Logo close to completion!

The Red Claws logo is nearing completion and will be unveiled shortly. Stay tuned for what is sure to be a fun and exciting logo!

Team Name Chosen!

Portland, ME (April 2, 2009) – NBA Maine of the NBA Development League today announced that the team, which will begin play in the 2009-10 season will be called the Maine Red Claws, as determined by a fan vote. After one month of voting, 2,943 fans submitted their vote and selected the Red Claws as the team’s name. The Maine Red Claws are working on logo designs and plan to unveil their new logo in the near future. The name was unveiled this morning by Red Claws team president and General Manager Jon Jennings on The Big Jab, the team’s flagship radio station.

“We are thrilled that so many fans voted for our team name,” said Bill Ryan, Jr. Chairman of the Maine Red Claws. “It was important to us to get fan feedback and are happy to be the Maine Red Claws!”

“We wanted to make sure we had a name that the fans would love, and after the voting it looks like we have found that name.” said Jennings.

NBA Maine sells out of high end tckets for their inaugural season!

enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Jon Jennings, president and general manager of Portland’s new D-League franchise, says the team already has sold all of its high-end season tickets for the inaugural season. Abby Pierce, left, is the team’s VP of sales and marketing.

Fans are hanging in

 

The poor economy doesn’t appear to be having a big effect on ticket sales for Portland’s pro teams.

By MIKE LOWE Staff Writer <!– © Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. :ap –>March 31, 2009

Craig Cooper thought about it, at least for a minute or two: renew his two season tickets with the New England Patriots or forgo them? Business has slowed for Cooper, a general contractor from Cape Elizabeth. Plus, he has a daughter who’s a freshman at Syracuse University. And at about $1,200 a seat, plus game-day expenses, the Patriots tickets aren’t cheap. Something has to give, right? Well “Every year for the last 12 years it’s been a no-brainer, renew them,” said Cooper, 56. “It was not even a thought until this year. But, yeah, I still did it. These are hard to come by.” The recession is forcing everyone to think twice before making any major purchases. But fans who love their teams are finding ways to get their tickets. And Portland’s three professional franchises — the American Hockey League’s Portland Pirates, baseball’s Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, and the yet-to-be named NBA Development League basketball franchise — can attest to that. Fearful they would suffer under this economy, the minor league teams have found that their fan base and corporate partners are still strong. “You’d have to be crazy not to be concerned about the economy,” said Jon Jennings, president and general manager of the D-League team. “But I feel really good about where we are right now.” And he should. The D-League team has already sold about 400 season tickets, including all of the high-end — and high-priced — Hollywood court-side seats ($70 each), as well as all the eight court-side suites, which include six seats ($45 each), a parking pass, the chance to shoot around on the parquet floor before pregame warm-ups, and in-seat food service. Hollywood seating also includes similar amenities. “That’s the exact opposite of what I thought would happen,” said Jennings. “I was concerned, in this economy, whether the high-priced suites would go. But people are excited about them.” The addition of a basketball team worried some that it would force fans to chose between Portland’s three teams and cut into attendance. Godfrey Wood, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber, doesn’t see it as an issue. “To have three (teams) is a true blessing for Portland,” said Wood. “And there is plenty of room for (three teams) in this economy. None compete for the same fan base. Their only competition really is for families with young children, and people can chose to go to all three, or pick their favorite.” ATTENDANCE STILL OK Attendance for the Pirates (4,719 per game) is down by an average of about 150 fans this year, but that’s in line with the AHL’s overall attendance, which is off by a little over 100 fans per game. In addition, season-ticket sales for 2009-10 have already generated between $30,000 and $40,000, a nod to the team’s lower ticket prices and installment payment plans. “We wanted to make sure price did not enter into the decision (to buy season tickets),” said Brian Petrovek, the managing owner and CEO of the Pirates. “The combination of our new prices and more options to pay has helped.” Ticket sales for the Sea Dogs are steady, if a little slower than last year. For example, the Sea Dogs offer packages that include five home games at Hadlock Field and one at Fenway Park to see the Red Sox. In years past, the Sea Dogs offered two such packages (of 50-75 tickets each). This year they offered three, of between 75 and 100 tickets each. Normally the packages sell out in two weeks. This year, it took over a month. Chris Cameron, the Sea Dogs’ assistant general manager of media relations, attributed that “partly to the economy, partly because we have more to offer.” Charlie Eshbach, the Sea Dogs president, said the team may not sell as many advance tickets as in the past, “but when all is said and done, we’ll probably sell as many tickets as we usually do. We’re a good low-cost alternative.” Petrovek calls…

tickets “the lifeblood” of the franchise. While corporate sponsorships bring in much needed cash for the team’s bank account, the team will suffer if attendance lags.

