You know what else is interesting? Fort Wayne's defense is much improved since he joined them. Think about that for a minute. Or two.
Now that he has a few games under his belt in the D... league, here is how he is looking: 21.4 points, #1 on team 8.1 rebs, #1 3.5 off rebs, #1 2.6 ast, #3 1.4 stl, #2 0.6 blk, #3 So, he's basically duplicating what he did for us in the pre-season. He's a scorer who rebounds very well for his position. Also, he's a good all around player who fills the stat sheet in many ways. It would be nice to give him a shot next year if no other teams grab him.
I really wonder why no team is giving him a shot so far? Anybody can bring him in on a 10-day contract and see what he can do. Orlando is struggling defensively, so is Golden State. They could use solid defensive player.
The D-league doesn't seem to be a true minor league system yet. If guys like Amir, Samb, Acker, and Mejia can be drafted, then sent down there to do well, and still not get NBA time, then what hope do the rest of those guys have? If you are the 3rd leading scorer on a D-league team, you have 0% chance of making it to the NBA. No wonder steady ball hoggin is a way of life down there.
There are a number of other former D league players in the NBA. You can Google for them. Kelenna Azubuike - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm not saying it is impossible. Just that in order to have a chance, you better be the best player on your D-league team by a wide margin. In minor league baseball for instance, the big league teams take a much deeper, more educated look at their minor leaguers. I just sort of get the feeling that if you were a great role player, like Tay, and in the D-league, you won't get noticed. And realistically, role players are what teams should be looking for out of those guys.
The D league is basically a place to play pro ball for guys that aren't good enough to play in the NBA or Europe or want to play pro ball but don't want to play in Europe. It is also a place from which NBA teams can look for players during the middle of the season if they need an extra body. It does not serve the same purpose as the minor leagues in baseball. In baseball, even college players are not usually ready to play in the major leagues or even close. So the minor leagues are used to develop them. For the NBA the colleges are equivalent to minors in baseball. The D league name of "Development" league is a misnomer. When AJ went to the D league last year, he asked to go so that he could play some hoops in games rather than just sit on the Pistons bench. He did not go down to develop his game. That is why it is no surprise that his defense needs so much improvement, because I am sure that he never had to play defense in high school or the D league, so he never learned how to play defense.
Speaking of D-league. Mad Antz are on right now on nbatv. Mejia is looking very relaxed out there. Doesn't seem to be exerting himself on defense much.
One big difference between the Mad Ants with Mejia and the Sioux Falls with AJ is that Sioux Falls was a good team and the Mad Ants are an under .500 team.
PPG allowed, that one I know for sure. Not sure about any other stats and I didn't watch the games. Just saw the box scores.
He doesn't appear to be an impact player. The Mad Ants still stink, even with Mejia putting up huge numbers.
All I said is that their defense got better. You have to remember, that about the same time they lost their leading scorer, and they also don't have services of Samb.
Did you do any number-crunching? I looked at the box scores and saw a few low-scoring and a few high-scoring games both pre-Mejia and post-Mejia. Nothing stuck out, though.
I got your numbers for you. Here are the caveats. In Mejia's first game, he only played < 2 minutes, so I'm counting that as a game without his defensive contribution. Also, one of the games he was involved in went to OT, where his team outscored the other 22-17. So I backed out the 17 points to get a regulation points allowed average. Before Mejia, they were giving up 113 per game. Since Mejia joined them, they give up 102 per game. And without Samb, that's pretty impressive I would say. They should call it the "No D League". Last night was one of his worst games, but he still got 5 offensive boards.
You don't disagree with my massaging do you? It was all legit. Can't count OT totals for this exercise, cause it would be nonsensical. And <2 minutes at the end of a game where they already gave up 117 points clearly wasn't his doing.
