SANTA CRUZ, Calif.
Sacramento Kings Jerseys . - David Arseneault Jr. thought nothing of the email when it first appeared in his inbox.The message from Dean Oliver, the Sacramento Kings director of player personnel and analytics, just seemed like another inquiry about the quirky system his father ran at tiny Grinnell College. Little did Arseneault know that the Kings had been targeting him as a candidate to coach their NBA Development League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, for a unique basketball experiment.I called him, and he asked if I had interest in the job. I said, The head coaching job? Arseneault said, recalling the story during the D-League Showcase that concludes Monday night in Santa Cruz. He said, Yes. I said, Of course I have interest. I was shocked. I was a 28-year-old, part-time assistant coach at a Division III school in the middle of Iowa.Arseneaults addition is the latest — and perhaps most unconventional — example of how NBA franchises are increasingly using their minor-league team as a testing ground for new ideas.Since it started in 2001, the D-League has been focused on fostering and funneling talent to the NBA. Thats come mostly in the form of personnel, with the leagues most recent count tallying 139 players, 29 assistant coaches and two head coaches — Memphis Dave Joerger, and Utahs Quin Snyder — currently on NBA rosters with D-League experience.With 17 of 30 NBA franchises affiliated with one lower-tier club now, the expanding partnerships are allowing the D-League to become a melting pot for innovation.Arseneault and his father, David Arseneault Sr., got the attention of the Kings in 2012 when Jack Taylor scored an NCAA-record 138 points in Grinnells 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible. Arseneault Jr. was the de facto head coach the past few years, though his dad held the official title.Now he has the Bighorns averaging 140 points per game in what has simply become known as The System. The general principles are to shoot within 12 seconds, apply a full-court pressure defence, substitute all five players every couple of minutes and attempt a ton of 3-pointers.Organized chaos, he calls it.Arseneault said he communicates with Sacramentos front office daily, including Oliver, Kings general manager Pete DAlessandro, assistant general manager Mike Bratz, and scouting co-ordinator and Bighorns assistant general manager Chris Gilbert.The ultimate goal is to provide the Sacramento Kings with something that they can use at the highest level of basketball, Arseneault said.The Kings, through a team spokesman, declined to comment on the system. But theyve hardly been the only franchise taking a trial-and-error attitude with their D-League team.Last year, the Houston Rockets hired Nevada Smith — then just 33 years old — from Division III Keystone College in La Plume, Pennsylvania, to lead their D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.The Rockets, led by general manager Daryl Morey, were interested in Smith because of the way his team relied almost entirely on 3s and layups. Theyve used Rio Grande Valley, which attempted a league-high 45.4 shots per game from beyond the arc last season, to try out different schemes.I think weve had some creative minds, Smith said. We have some other things well do at some point in the season. Kind of saving them right now. Youll have to wait and see. Its kind of crazy, but its fun.The Golden State Warriors are fully invested in their D-League club, the Santa Cruz Warriors, who are owned and operated by the NBA franchise.Santa Cruz coach Casey Hill spent this summer learning the system Steve Kerr implemented with Golden State. The Warriors, like many teams, want players to know the system at both levels so when theyre called up or sent down — as centre Ognjen Kuzmic has been often this season — they know what to do.Its a tool that were going to use, and we have used, to make our NBA team better, Warriors general manager Bob Myers said.With constant call-ups and contract buyouts, the ever-changing rosters in the D-League create the biggest challenges for teams trying to think outside the box.Arseneault, for instance, was rotating more than 15 players at Grinnell. Now he usually has about 10 players with Reno, and theyre all competing for an NBA contract.Arseneault, under the direction of the Kings, said he has made subtle adjustments every game. In a 129-119 win over the Westchester Knicks on Friday night, he had one group run the Grinnell system and another group run a traditional system to fit everyones skills.Arseneault finds it all fascinating, mostly because he never expected the system his father adopted to ever win games — let alone at the professional level. It was just supposed to inject some fun into a small college team.Ive told (the Kings), Please come to me with any experiments you would like to see, Arseneault said. If we can even provide them with one little thing, one little tweak, I would consider it a success.___Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at:
www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP href="http://www.nbakingsonline.com/Authentic-DeAaron-Fox-Kings-Jersey/" target="_blank">DeAaron Fox Kings Jersey . However, Therrien added that Galchenyuks status for next Wednesdays game against the Detroit Red Wings is questionable. Galchenyuk has been out since Jan. 6 with a broken right hand.
