Minor League Basketball

Jersey guy gets new job from Nets

EAST RUTHEFORD — The Nets have named Bergen County native Milton Lee general manager of their minor league operations.

Lee, who had been the team’s director of basketball operations, will oversee the basketball operations of the Springfield Armor, the Nets’ NBA Development League affiliate. His duties will include selection of a head coach and coaching staff as well as assembling the Armor roster for the 2011-12 season.

"Milt is a natural fit for this position," said Nets general manager Billy King. "He has a strong history with young players, and his experience with the Nets’ basketball operations department will allow for a seamless integration of philosophies between the two teams."

Lee is a resident of Alpine and a 1988 graduate of Tenafly High School. He’s a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he played on the junior varsity basketball team.

Minor league basketball notes - On Deck Online

On Deck Online is just that - an online version of my weekly look-ahead-at-area-sports column, "On Deck," that appears in the Times Argus print edition on Mondays. Keep checking back for live blogs of games (from gyms, fields and rinks that actually have wireless); extra quotes that didn't make it into my stories; the occasional mail bag to respond to email from readers; good writing I find from newspapers and sports sites around the country; and more.

It may be August, but it's always basketball season somewhere.

Two separate emails came my way this week, one a coaching update in the new NBL-Canada and the other a huge step in the right direction for American minor league basketball.

The Saint John Mill Rats announced this week that former NBA player Jaren Jackson will return for a second season with the New Brunswick-based team - its first in the new National Basketball League of Canada. Jackson and the Mill Rats will join six other teams in the league's first season beginning in November and running through March. The league will play 36 regular-season games. 

Anyone else a little jealous? I will miss the Frost Heaves so much this winter, and I wish Saint John wasn't such a haul of a road trip away. Best of luck to the Mill Rats and the whole NBL venture.

I also got another email from the "Smashing Success" Premier Basketball League - the one everyone but the league's owners jumped ship from earlier this year - and apparently they are truly trying to be a smashing success. But they aren't just concerned with themselves, as one might imagine. The PBL and CBL are inviting all other minor leagues in the United States to a "Unification of Standards" convention in Chicago Sept. 10. 

Apparently not wanting to (continue?) to make similar mistakes made by the ABA, which was the primary reason for breaking free of the unstable league.

From the release:

"The convention will discuss the creation of the United Basketball Federation of America (UBFA), a national model that centers in forming standards that would be followed by teams and recognized by sponsors, venues, and most importantly the fans. “This standardization has been overdue for some time,” said Dr. Sev Hrywnak, Chairman of the Board of the Premier Basketball League. “We formed the Premier Basketball League to remove ourselves from the bad experiences we endured in the ABA with teams due to poor league management,” continued Dr. Hrywnak. The Minor League Basketball Convention was the idea of Mr. Mark King, Owner of the Florida Flight team of the Continental Basketball League (CBL). “It’s time that we started working together and create something much bigger than all of us as individual teams, and leagues,” said Mr. King.

Musselman's Guide to Minor League Basketball

Basketball for Dummies

The comprehensive guide to careers in sports

The Cockroach Basketball League

Hockey Tonk, The Amazing Story of the Nashville Predators