Opening Remarks, NBA Commissioner David Stern: I just wanted to say that we are looking forward to our second season of the NBDL. We think we learned an awful lot in the first season, and the most important thing that we learned is that we can use this league to develop talent for the NBA. We brought up eight players and we also learned that we can provide a good basketball game and good entertainment for fans in the eight cities.

We started a little late in terms of lead time into the season, but once we got under way I think the folks working very hard in our various cities did a very good job. What we also learned is that you've got to be considerably more local. We were anticipating eventually moving the offices into the region, probably in the two or three-year span, but I think we've moved it up because I think it became clear to us that it is important to have local operations and local residents in the like. And that leads us to move our headquarters to Greenville, and focus on local sponsorships, reduce ticket prices and also making sure that as we did this past year, our players become as much a part of the community as possible.

In addition, I'm pleased to say that by the time our next season begins, we will have "brought up" as many executives to major league positions as we have players, and that's also a very important aspect for us, to be able to develop young talent for sports leagues. And that makes us pretty happy, as well.

So we think that minor league basketball is alive and well in the United States. I'd like to look forward to a conference call like this a year from now announcing that we're expanding the D-league because we think it has found a niche and can continue to grow and prosper. And we have a very good leader in Phil Evans, who is experienced in every aspect of running a minor league and has spent a fair amount of time with us here in the New York office, so he's gotten his stripes. He's learned a great deal from Rob Levine, our Senior Vice President of New League Development, who will be available to assist Phil in this position. We are very happy about our development.

I'd be happy to answer questions after Phil says a few words.

Opening Remarks, NBDL President Phil Evans: Thanks David. I'm actually in Greenville today, as we begin the process of transitioning the NBDL's league offices from New York and New Jersey down here to South Carolina. As a native Virginian, I can't tell you how excited I am to return to the region. I'm also a strong proponent of the decision from a business prospective. This year we wanted to build on the foundation we put in place during our inaugural season and rededicate ourselves to the Southeast region and our eight teams' markets. And I can't think of a better way to demonstrate that commitment than to move the league offices into the region.

Now that we're here, we'll be here in the upcoming months, it will be much easier for league office personnel to spend more time in our markets, and we can better assist our team staffs in becoming a more important part of their communities as we continue the NBDL's mission to grow the sport of professional basketball in smaller and mid-sized markets.

Q: What makes Greenville the right location for the NBDL?

Evans: I think Greenville is obviously the most centrally located city. We've got Roanoke to the north, Fayetteville and Asheville to the north. And we've got Huntsville, Mobile and North Charleston to the south. So we could have picked any one of a number of cities, but this is obviously I think the best one in terms of getting around to the other markets.

Q: Last year's attendance in Columbus and in other markets was a little bit lower than what you had aimed at. What are your feelings on the attendance from last year, and what are you going to do to increase the attendance in this coming year?

Evans: We feel that attendance is not really the only measure of success in the NBDL. As David mentioned earlier, we were particularly focused in making sure in year one that we had a strong basketball product on the floor and that we had outstanding in-game, in-arena entertainment. We think we accomplished that, certainly as reflected by the number of call-ups we had and by our fan research, which showed that people who did come to the games enjoyed it. In particular in Columbus we had some scheduling difficulties, and I think we are addressing that concern this year. We will have more weekend games, and we are also going to lower our ticket prices in response to fan research. We think we are going to dramatically increase attendance in year two.

Stern: And I take that as a personal commitment from Phil.

Evans: Absolutely.

Q: Is there a possibility of the schedule being reduced, and if so, will that mean there is an extend playoff schedule?

Stern: We have no plans to reduce the schedule. It's going to be 50 games, plus or minus. But that doesn't relate to an extended playoff schedule at this time. We'll always consider it, but we really think we need more time to practice.

Q: One of the main criticisms from fans is that the league was too generic. Are there plans for the teams to develop their own logos or design their own uniforms this season?

Stern: I think that we have some great designers, and the uniforms all look different to me. It simply is not our major focus. We think that the identities of the teams have grown, and they are part of our evolution. If a team has an idea that reflects local sensibilities, we are absolutely open to virtually every development, along that line. We absolutely would like nothing better than to make a change in a particular market because the fans in that market would like to see something different. That's going to be one our guiding philosophies, prospectively.

Q: Do you expect to see better talent and more identifiable players in this league then what you had the first year?

Stern: It's an interesting issue. One of the things we are trying to do with this league is to give players an opportunity to stay in the United States. And one of the things that has happened is that a lot of players did stay in the United States, in either the D-League or in some other minor league. At the recent Final Four of Europe, which took place in Bologna, there was a more heightened emphasis on European players than there was on Americans, and that has been an evolution in it's own change. So we think that we have a real opportunity here.