Harry Giles Jersey . Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, the Houston Texans No. 1 pick in the draft, was on the field Tuesday for the first time with former NFL Defensive Player of the Year J. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Alex Cobb favours pitchers having the option of wearing protective headgear on the mound. Cobb returned to Tropicana Field on Monday, nine days after being struck in the right ear by a ball hit by Kansas Citys Eric Hosmer and nearly seven weeks after Torontos J.A. Happ also was hit in the head by a batted ball while pitching there. Sitting on a platform in the auxiliary clubhouse in which Happ also answered questions about the scary incident that knocked him out of a game in early May, Cobb -- who is making progress in his recovery, spoke to the media for the first time since being carted off the field and taken to a hospital on June 15. Cobb, like Happ, was released from Bayfront Medical Center less than 24 hours later. "I remember deciding what pitch to throw. ... I remember seeing the ball come back," said Cobb, who is out indefinitely with a concussion. "Might have caught a glance of the ball and subconsciously turned my head, thankfully." The injury renewed debate about what can be done to protect pitchers from batted balls. "Even after J.A. Happ went through this, we were asked pretty heavily about this topic. I came right out and thought there should be something for us to have the option to do," Cobb said. "I dont want it to turn into something where every pitcher on the mound has to wear something. Thats everybodys personal choice," Cobb added. "Its one where you want to have a little say-so that if this incident happened again you were able to do everything you could to protect yourself, your future, your family." Cobb, who remained conscious the whole time, said he has experienced nausea, severe headaches that have begun to subside, as well as symptoms of vertigo. Still, he is beginning to feel better each day. "Im having my days," the 25-year-old Cobb said. "Today has been the best day by far." Cobb said he visited the doctor Monday and was told he is healing quicker than expected. There is still no timetable for him to return to the mound. "Thats something you just have to let play out," Rays manager Joe Maddon said before Tampa Bay opened a three-game series against the Blue Jays, who are still without Happ.
Chris Webber Kings Jersey. "I dont like to apply finish lines to items that I really have no clue (about). I dont think anybody does," Maddon said. "Even if you talk to doctors, Im sure theyre not sure how long its going to take. ... So just let it play out. "Hell let us know when hes ready for that next moment, and well take it from there." After initially being reluctant to watch a replay of the line drive, Cobb said he watched it later that night or the following morning. He said he initially thought the injury wasnt that serious, and wanted to get up and walk off the field. It wasnt until after the ambulance ride to the hospital, where he later overheard a nurse talking about, "how she couldnt believe this is happening again within a month" that he began to think about Happ. "When it happened I didnt think it was too big of a deal. ... It didnt sink in for a while," Cobb said. "Once I got the CATSCAN going and they told me there was no bleeding inside the brain, from there I was kind of at ease with the whole situation." There has been speculation that Cobb, who is 6-2 with a 3.01 ERA in 13 starts this year, might not pitch again this season. He said that isnt true. "Ill be ready to go as soon as my body tells me Im 100 per cent," he said. "But mentally, theres no doubt in my mind Ill be fine. Its just another challenge." He conceded, though, that it is difficult to imagine what it will be like when he does finally get back on a mound and faces hitters. "I dont think thats something you can say until you actually go through it," Cobb said. "Id love to sit up here and tell you no, that once I get out there Ill have the mindset that it happened once, its probably a pretty good chance its not going to happen to me again. "But Im not going to lie. Ive had some nightmares about how bad it could have been. Its obviously in the back of my mind, but Id like to think I could pitch through it." ' ' '
