The Kansas City Chiefs dropped another close one today to the Bye Week, proving that even when we don't play, we still lose.

The game started as most Chiefs games this season have gone, with the Chiefs starting off with a 3 and out. After Larry Johnson tripped over his own two feet after a gain of eight on first down, Damon Huard underthrew Dwayne Bowe on second down, and Tony Gonalez on third down, though the third down incompletion could have been affected by Gonzalez being on the phone with a New York realtor. Despite the fact that the Bye Week's defense is entirely comprised of fictional players, Coach Herm Edwards elected not to go for it on 4th and 2, instead electing to punt to the always dangerous Bye Week return team, later stating "You play to win the game."

The game was back and forth for most of the game until the Bye Week, showing some trickeration, used a fake reverse end-around statue-of-liberty play to strike for a 38 yard touchdown to Absolutely Noone. The excess trick play was unnecessary as the Chiefs defense was perplexed by the foreign concept of a team "trying to win."

Late in the game, with a 4th and 1 from the goal line of the Bye Week, Herm Edwards elected to kick a field goal, despite being down 4 with only 30 seconds remaining, when a touchdown would have won the game and there were no actual defenders on the field. Edwards defended the move later by saying "What do you want me to do? We have a game plan. We kick the field goal in that situation and play for field position. We had confidence in our defense being able to get us the ball back. It just didn't work out for us. Sure, it was only a hard. But have you walked a yard? Do you know how long that is? It's like, this big!" The Chiefs' kick was subsequently blocked by the crushing weight of expectations and the Bye Week killed the remaining clock on downs.

After the game, Larry Johnson said "It's disappointing. You think you can beat someone that doesn't exist, but I just didn't get the ball enough. I only carried it 30 times. That 31st one? I was going to break that one."

Tony Gonzalez said "What? Oh, sorry, I'm on the phone... Yeah, sorry about that. What's that? Yes, absolutely, I need an ice maker. What? Eli Manning is quarterback? That's awesome! Can he throw ten yards? Awesome!"

Tamba Hali said "I make poopie."

Jared Page just ran into a wall and knocked himself unconscious.

The Bye Week (1-58348343448349384348394) said they felt like this was a building block, but nothing to get too excited about.

"It's the Chiefs, man. Come on." said No One.

The Thunderbirds have kind of been a mess for a while. There's been rough patch after rough patch. But this week they made a huge improvement in their staffing by promoting assistant coach John Coffino to head coach.

Coffino has a solid background, is known to be loyal and inventive, and the players last year spoke very highly of him. Additionally, I've yet to find a single guy in the D with a bad thing to say about Coffino. This was a homerun hire. The RBI? They also added Garrett and Darvin Ham.

This is going to be a highly competitive year in the D-League. Almost all the teams made upgrades somewhere and Erie is going to be a tough expansion franchise.I'm looking forward to seeing what John does with his first year in charge. His first word on what he wants to improve, same with the Toros?

"Defense."

Of course.

There's a ton of D-League stuff out, so let's keep this fast and loose.

• This isn't pillow talk. Hammond, at a preseason Bucks game in La Crosse, came out and said that if the Bucks decided to pursue a D-League affiliate for ownership, they'd place it in La Crosse. Bear in mind, this is the same team that got assigned to Fort Wayne along with two other teams and who has shown a significant investment in the D-League. Mark it 8, dude, La Crosse is officially in play.
  
• I'm putting together a larger story on the D-League salary situation, but I should mention (and should have mentioned earlier but sources are slow) Reed's blog regarding the salary situation.While the year-long extrapolation is irrelevant (it's not like the D-League runs year-long), I see where he's coming from. The long-term investment is something that the league has to push hard to agents in order to get them to do anything but tell their clients to invest. But with Mike Taylor making an impact along with Amundson and other D-Leaguers in preseason play, this could be a turning point in the struggle with Europe, especially with the diving Euro and the economic issues that are going to make moving abroad a scarier prospect.
  
• Louis Amundson, former D-League rookie of the year, poured in 12 points in the Suns' opener. That will go far to getting him the 15 spot but he's got to keep it up.
  
