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Local Ownership the Key
The shift to private ownership is a growing trend that Commissioner Stern would like to see continue.
“The expansion of the NBDL illustrates that the NBA's minor league has not only been successful in developing NBA talent on and off the court, but is a business proposition whose time has come,” said Stern.
A key part of Kahn’s plan to integrate each of these teams into their community involves bringing aboard area investors as partial owners.
Southwest Basketball, LLC, is optimistic that local supporters from each market will step up and acquire at least a twenty percent interest of a respective team.
“These will not be out-of town operations run by out-of town people,” Kahn stated.
Hitting the Fifteen
Before direct team-to-team affiliation can happen, there have to be enough teams to feed the major league clubs. The addition of the Southwest squads establishes teams closer to many NBA markets, and puts the NBDL closer to that goal.
"I would like to see a 15-team development league where two NBA teams could share one development team," Stern said. "The younger players could get the needed coaching, training and life skills that would make them better NBA players."
None of the NBDL teams has a true affiliation with the NBA as it stands right now.
Essentially, D-league players are just getting some exposure while hoping to be signed as a free agent when and/or if a big-league roster spot opens up. Teams buy contracts at will from any franchise.
NBA teams are not currently permitted to assign any players to the NBDL. This limits their use for rehab assignments, and to trade out marginal players in the NBA's second tier for brighter prospects.
Stern would love to see a system where NBA teams could send their players to its affiliated NBDL team and still reserve their rights. Don't expect to see Kobe Bryant testing a sore ankle by throwing down dunks for the Long Beach Lakers anytime soon. Such a proposal would first have to be collectively bargained with the NBA players' association before implementation.
The Age Line
Commissioner Stern is also pushing hard to establish a minimum 20-year age requirement of for entry into the NBA. High school hopefuls would have to cruise through the NBDL if they weren't declaring a college.
Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, has gone on the record opposing both of these ideas.
“I'm optimistic, not confident,” Stern said regarding the two proposals. “But it's very much on the table.”
The current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30th of this year. While Stern said he would like the NBDL-NBA affiliations to commence by the 2006-07 season, he stated there was no pressure as far as a timetable to get the deal done.
"I can't tell you what the schedule is and what the Players Association will ultimately agree to," Stern admitted. "But if we ever made the deal, we'd try to move as fast as possible."
Doom for the D-Leagues Founding Franchises?
The question then becomes; will the migration into these bigger cities will spell doom for some or all of the NBDL’s Big Six cities?
Commissioner Stern said that the future status of the D-league 's existing franchises would not be determined until the end of the season.
While low attendance has plagued the league since its inception, Stern reiterated that the bottom line isn’t necessarily the bottom line.
"Our test is not that there will be a certain level of profitability,” says Stern. “Our test is how does it look, is it growing, how's the sponsorship, how's the attendance, how's the community support? If it's moving in the right direction, we don't have a litmus test of a certain amount of dollars, because to us the development aspect is so important."
Nonetheless, Stern’s vision is clear, and he seems willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that his master plan succeeds. In fact, the writing may be on the wall for some of the smaller market clubs already.
"I think in an interesting kind of a way these larger markets are going to be putting some pressure on us," Stern said. "We think they're going to be quite successful and are going to cause us to have to make some difficult decisions as we decide where the future of where this league should be."