That’s why Petrovek is in the process of hiring two people for his sales staff.

The decision to reduce ticket prices and offer new payment plans was an easy one, he said. The Pirates reduced their most expensive tickets from $20 to $15. Other seats have been reduced from $17 to $15 and from $13 to $12.

“There’s always a risk when you lower prices that you’re not going to pick up volume,” he said. “But we feel we’re going to do that. We’re out (selling next year’s season tickets) earlier than we ever have before.”

Even with their small drop in attendance, Petrovek believes the Pirates will come out of this season all right. “At the end of the season I believe we’ll be close to last year, which I’ll be pleased with considering the economy,” he said. “We’re doing far better than some teams in our league.”

The Manchester Monarchs and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are both down about 900 fans per game.

“We’re keeping an eye on the economy,” said Jason Chaimovitch, vice president of communications for the AHL. “Our teams are aware of it and doing their part to help, alleviating costs in any way — ticket promotions, cutting season tickets (prices).”

KEEPING TICKETS AFFORDABLE

Minor league baseball, meanwhile, is coming off a season in which it set an attendance record for the fifth consecutive year. The Sea Dogs haven’t averaged fewer than 6,210 fans per game since 2003 — the year they became affiliated with the Boston Red Sox.

Capacity at Hadlock Field over that time has increased to 7,368. In 2003, the Sea Dogs had 36 sellouts; last season, they still had 27. Eshbach doesn’t think that’s by accident.

“First off, we’re affordable,” he said. “Second, minor league baseball has gotten better. The quality of presentation, the quality of facilities and the quality of management has improved. And it’s good family entertainment. In this day and age, that’s a pretty good combination.”

And, Eshbach emphasized, “We sell summer. That’s easy to sell.”

Especially in Maine, where long winters and cool springs tend to leave fans restless for nights out. “I think that’s one of the reasons we do so well in April and May,” said Eshbach. “We don’t draw as much as we do in the summer, but compared to the rest of the league, we do really well. After being cooped up for so long, if we have a halfway decent day, going out to the ballpark sounds like a pretty good idea.”

Sea Dogs’ ticket prices range from $7 to $9 for adults, and from $4 to $8 for senior citizens and children 16 and under.

The basketball franchise is offering similarly-priced seats, with tickets starting at $5. Fans can purchase a season ticket plan for $240, or $10 a seat. Jennings hopes the team will be able to fill the 3,100 seats at the Portland Expo.

“Not that we’re immune to the economy, but people tend to look to stay close to home and they look for more affordable ways to spend their entertainment money,” he said.

Part of that entertainment is promotions. Each team offers several during the season, from bobbleheads and fireworks to jerseys and team card sets. But neither the Sea Dogs nor the Pirates see a reason to offer more than the usual promotions.

In fact, said Petrovek, the Pirates have actually pared their promotions down a bit. “But we’ve kept the better ones,” he said. “That’s our plan moving forward.”

Geoff Iacuessa, the Sea Dogs’ assistant general manager of sales and promotions, said the team will tweak some of its promotions but not add any. “It’s more of the presentation than anything else,” he said.

FANS STICKING WITH PATS, SOX

Fans are reluctant to give up things they enjoy. Steve Cabana, the vice president of Town Square Realty Group in Sanford, has a season ticket…

package to 28 Red Sox games (four tickets to all Saturday and Sunday games at Fenway Park, as well as Opening Day and Patriots Day). It costs about $5,000 — not including gas, food, etc. — but he’s reluctant to give it up.

“The past couple of years, given the industry I’m in, it’s hard to justify the cost of the package,” he said. “But I love the sport and just couldn’t come up with enough reasons to part with (the tickets), And I could always come up with the one reason to keep them: my love of baseball, my love of the Red Sox.”

Cabana, 45, will sell tickets to games he can’t make to family and friends. So will Cooper, the contractor from Cape Elizabeth. “I’ll probably go to less games than I have in the past, and sell my tickets to friends at face value,’ ” said Cooper.