When you really think about it, everyone's talking about international players -- there were 15 international first-year players in the NBA this year, and there were 19 players from U.S. minor leagues, give or take. So we see as the D-League gets more established, we see an opportunity for more players to be there.

The emphasis is going to be on developing young players. There is an extraordinary array of talent out there that needs an opportunity to develop, and it's young talent. That's where the D-League for us was so important. The average age for our league is under 26. And I think that's increasingly how you are going to see baseball's minor leagues and we think it's a good model.

Q: What part of Virginia is [Evans] from? Were you surprised by the low attendance figure from last year?

Evans: I'm from the Northern Virginia area -- McLean, Arlington. I have spent a substantial amount of time in both Charlottesville and the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area.

Speaking for myself on the attendance front, I don't think we were surprised. We knew it would be a slow build. We were late into the markets, we were late in staffing up our teams, and we were not as focused on attendance in year one. We were focused on making sure we had the best basketball players outside the NBA in our league, the types of players our NBA teams wanted us to have in the league, and getting the in-arena experience down.

Stern: Post 9/11, we knew there was going to be a significant drop-off. There are significant military bases in Columbus and Fayetteville. It was just a reality of the way people were going to spend their time and their money in all cities. We are looking forward to a fresh start from that prospective next year.

Q: What will the ticket prices be lowered to? Was there ever a time, because of attendance, when it was thought the NBDL might not return for season two?

Stern: That was never an issue, because for us we need the stability of a continuing minor league. We need a place where we can comfortably work referees in a three-person rotation, where we can develop players, we can develop non-playing personnel. This is a big idea for us. Although it may be a small business, it has an enormous number of important aspects for us, not the least of which is to promote the game of basketball in smaller and mid-sized cities.

Until someone dissuades us of the notion, we think it's a business imperative and think it's a good business. We think that our ticket prices this coming year is going to be an average of about $10, last year they were a little over $12. And our fan research told us that the $10 was perceptively a better number than the $12, so we said fine.

Q: What is the goal for year two in terms of attendance, and do you see the NBDL going into CBA cities and taking over if you try to expand?

Stern: I would say our goal for this year is an increase over this year, and a good number would be 2,000. That would demonstrate we are making progress. I don't want to set the bar too low because I'll disincentiveize all those people who are going to be working locally. But let's say that 2,000 would be a good number.

Our view is that the CBA cities are what they are. We have our cities, and our first approach would probably be to expand to cities that are not currently occupied by the D-League or the CBA. We made that decision when we launched the league and right now we don't see a reason to change that.

Q: Will expansion be in another region of the country or in the Southeast?

Stern: Not necessarily another region. I think that if we could find adjacent cities that would work we would very much be open to that. My first choice would be to have another division and to have it a little bit further away. But if it turned out that the best cities that we identify are adjacent to our league, we would go there as well. We just want to grow this gradually and grow this intelligently. We want to make sure we have a place where a pool of players can be developed.

Q: In two years from now, if you are not more fans, do you have a problem?

Stern: No. Not at all. I think 2,000 is a target number. I would have a problem if we were substantially below 2,000 on an ongoing basis. But based upon a combination of the late start, 9/11, the ticket pricing information we have, the reality that we're back and we're staying back -- we're here to stay. It's conceivable that you might look at a particular market and say the marriage isn't quite working, but no, as the league itself, we're a keeper. Unless somebody were to come along and invent this whole league apparatus and satisfy us, but we don't see it.

We think that this is a real enduring opportunity and it's going to actually become a necessity as we get younger and kids decide that they need a place to play and perhaps college is not for them. We think it becomes important for us to provide a stable and secure opportunity for them to develop both as basketball players and as people. That is no small part of our apparatus.

We have an educational component, a lot of online education that we've been working on with our players. We don't make a lot of announcements about it, but it's a very serious experiment for us as to the way a minor league should be developed. We have Dr. Janice Hilliard who a Ph.D from Michigan State who has been working with the Michigan State continuing education program with our players. We think this is a really important issue. There are so many really good reasons for doing this that if we're in the ballpark of the 2,000 people we're going to be in business.

Q: Eight players were called up to the NBA from the NBDL. If it's truly a developmental league, will the league try to secure more NBA-caliber players, and will the age go up or maybe not?

Evans: I think we are tremendously satisfied with the quality of the players in the league this past year and I think that we are going to continue to try and do what the NBA teams would like us to do in respect to placing players in our league. We focused, for example, on "big men" this year and trying to develop a greater pool of "big men" for NBA teams to choose from. When I turn on the TV and watch the Nets playing in the playoffs and I watch Anthony Johnson sub for Jason Kidd and the Nets not lose a beat, I'm pretty happy with what we have.

