The NBA D-League & YouTube Form Partnership
November 21, 2012 by John Paul Manahan · Leave a Comment
The NBA (for the NBA Development League) and Google (via YouTube) has formalized a one-year partnership on Tuesday that would, among other things, allow the NBA to stream over 350 D-League games live on YouTube. The partnership allows YouTube to stream freely D-League matches on the D-League YouTube channel <http://www.youtube.com/nbadleague> as well as a video player on NBA.com as well as from the 16 teams that comprise the league on their respective team sites. In doing so, amongst the four major American sports, it would have the most number of live games shown on the video-sharing website The season and coverage will begin on Friday, November 23, with the Maine Red Claws against the Canton Charge, the Erie BayHawks against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Tulsa 66ers against the Texas Legends and the Bakersfield Jam against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The NBA has always been one of the most innovative with their forays with social media to promote itself. Their partnership with YouTube stretches back to 2005, when the league became the first professional sports league to unveil its own channel <http://youtube.com/nba>. With more than 960 million fan views of its videos, it is the most popular sports channel on the site. The YouTube coverage complements the other avenues that the D-League has in reaching out to its audience, from its television partners in NBA TV and CBS Sports Network, to its free mobile app, NBA D-League Center Court. NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said that "The NBA’s latest initiative with YouTube marks another milestone in our partnership and a great way to tip off the 12th season of the NBA Development League. By turning to our longtime partner, YouTube, we are able to bring the NBA D-League to basketball fans around the world, further expanding the league’s growth and showcasing future NBA stars.” Scanning the opening day rosters of the 30 NBA franchises shows that 20% of all the players have had D-League experience. Google / YouTube Global Head of Sports Claude Ruibal adds, “As one of the world’s most popular sports with a broad roster of top prospects, the NBA D-League is a perfect fit for the YouTube platform. With our broad global delivery across all platforms and devices, providing live and catch up NBA D-League games and highlights will make this exciting content easily accessible to a whole new generation of basketball fans.” It is believed to be that this is YouTube's biggest sports broadcasting rights deal to date, although both sides did not disclose the actual figures.
Japeth Aguilar officially joins Santa Cruz Warriors training camp
November 13, 2012 by John Paul Manahan · 1 Comment
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| From the Santa Cruz Warriors’ Instagram account |
The next step for Japeth Aguilar’s NBA Dreams has been completed.
After becoming the first Philippine-born player to be drafted in the NBA Developmental-League, the 6’10″ Western Kentucky alum was included in the seventeen-man training camp roster released Thursday on the website of the Santa Cruz Warriors. He was their 7th round selection in the 2012 D-League draft.
The team formerly known as the Dakota Wizards managed to keep six out of their eight D-League draftees, including Japeth. The crown jewel of their draft class is the slam-dunking sensation Travis Leslie. The 6’4 guard from Georgia had been waived by the Los Angeles Clippers before the season started. The remaining two draftees were used as trade chips to bring in a couple of players, Harouna Mutombo from the Idaho Stampede was acquired in exchange for Durrell Summers, while Faisal Aden was sent to the Texas Legends for Dominique Johnson.
The other trade acquisitions by Santa Cruz were D-League All-Rookie team member Cameron Jones (from Fort Wayne Mad Ants) and big man Chris Daniels (from Erie Bayhawks). The remaining newcomers (Carlon Brown, Lance Goulbourne and Rick Jackson) came from the training camp roster cuts of the Golden State Warriors (whom Santa Cruz serves as a single affiliate) as well as a direct invitation from their open tryouts (Daniel Nwaelele).
They will join holdovers Taylor Griffin, Justin Johnson and reigning D-League Defensive Player of the Year Stefhon Hannah.
From the 17-man lineup, the Nate Bjorkgren-coached roster will be whittled down to ten players (can be up to twelve including NBA assignments) at the start of the season, which begins on November 23. Santa Cruz’s regular season will not begin until November 30, where they visit Reno. Before that, they have a couple of preseason games, on November 17 against Tulsa and November 18 against Texas.
| Name | School | Position | Height | Weight |
| Japeth Aguilar | W. Kentucky | C | 6’10″ | 210 |
| Carlon Brown | Colorado | G | 6’5″ | 205 |
| Chris Daniels | Texas A&M-CC | C | 7’0″ | 265 |
| Lance Goulbourne | Vanderbilt | F | 6’8″ | 230 |
| Taylor Griffin | Oklahoma | F | 6’8″ | 230 |
| Stefhon Hannah | Missouri | G | 6’0″ | 180 |
| Rick Jackson | Syracuse | C | 6’8″ | 245 |
| Dominique Johnson | Azusa Pacific | G | 6’3″ | 190 |
| Justin Johnson | Concordia-Irvine | G | 6’2″ | 180 |
| Cameron Jones | Northern Arizona | G | 6’4″ | 185 |
| Travis Leslie | Georgia | G | 6’4″ | 205 |
| Arron Mollet | Notre Dame de Namur | G | 6’3″ | 190 |
| Darren Moore | UC-Irvine | G | 6’3″ | 190 |
| Harouna Mutombo | Western Carolina | G/F | 6’4″ | 195 |
| Daniel Nwaelele | Air Force | G | 6’5″ | 205 |
| T.J. Robinson | Long Beach State | F | 6’8″ | 205 |
| Steve Tchiengang | Vanderbilt | F | 6’9″ | 245 |
Paul Harris, back to Maine Red Claws
December 15, 2011 by Benjie Cruz · Leave a Comment
Dunno why I follow Paul Harris’ basketball career, but I do. After winning a title in the PBA, I learned about his homecoming, his party, to some of the disadvantages in playing in the Dominican Republic, and now, back to the D-League again.
Paul Harris, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound forward out of Syracuse, left the Claws in late January for an opportunity in the Philippine Basketball Association and wound up winning a title with Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, a franchise owned by a telecommunications company.
Harris then signed on with a team in the Dominican Republic and won another title before returning home to New York City, where he stayed during training camp due to complications regarding the birth of his third son, Mason Sean Harris, who arrived more than three weeks early on the first of December.
“Now it’s time to get back to focus and get back to work,” said Harris, who reported that mother and child are both doing well. “I haven’t played in a while, so I’m not in tip-top shape. It takes time. I don’t expect to come out and play 30 minutes on Saturday or score 25 points, but I know I’ll be able to compete and give it my all.” via
We’ll surely follow Paul Harris games and see how far Red Claws can go. I didn’t check the schedules of NBA-DL vs PBA 3rd Conference, but there is a possibility that Paul is available as import by that time. The level of play in the NBA-DL will only push Paul to be a better and complete player. Assuming he’s healthy at season’s end, TnT will surely look at him again. And perhaps by then, he’ll kick Brumfield’s behind and get that Best Import Award next time ’round.
BTW, the Main Red Claws is affiliated with NBA teams Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Philadelphia 76ers but based in the city of Portland.