• Blake Ahearn, 17 points, 3 assists. Hmm? What's that? 40% shooting? Can't hear you.
  
• NBA 09 Inside features the D-League. This is a huge step for the league in getting national attention, and puts it even further in the national spotlight.
  
• Looking for a gig?
  
• Randy Livingston took a gig with the Stampede.
• Apparently Del Negro is a fan of the D.
• Finally, please, please, please go check out Ryan McNeil's tragic attempt at the D-League open tryouts. I'll have notes from Austin's tryouts soon, but Ryan actually got video. Props to him. Ryan had more guts than I did to go do what the D-League asked me to do.

Hey, after a short layover, we're back in business. We're redrafting the 2001 NBA Draft. We continue with the Seattle Supersonics. When they were still the Seattle Supersonics.

With the twelfth pick in the 2001 SBNBA ReDraft, the Seattle Supersonics select...

via clutch3.files.wordpress.com

Samuel Dalembert, C, Seton Hall

Best big man available, baby. Best big man available.

Original pick: Vlad Radmanovic

So far:

1. Wizards- Gilbert Arenas

2. Clippers- Pau Gasol

3. Memphis Grizzlies- Joe Johnson

4. Bulls- Tony Parker

5. Warriors- Jason Richardson

6. Grizzlies- Richard Jefferson

7.Nets- Shane Battier

8.Cavs- Tyson Chandler

9.Pistons- Zach Randolph

10. Celtics- Kwame Brown

11. Celtics- Mehmet Okur

12. Sonics- Samuel Dalembert

I like to see where we're at as the season goes along. After last week's hope-providing win and this week's soul-crushing loss, now is a good time to do that again.

Today's poll concerns what you think needs to happen right now. It's good for us to know how we feel. For instance, if the minority of us don't feel Herm needs to be fired right now, maybe we should stop saying it every fourteen seconds. Same with the quarterback, and blaming the players instead of the coaches.

So how do you feel? Vote, you people! Vote!

I'll now vomit back up that crow. Why do I go back and forth like this? Because I have no other choice and there is no good choice at quarterback.

I overestimated how much playing one of the worst passing defenses would mask Huard's numerous deficiencies. He played without poise and without the ability to even sling the ball forward, which is less than Croyle or Thigpen has shown this season. He missed the throws when he needed to and turned the ball over.  That's the biggest key for this team. With some teams you can survive turnovers. Not this offense. It's part of the fundamental elements of the Herm philosophy. And it completely failed against the Panthers

He's obviously not a long term answer at 35 and yeah, he can't throw downfield. And it turns out it matters in this offense, because we need 1 to 2 big plays in the game just to keep pace. We're never going downfield anyway, but we need to at least be able to make the DBs back up a few steps. No one should start at quarterback, and we should go direct snap with Jamaal Charles.

Kill me. Where's the alcohol?

Okay, that was satisfying. Deeply, deeply satisfying. There really is nothing like crushing the team that is not your rival, who think that the way back to greatness is walk-ons and that we will "always be Missouri." Doing it by 42 (yeah, we're not counting that last touchdown, Bo, you ass) in their house makes it all the sweeter.

But we've had so much focus on this game, and so much anticipation for the Texas game, we seem to be forgetting.

Next week is the definition of a trap game.

We're up against a high powered offense from a team under the radar with the nation's top runner. Their defense is aggressive. And most of all, we're coming off a huge emotional win and with the biggest game of our season looming.

The good news is that this team is firing on all cylinders. For all the yards we gave up, we only surrendered 10 points. For all the holes in our zone, our front seven is still making plays and seems to surge as the game goes on. And our offense? There isn't a better one in football. There just isn't. The addition last night of long sustained drives proves that. We can hit you with the haymaker, and once you're reeling, we can bludgeon you in the midsection to wear you down. That increases the pressure on your offense to throw, which lets us bring pressure.

Their running game is the best we've faced. We've been terrific against the run, and we need to continue that. If we can make that offense one dimensional, we can force Robinson into mistakes.

We cannot overlook this game. This isn't any regular season. We've got very realistic championship goals and that means every game, every week, it's essential to execute.

Go Tigers.

Jeff Potter has gone viral.

