Reno Retro: Wrapping Up the 2013 Showcase
After 16 days in four games, an endless flow of Prospects moving up and down the ladder and big names spread throughout the Reno Events Center, it's time to look back.
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They came from the beaten shores of the Great Lakes and the rim of the Atlantic and the southern border of the United States. They came from Maine and they came from Fort Wayne and they came from down the street.
And, just like that, they were all gone.
The 2013 NBA Development Showcase -- the ninth in the history of the league -- opened on Monday and closed on Thursday, with every single team in the NBA D-League playing two games in front of talent evaluators from the NBA and all around the world. Sixteen teams. Sixteen games. Four days. And every one of them in front of the kinds of people who very well could write the next few lines in a ballplayer's career. After 10-day contracts started on Monday, two players got called-up to the NBA. One of them was there (and so was a film crew).
But the biggest story from the biggest Showcase ever -- in terms of talent, in terms of notoriety and in terms of the people watching (from first-year scouts like Will Conroy, the former NBA D-League staple, to NBA GM's like Daryl Morey) -- might have been the general lack of one glaring standout. Sure, Courtney Fortson played like his very long hair was on fire and barged his way to the top of the Prospect Watch. But this year didn't feature perform
And that's a testament to the growth of the league. Never before has the NBA D-League featured so many NBA-ready players. You can find the Top 30 of them, as chosen by our experts, here. According to scouts, GM's and the other invested spectactors, the average talent level has never risen higher. Which means fewer spikes. Fewer deviations from the mean. And more players on every team with a chance to make it to The Show.
So catch up here on the games to remember, the pictures to see and the players to know -- before they make the leap.
The Games
The Top Performers
The Prospects
Fortson, who took on Iowa's Chris Wright on Tuesday night in a battle of the league's top point guards, and wowed the crowd in Reno with an electric night, leaves Showcase as our No. 1 overall Prospect.
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The Videos