Stern: I'll take it a little bit further because the chapter on the first season hasn't closed yet because we have a number of our D-League players who are going to be invited to work out in summer camp, who may be playing in the USBL where they are going to be scouted this summer and then potentially invited to training camps with NBA teams next year. Seven players will be in the Philadelphia 76ers mini-camp next week from the development league. That's a pretty good indication of the quality of the players, at least as our teams think of hit. It's an extraordinary development opportunity for us and we like it.

We get a kick out of it. There are certain things that after lots of years we get a big kick out of -- meaning a good feeling -- about the D-League, about the WNBA as well. But for us the D-League is an opportunity for us to put a little something back and to do it right. We deal that way with health benefits for the players and education alike. We are delighted that people are enjoying it and I think that we're ready to be here for the long haul.

Q: Is the model for development and growth that is being used in the WNBA in play here? Are you following that lead? How much is the TV contract and the money coming in from that tied to the patience that you show in this league?

Stern: Actually TV is not a major economic issue for us at all. For us having a TV contract is really about letting our players know that they are being watched. It becomes an additional part of the incentive to keep them involved domestically. It's a showcase for our players and our cities. Even if we had to pay it would be worth it because that's our commitment to the cities involved and to the players for telling them to stay home. Because the coaches are watching, etc.

The experience with respect to the WNBA -- I would say the following: there is an aspect of the WNBA in terms of uniformity. That we are able in effect to guarantee players that they will all receive a particular kind of coaching, a particular kind of training, a particular kind of education. That's important for us. We really do want to have the ability to have a huge impact across the league, and that's where the WNBA comes in.

Q: With a new emphasis on local control, any plans to allow the coaches to be in charge of player personnel without the current waiver pool system?

Evans: No, we are going to continue to control the acquisition of the players from the league office. We have Milt Newton, who was on the Kansas National Championship team, who spent a tremendous amount of time over the year prior to us starting operations finding the best talent around and he continues to get input from the coaches. And we will continue to allow them to have input. Milt is in daily contact with all the NBA teams, and that is who we are trying to provide this service for. He has a large database -- over 2,000 -- players he keeps current, and we are going to continue to utilize Milt for that purpose.

Stern: Milt supplies the players but ultimately the coaches choose them. There is a pool of players that we are determined to make sure have the best shot at being called up because NBA coaches have a long list of guys they'd like to see, they'd like to get more experience, etc. But once we sign them collectively it's the coaches that decide whether to select them in a draft, whether to keep them or cut them. The pick their own talent.There are very few cases where a coach who feels strongly about a player doesn't get that player signed by the league.

Everyone has an equal shot at all of the players, so that improves the quality of the players if he turns out to be a good pick that someone else overlooked. This is about opportunity for players to been seen. In a funny kind of way that's one of the reasons why when we don't have the direct relationship between teams in the D-League and teams in the NBA, some people think that's a great model to aspire to, myself I'm a little more ambivalent. This way if a player is able to play, any team can bring him up, as opposed to having to stay in the minors when he's ready to play because the team that has the "rights" to him isn't ready to bring him up.

Q: What does moving the headquarters mean in terms of the number of people and types of people that will be coming from New York to Greenville?

Evans: Last year we utilized a significant number of "shared" NBA resources, where we had a number of people who were working on the NBDL project but were also had other duties and responsibilities in the NBA. I think what we decided was that we would like to get a little bit leaner and meaner in the league office but try to do so with fully dedicated personnel. We are going to certainly invite the people who are up in the league office to work full-time on this project down here. I anticipate maybe a half-dozen to a dozen will come down here and the league office fully staffed will be in the neighborhood of a dozen to fifteen people, which will be maybe a slight reduction from last year.

Q: When are you officially moving to Greenville? Will rosters remain at 11? Will teams be able to hold one or two players as practice players? Will the salary remain the same or will there be a sliding scale to entice even more players to join the league?

Evans: Our goal will be to get the people down from New York and New Jersey who are agreeing to move to the Greenville league office as quickly as possible.

Stern: Let's pick a date, Phil, just for kicks. Let's say Aug. 1.

Evans: No later than Aug. 1, everybody should be here. That's exactly right.

Stern: Karl Hicks will be moving down as well, our executive director. We are going to have a dozen or so executive job positions for the local economy and hopefully it will be even bigger.

We are still working on the roster issues. Last year it was 11, but we'll see how that works out. It is a subject of ongoing discussion.

Q: Will the relationship with ESPN and Fox remain? Will there be another reality show?

Stern: I know for sure the relationship with ESPN will remain and the reality show got pretty good reviews. That is being discussed. But the whole issue with Fox is being discussed as well. The one thing for sure going forward is that these games will be on ESPN.

Q: How will the draft work this year?

Stern: As soon as Phil finds that house and gets back here, we will have a meeting and have a better answer to that question.

Evans: I've spoken with Karl at length on a lot of those issues as well and we expect over the next several weeks to have announcements in the basketball operations area.