Welcome to the grand opening of the new-look CavFanatic and our new shared blog – “From Deep in The Q.”
Hardcore hoops fans are starting to feel that itch as fall inches slowly towards winter.
Luckily, pro basketball is coming to Northeast Ohio in the coming weeks – that in the form of the yet-to-be-named Canton D-League squad.
The Cavaliers are part of a growing NBA trend of teams owning and operating their own D-League team. The league itself has grown as a viable farm system for the NBA. By the end of the 2010-11 season, 23 percent of NBA players had spent time in the NBA D-League.
Canton’s season will consist of 50 games – 24 home, 24 away and two games at the D-League Showcase. Canton opens the Civic Center against last year’s champs, the Iowa Energy, on Nov. 25 and plays its next three – and nine of the first 13 – on the corner of Market and 12th. They’ll face their former team, the Erie Bayhawks, five times and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants seven.
(The BayHawks are now owned and operated by the Knicks, and they’re already looking forward to facing off against Canton. Erie head coach, Jay Larranaga has already stated: “I'm excited about having that rivalry with (Canton).")
The Canton team has yet to select its own first head coach, although they do have their GM – Wes Wilcox.
Wilcox feels that Canton’s coach will share the Cavaliers philosophy.
“At the end of the day, there’s going to be great synergy with the technical aspects that are being taught in Canton and the basketball system of the Cavs,” said Canton’s newly-minted general manager. “The coach we hire will spend time to be integrated into the Cavs basketball philosophy under Coach Scott and his staff. That’s what you’ll see in Canton.”
Wilcox has been with the Cavaliers for the past eight years and is currently the team’s Director of Player Personnel. In his first year with the Cavs, Wes was the team’s advance game scout, a position he held for four seasons. He moved on to become the team’s college and pro personnel scout for three seasons and was named director of player personnel in September 2010.
Wilcox has three methods for assembling the Canton club that takes the floor in seven weeks.
First, Canton will retain the rights to 17 players – anybody who played for New Mexico over the past two seasons who wasn’t on an NBA roster last season.
The second is the NBDL Draft, which takes place in early November and consists of eight rounds that are picked in serpentine format. Players eligible for the Draft must already have a signed contract with the league. (Teams don’t sign players in the D-League. They’re signed by the league, itself.)
The Draft could consist of college kids who weren’t drafted, former NBA players (who’ve been out of the league at least one year) or free agents who’ve played in Europe.
The third method is through local tryouts, where as many as five players can be signed by the league for Canton to choose from. The two tryouts will take place over the next two weekends – with the first on Oct. 8 and 9 at St. Ignatius High School and the second, on Oct. 15 and 16, at McKinley’s Memorial Field House.
From these three pools, Canton’s new club will be chosen. The team will invite 17 players to Training Camp, whittle that down to a dozen after one week, and go to battle against Iowa with just 10 players.
And as in the coaching search, Wilcox will be looking for players who fit the Cavaliers paradigm.
“Our core, guiding organizational characteristics have been set forth by Chris (Grant) and Dan (Gilbert) – beyond basketball – as hard-working, intelligent, loyal, humble, driven,” explained Wilcox.
Wes and Co. are putting the pieces together, and the NBDL’s newest franchise is moving full steam ahead. And the roster, which is currently being built, might just include some lucky local baller.
Either way, pro basketball is coming to central Stark County. And in this autumn of discontent, that’s some welcome good news.