Jim Walsh, a Saco resident and assistant principal at Old Orchard Beach High School, renewed his three Patriots season tickets without much thought about it. But he doesn’t attend every game either and said, “We’ll sell the tickets we don’t plan to use to help defray the costs.”

Walsh is fully cognizant of the economy, but he called his season tickets to Patriots games “my fall and winter ritual.”

“If things got really tough for us, these things would be the first to go,” he said. “I mean, we’re just Joe and Jane middle class America.

“But I don’t hunt, I don’t fish. Sports is my passion. And I really enjoy following the Pats.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

NBA Maine and New Kids on the Block team up to raise money for Susan G. Komen!

NBA Maine and the New Kids on the Block are working together to help raise money for the Maine Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure by auctioning off autographed jerseys worn during the concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Wednesday, March 25 to help raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

For more info on how and where to bid on eBay, please visit www.NBAMaine.com

Portland BBall Twitter Account

Attention NBA Maine fans, you can now check out our Twitter account without leaving the blog page! Just look in the right side header for breaking news and league updates.

NBA D-League Announces Innovative Playoff Format

NEW YORK, March 9, 2009 – The NBA Development League announced today it has implemented an innovative new format for this year’s playoffs, which are set to begin as early as April 13.

For the first time, eight teams will qualify for the 2009 NBA D-League postseason, including the winners of the three divisions along with the five teams with the best regular season records, regardless of division.

New for the 2009 postseason, the three division winners will have the unique opportunity to select their first round opponent from the teams ranked five through eight. The top-seeded division winner will select its opponent first, with the second and third ranked division winners following in that order. The fourth seeded team will play the remaining team.

“One of our fundamental goals at the NBA D-League is to utilize our unique position to explore new and different ways to grow the game,” said Dan Reed, President of the NBA D-League. “We believe that these innovations will provide our fans with compelling matchups and action packed games.”

The first and second rounds of the 2009 NBA D-League playoffs will be one game each, while the Finals will be a best-of-three series. The first two rounds will be played on the higher seeds home floor, while the Finals will begin at the lower seed’s arena and finish at the higher seeds home court.

The 2008-09 NBA D-League regular seasons concludes on April 11.

Growing D-League makes its way into the East

Associated Press

The NBA Development League has grown too large to exist only in the West and the Midwest. Next stop: The Northeast — and perhaps someday a piece of the New England-New York rivalry.

The NBA’s minor league increases to 18 teams next season, with one club ticketed for Portland, Maine, and the other also headed East with the location to be announced later this month.

The league has doubled in size over the last three years, but it has had little presence in the East. Its three divisions are the Central, Western and Southwestern, with a team in Erie, Pa. the farthest east.

“I don’t think it hurts to make sure that fans in all parts of the country have the ability to go to a D-League game and watch the players,” D-League president Dan Reed said. “I think we suffer a little bit from fans really not understanding how great our players are and how great our game is, simply because most have not had a chance to go to a game and see that 60 percent of our players are All-conference or better out of college.”

NBA commissioner David Stern had previously said the league couldn’t expand into the East until there were multiple franchises to put there, so teams from the West could have true road trips, rather than travel across the country just to play one game.

“There are travel benefits from having teams close by and it also creates rivalries, which is good for the fans and good for the player and good for the overall experience,” Reed said. “We wouldn’t want to put a team by themselves.”

The new entries will take care of that, and as the league continues to grow — Reed said there is no eventual number in mind or timetable to get there — there has been talk of a team landing in Harlem. Plus, it could allow some eastern NBA teams to have more accessible affiliates.

The Celtics currently use Utah, but could switch to Portland next season. A Harlem team would be a natural for the New York Knicks, whose affiliate is all the way in Reno. Reed said expansion has allowed the league to satisfy more of the NBA teams’ geographic requests.

Reed is in his second year as president and said D-League team valuations have quadrupled in that time. Better yet, NBA clubs are increasingly comfortable using it. He counted 72 former D-Leaguers in the NBA this week, and said parent teams are showing more interest in being able to assign more players and gain greater control over their affiliates.

And he looks forward to allowing a new segment of fans to see that success.

“I think as fans on the East Coast have a chance to actually go to a game and watch it and start following a team nearby to them, I think they’ll start to see that,” he said. “We’ve seen that everywhere we’ve gone. Fans actually watch the games, they come to appreciate how good the basketball is and how good the players are, and then they have a chance to say they were there when.”