No kidding. Sure, he's recognizable in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the owner of the Mad Ants, but he's getting to be well known around ye old internets as well. He's on Deadspin. His team is the most recognizable in the D-League, despite being an expansion team last year. He has a blog. His team featured Earl Calloway, who should be in the league, and Jeremy Richardson, who is. He's worked with the Pistons in their development, and will be the first D-League owner to juggle three affiliates in one season. Plus, he has the greatest mascot in the history of creation. So he's got that going for him.

When I gave Jeff a call the other day to talk to him about his franchise, the state of the league, and of course, Nightmare Ant, he caught me off guard with this straightforward approach, humility, and generosity. For a league that so often on the receiving end of ignorant ridicule based on false assumptions, Jeff Potter is another example of the class that is found so often in the D-League.

Our conversation after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

GoErie.com has a story today on Darnell Jackson, who could end up being Erie's first assignee.

Erie is going to have a huge leg up on fellow expansion team Reno unless Reno lands a bigtime UFA.

It's good to see Ferry's starting to come around on the D-League. The D provides a perfect opportunity for the Cavs. A team with veteran talent that's competing for a title now, who need somewhere to develop young talent. This is perfect for them. They should send Hickson down, too, in my opinion. With Erie as close to Cleveland as it is, it could be a great opportunity to set up a true farm system.

This is the best year for a D-League fan. You get about three weeks to entertain the notion that your favorite guy can actually stick with a club, before the inevitable crushing blow as he's released and goes overseas. 

But there's no time for such disappointment now! Now is the time for possibilities! Weee! Training camp!

• We knew it would only be a matter of time, and sure enough, previously interviewed Elton Brown landed himself on a roster. Brown could be a great complement to the Bulls. He's not the hyper-athletic rail-thin type, nor is he in the Drew Gooden model. He's just big, brawny, and mean. Ten bucks says him and Noah or Noc get into it at some point. Brown's not going to be able to run like Vinny D wants, though. He's neither quick enough, nor does he have the weight control. He's the size of a house though, even though he's relatively shorter than most power forwards. You can take Drew Gooden and Elton Brown and have them both shoot the pivot step to the paint fadeaway jumpers and they will look identical, but Brown will make more of them. His baseline J is not as hot, though. But if you want a guy who will give you 100% on the floor and as opposed to Noc, will not look absolutely ridiculous doing it, and will do it for a million a year? Elton Brown's your guy. It's a huge gamble on his part, going into a camp with established big men prospects AND Noc AND Drew Gooden, but who knows.
  
• Nice article from the D about Brian Hamilton's road to the NBA, which has it's latest stop in New Jersey. 
• Blake Ahearn is in Minny as expected. If you're looking for something to watch out for, a Blake Ahearn versus Mike Miller H-O-R-S-E contest would be epic. Ahearn's big problems are turnovers and penetrating. But you can put him at any spot on the floor and he'll drain it. If the Wolves use Ahearn as a shooter and not as a point, he could end up sticking and he could be valuable. He's got killer work ethic and high basketball IQ. But he's got an uphill battle with the athleto-guards on roster.
  
• Aw, the Grizzlies invited Brent Petway! That's really nice of them! Would have been nice if they were inviting D-League players to camp LAST YEAR. I love Brent. He's a really nice guy, and he's got killer athleticism. But there's no way he sticks. Defensively, he just makes too many mistakes. He drifts too far from his man looking for the block. He doesn't defend the pick and roll well. He doesn't have a reliable jumper. He has no touch around the basket. He will be good for at least one high profile dunk in a scrimmage though. He's going to posterize someone. Book it. 
• And another Ridiculous Upside favorite, Marcus Williams (the other Marcus Williams, this one out of Arizona), is in with the Bobcats. Hmm... young, immature player + Larry Brown + 17 players on roster = FAIL.
• Here's the complete list of D-Leaguers in camp. 

We'll have the interview with Mad Ants owner Jeff Potter tonight, and a review from Toros tryouts this weekend. There were unsuccesful attempts to get me to actually tryout by the D-League PR Office. Thanks, but if I wanted to be ridiculed and embarrassed I'd go see family.