeks ago so he's still relatively young and might have some upside in him.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Some confirmations on Swarm players:

D-League Digest ‏@DLeagueDigest 18h18 hours ago
After being waived by the Hornets, KU alum Perry Ellis will be joining the Greensboro Swarm, source tells D-League Digest.

Ridiculous Upside ‏@RidicUpside Oct 22
Sources tell Ridiculous Upside that recent Hornets cut Mike Tobey will start the 2016-17 season with the Greensboro Swarm.

I thought Tobey looked pretty good in the limited minutes we saw him. He just turned 22 a couple weeks ago so he's still relatively young and might have some upside in him.

And from a couple days ago:

@MikeAScotto
Charlotte Hornets are waiving Rasheed Sulaimon, league sources tell Basketball Insiders. He will join the Greensboro Swarm in the D-League.

And of course Andrews is headed overseas. Wonder how many of our expansion guys actually reported.

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[BlackOutBuzz]

A team can designate any four "affiliate players" who will bypass the Dleague's draft pool and head directly to (their affiliate) once they're cut, provided they last played for their NBA team.

And this is where this rule gets stupid.

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[BlackOutBuzz]

@Chris_Reichert
NBA vet Damien Wilkins will play for the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA D-League, sources tell @The_Step_Back #NBADL

We selected him in the expansion draft, but there's no guarantee these guys will report. Haven't found any info on the other expansion picks.

Toure Murry was one of those selections, though I'm not sure if we still hold his rights. Based on the affiliate rule we used to keep our recent cuts, that would mean the Timberwolves would hold his rights after they cut him yesterday. Not sure if the affiliate rule overrules the expansion draft, though it may not matter as Minnesota doesn't have sole possession of a team.

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[LamarMatic7]

@Chris_Reichert
NBA vet Damien Wilkins will play for the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA D-League, sources tell @The_Step_Back #NBADL

We selected him in the expansion draft, but there's no guarantee these guys will report. Haven't found any info on the other expansion picks.

Toure Murry was one of those selections, though I'm not sure if we still hold his rights. Based on the affiliate rule we used to keep our recent cuts, that would mean the Timberwolves would hold his rights after they cut him yesterday. Not sure if the affiliate rule overrules the expansion draft, though it may not matter as Minnesota doesn't have sole possession of a team.

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Damien seemed like a cool dude when we did the podcast. I wonder whether he's aiming for an NBA comeback.

Would love to have him on again and do a career retrospective. My previous chat with him was probably my worst podcast ever and completely due to my own faults, like inexperience.

[yosemiteben]

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Greensboro Swarm ‏@greensboroswarm 32m32 minutes ago Greensboro, NC
We'd like to officially welcome Kevin Heilbronner as our PA announcer and Scott Pryzwansky as our play-by-play announcer!
#ThisIsSwarm

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Greensboro Swarm ‏@greensboroswarm 31m31 minutes ago Greensboro, NC
A big welcome to Greensboro's own @BDAHT as our in-arena host!
#ThisIsSwarm