that's a bit disappointing, as you said hopeully this is for the best but it would have been nice to see him log a few more minutes with the big boys before being bumped back to the bush league.

If he impresses enough and gets a lot more court time, this is clearly a good thing. It's better to be playing than sitting on the bench.

The only major concern I would have with this is that I would suspect the D-League would be dominated by guards who want to get theirs. Hopefully Nathaniel can get... his.

Get fit, get game time, get contract.
We all know he's got game, now he's just gotta work his arse off to prove it to tha Raptors coaching staff.

Nate is contracted to the end of NEXT season. He got a 2 year deal with the Rap's.

Hopefully the game time will help him. the coaching staff have always said big Nate was all about next season anyway.

NBA players hardly train during the season, so nate wouldn't be particularly fit, let alone game fit. This can't be all that bad, except for the fact he's gonna be playing from idaho.


Tickle has a point that it's full of guards and 'me first' players who wont pass unless it gets them an assist, hopefully all the off balance, forced shots will mean more rebound opportunities for nate.

"NBA players hardly train during the season"

Huh?

Personally I think its better for him to go up against Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani every day but I guess this can get him some match fitness.

jules, they do train just not very often, very rarly do they get even two days break between games this makes it hard to get in good solid training sessions, it would be mainly shoot arounds and light run throughs with the rest of the team for the majority of the season.

They train everyday....

No, they don't....

What makes you say that

I'm with Jules. Pretty sure they train every off-day and the guys sitting on the end of the bench will generally do extra sessions, either individual or as a small group

They do train each day, but they don't go hard every day. It'd be a mixture of running though plays, shooting and so on, like others have mentioned. It'd be stupid for them to be doing full-on hard training in between playing so many games. You'd simply be exhausted.

Guys like Jawai who are in the development stage would be doing extra work with assistant coaches on skills away from training though. He'd probably be working with them on things like footwork and positioning I'd imagine.

Obviously players are free to spend their free time further working on their game and their fitness, but I'd imagine they'd take advantage of it by actually getting some rest and taking some time out from their already hectic basketball schedule.

Good Move IMO.....get some game time

Fingers crossed for him he can come in and contribute before the season is out

If not...get urself ready for next season Nate

He has the Physical Attributes for the NBA

Actually players are limited with what they do in their spare time. When they scrimmage it would be very short and sharp, or extremely regimented. Big Nate will definately become a better player in the long run playin in the D-league, assuming upon his return he gets 8-10 mins a game.

Above post was me..

His next game was a bit better against Utah as follows: 12 pts (2-7 fgs 8-11 fts) 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals in a win. This was done in 31 minutes of action with just 2 turnovers.

Here is the recap: http://linky.com.au/uf0t4

Idaho sit atop the West division, just ahead of Utah.

With more game time under his belt he will continue to get better and better.

Good FT numbers at least. Thanks for the update LC - appreciated.