—

MISSING MARCH MADNESS: The NCAA tournament draws even greater interest in some locker rooms of NBA teams than it does in offices across the country.

The majority of NBA players and coaches played college ball, so they follow their alma maters with a feverish devotion and love of talking smack to an opposing player or teammate whose college is vanquished in the process.

But what about the players who skipped college and went directly to the pros?

For some, like Minnesota point guard Sebastian Telfair, this time of year reminds them of what they missed by forgoing life on campus for NBA riches.

“I’ve been asked this question a lot,” Telfair said. “I don’t know why, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve looked back and looked at the (tournament) and said, ‘Man, I wish I could have seen how I would have done on that stage.”

After a sensational prep career at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Telfair was a lottery pick of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004.

Had he decided to go to college, Telfair would have played for Rick Pitino at Louisville, which made the Final Four during what would have been Telfair’s freshman season. The Cardinals are the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed this year and have another great chance to make a run, and Telfair will be watching.

“I root for Louisville. That’s my team,” Telfair said. “Guys that went to college, they root for their own team. So Louisville’s definitely my team.”

That’s not the same, Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love said. Love only spent one season at UCLA, but it was a memorable one that featured a run to the Final Four for the Bruins.

“I don’t know if I would have followed it the same” if I had skipped college, Love said. “I definitely would have missed college. I wouldn’t take that back. In some ways, I wish I could go back. But being a top-five pick, it’s tough to not leave.”

—

MOPs to DNPs: Looking for a can’t-miss NBA pro? Chances are he won’t be the guy accepting the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award.

Recent history shows that the star of the NCAA tournament’s big weekend has no guarantee of future success — and some can’t even get on the floor of NBA games.

Of the last 10 Final Four MOPs, only Connecticut’s Richard Hamilton (1999) and Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse (2003) have become NBA All-Stars.

That didn’t used to be the case. Magic Johnson won the award 30 years ago, and he was followed over the next six years by Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Akeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, all of whom became perennial NBA All-Stars.

Now, with most top players gone before they’ve ever had much college success, the winners are usually great college players who aren’t always even good pros. Mateen Cleaves, who won in 2000 with Michigan State, isn’t even in the NBA, playing in the NBA Development League.

Sean May (2005) and Corey Brewer (2007) have been hurt and unable to prove themselves worthy of being lottery picks.

Last year’s winner, Mario Chalmers from Kansas, has played well for Miami. He gave the Heat a league-high five players who appeared in the NCAA championship game, joining Udonis Haslem, Jamaal Magloire, Luther Head and Daequan Cook.

—

POP’S PERSPECTIVE: They almost certainly won’t get the No. 1 seed and they’re no lock to hold onto the No. 2.

Yet, as always, the San Antonio Spurs won’t be too concerned with where they end up, as long as they’re healthy when they get there.

That makes it easier for the Spurs to concede the Western Conference to the Los Angeles Lakers, who built a huge early lead in the standings and have never let anyone close to them.

“I think L.A.’s a leg up on everybody in the West,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “They’re the best team in the West, and there are probably five or six people behind them — of which we’re one — that is chasing them. That’s the way it is.”

The Spurs are better off worrying about what’s behind them. Five teams entered play Friday within 3½ games of them, setting up the possibility that San Antonio could lose its grip on home-court advantage in the first round. Popovich doesn’t seem stressed.

“No one would give away a higher seed if given to them, so you just play each game and try to get better and wherever you end up, you end up,” he said. “We’ve had it both ways and won. I think in the end, the best team wins in a seven-game series whether you have home court or not.

“But if it was offered, no coach would give it away.”

They proved they could do without it again last year, winning Game 7 of a second-round series in New Orleans. So while some coaches might overuse their players while trying to win as many games as possible to guarantee they open at home, Popovich won’t be one of them. It’s why the Spurs didn’t have to rush recently signed Drew Gooden onto the floor before he was ready, why they’ll take the same strategy with the injured Manu Ginobili, and why Popovich could afford to give Tim Duncan a game off this week to rest his knees.

Those four titles show Popovich’s team knows what it’s doing.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “He’s a terrific coach and it seems like he adds something every game, he adds a different wrinkle. This time of the year, they always seem to play great basketball. He gets them geared towards the playoffs. They’ve had success because they really play both ends of the court.”

—–

AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis and Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com’s automated news wire. Wire index

What prominent NBA players came from the NBA D-League?

