Fort Wayne Mad Ants Setting the Table For 2015-16 Season
By Ben Gibson
The NBA’s Developmental League Draft was this weekend and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants made moves during and after the draft to build their roster for the upcoming season.
The Mad Ants traded their first round pick and later took Walter Lemon Jr. with the 19th pick in the second round according to 21alive.com.
"In a trade with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Mad Ants received the 32nd overall pick in the 2015 D-League Draft, Stephan Hicks, out of Cal St. Northridge.In turn, the Mad Ants surrender their original 2016 second round draft pick to Oklahoma City and their 2015 sixth round draft pick James Carlton.The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, presented by Lutheran Health Network, made moves at the conclusion of the 2015 NBA D-League Draft. In a trade with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Mad Ants received the 32nd overall pick in the 2015 D-League Draft, Stephan Hicks, out of Cal St. Northridge. In turn, the Mad Ants surrender their original 2016 second round draft pick to Oklahoma City and their 2015 sixth round draft pick James Carlton out of Howard University."
Here is what their draft day looked like after all the moving and shaking.
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For more information on the additions I’d suggest heading over the the Mad Ants website because all I would be doing is parroting the same information here.
This was general manager Brain Levy’s first draft with the Mad Ants. He was brought in by the Pacers organization to give them a jump start in understanding the D-League as he’s been working in basketball’s minor leagues since 2007. Though the D-League is affiliated with the NBA it has enough of its own quirks to warrant having someone as well versed in it as Levy according to Pacers.com.
"“The D-League is its own animal,” Pacers vice president of basketball operations Peter Dinwiddie explained. “It’s got its own ops (operations) manual that has different rules and regulations. We’re smart enough to know what we don’t know, and we knew that we didn’t know the D-League."
The Mad Ants current roster sits at 19 players going into training camp as Rakeem Christmas and Shane Whittington have been assigned to the Mad Ants.
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In case you missed it this summer, the Indiana Pacers bought the Fort Wayne Mad Ants to give them singular ownership of the D-League team. Before they had shared the Mad Ants with other NBA teams and didn’t have full control over their affiliate. Now they can create the Mad Ants in their own image.
Before the Mad Ants independent status meant they had no obligation to play the Pacers’ player as Fort Wayne’s sole focus was winning game.
"“It seemed like we were really getting in their way,” said team president Larry Bird, when Pacers Sports & Entertainment acquired the Mad Ants. “They’re trying to win games on a nightly basis, (but) we send a player up here and maybe he gets one practice in and he don’t know the offense. We want him to play 35 minutes a game but (they’re) trying to win basketball games.”"
Now with the Pacers controlling the team they can make sure their players are getting time on the court and building experience instead of sitting on the bench.
Making that happen will be head coach Steve Gansey, assistant Stephen Graham, assistant Dylan Murphy, assistant/head of player development Jonah Herscu, assistant Kevin Bloom, head strength and conditioning coach Jason Manikowski and head athletic trainer Matt Campbell
While currently not every team has a D-League affiliate, the trend seems to be a future where the D-League has 30 teams and operates more closely to baseball’s minor league system.
The Pacers are hoping that the Mad Ants can produce a player or two that can contribute on the NBA level. Some of the more notable players to come out of the D-League and into the NBA include Jeremy Lin, Rafer Alston, Chris Andersen, and former Pacer Gerald Green.
The season begins for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on November 14th when they face the Raptors 905.