On the NBA: Mining for Diamonds

Hardcore basketball fans are bound to get a little giddy Monday when the 2009 NBA Development League Showcase tips off its 16-game schedule in Orem, Utah.

The fifth annual event, which features all 16 NBA D-League teams playing two games apiece under one roof, has become the premier in-season basketball scouting event.

General managers, player personnel staff and scouts from each of the 30 NBA teams converge on Utah for four consecutive days to evaluate the league's talent.

Meanwhile, Monday also just happens to be the day NBA teams can start officially signing players to 10-day contracts, so it's time for some of the league's lesser teams to start mining for diamonds.

The NBA is certainly lopsided this year. The top teams like Boston, Cleveland, the LA Lakers and Orlando sport some very gaudy records and need little help, but there are plenty of have-nots that could use a role player or two to make a run at one of the final playoff spots.

Jermareo Davidson is among the NBA players currently assigned to the D-League.

Philadelphia is in perpetual need of a shooter, while Golden State and the Clippers could certainly use a defensive stopper on the wing.

Indiana and Jim O'Brien are always on the lookout for players that can fit into an up-tempo style, as is Mike D'Antoni and his New York Knicks.

Meanwhile, the Wizards could use some toughness inside and Oklahoma City just needs more good basketball players.

Make no mistake, there are no quick fixes and the D-League rarely offers players with large upsides, but improving things, no matter how small or incremental that improvement might be, should be the goal of each and every NBA team.

This year's Showcase features three members of the 2008 NBA Draft class that didn't make the league on their first try - Joe Crawford (Los Angeles D-Fenders), Patrick Ewing, Jr. (Reno Bighorns) and Richard Hendrix (Dakota Wizards).

There is also a host of NBA assigned players like Joey Dorsey (Houston Rockets, playing with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers), J.R. Giddens (Boston Celtics, playing with the Utah Flash), Malik Hairston (San Antonio Spurs, playing with the Austin Toros), Walter Sharpe (Detroit Pistons, playing with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants), Bill Walker (Boston Celtics, playing with the Flash), and Sonny Weems (Denver Nuggets, playing with the Colorado 14ers).

Additionally, six members of the 2007 NBA Draft class will be at the Showcase, including Sean Williams, currently on assignment with the 14ers from the New Jersey Nets, and Derrick Byars (Bakersfield Jam), Jermareo Davidson (Idaho Stampede), Jared Jordan (Rio Grande Valley), Chris Richard (Tulsa 66ers), and Marcus Williams (Austin).

"With the extraordinary depth of talent in the NBA D-League this season, the NBA D-League Showcase affords NBA teams an opportunity to evaluate all of the League's players in one location," said Chris Alpert, vice president of basketball operations and player personnel for the NBA D-League." "Historically, we have seen NBA teams sign players immediately following the Showcase, and in some instances during the Showcase, too."

The most serous call-up candidates this year appear to be a quartet of former SEC players, Hendrix. a 6-foot-8, 250-pound banger from Alabama, along with Davidson, Crawford and Byars.

At 6-foot-11 and 230 pounds, Davidson, who had a cup of coffee with the Charlotte Bobcats and also starred at Alabama, offers the kind of length to be an elite shot blocker at some point. He is averaging 1.5 swats a game in the D-League this season and might be a nice interior presence for someone down the line.

Crawford, a former Kentucky standout and LA Lakers draft pick, is blessed with a nice stroke from beyond the arc and a potent mid-range game, while Byars, who went to training camp with the Sixers last season and is a former SEC Player of the Year at Vanderbilt, is the kind of athletic swingman that can offer a solid 10-to-15 minute defensive effort on a nightly basis.