NBA players that came from the NBA D-League include veteran contributors such as:

Rafer Alston
Matt Barnes
Matt Carroll
Mikki Moore
Bobby Simmons

And up-and-coming standouts like:

Kelenna Azubuike
Jordan Farmar
Amir Johnson
Jamario Moon
Louis Williams

To see how former NBA D-League players are succeeding in the NBA, visit http://www.nba.com/dleague/tracker/index.html .

NBA D-League Success Stories

Mikki Moore: D-League Success Stories

By Matthew Brennan, D-League.com

 Boston Celtics center Mikki Moore is a great example of a former D-League player who has made it big in the NBA, but he is not alone. There are currently 52 former D-League players on NBA rosters, ranging from veterans like Moore to a rookie such as the Suns’ Alando Tucker who was recalled from the D-League only a few weeks ago.

This offseason was a banner one for D-League alumni, as players such as Moore, Matt Carroll, Ime Udoka, and Amir Johnson were in demand by NBA teams as free agents. Moore signed a lucrative free-agent deal with the Sacramento Kings after a successful 2006-07 season with the New Jersey Nets where he led the NBA in field-goal percentage.

 

“It is very motivating, and it is very fulfilling to see other people from the D-League contribute in the NBA and show the younger guys that it is possible,” said Moore while he was in the NBA TV studios for a live appearance.

Moore is entrenched as a starter for the Kings this season, averaging 7.6 points, 5.6 rebounds while .536 for the field in 22 games for Sacramento. A few days after he tied his career-high with 24 points on December 14 against Philadelphia, he took some time out to share his thoughts on some of the other former D-League players who have established themselves in the NBA.

Kelenna Azubuike, Golden State

Azubuike is averaging 12.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 25 games for the Golden State Warriors, making 13 starts. He received a GATORADE Call-Up to the Warriors in late December 2006 after leading the D-League in scoring through the first two months of the 2006-07 season. A 6-5 guard-forward, Azubuike has compiled a career average of 9.2 points in 66 NBA games.

Mikki Moore on Kelenna Azubuike: “He is very talented. He has some rough edges to his game, but the thing is that his work ethic is there. He seems like he is going to work very hard and always give a full effort. He has talent, he is very athletic, he knows the game and he is learning his team. He is fitting in very well with Golden State.”

Matt Barnes, Golden State Warriors

Matt Barnes is in his second season with the Golden State Warriors and his fifth NBA season overall. Barnes, a 6-7 forward, played the entire 2002-03 D-League season with the Fayetteville Patriots where he averaged 9.7 points. This season he is averaging 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 20 games for Golden State. Barnes played a key role last season in the Warriors’ run to the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

Mikki Moore on Matt Barnes: “Matt Barnes, that’s my boy right there. I prayed for him, I heard about his mother passing. Matt has made the most out of all of the opportunities that have come his way. He is just like me, he is a grinder, and he has shown everybody that he belongs in the league.”

Ime Udoka, San Antonio Spurs

A true inspiration to basketball journeymen everywhere, Ime Udoka spent three full seasons in the D-League between 2002 and 2006, playing a total of 136 games for Charleston and Fort Worth. The winner of the 2005-06 Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award, Udoka made the Portland Trail Blazers coming out of training camp last season and joined the San Antonio Spurs heading into this year. Udoka has played in 17 games for the Spurs this season and now has a career average of 6.8 points in 104 total NBA games.

Mikki Moore on Ime Udoka - “I’ve bumped into him a lot in the D-League and now in the NBA. Ime is hard-nosed, he is going to go out there and play hardcore defense. That is one thing that is going to get you into the NBA coming out of the D-League. Showing that you are going to come in and contribute as a defensive player, because they already have guys that are going to score, so you have to show to an NBA team that you have something that they need that they don’t have right now.”

Matt Carroll, Charlotte Bobcats

Carroll elected to return to Charlotte as free-agent before this season, and the former Notre Dame star is averaging 9.2 points in 22 games, all off the bench. He and Moore were teamates on the D-League’s Roanoke Dazzle for a short time during the 03-04 season. Carroll went on to win the D-League MVP award in 2004-05 with Roanoke, averaging 20.1 points in 24 games before joining the Bobcats.

Mikki Moore on Matt Carroll - “It’s great to see Matt get a big contract in the NBA. We were teammates together in the D-League for a short time in Roanoke, and he has worked very hard to get to where he is today with the Bobcats.”