2017 G-League Expansion Draft
August 24th, 2017
Amidst the aftermath of the Kyrie Irving trade, the D-League – still finding it difficult to call it the G-League – held an expansion draft tonight for its four new franchises for the 2017/18 season. In a D-League expansion draft, incumbent teams are allowed to protect the returning player rights to nine of their players, with all unprotected players put into the pool, able to be selected by the four newbies. Selecting a player’s rights does not mean that that player will play for that team next season; that player will need to sign in the D-League next season, and these rights ensure only that if they do, this will be the team they must go to. Many have or will sign elsewhere, including the NBA in a couple of cases, and of course it is certainly normally the case that the best D-League (G-League, whatever) players will have their rights protected if there’s any realistic chance that they will return. Nevertheless, some will. And for the 44 players drafted tonight, these will be the teams they now have to join if they sign in the next two seasons [after which they will have no returning rights and will enter the player pool, from which they can be acquired by any team]. Returning player rights can be, and often are, traded. It therefore behoves the drafting teams to prioritise not only those whom they think are best, but also those with the best chances of returning to the D-League. And with all that in mind, here are the picks. Memphis Hustle Round 1: Marquis Teague (from Fort Wayne Mad Ants) Round 2: Okaro White (from Sioux Falls Skyforce) Round 3: D.J. Stephens (from Iowa Wolves) Round 4: Omari Johnson (from Fort Wayne Mad Ants) Round 5: Jamaal Franklin (from […]
2017 NBA Manifesto
June 29th, 2017
Hello! I am Mark, the owner and sole proprietor of this website, ShamSports.com. A few months ago, someone said to me, “why don’t you produce NBA content any more?” The comment, meant with genuine intrigue, still proved irksome. “I do”, I answered. “I watch more than ever. I talk about it. I still write a bit. I’m working on projects.” All these things were true. Still, they had a point. Look at the dust on this website, after all, and this is supposed to be the pinnacle of my CV. The comment was irksome because it was correct – I wasn’t actually producing enough stuff publicly. “What happened to that English guy who we briefly heard of?”, said no one ever. But they could have done, and that resonated. So I thought I’d make some NBA content. Over the last few months, I have created what I am calling my 2017 NBA Manifesto. I hereby launch it below. The idea of the manifesto is thus. It outlines the assets available to every NBA team. It looks at what their financial situation is, what instruments and exceptions they have for spending, and their total salary outlook. It does the same with their draft position. It looks at the players they already have on their roster, plus the issues that need addressing as a team. And then it thinks aloud about what to do with it all. It does this 30 times for 30 teams. All in all, it gets quite big. Every word in here is mine. Every opinion is mine. No one paid me to write it, and no one will pay to read it. This is me and what I think, based on facts as correct as an outsider can ascertain. This is my work and my thoughts, on […]
