The Sacramento Kings received their Big Brother program assignment yesterday for the NBDL and it will once again be the Reno Bighorns for the second year in a row.
Teams have the option of taking over the D-League affiliates basketball operations without having to actually purchase the team but the Kings haven’t decided to do that yet. They’ll be sharing the farm team with the Orlando Magic, instead of joining the Spurs, Lakers, Rockets, and Thunder as the only teams in the NBA to run their own NBDL team.
As for last year’s team and what type of player you can possibly expect to be readily available for the Kings? Well, each team will have a fair crack at the players whose rights are not owned by an NBA franchise but their were some significant players on least year’s Bighorns squad that could be easily scouted and readily available to the Kings.
Last year’s Reno team featured players such as David Noel (best athlete in the 2006 draft class), Rod Benson (of Boom Tho Movement and Ball Don’t Lie fame), Richie Frahm (oh those crazy Gonzaga Bulldogs), Andre Patterson (Indiana Hoosiers last decent export before Ben Eric Gordon) and Cezary Trybanski (Grizzlies fans know what I’m talking about – all six of you).
The team last year went 25-25 and won 13 of their last 18 games after starting the season 1-12. That could mean something going into next season but it probably doesn’t considering they’re going to draft an entirely new roster before the season starts.
You can probably expect a couple of summer league standouts from the next month and possibly Omri Casspi or Jon Brockman to make an appearance or two in the biggest little city in the world throughout the year if they need more seasoning and/or to make room for a higher level acquisition.
It’s nice to have you aboard again, Reno. Go Big Horns.
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